Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts

Spoiler-free feedback on the High Life premiere at TIFF

Spoiler-free feedback on the High Life premiere at TIFF

We're staying away from reviews and many tweets because it seems you need to see High Life as pure as possible. I already saw one thing I wish I didn't so I'm being careful. DO NOT click on any links in this post if you want to be safe.

The film was quite divisive but aren't we used to Rob picking challenging projects? We roll with it and enjoy his arty artistry. Here are some tweets that are spoiler-free and supportive. Looks like it's gonna be a wild ride!









MORE under the cut!

SPOILER POST: Robert Pattinson is "astonishing", "commanding" and "tremendous" with a "career-peak performance" in Good Time

SPOILER POST: Robert Pattinson is "astonishing", "commanding" and "tremendous" with a "career-peak performance" in Good Time

Good Time is sitting pretty at 92% certified FRESH on Rotten Tomatoes! This is Rob's highest rated film and thank you lord, he's the lead. Rob was praised heavily for Cosmopolis and The Rover but this film is clearly breaking new ground....

 photo tumblr_otmaxoojDV1tqxrc7o3_r1_250.gif  photo tumblr_otmaxoojDV1tqxrc7o2_250.gif  photo tumblr_otmaxoojDV1tqxrc7o1_250.gif  photo tumblr_otmaxoojDV1tqxrc7o4_r1_250.gif

From Roger Ebert:
Having said that, most of what shines so well about “Good Time” can be traced back to Robert Pattinson’s performance, the best of an already-impressive career. He is impossible to ignore from his very first scene, expressing Connie’s ability to only keep digging himself deeper and deeper into trouble. Connie makes choices instantly, and one gets the impression that it’s an instinctual ability that has helped him at times but will only prove his downfall on this particular night. “Good Time” is essentially one long chase movie—the story of a man trying to evade capture for a bank robbery and get his brother out of the predicament into which he threw him—and Pattinson perfectly conveys the nervous energy of being essentially hunted by your own bad decisions without ever feeling like he’s chewing scenery. Like Pacino in the ‘70s, there’s something in the eyes and the body language, an unease about what’s going to happen next, an inability to sit down. It is a stunning performance, and one of the best of 2017 by far.

From Los Angeles Time:
“Good Time” is Pattinson’s breakthrough, the most sustained and revelatory transformation of the actor’s career and, not coincidentally, the most extreme of his recent efforts to thwart the audience’s sympathies.

From Entertainment Weekly:
Pattinson anchors Good Time, completely selling Connie from the moment he bursts into the frame and delivering the best performance of his career. (This coming only a few months after a quiet, assured turn in The Lost City of Z.)

From Variety:
A career-peak performance from Robert Pattinson

From The Wrap:
Pattinson delivers a manic, adrenalized performance in the vein of Robert DeNiro in “Mean Streets,” a film to which “Good Time” often pays homage.

From Time:
Good Time offers plenty of sweaty suspense laced with a few bittersweet laughs. But Pattinson is the real reason to see it: his Connie, wiry and intense, with beady, cracked-out eyes, is the kind of guy you'd cross the street to avoid.

From Little White Lies:
The tipping point arrived in James Gray’s The Lost City of Z, in which [Pattinson] insouciantly stole the film from underneath bulky lead Charlie Hunnam with a breathtaking and unshowy supporting turn. Good Time marks the full transition, as if his acting dirty laundry is now completely ice white once more and he can make great movies without the burden of his formative CV. He’s nothing short of tremendous here, taking cues from Robert De Niro circa Mean Streets as he channels a sense of constant exasperation, but in the most tamped down and poised way imaginable. He doesn’t ever strain to stretch this character too far or give him too much mystery or depth, emphasising that when it comes to his single-minded motivations, he’s something of a twinkle-toothed open book.

From SFist:
As Pattinson plays him, you also can't help but root for him, even as he's using everyone around him to get what he wants through a combination of charm and mania.

From Rolling Stone:
By now, Robert Pattinson shouldn't have to prove he can act. Cosmopolis, The Rover, Maps to the Stars and The Lost City of Z – they all show that his brooding Twilight days have passed into teen-movie myth. But if doubters still need proof, check out the Pattinson tour de force in Good Time...It's a wild, whacked-out ride that cements the reputation of the Safdies as gutter poets with a flair for tension that won't quit. But it's a never-better Pattinson who gives the film soul and a center of gravity.

From The Playlist:
And in Robert Pattinson‘s central performance, these Kerouacs of current-day Queens find their Neal Cassady. After a long period of ascent in which the signal to noise ratio for the young actor has been consistently out of whack, here he turns in his first unequivocally commanding lead performance: bringing absolute commitment, wolfish energy and Method-y charisma. Robert Pattinson is, finally, fantastic.

From The Film Stage:
Robert Pattinson gives the performance of his career thus far as Connie Nikas, a wired, erratically dangerous, and unpredictable pariah who looks like he could use a good night’s sleep.

From AP:
And in close-up, we see Pattinson more clearly than ever before. His performance — sensitive and controlled amid the chaos— is easily the best of his career.

From Paste:
Connie is played by Robert Pattinson in a performance so locked-in from the first second that it shoots off an electric spark from the actor to the audience: Just sit back, he seems to be telling us. I’ve got this under control.

From Collider:
It features a strong performance from the criminally underrated Robert Pattinson...Pattinson certainly doesn’t have it easy as Connie. His character is a parasite whose only redeeming value is his love for his brother. How he finds the subtle nuances to even suggest he’s more than that is all sorts of remarkable even if those trumpeting his work here as a career best are overlooking his stellar turn in The Rover.

From The Thrillist:
None of it would work without Pattinson powering the motor.

From Slate:
With this movie, both Pattinson and the Safdie brothers have broken new ground in their careers; if you haven’t been keeping track of what either of them is up to, Good Time would be a good time to start.

From JoBlo:
Proudly displaying their Scorsese influence (who’s thanked in the closing credits), GOOD TIME is a bit like MEAN STREETS if it had focused solely on Robert De Niro’s Johnny Boy. Shockingly, star Robert Pattinson makes for an ideal De Niro stand-in, with his Connie Nikas a staggering change-of-pace for the actor.

From Indiewire:
The actor is astonishing in the Safdies' rambunctious heist thriller, which takes place in a single frantic New York night.

From Slant1:
Connie is a mediocre criminal with an undeniable talent for drawing strangers into dicey situations, and the marvel of Pattinson's performance is how precisely the actor navigates the lies and pleading conviction innate in his character's bravado. Pattison's shaggy charisma is indebted to a slew of New York films from the 1970s and '80s, and Connie's dark journey through the night (something like if Ratso Rizzo or Sonny Wortzik were inserted into After Hours) is both candy-colored and scrupulously designed to address how the urban poor interact and negotiate with city services.

From Slant2:
The actor is a physical and emotional force throughout the film. Pattinson’s Connie exudes a simultaneous intelligence and cunning and a hopeless inability to comprehend his own limitations. The actor avoids empty posturing and homes in on his character’s sense of practicality—because the paranoiac Connie never stops thinking about and carefully calculating his next move. There are other memorable characters in Good Time, in particular the perpetual fuck-up drug dealer Ray (Buddy Duress), who Connie breaks out of Elmhurst accidentally, but the film is at its strongest when it keys its intoxicating aesthetic to Pattinson’s performance.

From HeyUGuys:
As Connie, Robert Pattinson is tremendous. He completely dominates the film and is in virtually every scene. As all his schemes unravel, his desperation and desire to escape is palpable. Connie quickly adapts to new situations and assumes different identities: polite young man, charmer, bank robber, security guard, tough guy. Pattinson laps up the challenge and gives the performance of his career.

From Vulture:
Most of this is on the shoulders of Pattinson, doing some of the best work of his post-franchise-journeyman career. His Connie is both capable and foolhardy, empathetic and scuzzy in the extreme.

From NJ.com:
Robert Pattinson as Connie and Jennifer Jason Leigh as his sometime girlfriend, Corey. Both elevate the material enormously. Pattinson - even scruffier than usual, but with an authentic New York accent and determined stare - is pure, panicked intensity.

From MaraMovies:
In the electrifying crime-drama Good Time, the actor finally shows that he has range beyond that of a brooding, sleepy-eyed vampire. Playing a small-time crook on the run in the most desperate night of his life, he gives his most commanding performance yet. Indeed, Pattinson, using his best East Coast dialect, is in virtually every scene of this adrenaline rush of a movie. A rock-synth musical score, neon lights, choppy editing and guerilla-style cinematography all factor into the frazzled story. It’s not until the film hits the brakes that we’re able to breathe and appreciate his virtuoso work.

From Sight & Sound:
Pattinson is playing for keeps, throwing himself into the Safdies’ shabby, stylised spin on street-level realism. Comparisons have been made with Robert De Niro’s star-making role in Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese sits atop the ‘Gratitude’ list in the credits), but where Johnny Boy was an unpredictable firecracker, Pattinson imbues Connie with an enigmatic, desperate, directionless energy.

From IrishTimes:
Against that, he adores his brother and is imbued with the charisma of Robert Pattinson, who has never been better. “I always wanted to look like I’ve been street cast,” said Robert Pattinson told the press conference after Good Time premiered at Cannes. Well, mission accomplished. They shot the film guerrilla-style on the streets on New York with one of the planet’s hottest stars and not one person spotted him.

From The Hollywood Reporter:
Led by Robert Pattinson, giving arguably his most commanding performance to date as a desperate bank robber cut from the same cloth as Al Pacino's Sonny Wortzik in Dog Day Afternoon, this is a richly textured genre piece that packs a visceral charge in its restless widescreen visuals and adrenalizing music, which recalls the great mood-shaping movie scores of Tangerine Dream.

From The Skinny:
The film stars an unrecognisable Robert Pattinson as low-level bank robber Connie, and the actor offers up his most accomplished performance to date.

From AVClub:
Pattinson is enthralling in the part; he lets us see not just the caged-animal attitude of the character, who’s in survival mode for the entire running time, but also the improvisational spark of his intellect. Edward Cullen is a tiny speck in his rearview mirror.

From Telegraph:
Instantly riveting, Pattinson bristles his way through the movie, saying some truly ridiculous things. “Don’t be confused or it will make things worse for me!”

From Vanity Fair:
I’d argue that Pattinson had already proven his mettle this spring in James Gray’s near-perfect The Lost City of Z, in which he plays a laconic supporting role with a centered intelligence, communicating a calm thoughtfulness that was a vast improvement dead-eyed work as Edward Cullen. But Good Time certainly builds on that promise, and is an example for other young (or not!) actors out there looking to do a career renovation that the best path forward is oftentimes smaller, riskier films done with the right auteurs. (It certainly makes it easier to do this if you never have to earn big popcorn paychecks again because you’re stinking rich from doing five vampire movies.) Pattinson has shown discerning taste these last few years, and with Good Time’s glowing reception on the Croisette, he’s finally reaping the benefits of it.

From TimeOut:
Pattinson is great in this, surely his best post-‘Twilight’ performance to date: he’s quick and coarse yet he also lends the character a glint in the eye and a spark in the brain – he’s always more than just bad.

From The Guardian:
Robert Pattinson gives a strong, charismatic performance.

From Common Sense Media:
...it's Pattinson, shaking off the last of his Twilight-drenched past, who gives a Pacino-worthy performance full of street smarts and fast talk, but with a human soul.

From Reason:
Robert Pattinson does his best work to date in Good Time, a raw, roaring new movie from the Safdie brothers.

From Cinemalogue:
Good Time also provides a showcase of Pattinson’s versatility, as his ferocious transformation leaves behind the brooding British heartthrob persona on which he established his career.

From Movie Nation:
Pattinson, who never lets on that he’s wearing an alien accent, gives Connie just a hidden hint of charm. Like the actor himself, women just get lost in those blue eyes, and he can talk them into anything.

From We've Got This Covered:
...A career-expanding role from Pattinson...Pattinson vanishes behind a gritty, kicked-in-the-teeth anti-hero, desperation his cologne of choice. Baggy hoodies his uniform. You’ve never seen this Pattinson in a very James-Franco-from-Spring-Breakers way – and you damn well should.

From Buzzfeed:
Good Time starts and ends with Nick, but the film belongs to Connie, and to Pattinson, who lives and breathes the young man's poisonous desperation. It's the kind of performance that sticks with you, like a layer of grime that needs to be washed off.

From Screen Crush:
It would be inaccurate to say Pattinson is unrecognizable as Connie – the YA heartthrob has too handsome and recognizable a face to totally disappear into a role. But there’s something remarkable about how well Pattinson’s good looks meld with his seedy, lowlife character. He’s disarmingly handsome, which he uses to manipulate others including an underaged teen (Taliah Webster), but when you get up close you can see the ruthlessness in his eyes.
SaveSave

Robert Pattinson and Good Time receive rave reviews: Rob is "terrific", "fantastic", "next level", "astonishing".

Robert Pattinson and Good Time receive rave reviews: Rob is "terrific", "fantastic", "next level", "astonishing".

Oooooooo boy. These are goooooood.






































AUSTRALIA: Robert Pattinson's leading role in LIFE is ready for your viewing pleasure!

AUSTRALIA: Robert Pattinson's leading role in LIFE is ready for your viewing pleasure!


LIFE opened in Australia today and hopefully all the ROBsessed Aussies are too busy watching the film over and over again to read this fantastic review from FilmInk (Australia):
As a few recent, highly effective true life movies (My Week With Marilyn, The Queen, Capote) have shown, sometimes the best way to capture a real figure on screen is by honing in on a short, specific period of their life, rather than getting caught up in the tripwires of hitting every significant point in their personal history. Life – the latest film from extraordinary photographer turned equally impressive director, Anton Corbijn (Control, The American, A Most Wanted Man) – prescribes intelligently to this model, taking one brief, essential moment from the all-too-short life of movie icon, James Dean, and investigating it with astute precision. 
Life documents the beginnings of what would become the important friendship of fifties figurehead, James Dean (hot up and comer, Dane DeHaan, makes his all-too-recognisable character a truly mercurial and utterly absorbing creation), and Dennis Stock (Robert Pattinson proving, yet again, to all the doubters that he is, indeed, a highly accomplished and charismatic performer), the young photographer from Life Magazine whose stark, beautifully composed black-and-white images of the rebellious actor are among the greatest celebrity portraiture ever committed to film.
Proving yet again, indeed.
Click HERE to continue reading the top notch review!
Click HERE to purchase tickets!

LIFE releases Sept. 25th in the UK/Ireland/Turkey, Nov. 6 in Canada and Dec. 4th in the US. More release dates can be found on our sister site sidebar.

Robert Pattinson is "perfectly cast", gives his "best performance", and is "as crisp as the white shirt" he wears in LIFE

Robert Pattinson is "perfectly cast", gives his "best performance", and is "as crisp as the white shirt" he wears in LIFE

UPDATE2: 2 reviews added!
UPDATE: 3 reviews added! Rob's work called terrific, edgy, understated, charismatic and more!

I've really enjoyed Rob's reviews out of Berlinale. Click HERE if you missed the initial reviews for Queen of the Desert. The films have received mixed reviews but Rob's performances have been mainly on mainly positive side. Critics just don't disrespect his work like they used to and that's certainly pleasant to read. 
Here are the highlighted excerpts for Life, which you know is a leading role for our guy. :)



UPDATE

Telegraph:
Dane DeHaan and Robert Pattinson shine in Anton Corbijn's low-key portrait of James Dean...But Stock, too, who has an ex-wife and young son he barely sees, is playing the angles, sniffing out a meal ticket. The underrated Pattinson is playing a cold fish here, and does a credible job getting inside Dennis’s aura of shifty desperation: he pesters Dean, pursues him to New York, hangs around his grimy apartment building. The star is half-alarmed, half-amused, and can’t decide if he needs this vulture buzzing around him or not...There are photographers whose camera is like an extra limb, but he’s not one of them. Every time Pattinson reaches for his, he seems sneaky about it, as if he’s stealing something, aware that the authenticity of the moment is under threat.
Observer:
Anton Corbijn’s Life stars Pattinson in an admirably low-key role as mid-century photographer Dennis Stock and his frustrated attempts to land a Life magazine photo spread with laconic and wary up-and-comer James Dean (Dane DeHaan, doing disaffection with a surprisingly convincing pout). The slow-burn film is an absorbing study of how arresting, emotionally potent circumstances become iconic imagery. 
HeyUGuys:
Considering we’re living vicariously through Robert Pattinson’s Dennis Stock in Anton Corbijn’s ambitious biographical drama Life, we rely on our protagonist earning the trust of Hollywood icon and star James Dean, to be granted the fortune of getting beneath the surface of his subject, to allow the audience to do so themselves. What transpires is an absorbing insight into the life of one of the industry’s mot renowned, and elusive stars....Given the undeniable charm and charisma of Pattinson, there was always the fear that he would steal the show from his counterpart, and be perceived as the star. However such is his understated, subtle turn, it allows DeHaan to take on that very role, which, given he’s playing James Dean, simply has to be the case.
Cine-Vue:
DeHaan and Pattinson are also both terrific, at once elegant and charismatic, yet equally uncomfortable in the skins they inhabit. Dean's ability to mirror the dilemmas of a disenfranchised generation of youngster made him a star and whilst DeHaan's performance is a little over-exaggerated, he still manages to capture that sense of relatable despondency. This also affords Pattinson time out of the spotlight in one of his strongest roles to date.
London Evening Standard:
Pattinson as the restlessly ambitious Stock is more edgy (you can’t help wishing he had been cast as Dean instead)
Boston Herald:
How honest, personal and affecting is LIFE.... Robert Pattinson is perfectly cast as Stock, a man adrift with an ex-wife from a teenage marriage and guilt filled about the young son he never sees.
Canvas:
The main things you'll remember are Pattinson's best performance and the finest projectile vomit scene you’ve ever seen.
Variety:
Robert Pattinson in a sly turn as Dennis Stock...It’s the peculiarly moving, even subtly queer friendship between the two men that distinguishes “Life” from standard inside-Hollywood fare, while gorgeous production values and ace star turns make it a thoroughly marketable arthouse prospect...DeHaan and Pattinson enact this anti-romance beautifully, each man quizzically eyeing the other for leads and clues, while coyly retreating from scrutiny. Pattinson, adding to his post-“Twilight” gallery of sharp-cut screw-ups, brings intriguing layers of childish dysfunction to a character who is only ostensibly the straight man in the partnership.
Gone With The Movies:
For Robert Pattinson, his take on iconic photographer Dennis Stock is equally as impressive as he enters the world of Hollywood from the other side of the carpet (and at bottom). Spotting Dean's talent early, Stock, in the two-hour running time attempts to get photographs of Dean before fame kicks in. Deadlines, pressure and awkwardness soon mount-up, and Pattinson expertly presents it onto screen.
Little White Lies:
Robert Pattinson impresses in this stylish drama about the relationship between celebrity and the media. An intense mob formed around the Berlinale press screening of Anton Corbijn's Life — such is the continued allure of Robert Pattinson. His fans beyond the festival will be pleased to hear that his brittle performance as LIFE magazine photographer, Dennis Stock, outshines Dane DeHaan's over-baked rendering of James Dean, although the latter is poignant enough to enliven this tale of men helping each other to take a leap into greatness...Pattinson's performance is as crisp as the white shirt and black suits his character always wears. This is a camouflage for his own problems that slowly unfurl, adding colour and improving the film...The social backdrop is just as carefully wrought. In another film, Ben Kingsley's fuming studio head, Jack Warner, would be The Other Man to Jimmy Dean and the tussle would be Saving Mr Banks flavour. Instead, Kingsley ball-busts just enough to give Jimmy's non-conformity gravitas, but the viewfinder is trained on the man behind the camera. Pattinson steps up, allowing more of his character's insides to come out. As Life proceeds the pace picks up and by the third act, it is a compelling dramatisation of an artistically fascinating alliance.
Screen Daily:
The two leads convince as actors; it’s the characters that are more of a problem. DeHaan method acts his way into the persona of a consummate method actor whose cool persona was partly a protective screen; his Dean is very much in the mould of the Dean remembered by his East Of Eden co-star Lois Smith, who once said: “He was a sweet, rustic person, but there was also this suspicious, taut, guarded young man”. Pattinson’s hangdog character is defined by an exchange in which, after Dean tells him he’s disappointed in him, he replies “you’re not the only one”.
The Hollywood Reporter:
While Pattinson has endured a lot of gratuitous bashing post-Twilight, he gives arguably the most fully rounded performance here
The Guardian review is bleh but I did wonder if anyone was going to muse about if Rob was in the role of Dean instead. It was something many of us thought when Rob was first cast and several media outlets during the casting announcement thought so as well.

Updating...

REVIEWS: Robert Pattinson is sharp-tongued and comedic in Herzog's Queen of the Desert!

REVIEWS: Robert Pattinson is sharp-tongued and comedic in Herzog's Queen of the Desert!

Berlinale is underway and the reviews for Queen of the Desert are coming in! Rob was not present for the press conference and premiere but you can click HERE if you're interested in the events.

 photo BerlinRobertPattinsonPortrait.jpg

Since Rob is not in Berlin yet (he arrives for Life promo) and we have no pictures of Rob as T.E. Lawrence (the world is cruel), we have to "settle" for this knock out portrait during Berlinale 2012.

Here are the highlights about Rob and we'll be updating as they keep rolling in:

Excerpt from The Independent:
T.E. Lawrence himself appears (played in eccentric, tongue in cheek fashion by Robert Pattinson of Twilight fame)...Pattinson’s performance, meanwhile, is comic and a very long way removed from Peter O'Toole. He plays Lawrence Of Arabia as a sharp-tongued, sardonic figure who can see through the pretensions of his bosses and colleagues.
Excerpt from The Playlist:
In fact, of the actors not overwhelmed by the heavy sense that "we're playing old-timey dudes in old-timey duds," Robert Pattinson (though the duds do sit awkwardly on him), for words about whom, I'll face the fact that probably 75% of the readers of this review will have expressly tuned in, is most surprising. The part is small. He only has a few scenes, but helped by the writing of TE Lawrence as an ego-driven but lighthearted, whimsical brainbox, he actually sounds like he believes he is living in modern times, not some anachronistic recreation. And so even when he has ponderous words to say, such as when he quotes Jefferson's famous, damning line, "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just," he does so lightly, conversationally — unconvincing costume aside, he lets a little life in.
Excerpt from The Guardian:
Perhaps in flight from her internal emotional turmoil, Bell cultivates her passionate interest in the Bedouin tribesmen and displaces her need for romantic love outwards – into the desert. There she is to encounter Lawrence himself, played boyishly by Robert Pattinson. He looks a little self-conscious in the headdress – though perhaps no more self-conscious than Lawrence himself looked in it. His appearance got a few laughs from the Berlin festival audience, but Pattinson carried off this (minor) role well enough.
Excerpt from The Hollywood Reporter:
The brief but significant appearances of Robert Pattinson as T.E. Lawrence
Excerpt from Criticwire:
Robert Pattinson gets relatively high marks for his brief turn as the bonafide T.E. Lawrence
Excerpt from The People's Movies:
With the exception of Robert Pattinson as T. E. Lawrence, her male counterparts are somewhat lacking. 
Excerpt from Indiewire:
The most ironic aspect of the enterprise is that the one man with whom Bell conducts believable, intriguing dealings is the one upon whom her sex-appeal has zero effect: none other than T.E. Lawrence himself, played with a plummy-voiced knowingness by Robert Pattinson. Pattinson doesn't get very much screen time here, but manages to come up with a Lawrence a universe away from Peter O'Toole's iconic portrayal - a kind of proto-Beat rebel in fancy Arab duds - and his dialogue exchanges with Kidman have a little touch of Steed and Mrs. Peel that at least gives their scenes some kind of oomph.
Excerpt from The Film Stage:
She encounters various historical figures, such as T.E. Lawrence (Robert Pattinson, in hilariously pretentious form)
Updating...

Media Reviews & Reactions To Cannes Press Screening Of 'The Rover'

UPDATE: More greatness added! Scroll down and read it all. This edit is from the official account for The Rover. Bet they're feeling pretty great too. :))

 photo a2d78535-ad27-4c2f-abe6-f00023fe83e6.png

The Rover had it's press screen in Cannes this morning and the media reviews and reactions have been coming out hot and heavy.
Here's a little round-up (updating all the time so keep checking back)...........

Variety:
"Pearce is fiercely impressive here as a man who gave up on the human race even before the latest round of calamities, and if there are occasional glimpses of the kinder, gentler man he might once have been, we are more frequently privy to his savage survival instincts. But it’s Pattinson who turns out to be the film’s greatest surprise, sporting a convincing Southern accent and bringing an understated dignity to a role that might easily have been milked for cheap sentimental effects."
The Hollywood Reporter:
Pattinson delivers a performance that, despite the character’s own limitations, becomes more interesting as the film moves along, suggesting that the young actor might indeed be capable of offbeat character work. But always commanding attention at the film’s center is Pearce, who, under a taciturn demeanor, gives Eric all the cold-hearted remorselessness of a classic Western or film noir anti-hero who refuses to die before exacting vengeance for an unpardonable crime.
Little White Lies:
"Performances are pitched just right between hard-bitten and mournful. Guy Pierce, as all know, has stoically grizzled down to a fine art, while Pattinson manages his new non-heart-throb ground (the make-up team have wrought merry hell on his teeth) with admirable pathos. His limp, hick accent, facial tics and staccato delivery play second, third, fourth and fifth fiddle to a whole lot of heart, and one that Eric cannot help but fall for."
The Playlist:
"Pearce is reliably riveting as the totally stonefaced Man With No Name Except Maybe Eric, and Michod exploits his charisma for all its worth in the many extended takes of his inscrutable, unreadable mien, while Pattinson, who we were initially worried might be too tic-laden to fully convince, actually turns in a performance that manages to be more affecting than affected."
Popsugar:
"Pearce is the center of the film and a forceful presence as usual, but Pattinson puts in a formidable and truly transformative performance all his own. Rey is an unattractive character in an unattractive world, with rotten teeth, a bad haircut, and an off-putting, twitchy demeanor, but there's no sense that Pattinson did any of this in a superficial effort to ugly himself up and distance himself from his heartthrob image. If anything, the role should stand as proof to any doubters that with the right director and the freedom to break free of his own public persona, Pattinson has real ability and magnetism on screen."
The Evening Standard:
Guy Pearce is ferociously compelling and Robert Pattison surprisingly good too, putting his teen-roles behind him more conclusively than any of his contemporaries.
 MORE Reviews & Tweets AFTER THE CUT

The Rover teaser trailer video review: "Really impressed with the potential turnaround for Robert Pattinson"

The Rover teaser trailer video review: "Really impressed with the potential turnaround for Robert Pattinson"

I've missed us having a Rob film to talk about and for us to talk about other people talking about Rob films. During the Cosmopolis period, we had tons of positive reviews that saw people making a reversal of opinion regarding Rob's talents (look at the side bar). Of course to us, they're all waaaaaay late to the party. The Rover teaser trailer is almost at the half million views mark (click HERE to watch A24's youtube) and this review of the trailer is quite favorable to what they saw from Rob. Hey, any time someone wants to compare Rob favorably to Leonardo DiCaprio is a-ok to me. 



What did you guys think of her review? I bristled a little about her Cosmopolis remark but I know it's likely stemming from a financial success bracket. I can not WAIT for us to see the full trailer. If Rob is impressing with this teaser, folks have much to look forward to down the road. Also, be sure to check out the comments section of the video HERE. Some great stuff from nonfandom folks.

Compilation Of Positive Feedback For Robert Pattinson's 'The Rover'

Compilation Of Positive Feedback For Robert Pattinson's 'The Rover'

 photo ReyRob.jpg

Our sister site TheRoverFilm have compiled a collection of feedback from various film and media outlets about The Rover teaser trailer that debuted online yesterday.
As I write this the teaser has been on You Tube for just 19hours and already has over 132k views!

After reading through the feedback below I guarantee you'll love that Rob and The Rover Team are getting the credit they deserve for their hard work AND this is just the for the teaser!
Grab yourself a cuppa, have a look at the teaser again (go on I know you want to!) and then read the compilation (after the cut)



Robert Pattinson "frequently dismissed yet giving the best performance of the year": Cosmopolis praise continues

Robert Pattinson "frequently dismissed yet giving the best performance of the year": Cosmopolis praise continues

Photobucket

I keep seeing great write-ups about Cosmopolis post-release and wanted to share a couple with you because of the Rob praise and discussion of Eric Packer.

Indiewire/PressPlay wrote an article about the language in Cosmopolis and here's what they said about Rob:
Even though its tone is resigned and mordantly funny and its pace is slow, Cosmopolis is a thrillingly spare, controlled work. But you have to be willing to adapt to its sleepwalking mood and to its performances, which occur within such a narrow emotional bandwidth that at one point I pictured an orchestra conductor handing a violinist a Stradivarius with one string and saying, “You can make beautiful music with this, trust me.” Every actor rises to the challenge. The movie features one bizarre knockout supporting turn after another: Juliette Binoche as a lover who interrogates Eric after fucking him; Gadon’s Elise, whose beyond-her-years cynicism is a bulwark against emotional collapse; Durand’s security guy Torval, who’s got more didja-know tidbits than Johnny the Shoeshine Guy on Police Squad! but ultimately comes to seem like just another lost soul blustering through chaos. Giamatti’s all-out anguish in the finale almost steals the picture from Pattinson. 
But the star never loses his grip. I never would have guessed from the Twilight movies that he was capable of a performance this intelligent, despairing, and honest; at his best he reminded me of James Spader’s character in sex, lies and videotape, a smug bastard who intellectualizes his selfishness into faux-philosophy. If Pattinson gets nominated for awards for Cosmopolis, the clip should be the scene where Eric carries on a high-flown conversation while enduring the longest prostate exam in history, an invasion of an asshole’s asshole. But there’s a real person beneath Eric’s shellacked surface, and when it finally cracks—in a surprisingly tender exchange with a rapper (Gouchy Boy) grieving for his dead hero and his own mortality—the character’s pain feels real, and true.
It's a great read. Click HERE to read in its entirety.

Film School Rejects also named Cosmopolis the most relevant movie of the year! Rob isn't specifically mentioned because it's more analytical of the actual film and meaning. I enjoyed this excerpt:
But if Cosmopolis is an alienating experience, that’s because it’s about the alienation of contemporary experience. Eric’s limo is a model of media convergence not unlike a smart phone in that its function permeates well beyond its archaic name (“phone” is hardly the appropriate term for what we use today, just as Eric and Kinsky lament the stupidity of other mainstay terms like “airplane” and “computer”), and also provides a shelter for the most basic human actions, from penetration to urination. Eric has all the access to the world’s information at his fingertips, yet he is notably separated from “the world” whateverthatmeans, seemingly privileged with a legion of followers who come to him without ever visibly arriving or leaving. Bookstores and diners are not the only places of leisure for Eric. That Eric’s shoes rarely touch the asphalt of the street (until the final act) signals that the material world itself has become an escape from the “reality” he’s manufactured as his working life. 
This alienation gives Eric (and his many passengers) the opportunity to experience lived life simultaneously with a critique and analysis of it. Strangely, DeLillo and Cronenberg make a compelling case that the space of the one-percent does not so much manufacture Romneyesque out-of-touch-ness as it potentially provides the ideal container for intellectual inquiry: Eric has omnipotent access to “real life,” but is distanced enough from it to engage in critique (I’m not sure how much this move elevates the bezerkly rich or denigrates academics). With alienation comes immediacy: Kinsky, without an ounce of worry about the dangerous puncture of reality seeping in, is able to comment on the riots outside as they occur. When the anarchists’ protest finally comes crashing down onto Eric’s roof, the scene’s mutedness is maddening and disappointing (especially in contrast to the depiction of this scene in Cosmopolis’s advertising campaign, which finds on-the-ground anarchy far more exciting and marketable). And that’s the point. Cosmopolis is a quiet film, not because it’s scant on dialogue (hardly), but because it deliberately obliterates any semblance of atmosphere. The sound, or absence of it, that’s deafening in Eric’s car is also the sound of the blog post, the online bank transfer, the scroll of the stock quote.
Click HERE to read in its entirety.

But the star continues to get his praise. Just this morning I saw this from Screened:
It’s that moment that kicks off the last leg of the film, which veers deep into destruction and desolation so resolute that I won’t begin to try to enumerate its facets here. But it is terrifying, not only for how real and of-the-moment it feels but in how much Pattinson invests in the role. This is the kind of role that demands a range that only a great actor working with a great director can pull off, and every eye rolling critic of Pattinson’s more famous works is going to have to reassess after this as his fanbase recoils in horror to see their icon throw himself into the deep end of the most negative human experiences. Here is someone, frequently dismissed, giving what I feel is easily the best performance of the year.
My heart swells.

With the film still trickling into other markets, we see more reviews pop up.

A few more excerpts after the cut!

Cosmopolis Reviews Part 8: "Complete marvel" and "Simply tremendous" Robert Pattinson "projects a commanding, slow-burning detachment"

Cosmopolis Reviews Part 8: "Complete marvel" and "Simply tremendous" Robert Pattinson "projects a commanding, slow-burning detachment"

UPDATE2: LOADS of great reviews at the top. Old ones under the cut! "Robert Pattinson gives one of the best performances of the year in Cosmopolis."

UPDATE: Top of the reviews, HitFix's Drew McWeeny loved the film and gave Rob much acclaim: "Paul Giamatti almost steals the film in the last ten minutes, and it's a testament to how good Pattinson is in the film that he stands there and refuses to let Giamatti run away with it."

I can NOT get enough of the reviews talking about Rob's performance in the sensational Cosmopolis. I marathoned the film and bought my 8 tickets last weekend. Did you? The film opens wider this weekend. Look out for our post giving you the updates on theaters and make sure you BAT4Rob!

Photobucket
Excerpt from Ants Film giving the film 5 out of 5...ants:
Robert Pattinson is in almost every moment of the film and gives what is without a doubt his career best performance. Pattinson plays Eric Packer with a deep internal rage, like a volcano about to erupt, but with a stone facade. Pattinson able to convey loneliness, fear and greed while being contained in a limo for most of the film. Eric Packer is the center of the film and if Pattinson’s performance was anything less than fantastic the film would have failed. Robert Pattinson gives one of the best performances of the year in Cosmopolis.
Excerpt from South Philly Review:
As the lead character, a cold young man of privilege losing his grip on all things, Pattinson is startlingly fantastic, taken to places by Cronenberg he’s never been as an actor...It’s been years since Cronenberg delivered something this visually and aurally articulate, worthy of numerous viewings and readings. The seemingly random, yet keenly perceptive, brilliance of its words taunts you to keep up....It ends with a ripped-from-the-headlines final act that’s as much a squaring off of classes as any scene concerning the French Revolution. And yet, we take it in as just a riveting, terrifically acted exchange between two men.
Excerpt from Monsters & Critics:
A stunning performance by Robert Pattinson
Excerpt from Larsen on Film, 3.5 out of 4 stars:
Pattinson is very good: clipped, still, yet always a threat. Indeed, he's more of a pained killer here than in the Twilight films. The quick, ideologically dominated dialogue scenes are the heart of the film - "All wealth has become wealth for its own sake," goes one bon mot - and Pattinson easily matches verbal wits with everyone from Juliette Binoche to Samantha Morton to Jay Baruchel.
Excerpt from Miami.com:
But the movie wouldn’t work without Pattinson, who is in every scene and holds the film together with his portrayal of a magnetic tycoon rotting on the inside — a disillusioned man who, having amassed everything he could possibly want, asks if that’s all there is. This is just one possible reading of Cosmopolis: Viewers with the stamina to make it to the end (discipline is required) may have differing interpretations of the final scene, which is often been true of Cronenberg’s best movies. DeLillo’s book, inspired by the dotcom bubble burst, was critical of how online entrepreneurs had reduced the power of money to an abstract commodity (“What does it mean to spend money? A dollar. A million.”)
Excerpt from Red Eye Chicago, 3 out of 4 stars:
In writer-director David Cronenberg’s disturbing, oddly funny “Cosmopolis,” Pattinson’s inherent, detached restlessness finally becomes an asset....Hopefully the actor can bounce back from Kristen Stewart’s infidelity; with the exciting, dangerous “Cosmopolis” he at last proves he deserves roles, not just headlines.
Excerpt from two critics, male (gave it a B) and female (B+), at Reeling Reviews:
Male critic: [Cronenberg's] latest, which takes place mostly in the back of Packer’s cavernous stretch, showcases his star Pattinson – the reason I was reluctant to see “Cosmopolis.” To my surprise, the “Twilight” thespian is the best thing in “Cosmopolis.” I have never been a fan of Robert Pattinson. I dreaded all of the “Twilight” movies (only in part because of Pattinson) and have not developed a great deal of respect for the actor, “Water for Elephants” notwithstanding. Director Cronenberg elicits a good performance from the young actor, one that actually overshadows the film itself.

Female critic: The director has also pushed his star Robert Pattinson out on a ledge past his own acting insecurities, getting Pattinson's most confident performance to date.
Excerpt from Orlando Weekly, 3 out of 5 stars:
Robert Pattinson plays Packer with an assured level of detachment and scorn. Make no mistake, this is Pattinson's film – I can't think of a scene that he's not in – and he isn't called on to show much range or feeling, but does display some strong chops. He plays affectless well, managing to conduct a business conversation with Samantha Morton while the limo is being vandalized and literally shaken back and forth by an angry mob. All he wants is to feel something – anything – and so his planned excursion to the barbershop his dad used to take him to takes on deeper meaning.
Excerpt from Game Redemption, 4.5 out of 5 stars:
Despite Pattinson’s strange New York accent (let’s chalk that up to the surreal tone) he holds his own when sharing the stage with Juliette Binoche, Samantha Morton and Paul Giamatti. That is very important given that Cronenberg decides to keep the camera close with long takes and shots. With Pattison taking up the majority of the screen time and screen, a substantial amount of pressure rests on his shoulders to carry the film and he pulls it off.
I'd like to say this one is "meh" because I don't like when critics suggest Rob's blank state is natural but whatever. The guy from Philadelphia Weekly gave the film an A:
Cosmopolis is an ice-cold, woozy nightmare of a movie. The sleek limousine becomes a sort of purgatory, as Eric rides ever-forward at less than 5 mph toward ruin. He fucks, drinks, kills and even treats himself to an epically invasive prostate exam—any opportunity to jolt himself from this all-encompassing numbness, an emotional state at which Pattinson naturally excels. Great casting.
 
Excerpt from HitFix, giving the film an A-:
I walked away blaming the movie, but thinking it over for the last week or so, I can't get it out of my head. It's exquisitely made, carefully controlled, a simmering look into the dead empty eyes of Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson) as Rome burns around him. Based on a novel by Don DeLillo, it's all character, all mood, a slow surreal ride through Manhattan during a meltdown that seems to have been caused, in part, by his own hubris, and Pattinson is fascinating in the role. He seems to constantly be shifting through a complicated but subterranean inner implosion, pieces of himself shutting down at random, little by little. His stated goal for the day is simple enough. He wants a haircut. Never mind that the entire city seems to be on high alert thanks to the visit of a President and construction and protests and traffic and madmen and giant rats and angry wives and dirty lovers, all complications thrown in the path of Packer as he attempts to make his way across this tiny island, locked inside his sterile bubble.

I do not think I'm out of line when I observe that Robert Pattinson is from outer space. Part of what makes him so compelling in the film is that whatever weirdness Cronenberg throws at him, he rolls with it, staring out of that blank passive face with furious eyes. People race in and out of his personal orbit. He gets a physical from a doctor inside the cab at one point, carrying on a conversation while this guy's got half his arm inside him, and the way Pattinson plays that scene is impressive. On the whole, Pattinson delivers in this difficult role, and I can't picture anyone else tuning in more completely to what Cronenberg has done here.

It helps that Pattinson interacts with truly great performances from the supporting cast. Juliette Binoche shows up to have some sex, drink some booze, and lay some ugly truth on Pattinson's character. Sarah Gadon is Packer's wife, newly married and already looking for a way out, away from this shark-eyed and alien "other" who she has barely gotten to know as a husband. Jay Baruchel and Kevin Durand both do sharp and specific work in small roles here, and there's a wonderful but oh-so-short appearance by Samantha Morton as well. Paul Giamatti almost steals the film in the last ten minutes, and it's a testament to how good Pattinson is in the film that he stands there and refuses to let Giamatti run away with it. He gives as good as he gets. Giamatti is great, giving voice to all the frustration and powerlessness of everyone caught up in these forces at work in the modern world, these soft little boys dressed up in expensive suits, untouchable in their coffins on wheels. Giamatti is determined to break through the expressionless exterior of Packer to find the soft and vulnerable heart, and once he does, he plans to rip it out.
...
People lured in by the presence of Pattinson will not be prepared for just how different he is in the film, and I love the idea of people expanding their cinematic appetites because of his mainstream work, only to discover this poison pill. 

MORE reviews under the cut!
 
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...