Sunday, October 20, 2013

Crisp Criticism - "Prisoners", "2 Guns", "Machete Kills", "Romeo & Juliet", "About Time"

by
Julien Faddoul



Prisoners

When the young daughters of two Pennsylvanian families go missing, the father of one of them takes matters into his own hands as the police pursue multiple leads.
Emotionally repulsive and violent film in which none of its philosophical teachings can be taken seriously because no character’s behaviour makes any logical sense. Deakins’ cinematography is dazzling, though.

d – Denis Villeneuve 
w – Aaron Guzikowski
ph – Roger Deakins
pd – Patrice Vermette 
m – Johan Johansson 
ed – Joel Cox, Gary Roach 
cos – Renee April 

p – Kira Davis, Broderick Johnson, Adam Kolbrenner, Andrew A. Kosove 

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo, Paul Dano, Dylan Minnette, Zoe Borde



2 Guns *

A DEA agent and a naval intelligence officer find themselves on the run after a botched attempt to infiltrate a drug cartel.
Enjoyable and fun buddy-action film which makes the grave mistake of taking itself seriously in the second half.

d – Baltasar Kormákur
w – Blake Masters   (Based on the Graphic Novel by Steven Grant)
ph – Oliver Wood
pd – Beth Mickle
m – Clinton Shorter
ed – Michael Tronick
cos – Laura Jean Shannon

p – Andrew Cosby, Randall Emmett, Norton Herrick, Marc Platt, Ross Richie, Adam Siegel

Cast: Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Paula Patton, Bill Paxton, Fred Ward, James Marsden, Edward James Olmos, Robert John Burke, Greg Sproles



Machete Kills

A sequel to the 2010 film that was based on a fake trailer.
Dull and unfunny; once again, Rodriguez seems content merely to reference and waste time.

d – Robert Rodriguez
w – Kyle Ward, Robert Rodriguez, Marcel Rodriguez
ph – Robert Rodriguez
pd – Steve Joyner
m – Robert Rodriguez, Carl Thiel
ed – Robert Rodriguez, Rebecca Rodriguez
cos – Nina Proctor

p – Sergei Bespalov, Aaron Kaufman, Iliana Nikolic, Alexander Rodnyansky, Robert Rodriguez, Rick Schwartz

Cast: Danny Trejo, Mel Gibson, Demian Bichir, Amber Heard, Michelle Rodriguez, Sofía Vergara, Charlie Sheen, Lady Gaga, Antonio Banderas, Walton Goggins, Cuba Gooding Jr, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexa Vega, Marko Zaror, Tom Savini



Romeo & Juliet

Despite the contempt the two families have for one another, the son one and the daughter of the other wed.
A hilarious farrago.

d – Carlo Carlei
w – Julian Fellows   (Based on the Play by William Shakespeare)
ph – David Tattersall
pd – Tonino Zera
m – Abel Korzeniowski
ed – Peter Honess
cos – Carlo Poggioli

p – Simon Bosanquet, Lawrence Elman, Julian Fellowes, Alexander Koll, Ileen Maisel, Doug Mankoff, Andrew Spaulding, Nadja Swarovski, Dimitra Tsingou

Cast: Douglas Booth, Hailee Steinfeld, Damian Lewis, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Ed Westwick, Paul Giamatti, Lesley Manville, Christian Cooke, Stellan Skarsgård, Natascha McElhone, Tom Wisdom, Leon Vitali, Laura Morante, Nathalie Rapti Gomez, Tomas Arana



About Time

At the age of 21, an Englishman discovers he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life.
Horribly overlong and treacly romance that does nothing interesting with its fantastical component.

wd – Richard Curtis
ph – John Guleserian
pd – John Paul Kelly
m – Nick Laird-Clowes
ed – Mark Day

p – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner

Cast: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy




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