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Aidan_Mclaren
Reviews
If.... (1968)
Wonderfully original and powerful
Finally, this is what we all need, a proper movie made with the proper techniques.
Set in a public school, it follows several students ( Mainly Mick Travis, played by McDowell ) on how they fit in with the school. Three students, however, do not want to be conformists and follows their exploits of expressing themselves and the consequences of their actions, leading to angry revolution.
This is an excellent message, the old society must be crushed to end tyranny, no matter how understanding some of the conformists are. This is anarchy that must be launched, death to oppressors and the sheep who follow them, freedom for the expression of ourselves without facing hurt.
This also seems to be satirizing the U.K. The film is very European-like which is a pleasant surprise. No idiotic Hollywood muck to ruin this film or it's messages.
Please, watch this movie. It's very worthwhile.
Britannia Hospital (1982)
Why did he bother?
I mean really what was the point of this film in Lindsay Anderson's eyes? Britannia Hospital stands for Britain and the problems in it, including bowing down to corrupt dictators, allowing monstrous experiments, easily-swayed union-leaders, cradling the rich and just general madness.
The film does not do as well as the last two as it seems rushed, you don't go as deep as you would like and the black humour and satire is unsubtle, obvious and boring quite frankly.
Mick Travis is not given enough time as he should have been other than being turned into a Frankenstein creation and dying. I often thought why did he put him in? Probably to continue the sequels.
The good points of the film include the acting and the cinematography, by far the best scenes were the ones including Graham Crowdan as the mad doctor.
The ending may have prevented this being a bad movie in general, as it eloquently notes by a brain that when man tries to be God, the result can be indescribable. There is no solution to this problem we have as the brain says and thus sums up the whole trilogy's message and Lindsay Anderson's view on the human race.
But other than that, he took a huge nose dive compared to his other two masterpieces and he really didn't need to feel that he had to make a sequel to "O Lucky Man!" as it said pretty much everything this did and better.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)
Good cinematic take on the novel.
As most people, the novel of which we all know is an excellent portrayal of a non-conformist man living and breathing in the pinnacle of totalitarianism.
The movie is a nice adaption, however hampered as most most movies were back then and today by lack of sufficient time to grasp you fully as the book did.
The movies strong points are the three main actors. There is no one better than John Hurt at playing Winston, fully getting into the emotional and emaciated character trying to find sense and a way to destroy the party that is responsible for the regime he is in. Suzanna Hamilton playing the equally strong-willed woman Julia who begins an illegal love-affair with Winston. And Richard Burton who resonates coldness as the all-knowing Inner Party member O'Brien.
The cinematography is great, the music is also very good.
However, the movie just cannot capture the entire strength of the novel. The movie is rushed to death and as a result, we never get really deep as we should have. The scenes that make this film are the opening sequence, Winston's narration of the diary he writes, and the torture of Winston. But these too are sadly dwarfed by the novel.
Most movies can never equal the original novel because of budget and market constraints. No doubt this movie may have captured more strength from canon for the cinematic eye if these stupid barriers were broken.
For lover's of the book and Orwell, it is still a worthwhile effort to watch this.
Bakha satang (1999)
Compelling Drama
Let me tell you, I hate movies with a passion because most films are shallow and are like low-quality table wine. Very few are rare gems and this one sparkled bright.
The beginning shows a broken looking man who discovers a reunion between students he knew twenty years ago. He loses control while singing a karaoke song and wanders off towards the nearby train tracks and waits for the coming train to hit him.
We see a reverse motion explaining why he committed suicide, and I was awe-stricken at the power of the story-telling. He "begins" as a cruel and heartless man who failed in life to a different picture, an innocent and emotional student who wanted to be photographer.
Whether this has to with the history of South Korea is irrelevant as this is touching and heartfelt journey about a society which can change any human into a monster.
When the Wind Blows (1986)
Very good film!
Though I didn't shed a tear because I saw an even more depressing film that made me feel empty inside, this is a film which all other movies should have strived to be like.
Watching a very ignorant but very "innocent" couple who live in the countryside of Sussex continue to be optimistic despite dying from radiation sickness from a nuclear bomb dropped on London is heart-felt and engaging. Thinking prior experiences from the last world war would help them prevail. Some even feel annoyed at the complete insanity of Jim as he convinces Hilda there is nothing to worry about despite their bodies falling apart.
The soundtrack, however, was mediocre in my eyes and didn't help me connect with the characters as much as I'd wanted to. The animation was superb with the blending of Live-action.
I highly recommend this film to anyone who wants to be moved.
Citizen Kane (1941)
An above-average film, yet massively overrated.
Citizen Kane is a mostly engaging story of Charles Foster Kane brought up by a wealthy banker after his parents couldn't take care of him, and then blossoms into a mega-rich newspaper tycoon.
Orson Wells is excellent as the main character, and the special effects are exquisite, but unfortunately these two points carry the majority of this empty film.
The film was far too short, moronic characters other than Kane and a bad soundtrack(Which really couldn't be helped anyway). Had the film improved upon this I would have no doubt the film would have been perfection. They didn't scratch the surface enough on Kane, and I felt empty once again viewing a supposed masterpiece.
In case you are wondering and disagree with me, I do not judge how old a film is, and I detest today's movies because of the evil-minded love for money. I don't want to get political in a review but the people who own the show and make the movies (Including the Directors) reap huge benefits from a dumb-downed population. This is a movie which defied this fascism, but it still doesn't reach a standard I would want to expect cinema to aspire to.
However, it was an influence on other films, it has several excellent scenes that impress you and Orson Wells is an excellent actor. I was touched in several scenes and no doubt Orson Wells can be an exceedingly brilliant movie-maker. Whatever it was, actors not up to Wells's 'ahead of his time' mind, lack of movie time or some other factor, it cannot be all end all most have praised it.
Very Worthwhile, but not to the extent other people have placed it in my opinion.
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
This movie insults my intelligence
Where to begin...oh yes This movie is like a piece of coal in a box covered with with beautiful wrapping. Looks great on the outside but when you open it, it is completely worthless and puts a frown on your face, exactly what I got with this movie.
The director primarily decided that with movies, cinematography is best, everything else is secondary, especially dialog. There were very few lines in a movie of mammoth length, which is absolutely pathetic. I was not able to connect with either Lawrence, his friends or his enemies. The film became lazy hiding behind a beautiful shroud of desert and camels.
Let me say this, movies are stories to be told. Cinematography is crucial to this, but if you add very little story to one, it becomes a hollow log that appeases to people who love vision only enjoyed by the eye. I am not from that crowd unfortunately.
Here are some thing that could have made this a masterpiece:
1. Less time filming treks through the desert...
This got on quite a few people's nerve, despite the beautiful scenery we saw. We became bored and disconnected with Lawrence, like as if the long journey told an important story.
2. Include more dialog...
This is perhaps the worst part of the film, there wasn't any stuff to think about other than "I will do this job, yes". Through only Lawrence's actions, we could only determine that he fell in love with two Arabs going on a maverick's job to capture a Turkish hold, he killed a man who he saved earlier for murdering an Arab and was first reluctant but then enjoyed it? Never going into detail why. He gets abused by turks and...without any thought dialog other than a couple of expressions and the audience knowing he got abused, how he became so cold and angry?
3. Try to be a bit more historically accurate if you don't care about story...
This film was more like an amalgam of bits than a movie or history lesson. They didn't even include captions or dates to inform the audience how Britain came to be affaired with the campaign or Lawrence's past history.
And to top it all off, a cheesy ending with a bunch of soldiers driving by in a truck singing on how they miss home, obviously saying that Lawrence will miss the middle-east, but we never became connected with why he will miss it so much.
A huge disappointment of a movie. Yet a good example of cinematography, how long a movie should be (movies should be very long) and a good cast selection. But other than that it was more of a pretty picture with tons of money bursting out the frames.
5/10
The Plague Dogs (1982)
This is the best movie ever made.
This movie is quite frankly the best cinema has yet achieved, and it makes me angry this is a movie that will soon stop selling because it is forgotten by humanity save but a few.
There are not enough words to describe this near perfect movie, beautiful, sad, dark and hollowing. A story about two dogs escaping the hell that is an animal research center. They escape only to find an uncaring and ignorant world, where tragedy strikes at every corner. Everything is excellent about this film, everything. Voice acting, animation, and soundtrack are all a 10/10. The story itself is so excellent that it is 11/10 if that were possible, and that is the main reason stupid idiots cut this film and shot it down for being such a realistic movie.
So called tragedy movies will seem weak and narrow-minded compared to this. This is not an anti-animal research film, and this is simply not a look at cruelty to animals, but a look at a cruel world. A world so cruel you want to die, as there is nothing redeeming about it amidst all the pain you face. You begin to imagine that it is better, and that there is something to achieve over the horizon as you will experience watching the whole of the film. Denial gets us through life, and the song at the end sums it all up. This is the most realistic movie I've ever seen through a fictional story, totally Un-Disney and totally Un-Jeuvinile.
I was fortunate enough to get the Region 4 version which has the extended uncut along with the cut. Despite the picture and sound in the extended being horrifically bad, I tended to ignore it. I was just glad that I have it, and you should get it to, at any cost. A film to be seen by everyone, not simply animal lovers.
Watership Down (1978)
Worthy of the book
Watership Down simply is a mostly forgotten, mostly underrated masterpiece. It is a thinking man's movie, and one of the most touching experiences for most people.
The voice acting(In particular the legendary John Hurt)is top-notch and heart-felt. The Music is superb and beautiful. The animation is massively underrated, consisting of work of art background and realistic animation figures which are supposed edge the dark and very true tale of humanity.
The story is about a group of rabbits escaping a doomed warren, Lead by the benevolent Hazel and his prophetic brother Fiver. They come upon hardships throughout the story trying to find and make a utopia.
As most of you will be readers of the book, not many people will know that Martin Rosen may have indeed attempted to make the movie better than the book. He cut out Dandelion's stories which broke the flow of the main story, and changed the character(so it seems) of The Black Rabbit of Inle, which now resembles a spiritual helper of Frith instead of a mythological figure that gave El-ahrairah a tough time.
The movie contains incredibly powerful sequences, more powerful than any other film I've seen(Apart from Plague Dogs). It is that good of an adaption.
It is a movie suited to every age, bringing a look of realism and truth to children, and an intelligent look of life for older people. It is appallingly underrated film that deserves a look because most people do not know the book or movie.
Watch it and be touched.