Tag: surprising performance

Double Radio Review: Le Prénom + 90 Minutes

On By filmrollerIn comedy, dice roll: 4, drama, radio reviewLeave a comment

I got lucky and sat through two press-screenings on Monday!

Le Prénom: A French film full of Amelie-style randomness and absurdity, but with a nice core of engaging human interactions. Set mostly at a dinner party between five friends, the tension escalates steadily throughout the evening, beginning with one of them wanting to name their new-born Adolf.

90 Minutes: This Norwegian film consists of three independent stories edited together to form a study on men who do violence to women. Not all of the stories have the same level of impact, and I think it depends on how much violence you are used to in films and how cynical you are. Be warned: it’s not for the faint of heart.

Both films run off with solid dice rolls of four. Follow the links to read and listen to the reviews at Radio Revolt!

Double Review: The Decoy Bride + Christopher and his Kind

On By filmrollerIn biopic, comedy, dice roll: 2, dice roll: 4, drama, historical, review, romanceLeave a comment

First things first: I have over the course of about a month become a massive Doctor Who fan. This has been on my to-do list for as long as I’ve been a geek, which is close to two decades now. About three seasons in, I was already massively “in obsession” with David Tennant, which was no surprise considering how much I enjoyed him in Casanova. I didn’t think anyone could top him, but Matt Smith managed to not only fascinate me, but make me love Eleven just as much as Ten.

So, as per my tradition whenever I find “new” actors to obsess over, I immediately started going through both of their CVs. As a way to find new films to watch, I love this technique. Although it means I have to watch a lot of movies that might not be really good, they are always films I never would have come across otherwise, and even if I don’t enjoy the films themselves that much, I can still enjoy the acting.

I picked one from each Doctor’s past, fairly randomly. The Decoy Bride (2011) from David Tennant’s filmography, and Christopher and his Kind (2011), starring Matt Smith. Both coincidentally from the same year – the first one with a 5.7 rating and the latter with a slightly higher 6.8 on imdb. No big hopes for either then, but with middle numbers like that you never know. Let’s see how they did!

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Hysterical

On By filmrollerIn comedy, dice roll: 5, historical, review, romanceLeave a comment

Movie: Hysteria (2011)

A movie about the invention of the vibrator. That sounds like a movie that will try desperately to be awkward-funny or too serious, and fail either way. Luckily, this movie is just genuinely funny while reminding us how far women have come, without stereotyping and mocking the “crazy, prudish feminist” type. It’s also, for me, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s best role (and yes, I mean including The Dark Knight). 

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Prometheus (Finally!)

On By filmrollerIn dice roll: 5, review, sci-fiLeave a comment

I finally got to see Prometheus, Ridley Scott’s prequel-but-not-really to Alien this weekend. Even though I had been looking forward to this movie for a long time, I tried to keep my expectations “open”, meaning I had high hopes, but tried to not let those hopes wander in a fixed direction. I think that philosophy served me well. Those who expected yet another “they end up in a closed space with chest-busting aliens and get picked off one by one” will be disappointed.

Since the movie has been out for quite some time, and the fans have already seen it, this review contains spoilers.

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I can fly!

On By filmrollerIn action, dice roll: 4, review1 Comment

Movie: Chronicle (2012)

As a lover of superhero (or super-power) movies and TV shows, I have been looking forward to Chronicle since I first saw the trailer. The story “what if a group of regular people suddenly got superpowers” has a fair few examples these days, and I would argue that this version is a perfectly decent addition. It also falls into the more dubious category of “found footage” films, but it manages to not annoy me at all with a few clever workarounds.

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Radio Review: Martha Marcy May Marlene

On By filmrollerIn dice roll: 4, drama, radio review, thrillerLeave a comment

This week’s radio review is the curiously entitled Martha Marcy May Marlene. Even more curious: there’s an Olsen in it, specifically Elizabeth Olsen, and she’s really good. If only the film hadn’t spent all of its time on moody shots of her on a lake, it might have bumped it up to a fiver.

Click here to read (and listen to) the full review (in Norwegian).

Dice roll: 4 (or a 4++ if such a thing is possible)