Enjoy It While It Lasts
Project 365 here 365Pieces
Jan 11th, 2012 @ 1:59 pm
My Favourite Films of 2011
- Melancholia
- Black Swan
- Confessions (Kokuhaku)
- Never Let Me Go
- Weekend
- The Skin I Live In (La Piel Que Habito)
- The Quattro Volte (The Four Times)
- Hanna
- Take Shelter
- Snap
Runners up (in no particular order): Tyrannosaur, Blue Valentine, Wuthering Heights, Bridesmaids, Kill List, One Hundred Mornings, Super 8, Beginners.
Jan 8th, 2012 @ 2:35 pm
ALL THE OTHER MONTHS (SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER MOVIES)
September
Kill List
A chilling and gory tale of two hit men, this unique horror movie shocks and terrifies until the very end. It’s superbly acted and its singular direction and sound make it possibly the strangest, most interesting film of the year.
4/5
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Jane Eyre
I haven’t seen any other versions of this much-adapted story but this version felt definitive. It was visually bland but well acted and emotive in all the right ways. Mia Wasikowska shines as Jane and Carey Fukunaga’s straight-forward direction make this a thoroughly enjoyable film.
4/5
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Drive
Stylish and singularly cinematic. Great music and an entirely unique atmosphere.
4/5
__
The Inbetweeners
Offenisive (it was really bad) yet I laughed anyway.
1.5/5
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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Didn’t have a fucking clue what was going on, I am sorry. Sill don’t. Stlysh and well acted though.
3/5
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Warrior
Engrossing but forgettable. Needs a stronger punch h3h3h3h3
2/5
___________________________
October
Melancholia
INCREDIBLE. MUST-SEE CINEMA. Such a smart take on such an uncinematic topic (depression). A masterpiece in every sense of the word - technically and emotionally. Best opeing sequence I have ever seen. An iconic future classic that I consider myself lucky to have seen on the big screen (there is no other way to see this film). Film of the year.
5/5
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Tyrannosaur
Gritty and gut wrenching stuff. A devastating ad promising debut from Paddy Considine. Possibly the performance of the year from Olivia Colman. Ending jarred, however.
4.5/5
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Crazy Stupid Love
Entertaining enough. Exactly what you get on the tin I guess.
2/5
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Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
Doesn’t even count as a cinema trip seen as I left the theatre early. Not scary and shockingly boring
0/5
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Parked
Another piece of shit giving Irish cinema an average name.
1.5/5
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We Need To Talk About Kevin
Definitive take on the famous novel with some amazing cinematography and use of sound. Pretty much a technical masterpiece actually. Outstanding performances from Miller and Swinton also but the film wasn’t as haunting or disturning as it so so easily could have been. Could be a case of having set my expectations too high. Alas, still an outstanding film.
4/5
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Contagion
Brilliant entertainment with a star-studded cast and a smart script. Perfectly scary as well.
4/5
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Midnight In Paris
Another wonderful piece of entertainment. Hilarious, pretty and very charming.
3.5/5
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The Ides Of March
Well acted and entertaining political drama. Not very perceptive or aware but a decent trip to the cinema at any rate.
3/5
_____________________
November
Miss Bala
Muddled but insightful Mexican thriller
2/5
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Sensation
Quirky (kill me for using that word) Irish movie about a man and a prostitute and a court case. Funny.
3/5
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Wuthering Heights
Singular and visually stunning take on the famous story by Andrea Arndold. Under-rated and essentially ignored by the public, it’s probably the best and most cinematic adaptation of that novel ever.
4/5
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Snowtown
Overlong but still interesting enough to merit a high rating. Pretty chilling film about the Snowtown murders in Australia. It makes great use of gore and slow motion but loses focus about halfway through and never quite regains it.
3/5
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Weekend
One of the most touching, cinematic, affecting and honest love stories I have ever seen. It’s difficult to articulate the honesty with which this film depicts a relationship. A must-see film. Devastating.
5/5
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Moneyball
Glossy and sharp tongues baseball movie. My interest was minimal but it was still very entertaining.
3/5
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Take Shelter
Fantastic take on the end-of-the-world/mental break down idea that’s fairly ubiquitous nowadays in movie. Michael Shannon gives one of the best performances of the year, possibly the best. Terrifying and smart and engrossing and entertaining to boot. Even the ending has grown on me. One of the best of the year.
4/5
__________________
December
Hugo
Pretty and involving ode to cinema. Not as important as it thinks itself though.
3.5/5
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The Deep Blue Sea
Devastatingly simple adaptation of the Rattigan play by Terence Davies. Rachel Weisz gives a memorable performance in the lead role. Stunning, sometimes stagnant but always cinematic.
4/5
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Another Earth
Disappointing take on a very interesting idea. Great opening sequence and slow motion but it’s poorly acted and lacks any kind of focus. Still, it is an intersting idea.
2/5
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Amelie
The definitive modern French movie, and one of my all time favourites, got re-released in the IFI and it was an amazing experience seeing it on the big screen. The most charming and enjoyable film ever probably.
5/5
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Romantics Anonymous
The common denominator of French comedy. Dreadfully dull.
1/5
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The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Stylish and mostly thrilling take on the uber-famous novel. Mara’s performance and some unforgettable scenes make this movie stand out, but other than those, it lacks the Fincher quality that made Fight Club and The Social Network the masterpieces that they are.
3.5/5
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Puss In Boots
Good entertainment for all ages. Antonio Banderas gives yet another iconic voice performance to Puss but this film lacks anything other than the entertainment factor.
2.5/5
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Mysteries of Lisbon
4 and half hour long SOAP OPERA ABOUT NOTHING. AT. ALL. Well that’s what I gathered from watching enduring 2 hours of it. Then I left. It wasn’t even well-shot. Disappointing.
1/5
Jan 3rd, 2012 @ 1:16 pm
August Movies
Arrietty
Below average Ghibli but still has charm by the bucketload.
3/5
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Beginners
Outstanding movie from Mike Mills about the coming-out and death of his Father. A distinctive aesthetic, a singular sense of humour, a moving performance from Plummer and a couldn’t-make-this-shit-up story combine to make this a quietly impelling and funny ode to love, loss and relationships. A fresh and totally original take on the most overdone themes in cinema.
4/5
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Super 8
Superb (lolol) entertainment from JJ Abrams. Wonderful set pieces, great young actors and a plain old nice feeling of nostalgia with the likes of The Goonies in mind. An all-round great movie.
4/5
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Sarah’s Key
Inexplicably filmed story about a journalist discovering some awful secret about France during WWII. It alternates between the 1940s and the present and doesn’t succeed in making either period in any way cinematic or compelling viewing. Dull.
1.5/5
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In A Better World
Interesting concept that succeeds in contrasting first world problems with those of the third world but, surprisingly, fails at making the part of the film that’s set in Africa compelling or memorable. Decent portrayal of bullying and friendship but planes in comparison to superior films like Let the Right One In or Confessions.
2/5
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Glee 3D
Such craic seeing this on the big screen. Exactly what you’d expect - fun fun fun fun!!!!
3/5
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Cowboys & Aliens
What can I say? Grand.
2/5
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The Skin I Live In
Exciting, complex, entertaining and chilling - a masterpiece. It’s no use explaining how utterly smart and compelling Almodovar’s latest is, you have to see it to believe it. Shockingly good. I’m still asdfghjkling about it.
4.5/5
@ 1:28 am
Here is a bridge.
Let’s all get over it
Dec 18th, 2011 @ 10:47 pm
July Movies
I was in the gaeltacht for the majority of this month so I didn’t see many films. Two of the my most eagerly anticipated of the year turned out to be two of the worst…
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 2
So the film I was anticipating most of all this year turned out to be kind of crap. It wasn’t awful, it was just a bad way to end the series. Such an iconic series of movies and it ends on the dullest note of the lot. What happened to the utter style and focus of Part 1 (the best of all the films in my opinion)? From the confused tone to the unimaginative set pieces, what should have been an unforgettable and thrilling film was a cringe-worthy and disappointing closing chapter to the Harry Potter movies. I guess we’ll always have 3 and 7 to remind us why the HP is a worthwhile and distinguished group of films.
2.5/5
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The Tree of Life
So the film I was anticipating the second most of all in 2011 turned out to be the most pretentious, pointless, shallow, boring and did I say pretentious piece of cinema I have arguably ever seen. I had never seen a Malick film before but the buzz around this much delayed movie had me really excited. It sounded fascinating and the trailer was decent. But no.
Don’t believe the hype - it’s a nature documentary with an angelic voice-over that has no. focus. or. any. kind. of. narrative. I try not to let expectations and disappointment cloud my judgement of a film but this film appalled me to my very core that I’m not sure I really can leave those things to the side. But ok, I’ll try. Sean Penn, what are you doing? No, you’re doing your job, fair enough. TERRENCE MALICK WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? What is your film about? Oh “religion” and “the universe”? If you’re going to make a film about that kind of thing it needs to be smart and focused. This film lacked both of those qualities to the extent that it was about nothing. I’m not sure whether Malick, who wrote it too, buys his own bullshit or whether he knew that excited cinephiles would be queuing up to see his film anyway so he put no effort into the script. It consisted of a load of randomly selected inspirational, quasi-philosophical sentences thrown sparsely here and there. It was just devastating.
Fair play to Pitt and Chastain for keeping straight faces though, and Chastain did a good job at sounding as if she believed all the shite she had to say for the voice-over. If the film has another redeeming quality after Chastain, however, it’s the cinematography. Probably the best you’ll see all year. Shot using natural light and natural tones, Emmanuel Lubezki excels and made the most pretentious film of the year look like the best film of the year.
But do not get me started on that fucking light…
2/5
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The Guard
Surprisingly funny Irish film about a contrary and lazy policeman who gets teamed up with an American agent to investigate drug smuggling. Sounds like a recipe for mediocrity right? But a hilarious and often biting script, combined with Gleeson and Cheadle’s perfect comic timing make this a comedy that deserves all the praise it’s received.
3/5
@ 10:09 pm
June Movies
The Runway
AWFUL - WHY DO PEOPLE GIVE MONEY TO OTHER PEOPLE TO MAKE THIS SHIT!? Giving Irish cinema a bad name. It was just inexplicably bad.
1/5
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Senna
Over-rated but tense documentary about Ayrton Senna. It unfortunately tries to make villains out of people for doing their jobs, however, and that took away massively from my enjoyment of it as a film. Neutrality is what makes a good documentary. Still, a definitive portrait of both the man and the sport.
3.5/5
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Jack Goes Boating
Saw this at the IFI Open Day for free! Pity it sucked… Phillip Seymour-Hoffman’s debut was disappointing and dull. A boring characters study of boring people. A few funny moments just can’t lift this typical typical typical film from being typical (I’m articulate!!!). It tries so hard to be twee and has this typical quasi-folk soundtrack that hinders the film rather than helps it. Hopefully Hoffman pulls something vaguely original out of the bag with his next film because, by the looks of this, he should really stick to acting.
2/5
Cell 211
Another free screening, this one was very good though. Spanish drama following a police man who gets trapped in a prison during a massive revolt. He has to pretend to be one of the inmates to survive. It was tense, suspenseful and well acted but it always felt like a superior tv movie (very melodramatic - not that that’s a bad thing, it just wasn’t very cinematic). It would have made a much better 3-part tv series. Still, very enjoyable.
3.5/5
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The Messenger
Surprisingly touching drama following the men who tell the families of deceased soldiers of their loved ones’ deaths. I really didn’t expect much but this film was so well observed. It makes the most melodramatic of things incredibly cinematic and the love story that festers throughout the film was simple and beautiful. Woody Harrelson, however, steals the show with his performance as an experience but troubled casualty notification officer.
4/5
Bridesmaids
Everyone’s seen this and rightly so. Smart, funny and perfectly cast, Bridesmaids was, and remains, the must-see comedy of 2011. Don’t listen to all the “look, funny women!!!!!” jargon. This film is funny and smart and therefore it should be seen, not because its cast is composed mainly of women. As is typical with any multiplex comedy, however, it disappointingly descends into cliché far too often but the unforgettable jokes (she broke a blanket in two!) and set pieces make up for it.
4/5
Incendies
Inexplicably lauded Canadian film about.. well about what? International relations? Racism? Xenophobia? It’s all well and good to have an overly complex (and ultimately glib) storyline if you can back it up with some kind of well executed emotional impact or notable style but Incendies can’t. It has bits and pieces of each, It laps up any cliché it comes across and for what? It doesn’t resonate in any way. A handful of incredible scenes and shots can’t stop Incendies from being a partially well-executed shambles.
2/5
Bad Teacher
Exactly what you’d expect. Cameron Diaz is great but she can’t save an awfully dull script which was further hampered by no distinct direction.
1.5/5
X-Men: First Class
Enjoyable but forgettable super-hero movie. It served as a nice podium for Fassbender, McAvoy and Lawrence and the timeless X-Men message is still there but there was nothing new about it. Essentially the Born This Way of cinema in 2011 - glossy, well intentioned but ultimately forgettable.
2/5
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As part of the IFI Open Day I also got to see the iconic Donnie Darko on the big screen - one of my all time favourites. It was mesmirising and chilling and must-see cinema.
@ 9:12 pm
Time flies
Dec 14th, 2011 @ 7:40 pm
May Movies
One Hundred Mornings
Irish film about the end of the world. It follows 4 people who, after a societal breakdown, are now living an isolated and scared life in the mountains. It doesn’t focus on what happened to cause the breakdown of society (global warming is implied.. yawn…….), instead it focuses on 4 quite uninteresting people (or was it just bad acting?) and their reactions to it. It sounds like I didn’t like the film but it was very good. It’s wonderfully shot and, despite the dull characters, Conor Horgan’s sparse direction makes this a unique and timely take on a run-of-the-mill story.
4/5
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Hanna
The most entertaining film of the year, Joe Wright’s smart, action-packed take on the child assassin was both thrilling and emotionally involving. The cast works really well together and Saoirse Ronan is outstanding. The Chem Bro’s pounding score is probably the best you’ll hear in 2011 and it’s the perfect union of all these aspects this that elevates Hanna above most films you’ll see this from 2011. An all-round piece of art.
4.5/5
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Oranges & Sunshine
This really never should have been put in cinemas. Not because it’s dire (it isn’t) but it’s boring and there’s nothing cinematic about the story. It follows a woman who discovers the covering up of child-deportations in the 1950s in England. It even sounds as if it was made for television. Dull.
2/5
Taxi Driver
Scorsese’s apparent classic got a re-release in the IFI and, yes, it’s a classic. Everything that makes a great film great is here in bucketloads but it is Robert Deniro’s iconic performance as Travis Bickle that makes this film. I’m sure anyone with taste has seen this already, but if you haven’t you really should.
5/5
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Win Win
Average but funny comedy following a family who……… something about a kid who wrestles? Yeah, the film’s forgettable but I remember laughing a good but when I saw it.
3/5
Apocalypse Now
Another classic film that was re-released in the IFI, and another one that deserves the title. Probably the definitive war movie. It’s visceral, sickening, mad and feels like an incredibly personal effort by Francis Ford-Coppola. Most people have seen it but seeing it on the big screen was my first time seeing it - it left me speechless. A cinemtaic experience that I won’t forget soon.
4.5/5
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Le Quattro Volte
An essentially silent Italian film about life and the nature of existence (really) sounds really annoying, right? But when its main characters consist of a pile of coal, a goat, a man who drinks dust and a tree it all adds up to one of the biggest cinematic triumphs I’ve ever seen. It’s hilarious, touching, singular and never boring. It defies any expectations it could precede. It’s a film that should be seen by everyone and probably the most original one I’ve seen all year.
4.5/5
@ 7:06 pm
April Movies
Source Code
Duncan Jones’ second film, a thrilling, emotive and never repetitive train-ride. Lacks any kind of the definitive style, however, that Moon had in buckets.
3/5
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Incredible and psychologically penetrating debut feature from Irish playwright Carmel Winters (whose play B For Baby is also incredible). It follows a woman whose son kidnapped a child, causing a national scandal, and the incident has affected (and still is afftecting) her. Aisling O’Sullivan gives a powerhouse performance and cinematographer Kate McCullough excels. Snap is testament to how real masters of their art can do amazing things with a tiny budget. And it’s Irish!! Hot Press weren’t far off when they said it’s one of the best Irish films ever.
4.5/5
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Little White Lies
Overlong but hilarious movie that is essentially about a group of friends going on a holiday. They decide to take the trip even though their friend recently slipped into a coma but the film remains largely about pretty people having fun. Another promising film from French all-rounder Guillaume Canet.
3/5
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Jig
The only reason I saw this documentary about the Irish Dancing World Championships was that I had to review it for the Evening Herald when I was on work experience. I surprised myself by actually enjoying it. There is nothing cinematic about it in the slightest but it remained concise and compelling throughout.
3/5
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Thor
Another one I saw on work experience. It was entertaining, often funny and the 3D was fun. All you can ask for really…
3/5
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How I Ended This Summer
Russian drama following two men working at a weather station. Bullshit metaphors about ~~the new Russia~~ aside, this film was tense, well acted, visually stunning and, along with Drive and Hanna, made outstanding use of music. Towards the end it loses the tone of seriousness that pervaded previous events and inexplicably becomes a cat-and-mouse comedy but for all that, it’s worth seeing.
3.5/5
Nov 27th, 2011 @ 1:48 am
Take #3 Ahoy, birthday boy! (Taken with instagram)
