Films And Cinemas

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HOT: Four of a Kind

By Jetsetting Joyce ⋅ June 26, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Four of a Kind is a rarity – an Australian film that features four richly-drawn female lead roles and a complex interwoven storyline that had me intrigued and engaged the whole time. The story starts with a police interview, where a police officer Gina (Leverne McDonnell) is questioning Anne (Louise Seversen), a rich surgeon’s wife, [...]

NOT: What Just Happened

By Jetsetting Joyce ⋅ June 15, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

What Just Happened is another one of those moderately funny comedies that Robert De Niro seems to be churning out lately – except that this film isn’t even moderately funny. It’s not like sitting through its 100 minutes makes you think that life in the outside world is passing you by, but it’s not so [...]

HOT: Gomorrah

By Jetsetting Joyce ⋅ June 9, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Gomorrah has been termed the best mob movie since The Godfather, but I think with one difference. The Godfather, while based on reality, was clearly a work of fiction and the film had a sleek cinematic look to it. On the other hand, the jerky handheld documentary style camera work of Gomorrah and the very [...]

HOT: Sunshine Cleaning

By Jetsetting Joyce ⋅ June 3, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

It’s hardly a surprise that perenially sunny Amy Adams is the star of the movie called Sunshine Cleaning. But it’s not all singalongs and pastel cupcakes – the film is about a former high school cheerleader, now single mum Rose (Adams) who teams up with her flaky, dope-smoking sister Norah (Emily Blunt with a very [...]

HOT: Two Lovers

By Jetsetting Joyce ⋅ June 2, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

In Two Lovers, Joaquin Phoenix plays Leonrard, an awkward, lumpish and directionless bachelor who lives with his parents in Brooklyn. He falls in love with his wild, needy and self-centred neighbour Michelle, while on the other hand conforming to his familial duty to propose to Sandra, the stable daughter of his father’s business associate. I’ve [...]

HOT: My Year Without Sex

By Jetsetting Joyce ⋅ May 26, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Wow. In all my blogging history, I’ve never received such angry comments as those received in response to my NOT for Samson and Delilah. But if I’m going to open up HOT or NOT to anonymous commentators, then I know I have to be ready to receive (and post) dissenting views. Hey, even the Cannes [...]

NOT: Tenderness

By Jetsetting Joyce ⋅ May 8, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Tenderness explores the different possible tenets of tenderness, as played out by a cast of isolated, disturbed characters whose lives intersect briefly. There is Detective Cristofuoro (Russell Crowe), a cop whose wife is in hospital, and his loving care for her wellbeing is how we’d consider the usual conception of tenderness. He is trailing the [...]

HOT: Closed for Winter

By Jetsetting Joyce ⋅ May 6, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Closed for Winter is a story is told from the eyes of Elise Silverton (Natalie Imbruglia), who has grown up in the shadow of a childhood family tragedy. It affects the way she interacts with her stiff, closed-off mother (Deborah Kennedy), her boring but caring boyfriend (Daniel Frederiksen) and she trudges through her life as [...]

HOT: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

By Jetsetting Joyce ⋅ April 22, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

It’s not often that I’d say that a film adaptation is better than the book, but to my surprise that was the case for The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. I really didn’t like the book, mostly because I thought the protaganist Bruno was rather annoying and frustratingly dim about what his Nazi commandant father [...]

HOT: Tulpan

By Jetsetting Joyce ⋅ April 19, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

I made a pretty easy bet with RM that a film set in Kazakhstan would involve two things – steppes and camels. In the first second of Tulpan, both of these appeared to set the scene for the domestic drama of the young man Asa, his sister, her stern husband and brood of adorable children, [...]