18-23
18. Blindness. Incredibly faithful adaptation, often to its credit but not always (some authorial narration is rendered as dialogue and just doesn't work, and some narration is retained as Danny Glover voiceovers and feels superfluous). Harsh stuff, beautifully shot. Prompted me to get around to reading Seeing.
19.Agora. Lovely from-space shots lend a sense of perspective to melodramatic story; some good individual scenes, but a bit baggy.
20. Hunger.A very tough film to watch, but impeccably made; the last twenty minutes it's hard to look directly at the screen.
21. Iron Man 2. Actually quite enjoyed this, although the Sam Rockwell character was too dumb even to be credible as a comic-book military industrial contractor.
22. State of Play. Obviously not as good as the original mini-series -- this suffers in particular from downgrading the Stephen Collins role, and similarly the newsroom stuff, although I'd swear they just gave some of Bill Nighy's dialogue straight to Helen Mirren. But quite fun.
23. Robin Hood. About 65% beautiful medieval England (at least from the point of view of a non-historian, this seemed one of the most credible medieval Londons to have been put on screen recently), 10% wants to be Lord of the Rings (with a hojillion-horse charge), 15% slightly odd stuff (poacher urchins riding into battle on ponies as Maid Marion's honour guard, sort of), and 10% utterly bonkers stuff (all the bits to do with Robin inventing the magna carta. Or his dad inventing it and Robin rediscovering it after a memory/vision. Or something. And that godawful line about Englishmens' homes being their castles...)
19.Agora. Lovely from-space shots lend a sense of perspective to melodramatic story; some good individual scenes, but a bit baggy.
20. Hunger.A very tough film to watch, but impeccably made; the last twenty minutes it's hard to look directly at the screen.
21. Iron Man 2. Actually quite enjoyed this, although the Sam Rockwell character was too dumb even to be credible as a comic-book military industrial contractor.
22. State of Play. Obviously not as good as the original mini-series -- this suffers in particular from downgrading the Stephen Collins role, and similarly the newsroom stuff, although I'd swear they just gave some of Bill Nighy's dialogue straight to Helen Mirren. But quite fun.
23. Robin Hood. About 65% beautiful medieval England (at least from the point of view of a non-historian, this seemed one of the most credible medieval Londons to have been put on screen recently), 10% wants to be Lord of the Rings (with a hojillion-horse charge), 15% slightly odd stuff (poacher urchins riding into battle on ponies as Maid Marion's honour guard, sort of), and 10% utterly bonkers stuff (all the bits to do with Robin inventing the magna carta. Or his dad inventing it and Robin rediscovering it after a memory/vision. Or something. And that godawful line about Englishmens' homes being their castles...)