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The Pursuit of Love (2021)
Just Drivel
I love period drama. This is period drama with the added bonus that it is Drivel. Full of great actors, also full of drivel.
Uncut Gems (2019)
I just don't get the point
I seriously like Adam Sandler. As Zohan he makes me LOL. He has proven himself as a serious actor in films such as "Reign Over Me". So we know he has what it takes, but this film just fails to impress: nearly all of the cast are simply nasty, unlikable, or obnoxious (including Adam's character); the dialog is hard to interpret without the use of subtitles (thank heaven for those); the music if you can call it that is not to my taste; the gambling culture is without merit. The ending just leaves you dumbfounded. Which all leads me to ask of Adam - "What was the point of any of this?". I give it 4 stars because I like him. He certainly can do better.
Forsaken (2015)
You must be joking
I have read the reviews on this site for "Forsaken" and find myself wondering if there is another version of the film out there. Kiefer Sutherland does his absolute best to overact - this the main reason I stopped watching "24" years ago. His father is difficult to fault as he goes through the motions on autopilot. The direction is at times okay but overall sparks of a Canadian production - extras on the street are laughable. The well-dressed villain does a fine job, while the hateful villain is nothing special. Brian Cox is a favourite of mine and he must know he is wasted in this plot that has been done many times before with greater success. Demi Moore manages to keep her cool but cannot save what is really a movie with little to recommend it. A_Different_Drummer: "the script is solid, the acting stellar" - possibly correct when compared with a daytime soap. I believe the Sutherlands are capable of better than this.
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Good but not Great.
The movie was high quality no doubt, but I give it a low overall mark because of the way the director chose to tell the story, which is through the eyes of the CIA operative and not much more. I expect she thought this was the main reason to make the movie, highlighting the dogged persistence shown by the woman. However this resulted in many very relevant and important things being left out of the plot. Little or no Seal Team training for the mission is shown, and there would have been a lot of it. There would have been lots of discussion about whether to involve the Pakistanis in the raid - this is not even mentioned. Pakistani F-16's are scrambled when they use a Blackhawk - mentioned once but not (as far as I could detect) mentioned again. There were many facets to this story, and Bigelow's tunnel-vision has resulted in a movie that is good, but not great, and about 45 minutes too long. Jessica Chastain is up for Best Actress at the Oscars for her role, and I do not believe it is worthy. Her acting was solid - but nothing remarkable; the best scene is where she chews out her boss in the corridor. 6/10.
In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011)
Good film, give her a break
I am frankly appalled by some of the negative reviews this film has received. The acting is excellent, the direction and production values are of high quality, and the story is indeed one-sided. Don't you think Ms. Jolie was entirely aware of this when she made the film? All that has happened here is that she has adopted a certain viewpoint and portrayed this on film, rather well actually. Yes there were atrocities on all sides (she does not say there weren't, in fact these are discussed in some of the dialogue). That is not the point; this movie is about a love affair between a Serbian man and a Bosnian Muslim woman, and the inner battles both of them go through knowing what is happening around them. He spends most of the movie trying to protect her, while she spends most of the movie either scared out of her wits, or just plain nervous.
Some people are dismissing the movie because it is only showing one side of the conflict. I believe Ms. Jolie's reaction is that she has nothing to be ashamed of, because that is how she believes things were. They probably were (all over the region, with differing perpetrators). Again I say give Ms. Jolie a break.
The Mechanic (2011)
I have watched it twice, it was great both times
I have read many of the less complimentary reviews of this movie and frankly I am a little mystified. After watching it twice to further develop my opinion, I still think it is well done and highly entertaining. People seem to be deliberately searching for flaws instead of trying to enjoy this effort, which is rather hard to fault. There is nothing wrong with the acting, the action scenes are outrageously entertaining and well done, and Statham is what you would expect - ripped. I did wonder a few times about fingerprints, but that apparent blooper is minimal in the overall flow of the movie. Also you might wonder why they get away with many things in broad daylight - try this in the UK and everything would be on camera. ANYWAY forget all that and enjoy what really is a fine action movie.
Somewhere (2010)
There is NOTHING clever about Somewhere
Okay I watched this movie because it has Stephen Dorff in it, and I have always liked him. I wonder why he has never really attained that super- star-status that I think he possibly deserves. Unfortunately I think he might be just about the ONLY good thing about this movie, which is not original in any way. Frankly I wonder what Sofia Coppola was thinking when she wrote this - and then decided it was worthy of a movie. It has all been done before - bored rich guy (this time a movie star) suddenly has to deal with his daughter who is usually looked after by someone else, and then he realizes he is a useless self-serving git. So what? Did Sofia really think this was a refreshing idea?
Some other reviewers have indicated that this might qualify as the movie of the year. I can only assume these people do not actually watch many movies. It has few redeeming features. While watching it you actually become just about as bored as Stephen Dorff, who does a fine job of acting the role - you cannot blame him.
I watch loads of movies, most of them are poor, and this is no exception.
Spartacus: Blood and Sand (2010)
The most significant TV event since Band of Brothers
I was mesmerized. There is talk of the pilot (first of 13) episodes being flawed, but I did not find much to complain about. This series is awesome. I have been glued to the screen - my wife kept asking "what is so significant about this series" - you will have to watch to understand. It is brilliant. There is all kinds of gore, sex, love interest, beautiful men and women, and all of that is an aside. It has to be the script, or perhaps the direction, or maybe simply the acting.
Television of this calibre only happens occasionally - most of what we have to choose from is mediocre at best. If I could rate this higher than 10, I would.
Now that I have watched all 13 episodes I am at a loss. And I am deeply troubled by the news that the lead actor has been diagnosed with cancer - a second series is a must. I wish Andy Whitfield everygoodthing I can bestow upon him.
Watch this series and be impressed, as I have. It was indeed awesome.
Brothers War (2009)
I delayed watching but eventually succumbed...
Okay I WAS going to start by saying this movie is simply atrocious BUT now I have had the pleasure of reading Hugh Daly's comments (please read them for yourself) my opinion has changed. I admit that I am guilty of armchair directing and picking holes in movies - I often comment that the movie must have cost a fortune to produce so why did they not realize how bad it was?
Well, Hugh Daly has let us know that not all movies have huge budgets and when you bear this in mind, things come into perspective. The actual premise of the movie is an interesting one and I rather liked the pairing of the British guy and the main German guy. I did not find Hugh's acting that wooden, and the German lead's acting was great throughout.
I am left wondering if German soldiers would refer to oncoming Russian tanks as "Panzers" - maybe this is a generic German term for "tank"? Of course I am only used to referring to German tanks as Panzers, but what do I know anyway? The uniforms, vehicles and similar things are very well done - the producers are to be commended. However trying to rate a movie of this type when it has had to deal with budget restraints is difficult. We all know that SPR and BOB were brilliant efforts and they have set the bar. Does this mean that we cannot forgive other war movies that try to tell a story with less resources?
Hugh Daly, I salute you and want you to know that it is refreshing to read feedback directly from the source!
Go into watching this movie with an open mind, knowing that it is NOT to be compared to the Spielberg efforts. You might like some or all of it.
Mum & Dad (2008)
I am guilty of liking this movie...
This was certainly a difficult film to rate, and in the end I had to give it something better than average, but I am a trifle disturbed to admit that I kind of liked it. It is the sort of film where you are drawn to watch more of it although you know it is very distasteful. Once or twice I was close to turning away. But I still liked it - does this mean I am a freak? I guess we are allowed to like depraved movies without feeling particularly guilty...
Without giving too much away, the film involves the incarceration of a young woman against her will, and she is abused in various ways by a family of loonies. British loonies at that. Actually one thing that always sells a movie for me is the UK connection - the movie is only rating about 5.3 as I write - but this made in UK angle was all I needed to give it the time of day.
A number of my peers have referred to the movie as a "dark comedy" which surprises me because I did not even smile through the whole film. There is little to smile about so I am wondering if they saw something I didn't. In fact I expected the movie to go down the sexual abuse road but I am glad to say that the viewer is only subjected to that in a mild way.
What else can I say without giving away the story? While the movie was playing, I mentioned to my lovely wife that I was watching the "most depraved movie I have ever seen". Well in modern times anyway - come to think of it there was a movie many years ago called "The Last House on the Left" which rates pretty high on that scale. If you missed it, you did not miss much.
The Kingdom (2007)
A superb movie handling a difficult situation...
First of all I notice that there have been a number of comments dealing with the hand-held camera work in this movie, and I do agree that this is excessive, and on at least one occasion you are left wondering exactly what took place because the camera is simply too close to the action.
This being said, it remains my only real complaint about this movie, and I simply cannot understand why it has received some mediocre reviews. I was completely entertained throughout the movie, which set out to handle a scenario that becomes more likely as time passes. It does tend to depict the Saudis in a somewhat negative light although you certainly warm to some of them by the end of the movie. There is plenty of flash-bang for those of us who appreciate that sort of thing, but none of it seems out of place. Once or twice the scenes leave you wondering if that was really very realistic, but the errors if present are not glaring.
SPOILERS FOLLOW: In a scene in the middle of the movie, the FBI team and their Saudi police escorts are "surprised" on a freeway by a suicide bomber driving a car loaded with explosives. BANG. In the ensuing melee our heroes commandeer a Range Rover from a civilian and set off chasing the bad guys. This leads them to a fire fight on a city street where they are surrounded by multi-storey buildings with guys shooting at them from all angles. One of them takes cover behind the open Range Rover door, which gets riddled with bullets. NOW: if the door was not armored, the guy behind it would have died. If it WAS armored, he would have been slammed back against the vehicle. Another thing: At least one or two of our heroes would have died in this scene if it had been real. You cannot hide from rocket propelled grenades the way they do. At the end of the scene, all of our heroes are alive, and all of the "bad guys" outside are dead. SPOILERS END
None of this ruined the movie for me. It was a very high quality effort, brilliantly edited and directed, superbly acted. If all movies were this good, I would be a very happy camper.