Flash Film Reviews

By Lara Culcu. Some people expect action movies to be much more than they are intended to be.  They complain about the lack of character depth, characters with similar personalities, plot holes - but, in my opinion, these people are barking up the wrong tree.  What do we expect from action movies? A fast-paced script. Explosions. 'Tough guys'. Ideally, robots.  Pacific Rim provides all of this, and more.  Let's set the scene. We're in the future, and humans are at war with the Kaiju, an alien race that emerged from a portal at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. To fight back, humans built enormous robots, Jaegers, who are co-piloted by two people who share a mental link. A nice detail is that the name of the aliens comes from the Japanese word Kaijū , which means 'monster/strange creature', while the name of the robots comes from the German Jäger ; Hunter. Not very subtle, but it doesn't need to be. Our protagonist, Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam), is a coast...

By Lara Culcu. Warning: Contains Major Spoilers.  Inglourious Basterds is a tour de force.  It might have been the masterpiece of a lesser director's filmography. However, it stands out as yet another one of Quentin Tarantino's gems, who rarely misses. In this film, he is both director and screenwriter, and fulfills both roles magnificently. It follows a large cast of characters - from SS General 'The Jew Hunter' Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) to the victim of one of Landa's raids, Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent) to the eponymous Basterds.  There are a number of entwining plotlines. The Nazis are attempting to defeat the allies, but more importantly, they are planning a night out at the cinema to show a movie made in honor of sniper Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl). This cinema happens to be Shosanna's, who is planning on burning it down. The Basterds are trying to get into this cinema to kill the Nazis.  Every character has its place - remove one, and the plot w...

By Lara Culcu. Warning: Contains Spoilers. Based on a true story. Based on the true story of the rivalry between Formula One racers Niki Lauda and James Hunt, Rush is electric. There is seldom a boring moment, but it doesn't fall into the trap of constant action that some other films do. We are given ample time to breathe while watching the interactions between Niki and his eventual wife, Marlene, as well as James and his own wife, Suzy, who later leaves him for Richard Burton, causing a major scandal.  In addition to this, we also see the two drivers interacting with each other - interactions tinged with anger, tension, and in the end, grudging respect.  It's worth noting right from the start that the film takes liberties with real life. Niki Lauda himself stated that the film is 80% correct, and the 20% isn't incorrect enough to bother fans who are watching the film out of their love for the sport and the drivers.  For example, Lauda and Hunt were good friends in real l...

By Lara Culcu. With compelling lead performances and stunning cinematography, it's easy to see why Persona (1966) is widely considered one of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman's best films.  The film follows a young nurse, Alma (Bibi Andersson), who has been assigned to take care of Elisabet Vogler (Liv Ullmann), an actress who has abruptly stopped speaking. The two women move to a beach house so Elisabet can recover from what appears to be a mental breakdown.  Naturally, stuff gets weird. Despite the fact that the concept of 'weird' is entirely subjective, it's hard to deny that towards the end of the film, without giving spoilers, the plot becomes increasingly difficult to decipher without considering the figurative meaning of the visuals on screen.  And the visuals are fantastic. Every shot is worthy of being framed and hung on a wall - or, in the digital age, used as a computer wallpaper. The actresses do a brilliant job of conveying their characters' emotions...