Originally published by Thinking Faith (25 October 2008)

So here it is, Ricky Gervais’ first lead role in a Hollywood film, and a romantic lead at that. Does the chubby funster melt our hearts? Well, sort of. In an unexpected twist, Gervais isn’t that funny but does manage to pull off the dramatic side of things [...]

Posted on October 31st, 2008 by Truphtooph
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You know what you’re getting with this one. An aging, immature nearlyman gets a second chance at rock and roll success which puts to rest the ghosts of his youth and allows him to grow up. Although these formulaic genre films can sometimes be entertaining (School of Rock for instance!) The Rocker is a waste [...]

Posted on October 15th, 2008 by Truphtooph
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Originally published by Thinking Faith (14 October 2008)

Following last year’s Oscar-laden cat-and-mouse thriller No Country for Old Men, the Coen brothers return to more familiar light-hearted territory. Burn After Reading is a screwball comedy in which its wonderfully convoluted plot is the biggest joke of all. To explain the plot is [...]

Posted on October 14th, 2008 by Truphtooph
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Originally published by Thinking Faith (27 September 2008)

“In 2012 the economy collapses…” reads the opening frame of Death Race. Therefore, given the current state of global finances we must take this film as a dramatic pre-construction, facts from the future, and so let me tell you all about the inevitable. Our markets will collapse, unemployment [...]

Posted on September 27th, 2008 by Truphtooph
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Originally published by Thinking Faith (9 September 2008)

Recently novelist William Leith wrote a short piece explaining what drugs will do to a film. Movies on heroin become tragedies in which a romantic hero fails to achieve the euphoria in life that he feels when high and ends up a soulless wretch unable to see beauty [...]

Posted on September 9th, 2008 by Truphtooph
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Originally published by Thinking Faith (29 August 2008)

Despite its yoof title, its period setting, its street slang and drugs, despite its New York hip-hop soundtrack and graffiti fonts, this is a very straight-laced, accessible tale. And a familiar one too – it shares several elements with American Beauty.
Welcome to New York City, summer 1994. Eighteen [...]

Posted on August 29th, 2008 by Truphtooph
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Originally published by Thinking Faith (1 August 2008)

Married Life sets itself up as a quaint little period piece with a stylish animated credit intro showing the chintzy, domestic bliss of prosperous post-war America.  What’s most remarkable about this is that it isn’t some sort of twee counterpoint to a subsequent tale of debauchery like, say, [...]

Posted on August 2nd, 2008 by Truphtooph
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Originally published by Thinking Faith (1 August 2008)

This film about football hooliganism should be better than the others, and not just because that gormless Danny Dyer is nowhere to be seen.  It’s based on the true story of Karol ‘Cass’ Pennant, a black boy with a girl’s name, who was raised by an elderly white [...]

Posted on August 1st, 2008 by Truphtooph
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Originally published by Thinking Faith (24 July 2008)

There’s a comic book called Watchmen.  The story was about a group of superheroes who were forced into retirement by an ungrateful society but must become active again when they start getting killed off one by one.  Its characters were complex, its morality also.  The narrative weaved [...]

Posted on July 24th, 2008 by Truphtooph
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Originally published by Thinking Faith (20 June 2008)

Adulthood is the sequel to Kidulthood. Kidulthood was terrifying. In its opening scene we bounced between scattered groups of 15 year olds in a London school playground. Two girls were talking very graphically about sex, while across the way another couple were actually doing it. Elsewhere girl [...]

Posted on June 20th, 2008 by Truphtooph
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