Reviews

When I first heard about this film I was not that bothered about seeing it, having watched The New World also by Mallick which I found pretentious and rather boring to be frank. However this movie blew me away. It certainly is not for everyone and you have to be in the right mood to watch it, much like The Fountain by Darren Aronofosky. I think this movie has more substance than The Fountain though, because it is more of a celebration of all aspects of life, the big and the small, and The Fountain was more of a enlightening trip. I found the film to be beautifully rendered, it reminded you of all the beauty there is in the little things if you take the time to look, and I think it is important to be reminded of that. The whispers throughout the film made it become pretentious after a while but I understand why they were there, I guess to correspond with our thoughts and how we sometimes feel a need to whisper too. Because the film was from a boys point of view I did find it hard to connect with some of the material, like the need for his father to accept him as he is and blowing up toads. I loved the dinosaur scene, though I'm not sure dinosaurs would have had that kind of humanity back then. Overall I thought the film worked because you can tell how much thought had gone into every scene and shot. The child actors weren't that bad which was a nice surprise and Brad Pitt does a convincing performance of a typical 1950's dad. I recommend this film to film lovers who appreciate this kind of movie and aren't expecting a linear spelled out plot with lots of explosions. Its a film to think about and to watch several times, with lots important hidden messages and questions to sift out.

A man's entire life is a show put on by a rather selfish, rich director. The director builds an entire island set for Truman to live on, complete with a whole island of actors. The film is based around Truman breaking free of this fake life and realising he has been living a lie. I thought it was a very unique and realistic film, hugely enjoyable with just the right amount of funny and tense. Jim Carrey does a surprisingly serious performance and Ed Harris does a unnervingly good performance too. The abrupt ending gave added realism to the film because it coincides with the whole theme of life and how real or fake life and people really are. Overall a imaginative film pulled off rather surprisingly well.

A young dancer and composer both find fame through a rich man's company. The dancer and the composer fall in love and the rich man becomes exceedingly jealous so fires the composer. The dancer leaves the company and marries the composer, who's career takes off. However the dancer is not happy as she no longer dances so she returns to the company, only she has to make a decision - dancing or the composer. She then dramatically jumps off the balcony, survives, and chooses the composer. Interlocked throughout the film is beautiful music and amazing dance routines that really capture the show-biz atmosphere. It has very dark undertones which derive from the dark story its based on by Hans Christian Anderson. The film is very ahead of its time - the special effects, costumes, make up and camera work are surprisingly modern and remind me slightly of Kubrick's style. Any film lover worth their salt should definitely give this film a go.

To begin with this short movie looked promising. The first shot is of the Sainsburys ceiling and the next of a rather gormless worker on a scooter. The best shot is of a bag of frozen peas spilled on the floor which is actually the most artistic bit in the film. He then talks about his love of the female form while looking up several young females skirts. So far okay. The next shot is of his childhood and of his life changing after seeing a naked Swedish exchange student walking up the stairs. We get a close up view of her hairless genitals. Attractive. The rest of the film is made up of 'artistic' shots of attractive slim under 30s women. Actually no, of attractive thin under 30s breasts, behind and shaven crotch. Agreed there is artistic beauty in a attractive slim womans body, but what about her face, hair, eyes? What about larger women, what about older women what about the diversity of women? What about men? He mentions the uniqueness of their beauty, but all I was seeing was the same body type over and over. Thankfully there were no fake breasts as far as i could tell. What a poor excuse for art. If you are a straight guy or a lesbian this is your wet dream but for me being a straight women i found it degrading and pathetic except for the few moments of actual thoughtful art. They could have done so much more with the story they had. Instead they made it into a adolescent fantasy. Well done. How original. I hope the movie they made of it will have more substance.