Another Year – Starring Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen and Lesley Manville. Directed by Mike Leigh. Rated M. By Simon Miraudo. Everybody dies. Not everybody gets old, but most do. Mike Leigh’s Another Year considers both of these tragedies with the humour, heart and pathos fitting for humanity’s two great burdens. It tells the story of […]
Continue reading
Tag Archives: In cinema
Tell Everyone. Everything. Ever. – Kawasaki’s Rose review
January 24, 2011 
1 Comment
Kawasaki’s Rose – Starring Lenka Vlassakova, Martin Huba and Milan Mikulcik. Directed by Jan Hrebejk. Rated MA. By Simon Miraudo. Can one truly great scene save a boring film? Czech filmmaker Jan Hrebejk puts that to the test in his latest feature: Kawasaki’s Rose. It’s a film about the entangled lives of one well-to-do Czechoslovakian […]
Continue readingYou know, for kids – The Green Hornet review
January 19, 2011 2 Comments
The Green Hornet – Starring Seth Rogen, Jay Chou and Christoph Waltz. Directed by Michel Gondry. Rated M. By Simon Miraudo. The Green Hornet looks and feels as if it were made by a bunch of (highly talented) 10-year-old boys. Taking any pleasure in the film depends on your willingness to let your inner-child run […]
Continue readingHow the west was fun – True Grit review
January 18, 2011 1 Comment
True Grit – Starring Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld and Matt Damon. Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Rated M. By Simon Miraudo. Standard Coen Brothers Review Template: [Insert movie title] is the latest opus from the supremely talented writer/director/producer/editor duo. They reach into the annals of movie history to toy with the styles and conventions […]
Continue readingTitle shot – The Fighter review
January 6, 2011 0 Comments
The Fighter – Starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Amy Adams. Directed by David O. Russell. Rated MA. By Simon Miraudo. The Fighter tells the true story of brothers Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) and Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale); the former is a down-and-out boxer with a chance at a title shot, and the latter is […]
Continue readingHappiness rebooted – Life During Wartime review
January 6, 2011 0 Comments
Life During Wartime – Starring Allison Janney, Shirley Henderson and Ciaran Hinds. Directed by Todd Solondz. Rated MA. By Simon Miraudo. It feels a little wrong, even perverse, to describe a Todd Solondz film as “fun”. But Life During Wartime – the sequel to his acclaimed and highly disturbing 1998 picture Happiness – is fun. […]
Continue readingBeautiful dark twisted fantasy – Black Swan review
January 4, 2011 2 Comments
Black Swan – Starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassell. Directed by Darren Aronofsky. Rated MA. By Simon Miraudo. Things are about to get … intense. Perhaps Darren Aronofsky should have considered attaching a title card with that brief caveat to the reels of his latest film Black Swan. He didn’t. Instead, I offer […]
Continue readingLittle effort – Little Fockers review
December 23, 2010 2 Comments
Little Fockers – Starring Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro and Teri Polo. Directed by Paul Weitz. Rated M. By Simon Miraudo. It’s the holidays, and the third instalment of the Meet the Parents saga has arrived – not unlike the Ghost of Christmas Future – to provide us with a terrifying glimpse at a journey […]
Continue readingBe mine – Blue Valentine review
December 22, 2010 0 Comments
Blue Valentine – Starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. Directed by Derek Cianfrance. Rated MA. By Simon Miraudo. The mark of a truly great romantic drama is one which inspires its viewers to re-evaluate their life. Yep, it’s a somewhat unreasonably high bar for films to reach, but it’s what separates the masterpieces (Eternal Sunshine […]
Continue readingTechnologic – Tron: Legacy review
December 14, 2010 0 Comments
Tron: Legacy – Starring Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde and Jeff Bridges. Directed by Joseph Kosinski. Rated PG. By Simon Miraudo. Joseph Kosinski’s Tron: Legacy is a film inspired by, and about, the power of the human imagination and human ambition. It transports us to a world we’ve never seen; showing us heretofore unthinkable cinematic feats […]
Continue readingYou crazy for this one, Yimou! A Woman, A Gun and A Noodle Shop review
December 13, 2010 1 Comment
A Woman, A Gun and A Noodle Shop – Starring Yan Ni, Shen-YangXiao and NiDahong. Directed by Zhang Yimou. Rated M. By Simon Miraudo. Zhang Yimou’s A Woman, A Gun and A Noodle Shop is exactly the kind of remake we should celebrate. It riffs deliriously on the source material (here, Joel and Ethan Coen’s […]
Continue readingI’ll get along with you – Somewhere review
December 7, 2010 0 Comments
Somewhere – Starring Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning. Directed by Sofia Coppola. Rated M. By Simon Miraudo. It’s both easy and fun to dismiss films about sad rich people, but if we made it a rule, we’d be lumping classics like Citizen Kane and Ikiru with clunkers such as Eat Pray Love. With that caveat […]
Continue readingTreading lightly – The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader review
December 3, 2010 9 Comments
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader – Starring Georgie Henley, Skander Keynes and Will Poulter. Directed by Michael Apted. Rated PG. By Simon Miraudo. Full disclosure: I’ve not seen the first two instalments of the Narnia saga (The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, and Prince Caspian), nor have I read […]
Continue readingEl ascensor diablo – Devil review
December 2, 2010 1 Comment
Devil – Starring Chris Messina, Bojana Novakovic and Logan Marshall-Green. Directed by John Erick Dowdle. Rated M. By Simon Miraudo. I’m not sure which sentence sounds more like the set up for a joke: “Five people walk into an elevator…” or “A new film from the mind of M. Night Shyamalan”. It’s true that Shyamalan’s […]
Continue reading(Dark) Aquaman – Megamind review
November 30, 2010 0 Comments
Megamind – Starring Will Ferrell, Tina Fey and Jonah Hill. Directed by Tom McGrath. Rated PG. By Simon Miraudo. Ack! So close! DreamWorks Animation hinted at an evolution beyond their signature style of filmmaking – disposable movies littered with dated pop culture references and gross-out comedy – with this year’s thoughtful How to Train Your […]
Continue readingDriving me crazy – Due Date review
November 26, 2010 1 Comment
Due Date – Starring Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis and Michelle Monaghan. Directed by Todd Phillips. Rated MA. By Simon Miraudo. Your ability to enjoy Due Date depends entirely on your patience for wildly unpleasant protagonists. The good news is that director Todd Phillip’s previous film The Hangover should have already weeded out anyone looking […]
Continue readingDevilish fun – The Last Exorcism review
November 24, 2010 0 Comments
The Last Exorcism – Starring Patrick Fabian, Iris Bahr and Ashley Bell. Directed by Daniel Stamm. Rated MA. By Simon Miraudo. There will no doubt come a day when audiences tire of mockumentaries, fakeumentaries, docufantasias and perhaps even mockufaketasias. There are surely people in the world who are already sick of them. The author of […]
Continue readingFight the power, kinda – Fair Game review
November 23, 2010 3 Comments
Fair Game – Starring Naomi Watts, Sean Penn and David Andrews. Directed by Doug Liman. Rated M. By Simon Miraudo. Fair Game is as thrilling and passionate as its title suggests; which is to say, not very. Doug Liman’s latest tells the true story of CIA agent Valerie Plame, whose secret identity was allegedly revealed […]
Continue readingIt’s only natural – Gasland review
November 16, 2010 2 Comments
GasLand – Directed by Josh Fox. Rated PG. By Simon Miraudo. GasLand is a heroic film; a D.I.Y. documentary dedicated to unearthing the hidden dangers of the natural gas industry. The subject of the film is not what makes it heroic, but rather the journey undertaken by director Josh Fox, who describes himself as “an […]
Continue readingBudget beasties – Monsters review
November 16, 2010 0 Comments
Monsters – Starring Scoot McNairy and Whitney Able. Directed by Gareth Edwards. Rated M. By Simon Miraudo. I’d sooner believe director Gareth Edwards had hired actual extra-terrestrials to make an appearance in his film Monsters, than accept the fact that he was able to construct them with his SFX-savvy and a measly budget of $500,000. […]
Continue readingHard boiled – Winter’s Bone review
November 9, 2010 1 Comment
Winter’s Bone – Starring Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes and Garret Dillahunt. Directed by Debra Granik. Rated MA. By Simon Miraudo. Winter’s Bone reminds me of the reasons why I love cinema. A director playing around with the forms of various genres. An ensemble of talented actors crafting interesting fully formed characters. The sense of discovery […]
Continue readingRomance is dead – The Loved Ones review
November 2, 2010 1 Comment
The Loved Ones – Starring Xavier Samuel, Robin McLeavy and Victoria Thaine. Directed by Sean Byrne. Rated MA. By Simon Miraudo. Australia, we need to talk. I’m no psychiatrist, but I think it’s time you and I discussed these … movies you’ve been making. Seriously, what is going on in the imagination of my countrymen […]
Continue readingThat’s what friends are for – Jackass 3D review
November 2, 2010 0 Comments
Jackass 3D – Starring Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera and Steve-O. Directed by Jeff Tremaine. Rated MA. By Simon Miraudo. Jackass 3D may not be smart comedy, but it is genuine comedy, and it wouldn’t work an iota if its cast wasn’t so damn likable. They’re your idiot friends from high school. We may have matured […]
Continue readingYoung folks – The Social Network review
October 26, 2010 0 Comments
The Social Network – Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Armie Hammer. Directed by David Fincher. Rated M. By Simon Miraudo. “They [Young People] have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations…They overdo everything – they love too much, hate too much, and the same with everything […]
Continue readingBaby’s first haunting – Paranormal Activity 2 review
October 22, 2010 0 Comments
Paranormal Activity 2 – Starring Sprague Grayden, Brian Boland and Katie Featherston. Directed by Tod Williams. Rated M. By Simon Miraudo. The success – both artistic and commercial – of Oren Peli’s Paranormal Activity should have been impossible to recreate. Made on a miniscule budget of only $11,000, it eventually grossed over $190 million worldwide. […]
Continue readingTime after time – The Secret In Their Eyes review
October 12, 2010 0 Comments
The Secret In Their Eyes – Starring Ricardo Darin and Soledad Villamil. Directed by Juan Jose Campanella. Rated MA. By Simon Miraudo. The annual Academy Award ceremony is steeped in tradition. These traditions include (but are not limited to): ignoring masterful directors their entire careers only to give them an Oscar for their lesser films, […]
Continue readingThe kids are not all right – Let Me In review
October 12, 2010 0 Comments
Let Me In – Starring Chloe Moretz, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Richard Jenkins. Directed by Matt Reeves. Rated MA. By Simon Miraudo. Ask anyone their thoughts on a particular movie remake, and they’ll likely describe it as either ‘traitorously divergent’ or ‘faithful to a fault’. I can’t say I blame these random, unidentified people for their […]
Continue readingIn the street – Exit Through The Gift Shop review
October 11, 2010 0 Comments
Exit Through The Gift Shop – A Banksy Film. Rated M. Originally published June 8, 2010. By Simon Miraudo. After all those debates about the meaning of art – all those passionate arguments on either side of the fence in which esteemed cultural critics deemed one another as either out-of-touch or out-of-their mind – who […]
Continue readingFirst world problems – Eat Pray Love review
October 6, 2010 1 Comment
Eat Pray Love – Starring Julia Roberts, Javier Bardem and Richard Jenkins. Directed by Ryan Murphy. Rated M. By Simon Miraudo. Eat Pray Love is both the title of Ryan Murphy’s latest film, and a succinct synopsis of its entire contents. That trio of verbs represent the depth of our lead character (she will indeed […]
Continue readingFlick in a box – Buried review
October 6, 2010 0 Comments
Buried – Starring Ryan Reynolds. Directed by Rodrigo Cortés. Rated MA. By Simon Miraudo. Rodrigo Cortés’ Buried achieves the rare feat of being both deliriously enjoyable and relentlessly unpleasant. The film – a furious fusion of Phone Booth, Wait Until Dark, 1408 and Cube – is a ninety-minute test of endurance. This claustrophobic thriller has […]
Continue reading
Quickflix 