mattheweastel Reviews

The World's Fastest Indian (2005)

Great story, middle of the road adaptation

[6/10 · 1 April 2019]

I know quite a bit about the incredible story of the great Burt Munro and it should make for great movie fodder, but the way this was put together and saturated with a melodramatic soundtrack throughout seemed quite lazy. I'm assuming it was made to be as accessible as possible, as no relationships or characters are really explored, but this could have been so much better with just a bit more care.

I also couldn't quite grasp Anthony Hopkin's accent, it sounded very west-country British at times to my Cornish ears, although I'm not a Kiwi accent expert!

Napoleon (1927)

Utterly astonishing

[10/10 · 20 October 2017]

I've never felt compelled to write a review on here before, but have just enjoyed the fairly recently released four part, 5+ hour version of this film painstakingly restored by Kevin Brownlow and wanted to highlight what a revelation this was. As mentioned in a review by Quibble more than 10 years ago, this film has now had 90 years of pain to get where it is now, with different substandard restorations.

I would urge any serious film fan to give this a look, even if they are not keen on silent movies, as I've never seen anything quite like this. From a technical point of view, it is full of features and processes that were years if not decades ahead of their time (handheld camera-work, multiple exposures, split screen, POV camera shots, widescreen etc.). It is the definition of a masterpiece from the director Abel Gance, and the central performance by Albert Dieudonne as Napoleon is captivating and powerful. The musical score by Carl Davis drives the story beautifully.

I hope to one day get the chance to see this performed live as other reviewers have. Fantastic film- making.