fairbrother’s Film Reviews

201 Films have been rated or reviewed by fairbrother.

Gone Girl (2014): The plot would've made for good black comedy but never convinces as serious drama. Fine score and camerawork, but frantic editing rushes the story without reducing a swollen run–time. Pike, Coon, and Dickens are all strong – Affleck's just Affleck.
Boondock Saints, The (1999): The cinematic equivalent of a drunk, scrap–ready frat–boy mouthing off at women, or 'hipsters', or anyone else who'd question his place at the center of the universe. Dafoe and Connolly deserve career hazard–pay for this. Agonizing.
Witch, The (2015): Damn spooky and, for those so inclined, rife with potential subtext. Though the visuals alone make this "folk tale" persuasive (sets, lighting, and framing all very evocative), it's the actors that make it unnervingly real. Imperfect but very impressiv
Green Room (2015): Well–acted and artfully made with a ruthless sense of purpose: riveting, wrenching, knife–edge terror. Way too dark and violent for some tastes but, for jaded movie thrill–seekers, it's a wringer you'll be glad you put yourself through.
Boys, The (1998): A small film that packs a massive punch. Every aspect – the script, the acting, the camerawork, editing, and music – conspires to weave an atmosphere of claustrophobic dread so thick you could choke on it. Chilling and unforgettable.
Straw Dogs (1971): Blokes, eh? Few films view inter–male aggression, and inner–male anxiety, with such queasy clarity as this potent provocation. It's reactionary, of course, but that's sort of the point. A tense, haunting masterwork of exploitation–poetry.
L.A. Confidential (1997): Complex, atmospheric, thrilling pulp fiction with brains, muscle, and a heavy human heart. One of the 20th century's last great studio pictures: scripted, acted, and directed to sordid/sophisticated perfection.
Hateful Eight, The (2015): Even talkier than usual for being setbound, this precocious black comedy is still QT's best–realised film in decades. Fun seeing this cast play the thin–but–rich script as Guignol pantomime, plus it's gloriously shot and scored, too.
Revenant, The (2015): The sort of Serious epic that Hollywood oft–promises but seldom delivers. If not quite as profound as it thinks, it is a thrilling spectacle, at once mythic and palpably real. DiCaprio's damn good; Hardy's villain maybe better.
Dressed to Kill (1980): If his material's risible, De Palma's scary, funny, dreamy set–pieces are still virtuoso cinema. Few have ever had the cheek to so shamelessly rip off Hitchcock – fewer still have ever made it work this well. Sleazy genius.

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fairbrother’s Film Reviews