Blogcritics Author: Ross Miller

Movie Review: The Fall at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2008

Ross Miller — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:38:57 EDT

A visually stunning and wildly creative film.
A straightforward movie, The Fall may not completely work in all areas. The real life world within it mostly fails to engage interest and to keep the attention of the viewer. However when it showcases the imagination it has to offer this is a visually stunning and wildly creative film not just to watch but to experience.In a 1920s Los Angeles...

Movie Review: The Dark Knight

Ross Miller — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:12:20 EDT

Not only the greatest comic book movie ever made but a film that transcends the genre.
It must be at least 18 months since the hype machine was started up for The Dark Knight. It may not have appeared on the average movie goer’s radar until a couple of months before the movie was actually released but for people who spend half their life on the Internet this was followed meticulously from photograph to photograph, new trailer...

Movie Review: WALL�E

Ross Miller — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:07:28 EDT

A film of such visual wonder and flawless animation.
It goes without saying that Pixar are the greatest animation studio in the world - fact, not opinion. And even though as narratives I find a few of them overrated, as far as pure animation quality goes they simply cannot be faulted. WALL·E is their latest and arguably greatest cinematic outing, a film of such visual wonder and flawless...

Movie Review: Lady in the Water

Ross Miller — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:41:21 EDT

Pretentious, ridiculous and downright terrible.
With things like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable on his resume you have to hope that writer/director M. Night Shyamalan, when given basically a blank slate to create a movie, could come up with something inspiring and enthralling. Unfortunately the descriptions that apply to the mess that is Lady in the Water are more along the lines of...

Movie Review: Sleep Dealer at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2008

Ross Miller — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:28:18 EDT

It's worth seeing for its originality and ingenuity alone.
It’s very unusual to find a sci-fi story that is set somewhere like Mexico for example, as this film is. Usually they take place within big, well known cities like New York or Los Angeles, or indeed space, and rarely are there many other elements other than the sci-fi stuff itself. Well Sleep Dealer is certainly an exception to this...

Movie Review: Them (Ils)

Ross Miller — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:22:25 EDT

Once it gets into the flow of things, it's frenetic and extremely heart-pounding stuff.
It’s hard to come across a modern day horror film and find anything other than gore. With films like Hostel and the Saw and their sequels it seems that filmmakers nowadays think that only copious amounts of blood makes a film scary. Well, let me tell you, it’s getting a little tiresome, actually a lot tiresome, and it’s great to...

Movie Review: Grizzly Man

Ross Miller — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:14:36 EDT

Grizzly Man is an engaging, honest, and powerful example of documentary cinema.
Documentary can be a powerful genre of cinema. It can entertain us, inform us, enthrall us, and provide a view of both sides of a particular argument. But it’s quite rare to find one which doesn’t achieve those things through influence or sometimes even sheer force. Grizzly Man is an engaging, honest, and powerful example of documentary...

Movie Review: The Forbidden Kingdom

Ross Miller — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:10:07 EDT

One of the most purely entertaining movies that's been released all year.
The Forbidden Kingdom is acceptable entertainment. It’s not one of those fun but ultimately bad films. It has its share of flaws, but this is all about flying kicks, magic-powered attacks, and fun camaraderie between the characters that makes for one of the most purely entertaining movies that’s been released all year.An American teen...

Movie Review: The Wave (Die Welle) at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2008

Ross Miller — Tue, 8 Jul 2008 06:51:21 EDT

The performances are great, the story interesting, and the messages behind it admirable.
It’s refreshing to see a film that has such weighted ideas being employed within it which are put across so honestly and with such conviction. It takes its time getting into its eventual pace but once it gets there it’s an interesting watch indeed.A high school teacher’s attempt to teach his students what it’s like to be...

Movie Review: Before The Devil Knows You're Dead

Ross Miller — Sun, 6 Jul 2008 18:16:08 EDT

It's very impressive that a director can start making movies over 50 years ago and can even now make something as high in quality as this.
It’s very impressive that a director can start making movies in the late 1950s - with the classic 12 Angry Man, as his very first I might add, - and 50 years on can make something as high in quality as Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead. It’s a true testament for sticking to something you’re good at for as long as you can...