Tag: Stephen Campbell Moore

REVIEW: Red Joan [2019]

Jared Mobarak

That’s a peculiar way of putting it. The government agents within Trevor Nunn‘s Red Joan arrest Joan Stanley (Judi Dench) under suspicion of treason and enthusiastically ask who politicized her because to them only an outsider could have brainwashed someone to act against his/her country on behalf of a foreign enemy. It’s an understandably emotional reaction experienced by a patriot discovering a truth so wildly unbelievable to someone under the belief that his/her nation is the true protagonist of world history. It’s a logical one too considering we’re talking about…

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TIFF15 REVIEW: The Ones Below [2016]

Jared Mobarak

“You’re happier on the outside looking in” With comparisons to Hitchcock and Polanski, David Farr‘s directorial debut The Ones Below starts behind the eight ball straight away. There are definite moments that conjure both masters of suspense, but I’m not sure how much further they reach beyond simply sharing a genre. This isn’t the fault of the idea or actors—the former providing room for thrills and the latter enthralling in duplicitous and psychologically damaged roles—but Farr’s inexperience behind the camera. He often shifts abruptly through time in a disjointed fashion,…

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REVIEW: Season of the Witch [2011]

Jared Mobarak

“Ever get the feeling God has too many enemies?” Despite the random list of characters I’ve seen Nicolas Cage play—not to mention the almost infinite selection of those he could portray in the future—an armored knight fighting in the Crusades was not something I ever imagined to see him attempt. That malleable, chameleon-like hair of his doesn’t quite fit the 14th century, especially when juxtaposed with Ron Perlman’s brutish scowl for the duration. Watching the two very different actors joke before a fight about how the man with the least…

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REVIEW: The Bank Job [2008]

Jared Mobarak

“Knee-deep in fried chicken” I think the fact that The Bank Job is based on a true story makes it more intriguing then it possibly should. As a whole, the film is pretty standard fare for the genre, a bunch of amateurs attempting a huge heist, government conspiracies behind it all, secrets at every turn, and of course the romantic angle of two lovers who can never be together. Really the fact that it is true shouldn’t make a difference, but for some reason it does. Honestly, the plot of…

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