Category Archives: Film

The Hobbit

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

In brief, it’s The Hobbit made into what it was after LOTR. In the appendices to LOTR JRR manages to fit the two novels together, sorting out the role and nature of Gollum’s ring, and making the Necromancer in Mirkwood, … Continue reading →

Posted in Film | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Ginger and Rosa

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

Advance reviews not good: poor script, poor Rotten-Tomatoes score. Luckily I don’t often read reviews, and when I do often ignore them, as I really enjoyed the film. Sure enough, once warned of poor script you’re on the look out, … Continue reading →

Posted in Film | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Social Network

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

Miserable film – what twats. Why didn’t the Winklevosses or Savarin just walk away and have an ordinary life? And Harvard – what an obnoxious place. And the students – both sexes – how horrible are they, and how horrible … Continue reading →

Posted in Film | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

“My Week With Marilyn” or “quorum pars parva fui…”

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

A strangely unthinking film: Colin Clark’s diaries, the basis of the story, are used too straight: too often we hear a bon mot from a Great One (it may be Larry, it may be Sybil Thorndike), overheard at the door … Continue reading →

Posted in Film | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tell No One (Ne le dis à personne)

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

A long and involved French thriller, intriguing and violent. All about what-really-happened-that-night-all-those-years-ago. Spoilt by the ending, where one of the characters [SPOILER AVOIDANCE, SORT OF] gives one version – shown, with his commentary as a voiceover – replaced shortly after … Continue reading →

Posted in Film | Leave a comment

The Hunger Games

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

A great example of mythic cinema: a story which echoes, bounces round, firing grappling hooks to draw things together. The Imperial world is that of the Sun King, of Rome, of Brazil; the game arena is the world of Truman, … Continue reading →

Posted in Film | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Shawshank Redemption

Posted on March 11, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

Why is this a bad film? Because it’s not true to life. The goodies are unrelentingly good, so it’s sentimental, and the baddies all bad, so it’s brutalised. Typical moronic box-office desperation: crank up the violence to make ’em feel … Continue reading →

Posted in Film | Leave a comment

“He’s Just Not That Into You”

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

The kind of set-up that you find in foreign films at Curzon cinemas: the lives of several young people come together in different ways; subplots cross over and merge, weaving a meditation on love and humanity. This one though doesn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Film | Tagged , | Leave a comment

“Are We There Yet?”

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

Awful comedy with some very funny gross bits (man holding a boy who’s urinating in a woman’s face; boy (same one) causing a near-pile-up by projectile-vomiting over a windscreen; and the man fighting a deer is funny too, albeit ungross. … Continue reading →

Posted in Film | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

“The Invention of Lying”

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

Ricky Gervais weaves together Gulliver’s Travels and the Midas myth to create a funny and provocative anti-religion story, yet as usual one which attacks merely the straw man of Sunday-School religion: no worries for the modern C of E… ;-). … Continue reading →

Posted in Film | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment