Film Review: "Deepsea Challenge 3D" (2014).

"Deep. Dangerous. Determined." This is Deepsea Challenge 3D. This documentary film directed by John Bruno, Ray Quint and Andrew Wight and written by Wight and John Garvin. As a boy, filmmaker James Cameron dreamed of a journey to the deepest part of the ocean. This film is the dramatic fulfillment of that dream. It chronicles Cameron’s solo dive to the depths of the Mariana Trench—nearly seven miles beneath the ocean’s surface—piloting a submersible he designed himself. The risks were astounding. The footage is breathtaking. The film is a celebration of science, courage, and extraordinary human aspiration.

On 26 March, 2012, filmmaker and Deepsea explorer James Cameron piloted the craft to accomplish this goal in the second manned dive reaching the Challenger Deep. Built in Sydney, Australia by the research and design company Acheron Project Pty Ltd, Deepsea Challenger includes scientific sampling equipment and high-definition 3-D cameras; it reached the ocean's deepest point after two hours and thirty-six minutes of descent from the surface. The Deepsea Challenger (DCV 1) is a 7.3-metre (twenty-four ft) deep-diving submersible designed to reach the bottom of Challenger Deep, the deepest-known point on Earth.

Yes, the work they're doing is mind-boggling and important, but sometimes the images alone are more than capable of speaking for themselves. Once you get used to the "awesome" and "wow"-heavy dialogue, Cameron's excursion into the deep ocean trenches delivers some fascinating 3D footage. The experience is so immediate and immersive that you actually feel as if you are swimming with the krill. There are impressive rock formations and many other fine things to see, along with an interesting science lesson. Much of the allure of the film comes from Cameron's easygoing, rather unscientific approach to the project. It is useful to be reminded every once in a while that there's a whole universe of things we don't know, and that their discovery is exciting. Most of us will never have the good fortune to see these sights in their natural habitats, but the marvelous 3D imagery reveals them gloriously. The film captures not only the majesty of the brinier depths - but also the fascination therein that keeps luring Cameron back to the ocean. Cameron's showmanship and his on-screen appearances make his documentaries far livelier than your usual scientific expedition documentary, and this one is no exception. Last time we checked, 'Cool' wasn't in the official scientist-jargon handbook, go see this to be entertained rather than to be educated. The ninety-one-minute spellbinder will make your jaw drop with awe. And, like the best documentaries, it will also make you think. One sign of a successful 3D outing is how it makes you believe you are there in every frame, and this one does. The final shot, in particular, is awesome, and confirms that the sooner Cameron gets back to making proper movies, instead of Boys' Own diversions, the better. In the end, you have to give Cameron points for putting his financial muscle behind scientific expeditions rather than, say, lavish parties.

Simon says Deepsea Challenge 3D receives:

Film Review: "Palo Alto" (2013).

"In every city some seek love, some look for trouble, others look for both." This is Palo Alto. This drama film adapted and directed by Gia Coppola and based on James Franco's 2010 short story collection of the same name. A lack of parental guidance encourages teens in an affluent California town to rebel with substance abuse and casual sex.

By November 2012, Emma Roberts, James Franco, Jack Kilmer, Nat Wolff, Val Kilmer, Margaret Qualley and Chris Messina were cast in an adaption of Franco's 2010 short story collection of the same name with Gia Coppola making her directorial debut. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in December. Filming took place throughout Palo Alto, California.

The film stars Roberts, Franco, Kilmer, Wolff, Kilmer, Qualley and Messina. The true entertainment is provided by the cast, especially Roberts. If high school and teen shenanigans aren't your cup of tea, it's almost worth watching for their performances alone.

Gia Coppola + Emma Roberts + James Franco... do we need to say anymore? Coppola is arguably one of the best filmmakers to capture the achingly annoying experience of being stuck in an arrested state (especially as a teenager). Through her creative eye, Coppola is able to emphasise the 'hopelessness' of the characters whose vapidness disappears when they commit their crimes, while capturing their unpolished refinement. A film that is as cold and callous as its subject matter. It's a calculated risk by Coppola, but one that ultimately works. I liked the film, even if I felt a little dirty afterward. It's taut, makes its point without hammering it home, well acted (particularly Roberts; I know!) and visually delicious. Aided by a lively young cast (headed by Unfabulous star Emma Roberts), the writer-director creates a film that entertains as much as it appalls. The film is a drama, a gentle (if thin) drama of hopeless teenagers, and a canny probe into the ecosystem of California's teen culture and the weird influence it exerts on the rest of the population. Coppola definitely finds a captivating way of telling the tale. Her script and the performances give us something thought-provoking out of something superficial. Coppola's unflinching portrayal is social commentary disguised as teen drama, superbly photographed by Autumn Cheyenne Durald and with pitch perfect acting, especially from Roberts. It tells of the same sickness as her aunt Sofia's works, in other words, but it aims for accessibility instead of sublimity. What it doesn't have is a clear point of view, something that would make it of more interest than leafing through a high school yearbook. The sense of detachment that is a signature of Coppola's aunt -- the coolly distant, stylishly dreamlike way she regards her characters -- may work to her detriment. But the film gives you the feeling that you can reach out and slap these hopeless teens out of their apathy - unfortunately you're restricted to your seat and to your judgement - Coppola makes you work.

Simon says Palo Alto receives:

Film Review: "Guardians of the Galaxy" (2014).

"So here we are: a thief, two thugs, an assassin and a maniac. But we're not going to stand by as evil wipes out the galaxy." This line, from the trailer, is basically what Marvel’s surprisingly unique film, Guardians of the Galaxy, is all about. Based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name, created by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, and produced by Marvel Studios. It is the tenth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film is directed by James Gunn, who wrote the screenplay with Nicole Perlman. In the film, Light years from Earth and 26 years after being abducted, Peter Quill finds himself the prime target of a manhunt after discovering an orb wanted by Ronan the Accuser and forms an uneasy alliance with a group of extraterrestrial misfits who are on the run as well.

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige first mentioned Guardians of the Galaxy as a potential film at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International. Feige announced that the film was in active development at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con International during the Marvel Studios panel, with an intended release date of August 1, 2014. He stated that the film's titular team would consist of the characters Star-Lord, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Groot, and Rocket Raccoon. Nicole Perlman, who was enrolled in Marvel's screenwriting program in 2009, was offered several of their lesser known properties to base a screenplay on. Out of those, Perlman chose Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's Guardians of the Galaxy, due to her interest in space and science fiction. In early 2012, James Gunn was brought in to contribute to the script. Gunn eventually rewrote the script entirely because "it didn’t work" for him; he would use the film The Dirty Dozen as a reference to convey his ideas of the film to Marvel.

The film features an ensemble cast including Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, and Benicio del Toro. The performances in this film were all superbly performed. Chris Pratt gives a winning performance as Star-Lord. Saldana gave her best performance in a Science-Fiction film yet! Bautista gave a terrific first performance as Drax. Diesel and Copper gave the best performance of the entire film as Cooper stole the show as Rocket and Diesel was the heart and soul of the film. Pace gave a menacing performance as Ronan. As well as Gillan as Nebula. Reilly gave the films comical touch.

It is an out-of-body experience. Guardians of the Galaxy is the movie that's going to entertain a lot of contemporary folk who have a soft spot for the virtually ritualized manners of Marvel comic-book adventure and it is Marvel’s most elaborate, most expensive, most beautiful movie ever made! Gunn has succeeded in his attempt to create the biggest possible adventure fantasy based on Marvel’s most unknown property and films from his childhood. A legendary expansive and ambitious effort to the sci-fi genre, Gunn opens our eyes to the possibilities of that kind of blockbuster film-making and things may never be the same. In conclusion, it is a grandiose and unique epic with a simple and whimsical heart.

Simon says Guardians of the Galaxy receives:

Also, see my review for Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Film Review: "And So It Goes" (2014).

"There Are A Million Reasons Not To Like Oren Little. Just Ask Everyone" in And So It Goes. This romantic comedy drama film directed by Rob Reiner, and written by Mark Andrus. Oren is deliberately mean to the people around him. However, he is forced to change his attitude and take help from his neighbour Leah when he is asked to look after his nine-year-old granddaughter.

By early June 2013, Michael Douglas, Diane Keaton, Sterling Jerins, and Annie Parisse were cast in a romantic comedy drama with Reiner as director, and written by Andrus. Sissy Spacek was offered the female lead role, but turned it down. Reiner cast himself as Artie because he needed an actor who would work for scale pay on short notice. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and took place throughout California and Connecticut. In late December, it was announced that Marc Shaiman was hired to score the film.

The film stars Douglas, Keaton, Jerins, Parisse, and Reiner. As Reiner should know better and Douglas should know better and Keaton should know better, what you have here is a film which has to make you ask: how come they did? When actors as great as Douglas and Keaton can't make dialogue sound natural, you know the script is a stinkeroo. Even the stellar pairing of Douglas and Keaton yields few sparks.

Not even the earnest performances of the two leads can rescue And So It Goes from its schmaltzy script. Whilst this remains reasonably captivating for its first hour, it kinda runs out of steam after that. It is contrived and forced, almost begging the audience to pull out the hankie. Additionally, it is sentimental, simplistic, and almost shamefully manipulative, I found it absolutely anything but charming. The film plays like Much Ado About Nothing, reimagined as an uninspired sitcom. Considering Reiner's output lately, it's tempting to call the film a triumph, if only on the grounds that it's not awful. The problem is that it isn't any good either. The film doesn't a by-the-numbers Reiner comedy movie about an odd couple of opposites just about say it all? Once more, Reiner defines himself as the schlock artist who knows, as do his stars, that coots with familiar faces can walk through this garden of schmaltz with their eyes closed. This film has the same level of false, mediocre level of entertainment as Something's Gotta Give (2003). If you liked that one, then you might like this. But I despise both. The film is far from a good movie, but it is a great opportunity to watch a pair of great actors at the top of their game. It pales in comparison to the talents of its stars. A lazy and condescending package from top to bottom. Despite its scripted shortcomings, the film is poignantly filled with heart, guaranteed to tug at your heartstrings and tear ducts as we each face our own mortality, hopefully with the same love and compassion as Leah and Sarah, like Oren.

Simon says And So It Goes receives:

NZIFF Classic Film Review: "Miss Europe" ("Prix de beauté") (1930).

From Italian film pioneer, Augusto Genina, and American flapper icon and sex symbol, Louise Brooks, comes Miss Europe (Prix de beauté). This 1930 French film directed by Genina, and written by René Clair and G. W. Pabst. A beautiful typist enters the Miss Europe beauty contest, much to the disapproval of her jealous beau.

Throughout the 1920s and 30s, Mary Louise Brooks, professionally known as Louise Brooks, was one of noted actress, dancer, flapper icon and sex symbol. Her bob hairstyle that she helped popularize during the prime of her career. Prior to Miss Europe, Brooks is best known as the lead in Europe: Pandora's Box (1929), and Diary of a Lost Girl (1929); both made by G. W. Pabst. She starred in seventeen silent films and eight sound films before retiring in 1938, and began dancing in nightclubs and working as sales girl at Saks Fifth Avenueto earn a living. Brooks went on to write many witty and intelligent essays on the film industry. In 1982, Brooks published her memoir, Lulu in Hollywood; three years later she died of a heart attack at age seventy-eight. The film is notable for being Brooks' first sound film, even though all of her dialogue and singing were ultimately dubbed. According to Brooks biographer Barry Paris, the film was made from late August 1929 to late September 1929. The film was released on August 20, 1930; making it Brooks' third and final European film of her career. This film is an early example of sound film in France, along with L'Age d'Or and Under the Roofs of Paris, both released in 1930.

The film stars Brooks, Georges Charlia, Augusto Bandini, Andre Nicolle, Marc Ziboulsky, Yves Glad, Alex Bernard, Gaston Jacquet, and Jean Bradin. The cast gave spectacular performances. But it's the brilliant performance by the radiantly beautiful Brooks that makes this otherwise forgettable soap opera story memorable. What prevents all of this from teetering over into burlesque is Brooks, who delivers what is surely one of the greatest examples of naturalist acting on film. There is something hypnotically unbridled about Brooks's performance. Brooks overwhelms the lens with her magnetic eyes. Brooks, who, just like her character, conveys both a seductive and tragic beauty to be admired and sympathised with. Even though Brooks is attractive and she moves her head and eyes at the proper moment, but whether she is endeavoring to express joy, woe, anger or satisfaction it is often difficult to decide. Nonetheless, Brooks offers a brilliantly guileless performance. There would never be another Brooks - nor will there ever be. Charlia portrayed the archetype of the over-protective man (or the "jealous type") who can't keep his emotions in check just as he can't keep the woman he loves in the most obsessive and possessive way.

A masterpiece of the silent era, and a showcase for one of the silver screen's greatest stars. A deliciously sordid soap opera. What rescues the movie from quaint anonymity is the nausea-inducing darkness that permeates its every frame. The tragic beauty tormented by the deleterious effects of the jealous and possessive man remains one of the most haunting synergies, especially in this silent classic. It's lightning in a bottle - remarkable, and endlessly fascinating. Full of striking imagery which, once seen, will stay with you forever, this is a highly accomplished piece of work which brings together some of the greatest talents of the era. With Miss Europe you forget that it's black and white. You forget that the internet has yet to happen. You forget that more than two hours have gone by. You forget because it's completely one hundred per cent gripping and involving in a modern sense. The movie's horrifying and beautiful conclusion becomes more poignant and powerful with each passing year. There is so much of modern movie life here that the picture, like Brooks' beauty, defies the ravages of time. If ever an actor was born to be seen in black-and-white it was Louise Brooks, who is as luminous as ever in this new restoration of Augusto Genina's silent nightmare-melodrama. One of the classic films of the French silent era. The film is more interested in the waywardness of almost everyone's longings and in their failures of self-preservation than it is about Lulu's particular immorality or recklessness. Miss Europe is a French silent film that any radiant women could relate to. They wouldn't like the way it ends, though. Give all due credit to Genina, but Brooks pretty much single-handedly raises the film above being just another doomed-girl melodrama. She makes Lucienne unfathomable, a well that always has more to give. Therefore, so is the film. Bold for its time, this restored, uncut version is a touch slow at some points, but its star glows throughout. If you've never seen Brooks - or Miss Europe - you've missed one of the most extraordinary personalities and films of the silent movie era. Genina was a psychologically astute filmmaker, but it's the shockingly sensual, charismatic Brooks that makes the picture. The movie remains one of the most insightful depictions of the elemental incongruity between man's nature and woman's. It's something that should not be missed. More than a little overbaked and frequently veering from the artistic to the artsy. But Brooks is, herself, every inch a classic. Neither an exposé of social conditions nor a psychological case study and certainly not a moral parable Miss Europe is a tour de force of tragic cinematic feminism. This is a stirring vision of the world gripped by a sinister moral vice - a nosedive into a carnal abyss of despair lined with visionary chiaroscuro sights and thorny mythological references. One of the great films about the mysterious allure of the female form and the destructive power of the male gaze that's inflicted upon it. It's a stunning film, no question, with sexuality that is quite frank for its day, effective atmosphere and, of course, Brooks' stunning performance.

Simon says Miss Europe (Prix de beauté) receives:

Also, see my NZIFF review for Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête).

NZIFF Classic Film Review: "Beauty and the Beast" ("La Belle et la Bête") (1946).

For my twelfth and final entry for the NZIFF, I have watched, what I consider, the most beautifully gothic and possibly the best take on the classic fairy-tale, Jean Cocteau's La Belle et la Bête, or Beauty and the Beast. “Children believe what we tell them. They have complete faith in us. They believe that a rose plucked from a garden can plunge a family into conflict. They believe that the hands of a human beast will smoke when he slays a victim, and that this will cause the beast shame when a young maiden takes up residence in his home. They believe a thousand other simple things. I ask of you a little of this childlike simplicity, and, to bring us luck, let me speak four truly magic words, childhood's open sesame: "Once upon a time..."” This scroll, about the essence of a child’s love for fairy tales and fairy tales itself, opens this 1946 French romantic fantasy, an adaptation of the traditional fairy tale of the same name, written by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont and published in 1757 as part of a fairy tale anthology (Le Magasin des Enfants, ou Dialogues entre une sage gouvernante et ses élèves, London 1757). Directed by French poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau, the film stars Josette Day as Belle and Jean Marais. The plot of Cocteau's film revolves around Belle's father who is sentenced to death for picking a rose from Beast's garden. Belle offers to go back to the Beast in her father's place. Beast falls in love with her and proposes marriage on a nightly basis which she refuses. Belle eventually becomes more drawn to Beast, who tests her by letting her return home to her family and telling her that if she doesn't return to him within a week, he will die of grief.

This film adaptation of La Belle et la Bete adds a subplot involving Belle's suitor Avenant, who schemes along with Belle's brother and sisters to journey to Beast's castle to kill him and capture his riches while the sisters work to delay Belle's return to the castle. When Avenant enters the magic pavilion which is the source of Beast's power, he is struck by an arrow fired by a guardian statue of the Roman goddess Diana, which transforms Avenant into Beast as Belle declares her love for the Beast and reverses the original Beast's curse. When the Beast comes back to life and becomes human at the end, he transforms into a Prince Charming with Avenant's handsome features, but without his oafish personality. The adaptation also borrows from La Chatte Blanche by Marie-Cathérine d'Aulnoy, published in Les Contes des Fées, Paris 1697-1698, in which servants, previously magically reduced to their arms and hands, still perform all servants' chores. In the original tale, Belle has three brothers, whereas in the film, she only has one. Also in the original tale, Belle and her family are forced to move to a farmstead in the countryside after the loss of their fortune; in the film, they continue to live in their townhouse. Also in the original tale, the sisters are turned into statues as punishment for their cruelty, whereas in the film, they are merely forced to carry the train of Belle's gown at her wedding, though it is implied that they will now be her servants. In the fairytale, Belle repeatedly has dreams about a handsome prince (the Beast in his true form) imploring her to love the Beast, to which she replies she cannot. She believes this Prince is, like herself, a captive in the Beast's castle and searches for him during the day. This does not occur in the film. Jean Marais originally suggested to Cocteau for the beast to have a stag's head, obviously remembering a detail in the fairy tale La Chatte blanche: The knocker at the gate to the castle of the princess/The White Cat has the form of a roe's foot. While this suggestion followed the narrative lines of its fairy tale origin and would have evoked the mythical echo of Cernunnos, the Celtic stag-headed god of the woods. Marais' idea was nonetheless refused by Cocteau who feared that in the eyes of modern cinema audiences a stag's head would turn the beast into a laughing-stock.

Beauty and the Beast is a priceless fabric of subtle images, a fabric of gorgeous visual metaphors, of undulating movements and rhythmic pace, of hypnotic sounds and music, of casually congealing ideas. the dialogue, in French, is spare and simple, with the story largely told in pantomime, and the music of Georges Auric accompanies the dreamy, fitful moods. Jean Cocteau's film remains the most seductive version of the classic Gothic Romance tale. Conjuring pure magic from the simplest of effects, the film's Beast makeup is so perfectly detailed that you forget the fact that those longing eyes staring out from it belong to a man (more specifically, the film's male lead Jean Marais). The settings are likewise expressive, many of the exteriors having been filmed for rare architectural vignettes at Raray, one of the most beautiful palaces and parks in all France. And the costumes, too, by Christian Bérard and Escoffier, are exquisite affairs, glittering and imaginative. The film is a wondrous spectacle for children of any language, and quite a treat for their parents, too. But yet it's not exactly a film for children, however it is one generations of children have enjoyed. And it has the ability, just like Disney films, to bring out the child in adults. Cocteau's first full-length movie is perhaps the most sensuously elegant of all filmed fairy tales. As a child can escape from everyday life to the magic of a storybook, so, in the film, Beauty's farm with its Vermeer simplicity, fades in intensity as we are caught up in the Gustave Doré extravagance of the Beast's enchanted landscape. In Christian Berard's makeup, Marais is a magnificent beast, giving us a Beast who is lonely like a man and misunderstood like an animal; Beauty's sacrifice to him holds no more horror than a satisfying romantic fantasy should have. The film is as much a feat of feverish delight as it was in the dark days of Vichy and World War II: a magical passage to another, more impassioned and bewitching era. "Astonish Me!" was Cocteau's special motto. Astonish us he does in this film.

Simon says Beauty and the Beast receives:

Also, see my NZIFF review for Snowpiercer.

NZIFF Film Review: "Snowpiercer" (2013).

For my tenth entry for the NZIFF, I have watched what might possibly be one of the most original Science-Fiction films in cinema history, Snowpiercer (설국열차; Seolgungnyeolcha). “Order is the barrier that holds back the flood of death. We must all of us on this train of life remain in our allotted station. We must each of us occupy our preordained particular position… In the beginning, order was proscribed by your ticket: First Class, Economy, and freeloaders like you. Eternal order is prescribed by the sacred engine: all things flow from the sacred engine, all things in their place, all passengers in their section, all water flowing. all heat rising, pays homage to the sacred engine, in its own particular preordained position. So it is. Now, as in the beginning, I belong to the front. You belong to the tail… Know your place. Keep your place…” This line describes the whole entire premise and theme of this science fiction action film based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette. The film is directed by Bong Joon-ho, his English-language debut, and was adapted by Bong and Kelly Masterson. The film is Set in a future where a failed climate-change experiment kills all life on the planet except for a lucky few who boarded the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe, where a class system emerges.

In 2005, Bong visited his regular comic book shop in Hongdae area, Seoul during pre-production of The Host (2006). He found Jean-Marc Rochette's French graphic novel series Le Transperceneige and finished reading the entire series while standing in front of the bookshelf where he found it. He was fascinated by ideas of people struggling on the train for survival, and every section is classified in social stratification. Bong showed the series to his friend, fellow director Park Chan-wook, who loved it as well. In the following year, Park's production company Moho Films secured the screen rights to the series for Bong. During the pre-production in South Korea, Bong wanted a film studio with a 75–100 meters long space to fill four train cars connected together. Therefore, Bong and his production team travelled to Europe for a studio scouting and ended up with two studio choices: Barrandov Studios in Czech Republic and Korda Studios in Hungary. In September 2011, A Czech producer hired by the production team began negotiations with two film studios for availability, Barrandov Studios was chosen eventually for the film studio and production service provider of "Snowpiercer". In mid-March 2012, the film crew travelled to Tyrol, Austria to shoot some snowy scenery on the Hintertux Glacier in one day. Principal photography officially began on April 16, 2012 and wrapped on July 14 in Barrandov Studios. The post-production was carried out in South Korea.

The film was released on August 1, 2013, in South Korea where it went on to break box office records. On September 7, 2013, the film was screened as the closing film of the Deauville American Film Festival, and was released in France on October 30. Before the official German release on 3 April, 2014, the film was selected to screen at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival as the part of Berlin Forum. The film's UK premiere took place at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on 22 June 2014, but an official release date has not yet been announced.

The North American rights were acquired by The Weinstein Company in 2012, based on the script and some completed footage, with a plan for wide release in the United States and Canada. However it was only released in the US on June 27, 2014 in just eight theaters in selected cities. This delay was caused by Harvey Weinstein, an owner of The Weinstein Company, requesting 20 minutes of footage be cut and opening and closing monologues be added. Bong refused to cut it. American fans anticipating the film were outraged, spawning the Free Snowpiercer petition campaign (founded by cinematic activist Denise Heard-Bashur) demanding the director's cut of the film to be released in the US. Eventually Bong succeeded in getting the film released in an uncut form, however Weinstein retaliated by relegating the film to Radius-TWC, which meant the film only received a limited release in art house cinemas. On July 2, it was announced that thanks to the positive reviews and buzz the film would get a wider US release and play in over 150 theaters.

The film stars Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, Go Ah-sung, Jamie Bell, John Hurt, Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, and Ed Harris. The performances in this film were all superbly portrayed and are some of the best performances of their careers. Evans' performance more intense and emotional than his performances in the "Captain America" films. Song Kang-ho and G Ah-sung's third and second collaboration with Bong Joon-ho has their finest performances as father and daughter (just like in The Host). Full of Korean wit and humor that made this picture unique. They are also key elements that make this film a Bong Joon-ho film. Bell gave a great performance and pulled off a great Irish accent. Hurt gave his performance in years! Swinton gave us the best villain role of 2014, if not in the Science Fiction genre. She finds nice new ways to convey crazy menace with each new role. Certainly he's the most colorful figure in a film that wastes no time on character development or personality. As well as Harris, who gave a unique perspective as a villain. Both Swinton and Harris are known to have portrayed villains in the past and this is their best! Finally Spencer has given a great action movie performance.

A terrific blockbuster thriller, Snowpiercer is taut, tense, and energetic, with outstanding performances from Chris Evans and Song Kang-ho. Films like this one belong to the genre I call Sitting-on-the-Edge-of-Your-Seat Movies, because you're always sitting on the edge of your seat as you’re watching it. Action flicks are usually written off as a simple genre and films that go in the other direction, of course, rarely work. But the film works like a charm. It's a reminder of how much movie escapism can still stir us when it's dished out its sociological and multilayered themes and story. It's a pleasure to be in the hands of a filmmaker who respects the audience. Bong Joon-Ho’s craftsmanship is so supple that even the sociological messages seem justified.

Simon says Snowpeircer receives:

Also, see my NZIFF review for The Babadook.