Daniel Parsons (danieljparsons)

The Purge R

A strong premise, superb lead acting, some nice ideas, a nicely judged ending. But also predictable jump scares, over-reliance on last minute character saves, too much squandered potential. Decent but could and should have been better.

Fast & Furious 6 PG-13

Empty headed plotting, vacuous thrills, ridiculously over-the-top stunts and questionable characterisation. Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel look in pain when "acting", but Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Gina Carano are more than decent, and the film is undeniably fun. The promise of Jason Statham in the 7th installment is oddly exciting.

Rosemary's Baby R

Much imitated, never bettered horror classic. Polanski ratchets up the tension practically from the beginning and the story cleverly puts doubt in the viewer as to whether Rosemary is right to be paranoid or if she's just delusional (for instance, was the dream real or imagined?). Mia Farrow is inspired casting, giving a pitch-perfect perfomance and using her physicality to great effect (she seems to get paler and more fragile as the movie progresses). Little bit of trivia: Ira Levin, who wrote the book the film is based on, dedicated the sequel, Son of Rosemary (which was also made into an abysmal made-for-TV film) to Mia Farrow.

Third Star Unrated

A beautifully shot film starring a beautiful quartet of friends, one of whom has terminal cancer, making the journey to said dying friend's most favourite place on Earth to spend one last get-together. Sounds horrible perhaps, but this is truly a stunning, moving, hilarious, wonderful film that has been imbedded in my brain since I saw it on a tiny screen in a near-empty theatre. It's a small film with modest aims that absolutely succeeds on numerous levels and is one of the few films I've watched that had me uncontrollably *sobbing*. You can perhaps tell where it is going but every now and then I found myself wrong-footed in surprising ways. The concluding 15 minutes are a genuine tour-de-force in acting, writing and direction as every possible thought that anyone in such a situation would have is verbalised. To elaborate more would be unfair. This little seen and critically ignored/maligned film is worthy of your time and I implore you to seek it out as this talented director and exceptionally talented cast deserve to go on to do more widely recognised work.