Sunday, January 15, 2012

Weekly Round-Up (1/8/12 - 1/14/12)

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (Guy Ritchie) **1/2 - I wasn't a huge fan of the first movie though I did find it entertaining. I did like this one a bit better but not by much. It seems it has everything going for it. The cast is very good, there are some thrills and laughs along the way and Guy Ritchie does some cool things with the visuals and all but everything adds up to it being entertaining but ultimately disposable and forgettable.

Diary of a Lost Girl (G.W. Pabst) ***1/2 - This is director G.W. Pabst's and Louise Brooks' second and last movie together (news to me too, I thought they worked together a lot!). It's about a young girl who descends into a tumultuous, troubled life. The film has tons of soapy and melodramatic elements to it but the direction and the acting keeps it quite compelling. Louise Brooks was incredible in this one. It's no Pandora's Box but it's respectably close.


Melancholia (Lars Von Trier) ***1/2 - Ah, Lars Von Trier. He's a filmmaker whose films contain things that I find fascinating and downright brilliant but at the same time, he has elements which bug and irritate me and this film is no exception. This is his rather unique take on sci-fi apocalyptic genre about depression and a huge planet that's about to incinerate the Earth, ending life as we know it. Yes, it's very much downer and rather bleak but beautifully so. Lots of hoopla have been made about Kirsten Dunst, though I do think she's strong here, I thought Charlotte Gainsbourg was a bit better.

Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami) **** - What a magnificent film! This is probably my favorite Abbas Kiarostami film so far (along with A Taste of Cherry, which is due for a rewatch). This is a film about a couple. That's about the only thing I can say without giving way too much away but the film's appeal is finding out the direction where it is headed as it does a rather strange but wonderful narrative shift midway which reflects the title of the film. The two lead performers are magical onscreen together. I'd love to see this again. One of my favorites of the year so far.

9 comments:

Outcast said...

I'm definitely going to need to check out Sherlock Holmes. Despite the fact you think it's forgettable it does sound like something worth checking out since I will enjoy it at the time right? Thanks for posting this review up as always as well mate.

Mark said...

I'd heard nothing but good things about the Sherlock movies. I had my reservations though which is why I didn't watch them.

Ante Babaja said...

nice reviews :)

Drowning in a sea of music said...

I did not see sherlock holmes, didn't seem interesting.

T. Banacek said...

I've seen the first Sherlock Holmes about 5 times so I'm certainly going to watch the sequel.

Anonymous said...

Melancholia is amazing.

dopdavid said...

i saw sherlock holmes at a midnight release. but i guess i should not have been so tired because i fell asleep haha :b

DWei said...

Dang, no one is giving very positive reviews for Sherlock Holmes. Maybe I won't go see it after all.

Tim said...

Cool stuff, The sherlock movies are good!