Cut Print Review

The Men Who Stare at Goats (Review)

You would be forgiven for expecting a lot of sharp comedy from Grant Heslov’s The Men Who Stare at Goats. The plot contains an interesting mix of elements that should act as seeds for engaging, thematic humour. Unfortunately, the film restricts itself to a few moments of hilarity, leaving the rest of the story to become ‘quirky’ and rather average. It is by no means bad, of course, but rather a case of what ‘could have been’ that [...]

The Illusionist (2006) (Review)

Magic is a fascinating art form because it plays with our need to discover the illusion, whilst feeding our desire for it to be real supernatural power. Neil Burger’s The Illusionist takes this desire and runs with it, constructing a world where the audience is asked to question whether events in the film are mystical or trickery. The same technique was used in Christopher Nolan’s thriller The Prestige with great success. Unfortunately, The Illusionist provides a less stimulating [...]

Nine (Review)

Whoever made the Nine trailer deserves an award, what an amazing teaser! Unfortunately most of the film doesn’t live up to any expectations of Rob Marshall or the plethora of high calibre actors within the film. Adapted from the stage musical of the same name which was based on Fellini’s 8 ½.

Some might argue that Rob Marshall in his previous musical Chicago, actually took something big and made it better. However second time around it [...]

9 (Review)

Arriving late in an apocalypse-obsessed year of film, the action-centric animated flick 9 is a gloomy survival story that treads all too familiar ground with its mechanical narrative and shallow characters. But boy does it look pretty!

The brains behind the project is animator/director Shane Acker, whose 11-minute short of the same name deservingly earned him an Academy Award nomination in 2005 and can now be watched in-full on YouTube (spoilers abound). It didn’t win Acker [...]

The Invention of Lying (Review)

The art of keeping up appearances through both lying and telling the truth has been explored in various Hollywood films over time. Strangely enough, Jim Carrey comes to mind – he’s involved himself on both sides (think The Truman Show and Liar Liar). But when one of Hollywood’s newer funny-men introduces himself to the ‘lie’ sub-genre in a film concerning the invention of the lie, it appears to be a fresh idea full of possibilities. Englishman Ricky Gervais [...]

A Christmas Carol 3D (Review)

Written in 1843 by Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol is one of the most popular Christmas tales of all time, having undergone over a dozen movie adaptations in the last century. Directed by Robert Zemeckis (The Polar Express, Beowulf) and starring Jim Carrey, this 3D animated version brings the classic story vividly to life once more, although it’s not nearly as kid-friendly as you’d expect for a Disney film.

To refresh your memories, the classic tale [...]