|
4/5
|
Spencer
(2021)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
LarraÃn again offers an impression of a famous public figure at a time of significant trauma, and is ingeniously able to project over the admittedly fascinating political tale an even more moving existential one.
Posted Mar 26, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
The Batman
(2022)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Although Matt Reeves does make attempts to inflect the tired subject matter with some virtuosity, the universe's over-familiarity and essential stodginess overrides any novelty, to my mind, at least.
Posted Mar 26, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
The Power of the Dog
(2021)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
It is a playful thesis if nothing else, but its rhetorical obviousness does drain the film of some subtlety in its second half.
Posted Mar 26, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
Death on the Nile
(2022)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Blandly handsome, and unmemorable and lacking any sense of play or innovation, Kenneth Branagh's second big screen stab at the character of Poirot, Death on the Nile, wont linger long in the memory.
Posted Mar 01, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Zulu
(1964)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Zulu stands the test of time by uncannily understanding itself as something of a chamber piece and by making atmosphere and suspense the centrepiece of its narrative rather than just the gratification of combat.
Posted Feb 19, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Downton Abbey
(2019)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
As with the TV series, the two Toms are the most interesting characters and get the best storylines. Probably the film's most moving subplot is in giving the necessarily-closeted gay butler, Thomas, a first requited moment of affection with another man.
Posted Feb 19, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
West Side Story
(2021)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
It's hard to see what attracted Spielberg to the project, and, thus, what he was trying to project to his audience.
Posted Feb 19, 2022
|
|
1/5
|
Hannibal Rising
(2007)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Hannibal Rising? More like Hannibal Risible in this truly infantile film that conceives of Hannibal Lector as a superhero in his own origin flick. This tacky, hackneyed idea finds a tacky and hackneyed grammar to boot.
Posted Feb 12, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Nightmare Alley
(2021)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Even if its fantasy subject matter devolves too neatly into a genre framework, it is still a pleasurable piece of craftsmanship from del Toro.
Posted Feb 12, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
The Souvenir
(2019)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
It functions as a memoir, and Hogg's watchful and elliptical sensibility works beautifully in documenting how those memories are coloured by the senses as much as they are by clearly determined junctures in time and narrative.
Posted Feb 12, 2022
|
|
1/5
|
Two Weeks Notice
(2002)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Its utter prototypicality is tiresome, and its weird plotting and characterisation preclude it from gaining the simplified happy ending it proposes it has arrived at.
Posted Feb 12, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
La jetée
(1962)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
The images of experimentation loop around and repeat themselves, exemplifying an idea of temporality and the dissonance of trying to re-write time or solve a narrative puzzle.
Posted Dec 06, 2021
|
|
3/5
|
Frozen II
(2019)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Reminded me of an old adage that women have larger colour vocabularies and a greater sensibility for colour than (most) men, and that feeling certainly transmits here.
Posted Dec 05, 2021
|
|
3/5
|
Mustang
(2015)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Though somewhat didactic in its attempt to highlight the malignancy of a certain type of Turkish patriarchy, Mustang's sheer gusto carries its message with unmistakable force.
Posted Nov 15, 2021
|
|
2/5
|
Ronaldo
(2015)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
This otherwise sterile example of the hagiographical sports documentary is redeemed by its inadvertent exposé of just how bland and narcissistic Cristiano Ronaldo's life is.
Posted Nov 12, 2021
|
|
3/5
|
Ammonite
(2020)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
It echoes the narrative concept of Lee's debut film, God's Own Country, and, as with that film, Ammonite is very much a swirl of atmosphere, subtext and repressed emotions.
Posted Nov 12, 2021
|
|
3/5
|
No Time to Die
(2021)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Has one of the weakest villains and conspiracies in the history of the Bond saga. Rami Malek simply isn't a good enough actor to draw you into his character's psychopathology.
Posted Nov 10, 2021
|
|
4/5
|
Halloween
(1978)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
The best moments of Halloween take their lead from its exemplary opening: that iconically spare musical score-cum-leitmotif, and the film's slippery command of perspective.
Posted Nov 10, 2021
|
|
4/5
|
Moon
(2009)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
It falls very much in the lineage of earlier sci-fi classics, but still provides enough virtuosity and individuality to make it somewhat novel.
Posted Nov 05, 2021
|
|
3/5
|
The Artist
(2011)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Hazanavicius deserves credit for making his thesis on silent movies so digestible and entertaining, and there is much to engage with in The Artist.
Posted Oct 25, 2021
|
|
2/5
|
Red Dragon
(2002)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Gets wrong and flattens out into a mainstream, homogenous smudge all the distinctive elements of Jonathan Demme's iconic 1991 work, The Silence of the Lambs.
Posted Oct 25, 2021
|
|
2/5
|
Practical Magic
(1998)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
The film is so twee and polite that it almost passes by without any palpable register of emotion, tension or surprise.
Posted Oct 25, 2021
|
|
2/5
|
A Rainy Day in New York
(2019)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Yet another example of Woody Allen's stratospheric obsolescence from anything that could be considered remotely zeitgeisty or vital.
Posted Oct 22, 2021
|
|
3/5
|
Oliver Twist
(2005)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
A shame so little time is spent on the mystery of Oliver's identity that hugely accentuates the pathos for his character.
Posted Jul 16, 2021
|
|
3/5
|
Strictly Ballroom
(1992)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Even if it all feels a tad forced and not particularly funny (to me at least), there's no denying that it's carried through with a relentless farcical drive.
Posted Jul 16, 2021
|
|
3/5
|
Half Nelson
(2006)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
The more interesting aspects of the film come in its less pre-determined margins. And maybe the drama is highly strategised, but the acting is real and genuine.
Posted Mar 22, 2021
|
|
3/5
|
Babyteeth
(2019)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
It's in its quieter, less determined moments that Babyteeth moves away from its forced dramaturgical confections into something more meaningful and emotive.
Posted Feb 11, 2021
|
|
2/5
|
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
(2020)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Its political prescience can't obscure from the fact that Borat Subsequent Moviefilm just isn't very good or funny
Posted Feb 01, 2021
|
|
2/5
|
Tenet
(2020)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Nolan's reverence for tech and the cleverness of pulling off a metaphysical narrative puzzle finally swamps his awareness of whether the thing in question is even any good.
Posted Jan 31, 2021
|
|
2/5
|
The Holiday
(2006)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Thoroughly preposterous, utter bourgeois fantasy of a romantic comedy.
Posted Jan 27, 2021
|
|
3/5
|
Love Actually
(2003)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
It's almost a shock to see such a well constructed and beautifully acted scene (Emma Thompson opening her present) amid the rest of this film's more mainstream machinations.
Posted Jan 27, 2021
|
|
2/5
|
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
(1992)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Sorely lacks the situational specificity and just the vague whiff of 'this could actually happen' from the previous film.
Posted Jan 09, 2021
|
|
3/5
|
Home Alone
(1990)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
A not completely unnuanced riff on the themes of family, safety and sanctity.
Posted Jan 09, 2021
|
|
3/5
|
Elf
(2003)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Classic family Christmas fodder: the gorgeous candyfloss colour schemes and New York in all its resplendent wintry beauty help the film pass effortlessly by too.
Posted Jan 08, 2021
|
|
4/5
|
The Silence of the Lambs
(1991)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Although, in essence, it could be considered a police procedural work, Demme films it like an arty horror, always cloaking the action in an air of non-omniscience.
Posted Jan 08, 2021
|
|
3/5
|
Parasite
(2019)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
The film feels too insincere and hypocritical to take genuinely seriously on its theme of social injustice.
Posted Dec 31, 2020
|
|
2/5
|
Sorry We Missed You
(2019)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
The clumsiness of the drama and its crude didacticism obscures the potential import and power of the film's politics.
Posted Aug 31, 2020
|
|
3/5
|
Anelka: Misunderstood
(2020)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Revisiting Anelka's career makes for a strangely watchable documentary, and is a reminder of just how nomadic and mired in controversy his life in football actually was.
Posted Aug 31, 2020
|
|
3/5
|
Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell
(2008)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
The poignancy of Russell's orthodox Iowan upbringing, counterbalanced with the bohemianism of his latter New York lifestyle, makes for a fascinating contrast.
Posted Aug 21, 2020
|
|
4/5
|
The Headless Woman
(2008)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Where other arthouse filmmakers use the slow aesthetic to draw out the glaringly obvious metaphors and subtexts of their narratives, Martel's style is lucid and transcendent.
Posted Aug 21, 2020
|
|
3/5
|
A Dangerous Method
(2011)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Cronenberg plays the material straight down the line, employing renowned playwright, Christopher Hampton, and relying on the experienced trio of lead actors to get on with it.
Posted Aug 21, 2020
|
|
2/5
|
The Descendants
(2011)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Payne has substituted his usual scepticism for a huge quota of sentiment and schmaltz which, though undoubtedly appealing to a mainstream audience, seems a fundamental misstep
Posted Aug 21, 2020
|
|
2/5
|
The Woman in Black
(2012)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
A largely effective shocker - one which will no doubt play well to the multiplex audience it so clearly covets - but it has no lasting value beyond its basic remit to spook.
Posted Aug 21, 2020
|
|
3/5
|
Carnage
(2011)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Polanski doesn't shy away from the inherent theatricality in the conceit of having four characters stuck in an apartment, and is wise to actually make a feature of it.
Posted Aug 21, 2020
|
|
2/5
|
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
(2011)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
There are one or two nice moments, but the unmistakable whiff of mediocrity does sully even the gentle, crowd-pleasing pursuits of this film.
Posted Aug 21, 2020
|
|
2/5
|
This Means War
(2012)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
It feels more like the first vague sketch of a goofy film concept, than anything else. And it's the film sheer confidence in its own stupidity that impresses me.
Posted Aug 21, 2020
|
|
5/5
|
Leave No Trace
(2018)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
Another tour de force from Granik - a filmmaker who instinctively knows how to alchemise the dramatic, cinematographic and anthropological elements of her stories so acutely.
Posted Aug 12, 2020
|
|
3/5
|
Legally Blonde
(2001)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
A crowd-pleasing, girl's own fantasia of self-empowerment.
Posted Aug 10, 2020
|
|
2/5
|
Greyhound
(2020)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
The perpetual reminder that Hanks' character is a very Christian man betrays the 'sanctity of the everyman' thesis that is so prominent here and in much of Hanks' filmography.
Posted Aug 08, 2020
|
|
2/5
|
Dirty Dancing
(1987)
|
PJ Nabarro
|
The film exists in the main for a handful of seductively lit and framed dance sequences that aestheticise Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze's bodies and physical chemistry.
Posted Aug 08, 2020
|
>