To celebrate Views from the Sofa completing its first year, I am presenting the first annual Views from the Sofa awards. These awards aren’t the usual look back over the films, actors and directors of 2012 but instead a look … Continue reading Views from the Sofa Awards
Some movies, regardless of the story or message it is trying to convey, are all about a single performance. That performance doesn’t always have to be the lead actor or main character. It could even be one performance in amongst an ensemble cast. That one performance can often overshadow the whole film, or actually make a film that would be average, an engrossing watch. Shame isn’t an average film but it is a movie about a single performance. It’s supposed to be that way but Michael Fassbender manages to take this one step further. He isn’t just good in Shame, he is amazing! … Continue reading Shame (2011) Review
The original X-Men film and its “prequel” are the perfect films to demonstrate how superhero films have been forced to change. Back when the original X-Men movie was released, it was fine to be all flash and very little in the way of story. The novelty was that you were seeing characters you had only been able to read about in comics or watch on television, actually shooting lasers from their eyes or bend metal at will. Soon though, that wouldn’t be enough. If you create enough of the same type of the film, something has to change. Fantastic Four, … Continue reading X-Men: First Class (2011) Review
Prometheus should never have been the prequel to Alien. In fact, Alien didn’t actually need a prequel. Ridley Scott has said in numerous interviews in preparation for this film that he always thought there was a story to tell behind the original spaceship where the crew in the original Alien found the eggs and what has now been called the “Space Jockey.” He was probably the only one… I never really remember watching the original and ever really caring what the story behind the “Space Jockey” was and why the spaceship had crashed. I was more intrigued by the eggs and what … Continue reading Prometheus (2012) Review
There are some actors that just get catapulted into the spotlight, with everyone knowing who they are immediately, either for the right or wrong reasons. We’ve seen this in the recent past with Shia Lebeouf who found himself included in two popular franchises (Transformers and Indiana Jones) and also, more understandably, Michael Fassbender, who chose amazing films to star in, beginning with X-Men: First Class and continuing with A Dangerous Method and Shame and adding more credence to his name by appearing in this summers Prometheus. On the other side of that are the people who are delivering great performance after great performance but … Continue reading Easy A (2010) Review
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