film critic journal | by ares

Philomena, the film that has earned several nominations for this years Academy Awards, including best picture, is totally a good film headed by two magnificent actors. It is a story that could have been a hollywood drama and that became a drama, yes, but original because there's one thing that makes this film different from other movies that the industry has made.  Philomena (Judi Dench) - a mother - is an old woman who has lived her life to find her son, Anthony, who was taken away from her when she was very young because she was living in an Abbey and there "having sex" was a sin. Philomena has no rancor for the nuns that took away his son or for anybody that treated her badly, she even believes firmly and convincingly in god after all what she has lived. On the other hand, there's Martin (Steve Coogan) a journalist that seems to have lived his great days and that kind of against his will but knowing he needs to do something new, is going to try and hel...

George Clooney's new film as director, writer and actor talks about art, a topic that Hollywood doesn't normally associate with war films. These was one of the movies that the day where Oscars of 2013 were given was in every bookmaker to become a candidate for the 2014 Oscars. But some time ago, Clooney announced that the movie had been pushed forward to February meaning it could not compete for 2014 Academy Awards... and probably this was a decision of the team because they saw that they hadn't done the film some people could/would have expected.  As said, before the movie talks about seven men that go to war (Second World War) with one specific mission and very peculiar.... they need to find out the art that the nazis have stolen and give it back to the owners. Stokes (Clooney) is the leader of this mission that includes not only americans but also two french and british men and a french woman whose knowledge seems essential for the mission. Those seven man and ...

This is not an epic movie. But it could be considered one of the best movies of the year because it is the antithesis of how the movies are conceived and done. This is a story that refuses the epic, the odyssey, the dialogue, the expression, the plot twists, everything of how we see the cinema today is not reflexed in this film.  The movie tells the story of a castaway (Robert Redford) of which we don't know the name, the nationality.... we don't know absolutely anything, there aren't any kind of flashbacks or parts of the film where Redford talks about his past or present, nothing. This man has no expression, we have to wait an hour to see a human reaction because during this first hour the film is about a man that follows the logic steps to try and survive in the middle of the Indic Ocean with a broken a sailboat because it collided with a container. Of course, he has to face difficulties a part from the ones that implicitly are assumed when you have a proble...

First of all, I wanted to express that I was able to watch that movie because I went to an indie film festival, Americana Film Festival, who has just opened this year and that I hope we can experience for many years from now on. The "american family" that created the festival Americana, decided that the inaugural film would be The Kings of Summer. After some presentations and the presentation of the festival itself, the movie was projected.  The Kings of Summer is a movie about teenagers that everyone can see and is equally going to enjoy it. Because even if they are teenagers, children, adults of even elders they are all going to be identified with the boys that appear. Everyone has had or would like to live on their own without parents or family talking and in some way it seems "bothering" you. This is what the movie talks about. Three guys run away from their houses and build a house in the middle of the woods where they are going to live with their ...

With 10 nominations for The Academy Oscars this is one of those films you enjoy because it is different, quite original and entertaining and counts with five actors that are in a good moment of the careers. Christian Bale  leads a story about survival that transports us to the 70's which seem like our days because the stories about corruption and lying are our "bread of everyday" meaning this is happening right know. The story then could have been placed in 2013 but David O.Russell did a good job creating, as the screenplay dictated a 1970's atmosphere with the costumes, the music (which is present, accurate and very well chosen) in the scenes he has to.  The story, as it has been said, is about a man, Irving (Christian Bale) who is married and loves, in some way, his wife (Jennifer Lawrence) but that also falls in love with another woman (Amy Adams) who is going to become her partner in crime and life. Irving and Sydney (Amy Adams) cheat on people with ...

Directors do not use to be take on the road a movie to explain everything they want. Alexander Payne does it. We've seen road trips in many films but this one is the best road trip ever because it is a story about feelings and that trip is a trip into the interior of a man and to the heart of a family. One of the most known spanish books is "Don Quijote" by Miguel Cervantes. This film is actually a trip - like Quijote's - around a part of the USA but also inside the individuals, especially of one of them Woody Grant.  That man Woody (Bruce Dern) is an aged, senile old man and  father to two sons married to a good woman (June Squibb) tired of his lunacy.  Woody believes he has won 1 million dollars and wants to redeem his prize. The thing is, the place where he is supposedly going to be awarded, is in another state, Nebraska. As any member of his family wants to take him 1.500 miles away from his home, the man goes walking until the time someone (police, ...

For four years I had been trying to watch that film and finally I've done it. Inception presents a new way of sci-fi or fantastic cinema. It has an amazing and complex story behind that the spectator understands and nowadays the general public that goes to the cinema, the popular cinematic culture wants to be entertained for a while and not thinking how this awesome plot can be understood or not. Christopher Nolan did that with that film and this is the reason of it's success.  Inception as the word says is based on the origins of everything, of us. Mr.Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) knows how to enter to the dreams and basically how to move in those dream, we could tell he is an expert on dreams more that he lives in reality. One day, he and his fellow colleague are offered the task of their life. They need to do an inception on somebody else's mind and if they succeed Cobb, that has been drawn away from his family for the most part of his life, will be free of charges...