Tag Archive: Amy Adams


The nightmare world of Nocturnal Animals

Filed under: Fiction, Modern Art, Movies — Leave a comment
November 19, 2016

NOCTURNAL ANIMALS directed by Tom Ford (USA, 2016)

“All the animals come out at night” – Travis Bickle – Taxi Driver (1976)
“Now it’s dark” – Frank Booth – Blue Velvet (1986)

nocturnal_animals_posterInspiring comparisons with the finest works of Martin Scorsese and David Lynch is a sign of how impressed I am by this magnificent movie.

Tom Ford’s equally fine debut A Single Man from 2009 can no longer be dismissed as a one-off.

Well-established as a hugely successful fashion designer, Ford does not need further acclaim or money. Wealth does not guarantee creative inspiration but it does buy a certain freedom. Perhaps this is how he has been able to be so uncompromising and daring in his adaptation of Austin Wright’s novel Tony and Susan. Continue reading →

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THE SCAMS AND STINGS OF AMERICAN HUSTLE

Filed under: Humour, Movies, Music — 1 Comment
April 5, 2014

AMERICAN HUSTLE directed by David O. Russell (USA, 2013)

Following on his superb Silver Linings Playback, David O.Russell makes use of some of the same actors for this highly enjoyable yarn inspired by a FBI operation that went pear-shaped in the late 1970s; hence the pre-credits caption: “Some of this actually happened”.

The sting of a sting of a sting tale left me floundering to follow all the twists and turns of the plot so it’s probably a movie that benefits from a second viewing (I’m only glad I didn’t see it dubbed into Italian!).

Having trimmed down and worked out for The Fighter, Christian Bale has flabbed up for his role as Irving Rosenfield and is all but unrecognisable. With his dodgy hair piece and very 70s fashion sense, he looks like he’s adopted Frank Booth’s smart man disguise from David Lynch’s Blue Velvet.

As a slick con artist, his partner in crime is the seductive Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) who pretends to be an aristocratic English woman Lady Edith Greensly because this sucks in more victims – desperate men in search of loans. Continue reading →

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THE FIGHTER IS NO KNOCKOUT

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February 25, 2011

Confession time.

I have never seen any of the Rocky movies!

This fact should immediately tell you that boxing movies are not my bag. The Fighter, directed by David O.Russell doesn’t persuade me that I’m missing anything by shunning this genre.

I rate Raging Bull but that’s as far as it goes.

Scorsese was once in the frame as the director of The Fighter but wisely turned it down. It’s a solid enough movie but far too predictable.

The only reason I watched it was to complete my mission of seeing all the Oscar best picture nominees. I left it till last as I didn’t expect to like it and in this sense  I wasn’t disappointed.

Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, and Amy Adams play Micky, Dicky and Charlene respectively.  Micky is a big hitter but also a big softy at heart. Charlene is his girl and hated by his rabid family of foul-mouthed straw-haired sisters ( a family from hell).

Dicky is his half-brother who could have been a contender but ends up as a crackhead.

I quite liked Wahlberg’s understated performance but it only makes Bale’s over the top method acting seem all the more unhinged. Bale has never been a person or actor I admire and I find him very irritating here. The critical praise heaped on the movie centres on his grandstanding performance so if you like Bale you’ll like this movie. I don’t and didn’t.

The story is yet another true life triumph against all odds tale and I’m starting to think I want to see movies about failing with dignity – as Steely Dan sang on Deacon Blues: “they got a name for the winners in the world – I want a name when I lose“.

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BLOCKBUSTER BATCH

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April 1, 2010

Four DVDs for 11 euro – you get 5 nights to watch. As the march of Blu-Ray continues and DVD retail prices plummet the days of these offers (and probably Blockbuster itself) are numbered.
I’m happy to take advantage while it lasts and my latest haul have all been rated as ‘fresh’ by the increasingly unreliable Rotten Tomatoes review site .The movies for my Blockbuster nights were ‘Julie & Julia’, ‘Searching For Eric’, ‘Up’ and ‘500 Days of Summer’.  Here, gentle reader, are my own freshness ratings : Continue reading →

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