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albertofarina: Filmography

30 Mar 12
Act of Valor

Navy Seals may lose an eye or a coupla legs in action, but they only die when they WANT to. Stunning action sequences, no character development at all - hell, one might as well say no characters, full stop. As far as recruitment videos go, it probably can't get any cooler. But it takes more to make an exciting movie.

Act of Valor
23 Mar 12
Tatsumi

Un incrocio miracoloso fra biografia e film a episodi, un omaggio affezionato al fumettaro Yoshihiro Tatsumi. Qualcuno lamenterà un'animazione semplicissima, ma i fumetti sono fumetti e fumetti dovrebbero restare, anche quando, come qui, si muovono sullo schermo. Bellissimo.

Tatsumi
17 Mar 12
The Intouchables

"Furbo" per me non è mai un insulto e questo è un film furbo. Non so quanto sia rimasto, titoli di coda a parte, della storia vera cui si ispira: ma è una bella favola raccontata in un modo che ti fa uscire contento. Che Cluzet fosse bravo si sapeva ma Omar Sy (che pure di film ne ha già fatti un bel po') è una scoperta

The Intouchables
17 Mar 12
I Wish

Immaginate uno "Stand by me" neorealista. Un gruppo di bambini meravigliosi, il desiderio di un miracolo, la scoperta che i miracoli, quelli possibili, li facciamo noi. Ok, colpa mia che fin qui non ho visto nulla di Kore-Eda. Un filo lunghetto ma bellissimo.

I Wish
FilmStillLives likes this

06 Mar 12
Zapped!

A guilty pleasure is supposed to be a pleasure, which this film never is in spite of the above photo. I had missed this piece of fluff when I was a teenager - I caught up with it yesterday and sadly found out I was much wiser then about how I spent my time than I am now

Zapped!
06 Mar 12
The American

Non bad at all - but somewhat thin on plotting and character development. If this did not showcase an American star film, we'd probably dismiss it as a pretentious experiment in genre lacking rythm and guts. Great opening sequence.

The American
21 Feb 12
Childstar

A pleasant little film on the downside of early fame, it's got more to it than one would expect - with a quirky tone that never feels contrived, believable main characters and a coupla genuinely touching moments. Underrated and well worth rediscovering

Childstar
19 Feb 12
Albert Nobbs

A wonderfully crafted nothing that fails in making anyone sympathetic with its freakish protagonist. As strongly as Close wanted to play this character on screen, it will be a sad footnote to her career if she does in fact get an Oscar for her robotic performance. 2 hours that play like 10 once one realizes the story can go nowhere. Greatly, greatly overrated

Albert Nobbs

At first, a terminally slow and deliberate talky film - but once you manage to let it in, it pays off big time. Not to be seen on TV, if at all possible - you need a place where you can't just doze off

The Secret Life of Words
13 Feb 12
Hugo

A generous, awe-inducing unaccomplishment that MUST be seen in 3D. Scorsese's omnipotent mise-en-scene makes up to his inability to find the right tone to tell the story in an involving way. Just sit back and enjoy the film as a wonderful pop-up history book on how movie magic was born

Hugo
12 Feb 12
The Iron Lady

Having a great actress is not enough when she's left alone to carry the movie. Streep's performance is jaw-dropping but even that can't work miracles on a leaden, indecisive script

The Iron Lady
Joaopa likes this

18 Jan 12
The Darkest Hour

Relentlessly silly, but I did have some kind of fun: cut-out characters, but the invaders sport cool FX and most visuals are adequate. Didn't have to feel guilty to get some pleasure, but I did walk in with very low expectations

The Darkest Hour

Uhm, con tutto l'affetto possibile, pensavo meglio. Mostro goffo, vicenda risibile e non basta la curiosa struttura a flashback per salvarla. E anche le somiglianze con "Alien" mi sembrano sopravvalutate

It! The Terror from Beyond Space

Mah. Inseguito per anni, anche se senza troppa ansia. Trovato finalmente grazie a un amico pirata. Roba noiosetta, d'autore che forse non si è ancora reso conto di non avere ali abbastanza forti.

IP5: The Island of Pachyderms

Un album di meravigliose fotografie, una storia splendida devastata da un trattamento deliberatamente intellettualistico. Colmo una grave lacuna ma esco dalla sala soffocando qualche vaffanculo a chi ha detto ai cineasti che il cinema era una forma d'arte. Che lo sia è indubbio, ma si starebbe stati tanto meglio senza spargere tanto la voce.

The Spider's Stratagem

I wouldn't have picked this if I had to choose, and I would have been wrong: this is a lovely, inventive, funny, moving and constantly involving family story. A feel-good movie that never feels formulaic or artificial in spite of using all tricks of the trade and then some more. An ensemble piece overall, but Vedat Erincin is an outstanding protagonist.

Almanya: Welcome to Germany
19 Dec 11
Descent

A better than average Rape&Revenge movie, but ultimately not much subtler than I Spit on Your Grave: it's effective in creating in viewers the required urge for retaliation and then in fulfilling it in a satisfactory way. But as well-crafted as the film is, we still are very much in exploitation country and it would be alarming if anybody perceived Descent as anything else than that

Descent
xxthcenturyfoxx likes this

Somewhat stylish, but whatever interest it excites at first wears off very quickly: an indecisive mess trying to be both a satire of the era and a drama, and not succeeding on either goal and even failing to have any exploitation value.

Leslie, My Name Is Evil
05 Dec 11
The Artist

Per capire la differenza fra i film-gimmick che vivono di rendita su una sola idea e il cinema: un omaggio al muto che va ben oltre l'omaggio e sa coinvolgere, divertire e commuovere senza mai pretendere la tua complicità, rivaleggiando in leggerezza con i veri classici. Se appena appena appena il cinema vi piaciucchia, questo è il vostro regalo di Natale

The Artist
05 Dec 11
Midnight in Paris

L'idea per uno splendido mediometraggio è spalmata con qualche affanno su un lungo la cui confezione impeccabile fa perdonare un citazionismo culturale vagamente ricattatorio. Capito il giochino, non basta riconoscere un nuovo idolo per andare in solluchero come non cessa di fare il protagonista e il "messaggio" snocciolato arriva a essere troppo esplicito persino per chi da Allen sa di doverselo aspettare

Midnight in Paris
Valu2009 and Luca Bottazzi like this

02 Dec 11
The Cat's Meow

Ho un debole per Bogdanovich e lo ammetto. Qui racconta una faccenda poco chiara di cui furono protagonisti W.R. Hearst, la Davies, Chaplin, Thomas Ince e la tremenda Louella Parsons: "Cat's Meow" non è un capolavoro imperdibile, questo no: ma ricostruisce l'atmosfera degli anni Venti in modo convincente e senza dare quell'impressione da museo delle cere che a volte rischiano i film su personaggi troppo noti.

The Cat's Meow
27 Nov 11
Anonymous

Dopo un decennio di catastrofici, Emmerich prova a cambiare marcia puntando a una rispettabilità da Oscar. Stavolta critici e incassi gli han detto no, ma "Anonymous" lo conferma un signor regista: grandiosità, attori ben usati e lo spettacolo sinceramente camp di chi si prende sul serio. Sarebbe bastata una pesante tassa sulla narrazione anticronologica per farne un gran film, ma anche così merita le vostre due ore

Anonymous
Francesco likes this

  • Picture of Francesco

    Francesco

    27Nov11

    gliele volevo dare ieri sera, le mie due ore, ma al mio cinema l'avevano già declassato all'ultimo spettacolo nella saletta sfigata, e non era il caso...

24 Nov 11
Scialla!

Di Francesco Bruni ho cordialmente detestato "Momenti di trascurabile felicità", libricino pieno di nientini ben temperati. Però "Scialla" mi è piaciuto, che ci volete fare. Parte irritante, col solito Bentivoglio sciatto-fallito, infila luoghi comuni, invenzioni improbabili e frasi fatte - però poi alla fine ti strappa qualcosa di più di un sorriso medio. Furbetto? Sicuro, ma i difetti gravi per me sono altri.

Scialla!
  • Picture of Elena Libispic

    Elena Libispic

    28Dec11

    Il detestabile " Momenti di trascurabile felicità" è di Francesco Piccolo..

  • albertofarina

    30Dec11

    Elena, hai ragione. Mi hanno tanato l'errore anche nel rimbalzo di questo post su Facebook. Non l'ho corretto perché mi sembrerebbe sleale coprire le tracce delle mie gaffe sfruttando la mutevolezza del mezzo elettronico. :)

11 Oct 11
Bad Teacher

Cameron Diaz still does look sexy but this movie is a boring, obvious and depressing mess. It might give people a reason to re-evaluate the Farrelly bros' lesser efforts, though

Bad Teacher
11 Oct 11
Hanna

Super-cool movie has plenty of memorable set pieces and ideas but eventually does leave a Drive-ish aftertaste: that'll be a happy day when plot and character development actually live up to hip style

Hanna

Guess I have to finally watch "Gangsters" now. As the final installment of Marchal's police trilogy, this one haves way more loose ends than "36 Quai des Orfevres", which proved somewhat disappointing. But I can't rule out a second viewing, with different expectations, might improve the judgment. Overall, though, this is one of those movies you keep wishing they were better than they actually are.

The Last Deadly Mission
28 Sep 11
Me and Orson Welles

Neat recreation of the Mercury theater's heydays, it's slightly overlong but it does deliver to a point. As good as Christian McKay is, though, I must note his Welles seemed to lack the bigger-than-life quality of originale. A good film, not an unforgettable one.

Me and Orson Welles
14 Sep 11
Faust

Goldenlioned masterpiece? I beg to differ. As fascinating as Sokurov's perpetual motion of chaos can be, "Faust" is a meandering mess, studded with extravaganzas (the opening scene's flying mirror, the moon-monkey) that makes one regret having not spent the evening watching Murnau's wonderful original, or even Herzog's "Nosferatu". Intermittent use of distorting lenses is meaningless and unforgivable. Yikes.

Faust
  • Picture of alianat

    alianat

    21Jan12

    i am usually rather cautious to overinterpret and see symbolism where there is none, but perhaps the floating mirror was a metaphor for the movie as it is -- a mirror to us, of us. and the monkey could be seen in the same vein -- if i remember correctly, its gestures seemed like it was communicating something to the viewer. it looked like a human trying to communicate.

12 Sep 11
Wake Wood

Sort of a cross between "The Wicker Man" and "Pet Sematary", this is less an in-your-face horror than an emotional piece. It does get a bit cheesy along the way, plot-wise, but it does provide an unusually realistic atmosphere that somehow allow it to overcome its genre-related shortcomings

Wake Wood
Ed Benn likes this

10 Sep 11
Damsels in Distress

Stillman's first feature in 13 years is fun, as wittily and entertainingly dialogued as his previous efforts, but way more off-beat and darkly screwballish. Sort of an intellectual version of Michael Lehmann's cult "Heathers", it also centers on a bunch of co-eds named after flowers. Lots of fun.

Damsels in Distress
  • Picture of Ulrich Jarløv.dk

    Ulrich Jarløv.dk

    12Sep11

    I'm glad it's good. It got a rave review in variety as well. It just goes to show that you shouldn't judge a film by its trailer or, in this case, by its promo clips.

  • albertofarina

    13Sep11

    Indeed - but that should be said for any movie. Both clips and trailers are meant to sell a film to the widest possible audience, and they tend to downplay whatever peculiarities the film does have. I would not go as far as raving but I did like it - and, most importantly, so did the festival audience I saw it with