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Filmstar Magazine

Tomatometer-approved publication.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
4/5
Home (2008) Jes Bickham A moving affair, presenting a family unit in all its messy, loving wonder, and the surreality of the situation escalates inexorably into something quietly horrifying. Beautifully shot and played, Home is something of a gem.
Posted Mar 29, 2024  Edit critic review
2.5/5
Cracks (2009) Anne Wollenberg What should have been a dark study of obsession and teenage rivalry is rendered dreary by poor pacing. Eva Green may captivate, but the film does not.
Posted Dec 04, 2009  Edit critic review
2.5/5
Dead Man Running (2009) Toby Weidmann It ticks all the right boxes for the Brit crime genre and won't disappoint fans of Guy Ritchie's oeuvre, even if it lacks the flair that once made the latter's films so popular.
Posted Oct 30, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/5
The Horseman (2008) Mark Ramshaw An impressive debut, and one that leaves an indelible impression. But does it make for enjoyable viewing? That's less easy to call.
Posted Oct 30, 2009  Edit critic review
4/5
Tales From the Golden Age (2009) George Kaplan The film has been crisply shot, its static set-ups by turns inventively forlorn and bracingly comic.
Posted Oct 30, 2009  Edit critic review
4/5
An Education (2009) Steve O'Brien Few films set in this period get the social furniture so right, and it's a refreshingly new look at a time pregnant with expectation.
Posted Oct 30, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Made in Jamaica (2006) Neil Davey In a move that will either see it written off as lazy or celebrated for its admirable neutrality, Made in Jamaica doesn't provide a straight answer.
Posted Oct 23, 2009  Edit critic review
5/5
The Cove (2009) Nikki Baughan In this new, post-Michael Moore age of documentary filmmaking as lucrative big-screen fare, a documentary that educates without condescension, informs without bias and entertains without losing its focus is a valuable commodity.
Posted Oct 23, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Colin (2008) Keith Stuart It's rough, it's bleary and the acting is dodgy, but, let's face it, the collapse of human civilisation won't look like a Zack Snyder or even a Danny Boyle movie - it'll look like the discarded home movie footage from hell.
Posted Oct 23, 2009  Edit critic review
3/5
Ong Bak 2 (2008) Tom Hutchinson The camerawork, more so than in Ong-Bak, follows the rigid mechanics of Jaa's battles, so much so that the rhythm of the edit becomes hypnotic, the cartoon thwacks of skin-on-skin acting like a weird music in the final, 20-minute brawl.
Posted Oct 16, 2009  Edit critic review
4/5
Triangle (2009) Steve O'Brien Triangle is one of the most ingeniously constructed horrors of recent years, and one you'll want to watch again to get your nicely baffled head around.
Posted Oct 16, 2009  Edit critic review
3/5
Pontypool (2008) Nigel Floyd Talky and claustrophobic, Pontypool is a mash-up of Orson Welles' notorious The War of the Worlds radio broadcast and George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, with a tone and cast that's reminiscent of John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13.
Posted Oct 16, 2009  Edit critic review
4/5
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) Tom Hutchinson The film is too much of a shambles, but it is brave and courageous; not tainted by anything other than circumstance and passion.
Posted Oct 16, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Thirst (2009) Tom Hutchinson Chan-wook's film is as gluttonous and stylish as I'm a Cyborg, but fortunately Thirst's renewed appetite for bloodlust and self-annihilation suits the director's pyrotechnics better.
Posted Oct 16, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Vanishing of the Bees (2009) Karen Krizanovich Despite its schoolroom tone, The Vanishing of the Bees sounds an alarm; it's essential we heed it.
Posted Oct 09, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Katalin Varga (2009) Tom Hutchinson Tidy revenge tragedy that successfully resists the influence of the Romanian New Wave.
Posted Oct 09, 2009  Edit critic review
3/5
Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee (2009) James Mottram The plot is threadbare and the style is knockabout, but the improvisation, especially that of Considine, lends it an energy and spirit that's hard to resist.
Posted Oct 09, 2009  Edit critic review
4/5
Up (2009) Joseph McCabe Pixar's most commercially daring and most fanciful film to date.
Posted Oct 09, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/5
District 13: Ultimatum (2009) Toby Weidmann It's not hard to be engaged by the sheer energy of the District 13 films and, despite a handful of minor plot gripes, the sequel more than matches its predecessor for eye-popping action and relentless drive.
Posted Oct 04, 2009  Edit critic review
2/5
My Life in Ruins (2009) James Mottram It's a bit like ouzo: seems like fun at the time but you'll no doubt regret it in the morning.
Posted Oct 04, 2009  Edit critic review
4/5
The Beaches of Agnès (2008) Justin Postlethwaite Memory is a recurrent theme in Varda's work, and with this film she serves her own with warmth and skill.
Posted Oct 04, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Ip Man (2008) Keith Stuart An enthralling, and at times moving, tale, told by Hong Kong action director Wilson Yip with considerable theatrical flourish.
Posted Oct 04, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (2008) Toby Weidmann Ghost in the Shell 2.0 has clearly been created to draw to the franchise a younger generation more used to crisper, more vibrant animation, and with this in mind it succeeds.
Posted Oct 04, 2009  Edit critic review
4/5
The Army of Crime (2009) James Mottram As a tribute to these fearless freedom fighters, it's a worthy effort - and as a welcome, and sobering, antidote to the knockabout silliness of Inglourious Basterds, you couldn't really get any better.
Posted Oct 04, 2009  Edit critic review
3/5
The Invention of Lying (2009) David Baldwin The simple truth is, any comedian could take Gervais' place in the film, and you probably wouldn't notice. For a comic who likes to put his fingerprints on everything he does, it feels like he's playing it safe.
Posted Oct 04, 2009  Edit critic review
2/5
Creation (2009) James Cameron-Wilson By focusing on the naturalist's reclusiveness, the film deprives the viewer of the visceral rush of discovery that we're conditioned to associate with Darwin.
Posted Sep 25, 2009  Edit critic review
2/5
Born in 68 (2008) Tom Hutchinson To have the two episodes of Born in '68 edited down and jammed together into a film of maximal length serves only to inflate its many weaknesses.
Posted Sep 25, 2009  Edit critic review
2/5
The Soloist (2009) Tom Hutchinson A rich cocktail of all Hollywood's most endemic clichés, it would be easy to apply to The Soloist that rebuking tag, 'Oscar bait'. Its every move is calculated to pleasure and provoke the liberal classes, if only gently.
Posted Sep 25, 2009  Edit critic review
2.5/5
Away We Go (2009) Tom Hutchinson Although Away We Go doesn't sum to the icon of loveliness that the filmmakers might have hoped for - it is too tonally fractured - the movie does suggest avenues that Sam Mendes might consider exploring in the future.
Posted Sep 18, 2009  Edit critic review
2/5
Blind Dating (2007) Jes Bickham It's Pine that keeps the whole thing afloat, and he manages, astonishingly, to make even the clunkiest, cheesiest lines work, almost transforming the film's chocolate-box sentiments into something honest.
Posted Sep 18, 2009  Edit critic review
1.5/5
31 North 62 East (2009) Matt Bielby 31 North 62 East suffers from a clunky title and a lack of credibility.
Posted Sep 18, 2009  Edit critic review
2/5
I Want to See (2008) Matt Bielby It sounds like nothing happens, and it doesn't, and the strange what's-real-and-what's-planned? atmosphere can annoy somewhat.
Posted Sep 18, 2009  Edit critic review
2.5/5
Chevolution (2008) Tom Hutchinson Chevolution is punctuated by a few of the more irritating tics that seem to tempt documentarists, but largely remains an informative and balanced history, although it concludes badly.
Posted Sep 18, 2009  Edit critic review
4/5
The Agent (2009) Rob Buckley Tense, well-acted, and managing to avoid Misery territory, its only real misstep is the ending, which feels more like writer's paranoia - an ever-hovering spectre - than the natural outcome.
Posted Sep 18, 2009  Edit critic review
4/5
Julie & Julia (2009) Karen Krizanovich Julie & Julia is a heartfelt, deliciously shot, and beautifully designed romp, studded with fine performances that are endearingly cheery, inspirational and funny. It's a must-see for anyone who loves to eat.
Posted Sep 11, 2009  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Adventureland (2009) Dennis Brabham A charmingly nostalgic and endearing picture of late-teenhood in the '80s.
Posted Sep 11, 2009  Edit critic review
4/5
Fish Tank (2009) Tom Hutchinson The film gains everything when it takes on the trappings of a thriller. As the teenager takes the fight to suburbia, there is a shocking sense of spatial transgression.
Posted Sep 11, 2009  Edit critic review
0.5/5
Miss March (2009) Mark Ramshaw A teen sex comedy that isn't sexy or comic - talk about dumb and dumber...
Posted Sep 11, 2009  Edit critic review
4/5
The September Issue (2009) George Kaplan The result is extremely gripping. The office walls of Vogue are the ideal place for a fly; a permanent home for well-timed bitchiness, with Wintour alternating between subtly deflating euphemism and overtly withering straight talk.
Posted Sep 11, 2009  Edit critic review
3/5
Tricks (2007) Neon Kelly The plot drags its feet in the film's second half, meandering towards its admittedly moving conclusion. A muted success then, but an enjoyable one nonetheless.
Posted Sep 04, 2009  Edit critic review
3/5
Passchendaele (2008) David West It is impossible not to be moved by the nightmare of the trenches, but Passchendaele is a frustratingly uneven movie.
Posted Sep 04, 2009  Edit critic review
5/5
District 9 (2009) Mark Ramshaw The most deliriously inventive sci-fi action movie in years. Truly, this is a game changer. James Cameron may want to watch his back.
Posted Sep 04, 2009  Edit critic review
3/5
Bustin' Down the Door (2008) David West The movie lacks the jaw-dropping spectacle of 2004 surfing doc Riding Giants, and conveniently sidesteps the issue of what happened to the sport's spiritual side when it became an industry.
Posted Sep 04, 2009  Edit critic review
4.5/5
Big River Man (2009) Karen Krizanovich Big River Man is as close to documentary perfection as possible. Tough and vulnerable Strel is masculinity incarnate, and his quest gestures beyond his beloved red wine and beer and towards the mystical. Astonishing.
Posted Sep 04, 2009  Edit critic review
5/5
(500) Days of Summer (2009) Keith Stuart There is more cinematic joy in five minutes of (500) Days of Summer than there is in a packed weekend of mainstream romance movies.
Posted Sep 04, 2009  Edit critic review
5/5
The Hurt Locker (2008) Keith Stuart Free of liberal hand-wringing and quasi-political subtext, The Hurt Locker is an adrenaline-drenched war thriller which uses a conventional genre format to explore and expose issues of violence, compulsion and masculinity.
Posted Aug 29, 2009  Edit critic review
2/5
Broken Embraces (2009) Tom Hutchinson The director's previous films...are all, in some way, about cinema - but this need is especially acute in Broken Embraces, which eats its own tail.
Posted Aug 29, 2009  Edit critic review
4/5
Mesrine: Part II - Public Enemy 1 (2008) Matt Bielby It's a bouncier, more fun, less focussed film - still worth four stars, as the first chapter got, but slightly smaller ones perhaps.
Posted Aug 29, 2009  Edit critic review
2/5
Afterschool (2008) Anne Wollenberg Afterschool does feel like an interesting play on the idea of voluntary surveillance, but there's no real emotional crescendo, no catharsis and no satisfying conclusion to Robert's angst, which is only ever skirted around.
Posted Aug 21, 2009  Edit critic review
2.5/5
Chiko (2008) Mark Ramshaw The final scenes simply lack the necessary weight to turn Chiko into something profound, affecting, or entirely memorable.
Posted Aug 21, 2009  Edit critic review
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