Tag: picoreviews

the essential kit

Picoreview: Now You See Me

July 8, 2013

Picoreview: Now You See Me: I loved it, actually. Really enjoyed it. And this is an enormously non-specific review, because it’s got too many great twists to risk spoiling. Jesse Eisenberg meant Mark Ruffalo wasn’t my least favorite performer on the screen, which I think has never happened before in a movie with Ruffalo in it. I thought the romantic storyline was forced, but the only person I’ve ever thought Ruffalo had on-screen chemistry with is RDJ, and it is clear other people don’t think his charm is limited to…

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Picoreview: Man of Steel

June 18, 2013

Picoreview: Man of Steel: I may have a new favorite superhero movie. Wow. This and X2 and I don’t know, maaaaaaaaaaaybe Avengers, which I loved but didn’t hit all the grace notes the way X2 did for me, but anyway, yeah, wow. It’s clear not everybody agrees with me, which is perfectly reasonable. I’ve seen reviews that think this is a movie without joy or delight or charm. I completely disagree, but possibly should offer up a Heretical Disclaimer along with that disagreement: As with the Star Wars movies, I…

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the essential kit

Picoreview: The Breakfast Club

June 2, 2013

Picoreview: The Breakfast Club holds up stunningly well. Even most of the hair isn’t too egregious, and there’s actually surprisingly little music in it to be dated by. The most unexpected thing in terms of dating is that it didn’t seem to have been filmed in stereo, and hearing the sound pretty clearly coming from only one side of speakers was startling. Oh, and there are a couple of language things–the use of “fag” and “retard”, particularly–that threw me considerably. So that was a dating thing too, I suppose. I’d…

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the essential kit

Picoreview: The Great Gatsby

May 27, 2013

Picoreview: The Great Gatsby: It was all right. I didn’t go in with expectations of it being fantastic because reviews suggested it wasn’t. I thought it was better, perhaps, than many of the reviews did; I thought the cast, with the glaring exception of Tobey Maguire, were quite terrific. DiCaprio’s moments of fear and vulnerability where he thinks he might get found out are very nice, and he charms well when he’s supposed to. There’s one scene where he’s messing about and being youthful and joyous and looks like he’s…

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the essential kit

Picoreview: Moulin Rouge

May 16, 2013

Picoreview: Moulin Rouge is still exactly the kind of thing you’d like if you like that kind of thing, and definitely not if you don’t. One of the local cinemas is doing a Baz Luhrmann month running up to his Gatsby this week, so Ted and I went to see Moulin Rouge (still can’t type that without typing Rogue first) last night, for probably the 3rd or 4th time on a big screen for me, at least. I’ve no doubt become more accustomed to Nichole Kidman’s voice through repeated listening…

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