The Latest Film Reviews from The Arts Desk
The experts at The Arts Desk have released their latest batch of film reviews. From remade classics to Hollywood animation to thought-provoking documentaries, they separate the good from the bad and the just OK.
After watching Gregg Araki's 'Kaboom', Emma Simmonds felt that his return from mainstream success to his psychedelic Nineties shtick was not altogether successful. Thomas Dekker plays the character of Smith, who is a horny college student whose life becomes muddied with sex, drugs, witchcraft, hallucinations and possibly murder. Despite some enjoyable anarchy, what worked before now feels irrelevant, perhaps making this a movie enjoyable only for diehard Araki fans.
Director Fred Cavay seemed to fare better with Adam Sweeting, who thought his thriller 'Point Blank' managed to effectively avoid the usual clichs. According to Sweeting, Gilles Lellouche was a smart choice to portray the character of an ordinary man desperately trying to save his pregnant wife from kidnappers, while finding himself irresistibly swept up in his panic by the film's relentless pace.
Nick Hasted found that Jack Black's loveable martial artist, Po the Panda, offered less charm the second time around in DreamWorks' animation, 'Kung Fu Panda 2'. Although there's no doubt that kids will be clambering to see it, its big idea is losing steam, despite the film-makers' decision to give Po a Bambi-esque back story.
Kevin MacDonald's 'Life in a Day', a documentary film consisting of YouTube videos uploaded by people who filmed what they got up to on 24 July 2010, interested Alexandra Coghlan. A feat of editing brings out the universal stories and correlations of human life, from shaving to sky diving. However, despite this achievement, Coghlan concluded that the less contrived experience of watching the unedited leftovers on the dedicated YouTube channel, proved even more exciting.
The latest DVD movie releases were also reviewed by The Arts Desk. Alexandra Coghlan goes on to admire the Coen brothers' remake of the classic John Wayne western 'True Grit', Graham Fuller finds Robert Aldrich's restored Cold War cult noir 'Kiss Me Deadly' - complete with some fascinating DVD extras - well worth a second look and Fisun Gner is intrigued by Heinrich Breloer's award-winning 2005 docudrama 'Speer and Hitler: The Devil's Architect', which, via film, archive and modern-day interviews, tries to unravel the perplexing figure of Albert Speer - the Third Reich architect and minister whose true level of complicity in Nazi atrocities remains something of a mystery.
Film reviews aside, The Arts Desk also interviewed film director Ron Peck - whose debut feature, 'Nighthawks' (1978), has been labelled Britain's first openly gay film. Peck talks to Tom Birchenough about the future of British independent film - a future where everyone's a film-maker and the internet is their distributor.
After watching Gregg Araki's 'Kaboom', Emma Simmonds felt that his return from mainstream success to his psychedelic Nineties shtick was not altogether successful. Thomas Dekker plays the character of Smith, who is a horny college student whose life becomes muddied with sex, drugs, witchcraft, hallucinations and possibly murder. Despite some enjoyable anarchy, what worked before now feels irrelevant, perhaps making this a movie enjoyable only for diehard Araki fans.
Director Fred Cavay seemed to fare better with Adam Sweeting, who thought his thriller 'Point Blank' managed to effectively avoid the usual clichs. According to Sweeting, Gilles Lellouche was a smart choice to portray the character of an ordinary man desperately trying to save his pregnant wife from kidnappers, while finding himself irresistibly swept up in his panic by the film's relentless pace.
Nick Hasted found that Jack Black's loveable martial artist, Po the Panda, offered less charm the second time around in DreamWorks' animation, 'Kung Fu Panda 2'. Although there's no doubt that kids will be clambering to see it, its big idea is losing steam, despite the film-makers' decision to give Po a Bambi-esque back story.
Kevin MacDonald's 'Life in a Day', a documentary film consisting of YouTube videos uploaded by people who filmed what they got up to on 24 July 2010, interested Alexandra Coghlan. A feat of editing brings out the universal stories and correlations of human life, from shaving to sky diving. However, despite this achievement, Coghlan concluded that the less contrived experience of watching the unedited leftovers on the dedicated YouTube channel, proved even more exciting.
The latest DVD movie releases were also reviewed by The Arts Desk. Alexandra Coghlan goes on to admire the Coen brothers' remake of the classic John Wayne western 'True Grit', Graham Fuller finds Robert Aldrich's restored Cold War cult noir 'Kiss Me Deadly' - complete with some fascinating DVD extras - well worth a second look and Fisun Gner is intrigued by Heinrich Breloer's award-winning 2005 docudrama 'Speer and Hitler: The Devil's Architect', which, via film, archive and modern-day interviews, tries to unravel the perplexing figure of Albert Speer - the Third Reich architect and minister whose true level of complicity in Nazi atrocities remains something of a mystery.
Film reviews aside, The Arts Desk also interviewed film director Ron Peck - whose debut feature, 'Nighthawks' (1978), has been labelled Britain's first openly gay film. Peck talks to Tom Birchenough about the future of British independent film - a future where everyone's a film-maker and the internet is their distributor.
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