glumpy_99

glumpy99
Criticker Zealot - 7228 Film Ratings
Member Since: 21 Oct 2010
Location: Australia
Age: 41
TCI: not enough ratings
Films in Common: 0
Not in Your Top 1000 TCIs
Bio: "The complete filmgoer is open to the movie on the screen, and asks it to work in its own ways for its own purposes. He does not fault one for not being the other, but is grateful for both if they are successful." - Roger Ebert, Review of "Keane" (2004)

Top 10:
#10 Gone With The Wind (1939)
#9 The Godfather (1972)
#8 Some Like It Hot (1959)
#7 Jackie Brown (1997)
#6 A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
#5 Tootsie (1982)
#4 The Big Sleep (1946)
#3 Network (1976)
#2 JFK (1991)
#1 Chinatown (1974)

more Recent Ratings

47 9% Steamboy (2004) - Rated 16 Mar 2024
"Creatively designed animated saga starts with a bang, with an appealing evocation of 1800s London combining well with some eccentric “modern” designs and characters. A pity that a good start is all this film can offer, with the characters and their plots and plans becoming dull and repetitious, eventually devolving into scenes of frantic activity, and leaving narrative coherency in the dust. A fun (English dub) cast do their best, with Paquin, Stewart and Molina injecting what they can."
81 65% Ivan's Childhood (1962) - Rated 16 Mar 2024
"Tarkovsky’s sense of visual style here is almost unparalleled, especially for a debut – any random freeze frame produces a stunning composition. That tightly controlled sense of style and construction does lend the film an emotional rigidity, even as Burlyayev’s impressive victim of dehumanisation makes for a touching focal point. Falters at the finale, attempting a melodramatic catharsis that (by design) the film hasn’t really earned, but still an interesting and stimulating experience."
54 13% Severed (2005) - Rated 16 Mar 2024
"There’s considerable potential here as Bessai puts a unique and distinctive stamp on the zombie genre, but unfortunately the film comes undone by apparent budgetary issues – there is clearly not quite enough in the bank for Bessai to achieve what he wants to, despite the generally capable performers, and an interesting eco-message buried beneath the blood and carnage. Happy to bump this to a pass for the ambition, even if the execution is somewhat stymied."
28 2% Kaena: The Prophecy (2003) - Rated 16 Mar 2024
"Tired and dreary anime tells a dull and convoluted adventure tale full of characters difficult to become invested in, enacted by a cast sounding as bored as their animated counterparts (only Dunst manages to bring some light to proceedings). Confounded further by hideously ugly, blocky animation, that looks like a reject from a very early PlayStation game."
73 44% Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) - Rated 16 Mar 2024
"Possibly the best of the glut of “Old Timey Characters… with Zombies/Vampires” from the 2010s – it suffers from trying too hard to weave in a historical portrait, but good fun as a vampire movie in different clothes, with Walker a convincing Lincoln, and Cooper camping it up mercilessly as a Lestat-like ally – his diabolical energy fuels the film to push past some occasional lags in the storytelling (especially when Winstead’s inappropriately sincere Mary Todd moves centre stage)."
70 37% Marc Maron; From Bleak to Dark (2023) - Rated 13 Mar 2024
"Decent set from Maron is pretty much par for the course, though spotlighting his gift of turning self-pity on its head with an amusing turn of phrase – there’s nothing really gut-busting here, and like many an apparently “woke” comic can’t see the irony of issuing the threat of censure-with-consequences for those who would dare to say anything he doesn’t approve of, but there are enough good moments (and a touching remembrance of Lynn Shelton) to make this worthwhile."
53 12% Unbroken (2014) - Rated 12 Mar 2024
"This should really be far more moving and involving than it is, and the major problem is a screenplay that can never bring its leading character (or his plight) into focus – search in vain for any trace of influence from the Coens, this is a rote and ultimately tedious accounting of Zamperini’s ordeal, with neither the athletic scenes or the POW scenes managing to raise much tension; hindered further by O’Connell’s blank cipher rendering of the central character."
68 32% The Indian in the Cupboard (1995) - Rated 12 Mar 2024
"Kiddie fantasy/adventure saga has an interesting premise and a capable cast (though Crouse and Jenkins aren’t asked to stretch much), but there’s a spark and fire missing that means the film never really comes to life despite everyone’s best efforts – once the set-up is done and we kick into Act 2, it comes to a screeching halt with some not-quite digressions on American Indian history that are worthy subject areas, but not in a movie with its head in the fantasy clouds."
63 24% Sand Sharks (2011) - Rated 11 Mar 2024
"One of the better bargain basement TVMs washed in on the SHARKNADO tsunami, with the expected ham-fistedness in direction and performances offset somewhat by a knowing nod and a wink to the absurdity of it all – the comic highlight should be Hogan’s entrance as a world renowned marine scientist with an always plunging neckline, but (as noted by others) it’s the panicked beach scenes where this hits its comic stride, with the same extras running up and down the beach to simulate a larger crowd!"
69 34% El Conde (2023) - Rated 10 Mar 2024
"Treading carefully to avoid spoilers, but fascinating how Larraín pulls a last minute switch to tie this back to his series of portraits of female political players of the 20th Century (and I knew that voice was familiar, but I couldn’t place it!) Overall feels like a neat idea slightly bungled in the execution, with some nicely acerbic comedy marrying well with Lachman’s stark and chilly cinematography, but weighed down by a lot of clunkily wordy dialogue scenes which break the spell."