Sean Ellis
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Filmography
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Connections, in both directions
This is why half the movie plays out as a greatest-hits homage to the trick camera work of Danny Boyle, Godfrey Reggio, and Jonas Åkerlund (a useless shot of Ben falling onto a bed is a perfect example of how to squander an entire day of shooting; one ray-of-light shot accomplishes nothing but vertically flipping Koyaanisqatsi 's DVD cover art), while the rest occurs as tacky fits of juvenilia, the nadir of which is a bathroom-mirror montage of the story's motley characters getting ready for a party that ends with Ben's best bud whacking off to a nudie mag—his bottle of lotion opportunely evoking the man sploog exploding below the frame.
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
influenced Anthropoid (2016)
Plot Visuals Themes
In Hollywood’s alternate history of World War II, Tom Cruise tried and failed to assassinate Adolf Hitler in the loosely fact-based “Valkyrie,” as did Walter Pidgeon in Fritz Lang’s thoroughly fictional “Man Hunt,” before Brad Pitt finally managed to get the job done with the help of his fellow “Inglourious Basterds.”
Based on the true story of Operation Anthropoid, this offering from director and co-writer Sean Ellis (Cashback) dishes out moldy drama leavened with thrilling action, although the war scenes unwittingly evoke the war-is-hell bloodlust of the Inglourious Basterds movie-within-a-movie Nation’s Pride more than anything else.
The tonal shift — a little "Call the Midwife" here, a little "Inglourious Basterds" there — is jarring, but doesn't derail the film.
The movie shares qualities with Paul Verhoeven’s 2006 naughty Black Book (and to a lesser extent, Inglourious Basterds ), but needed much more of those filmmakers’ genre-blasting verve.
While this is a film that shows signs of considerable imagination, for which its kernel as a short film won a Best Short Film nod at the oscars, UK auteur Sean Ellis was ill-advised to expand it to feature length except for one factor: the casting of a too-underused actor of brilliance: Emilia Fox ( "The Pianist" ).
Shot by Angus Hudson ( Cashback , 2005), The Life Ahead isn’t defined so much by the certain urban squalor of a particular neighborhood (as Pigalle was the particular backdrop of Mizrahi’s version), but it’s a luminous rendering as far as Loren’s return is concerned.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
Directed by Chris Columbus
influenced Cashback (2007), Cashback (2004)
The cast, unlikely to be recognizable to American audiences, is uniformly good, starting with Sean Biggerstaff (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) as Ben.
Biggerstaff ( Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone ) is a perfect leading man.
The cast, unlikely to be recognizable to American audiences, is uniformly good, starting with Sean Biggerstaff (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) as Ben.
While lacking a finite sense of danger or wonder, “Cashback” recalls “Donnie Darko” in the way both features announce a fresh directorial talent who only needs time to smooth out his rough edges.
…n the same evolutionary ladder as Donnie Darko , Ghost World , The Rules of Attraction , and Art School Confidential , Cashback occupies the lowest, Cro-Magnon rung.
Here, the film is only occasionally goosed by the ever-welcome presence of Toby Jones, once a Nazi in Captain America: The First Avenger , now lending support as a soulful resistance fighter.
La Jetee became 12 Monkeys, Peluca begat Napoleon Dynamite, while Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade gave up a few words to be adapted into Sling Blade.
La Jetee became 12 Monkeys, Peluca begat Napoleon Dynamite, while Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade gave up a few words to be adapted into Sling Blade.
One of the problems with Valkyrie was that it was difficult to get past Tom Cruise (although Brad Pitt in Fury could provide a counter-argument).
…n the same evolutionary ladder as Donnie Darko , Ghost World , The Rules of Attraction , and Art School Confidential , Cashback occupies the lowest, Cro-Magnon rung.