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rugbysharks
Reviews
High: Confessions of an Ibiza Drug Mule (2021)
solid docudrama that does not glamourise the drugs trade
Interesting enough story of the infamous Northern Irish drugs mule. I'd have preferred if it had been longer to examine more of her background growing up in the North, and also her time in Ancon prison in Peru. For example I think she was a hostess in a Belfast nightclub before she went to Ibiza so she would've hardly been a "babe in the woods" when it comes to witnessing the drug scene. However, unlike some of the Calvinistic reviewers here, I think it's fine when ex-convicts make money from their stories. The clue is in the "ex" part. She did the crime and she did her time. Would you people have her live on welfare in a council house for the rest of her days because of what she did? It's not like she murdered or even assaulted anyone. There are actors in Hollywood (like the late Tony. Sirico for example) who came into fame and fortune on the back of being CAREER criminals. McCollum on the other hand did this one foolish & naive thing for a relatively small amount of money. She has matured beyond her years (still only in her 20s) and has a family now too. Give her a break!
It is a sobering documentary that does not glamourise what she did. The consequences of criminal behaviour are fully shown.....cockroaches, prison stabbings and all. It's not as if the documentary abruptly ends when she boarded that plane to Lima.
Bone Tomahawk (2015)
cracking Western horror
Fascinating take on the Western genre. Was on edge for most of the film and never quite sure if it was purely an old fashioned Western or a mix of horror and Western. Wonderful performances from all, especially so Matthew Fox as the enigmatic Mr. Brooder.
The Getaway (1994)
Good action film
Baldwin & Basinger are pretty slick in this film and I enjoyed the dynamic between Michael Madsen's character and his hostages. It's not a complicated film but what it does, it does well, and there's a decent amount of softcore female nudity to for us boys to enjoy hehe. Talking about sleaze, shout out to James Woods' performance too as the nasty gangster/businessman boss.
Old Henry (2021)
Beautiful tear jerker of a Western
Tim Blake Nelson and Stephen Dorff are superb in this early 20th century story of a struggling farmer and his son forced into deciding on the fate of strangers who show up on their land.
News of the World (2020)
such a beautiful story
Essentially the tale of a Confederate Civil War veteran who served his country and reluctantly went to war, managed to survive its ravages and then encoutered a young girl who also managed to survive yet another brutal war. Enthralling throughout, with twists and turns aplenty. Beautifully shot and acted. One of the finest Westerns I've ever seen, really had me in tears.
Okkupert (2015)
awful plot
The plot is ludicrous to start with. If the Norwegians took their fossil fuel production offline there would be loads of countries (incl Russia, and OPEC too obviously) that would step in to boost production & supply the EU's energy needs. That's it. Story over. No occupation, no invasion. One season is all I could take of this nonsense. If you're going to produce fictitious programs involving foreign conspiracies, at least make it somewhat believable. The other thing is obviously the blatant Russophobic slant that it takes in depicting the "occupiers". Disgusting really. Akin to portraying Norwegians as mostly Anders Brevik sympathisers or Germans as mostly Nazis. If it was the EU that asked Russia to step in, why wouldnt EU countries provide troops, etc? Again, so ludicrous! And then we have the issue of Norway being a NATO member. So if there actually was a Russian invasion, all NATO members would be obliged to intervene to defend Norway. Oh my lord.....too hilarious this rubbish.
Alone (2020)
Excellent thriller
Both leading actors gave strong performances, especially from Menchaca as the creepy stalker. The isolated backwoods of Oregon also provide a great, atmospheric backdrop to this drama as the victim battles both man and nature for survival. Had me gripped the whole way through. 8/10
Low Tide (2019)
quality indie drama
Set in a summer seaside resort, a largely young and unknown cast give fine performances in this cracking little drama about loyalty and betrayal amongst a group of petty criminals.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Classic sci-fi horror
For some reason the B-movie sounding title of this film put me off watching it for many years but a newspaper review finally changed my mind. Despite a number of the special effects looking very dated, the overall plot of the movie grips the imagination from pretty much the start (briefly ignoring how tiny alien spores could survive blasting through the Earth's atmosphere!) .
The strong performances of Sutherland and Nimoy in particular stand out, as did things like the use of light and tension which definetly gave many scenes a wonderful Hitchcock-like feel. The director really captures the growing drone-like behaviour of the "replaced" population well, where even a minor display of emotion marks you out as the enemy.
Wonderful film, now firmly one of my favourites in the genre.
Midway (2019)
superb depiction
Let me start by saying that whilst there are a few rather cringey "Hollywood" moments with the dialogue and one or two action scenes, overall it will go down as an excellent and largely accurate depiction of the battle. But we don't only see the ferocity of Midway itself, we're given the build-up to the War in the Pacific plus depictions of the Pearl Harbor attack and the follow up engagements between the Japanese and American forces. This was important in setting the stage for the main event as it were.
Turning to the special effects briefly. The CGI is absolutely mind blowing, as would be expected from an Emmerich film of this nature. I could not get over the attention to detail of the ships, aircraft, firepower and landscapes rendered. Simply magnificent. To my mind there's never been a more, dare I say it, "beautiful" depiction of war in the Pacific. It really raises the bar to a height I dont think will be surpassed for a long time in movies of this genre.
Another very important aspect of war films for me is how "the enemy" are portrayed and to be fair the Japanese aren't painted in simple-minded, propagandistic terms. They are mostly shown as the brave and thinking airmen and naval personnel we know they were. At one point for example Yamamoto mentions how the oil embargo on Japan is leaving the country with no option BUT war. Again this is important in a historical context, especially as so many people these days are ignorant of the past (not saying i'm an expert on it of course!). We know that Japanese forces did indeed commit many atrocities, against Allied troops but more especially against the Chinese population and other Asian civilians under their occupation, so it's good that these are highlighted at various points in the film too.
Crawl (2019)
best horror ive seen in a while
Ok the opening bit was heavy on the Hollywood cheese when dad encourages his little girl to go get 'em champ, you're an "apex predator" hahaha oh Lord. However, when the true action starts, it is very atmospheric with quite a few surprises. These kind of believable (i use that term loosely) horror/thrillers are good when theyre done right, and this one captures your attention and your fears throughout with excellent CGI on top.
Narcos: México (2018)
Brilliant
Sometimes I think that apart from the occasional modern classic like Shawshank Redemption, Schindler's List or the Green Mile, the old Hollywood formula for movie making is nearing obsolescence because silver screen epics like this (and indeed the entire Narcos series) offer something far deeper, far more complex and both thoroughly entertaining and thought-provoking at the same time. For me it really lays bare the futility of, and suffering caused by America's "War on Drugs". I don't think I can single out any particular actor because they all perform their roles, however large or small, with great gusto. It helps that most of them are actually Mexican too. It's a tour de force on so many levels, from the sets to the language to the narration, the direction and beyond.
Bankier van het verzet (2018)
Very impressive
So glad this came up in the Netflix recommended section. Anyone interested in modern European history should watch it. Acting and direction throughout was excellent I thought, it really did seem like we were witnessing wartime Amsterdam and all the hopes and fears of the brave people who resisted a brutal foreign occupation. Not for the faint hearted either. The movie gives a very realistic & sometimes graphic account of how a primarily civilian resistance movement not only has to outfox military intelligence, but also the craven collaborators amongst the ranks of their fellow citizens, and the consequences of such acts of heroism.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
slow and barely any sort of plot
I came in thinking it would be some sort of interesting whodunnit with an actual coherent plotline & that we'd get to the bottom of the murder of McDormand's daughter. Instead we're taken on this bizarre, tedious journey into the lives of the residents of a small town in Missouri. The deputy sheriff hates McDormand, then he's a racist, then he's not, then he's throwing a guy out a window. People are getting seriously assaulted and injured left right & centre but in Epping that hardly even raises an eyebrow from the local police. Some of the dialogue is frankly nuts, particularly the sequence where Woody Harrelson and his wife discuss Oscar Wilde & penises. At that stage I was looking at my watch and just hoping it would end soon. The only real noteworthy performance is from Rockwell but even his performance just does not fit in well with the overall aimless direction of the plot. Really disappointed after reading the reviews and seeing it nominated for all these awards.
Godless (2017)
Epic Western
One of the most beautifully filmed & acted series I've ever seen, and I'm not a particularly big fan of Western series in general. But it really is hard to find fault with this production. There is good and evil and there is black and white but within these themes we find so many different shades of grey and so many contrasting moral dilemmas. In one of many memorable scenes, Frank Griffin (played superbly by Jeff Daniels) menacingly tells a group of Norwegian settlers that this is not a land God rules over, but a land of the scorpion and the snake. For much of the series, his theory is correct, but gradually it changes. Out of hatred, fear & division there comes love, acceptance & camaraderie. The 7 episodes just seem to pass so quickly and you're really left wanting more by the end. Thoroughly recommend watching this, you wont be disappointed.
Geostorm (2017)
apart from some of the CGI, a very poor effort indeed
it felt like a B-movie at times with some of the acting. So cheesy, so predictable & so much forced political correctness. Really the top actors must have been in it for the pay check because there is hardly anything for the likes of Butler, Harris & Garcia to work with. Even the talents of supporting cast like Robert Sheehan and Alexandra Lara were largely wasted. That's not even mentioning the ludicrous plot, if one can even call it that. In one scene we see some kind of extreme ice storm suddenly descending on Rio, with everything frozen instantly in its path. Except for a bikini clad beachgoer who somehow manages to outrun it! I couldn't even muster a laugh because at that stage I was beginning to nod off and looking at my watch every couple minutes just hoping it was going to end soon. It actually makes other Hollywood disaster flicks like 2012 and San Andreas seem pretty interesting and entertaining.
On the plus side, the special effects were excellent I thought so kudos to the CGI firms & artists. The scenes of Dubai flooding and Hong Kong burning were highlights. CGI though should only ever play a supporting role to good acting and plot and this stinker had hardly any of the latter two. It is possible to make good disaster films. Deep Impact from 20 years ago for example was a thoroughly enjoyable, suspenseful (and even somewhat believable!) movie.
Open Water 3: Cage Dive (2017)
not a bad shark-related flick (Spoiler Alert!)
Compared to farcical, badly made films like Jaws 3 & 4, or the utterly atrocious "the Shallows", this one was OK and certainly watchable. Obviously you have to suspend a degree of disbelief with these movies since modern technological and safety requirements would have meant survivors of a boating accident such as this being picked up fairly quickly. Anyway, the plot involves 3 Californian friends off on a trip to Australia ending up together in the frigid waters off South Australia after their shark-diving boat gets hit by a freak wave and sinks. And whilst the sub plot of the romantic relationships between the brothers and the girl soon becomes tiresome, their fears and the good old fashioned suspense of not knowing what's beneath the water, do certainly work. The "typical hysterical woman" thing though is silly and whilst it was arguably needed for the plot to take a turn for the worst, overdoing it just detracted from the movie as a whole. I was almost hoping she got chomped by one of the Great Whites as it went on.
On a different aspect, other directors and producers please take note of the SPARSE use of sharks in this film. Less is more! The sharks here are not portrayed as mindless creatures of the deep with some sort of demonic, premeditated desire to hunt down and eat humans and only humans. And whilst they do certainly attack and kill survivors, it's not "over the top" compared to most Hollywood shark films. 6/10
Air Force One (1997)
terrible, jingoistic nonsense
***SLIGHT SPOILERS*** How the director of perhaps the greatest film ever made (Das Boot) could bring himself down to this level is beyond me.
As many before me have commented, the cliches are particularly gruesome. You have a US President who basically takes on an entire squad of hardened and professional terrorists!! I mean what are the chances of an all male group of RUSSIAN JOURNALISTS making it on to 'the most important plane in the world' in the first place. And the President is himself betrayed by a bodyguard!! Ludicrous. Those secret service agents would be the most fanatically loyal, die hard spooks you could ever imagine!!
Petersen must have done it for the exposure, the money or both. It's the usual storyline that makes non-Americans cringe: The 1 'cowboy' takes on ALL the bad, dirty 'injuns' and wins. As always, he just happens to be a former Vietnam helicopter pilot. Oh, and he's also got a loving wife and daughter that adore him. Bill Clinton must have laughed even more than me when he saw this movie. The acting overall is so cliched and melodramatic (someone mentioned Glenn Close) it was as if they were ORDERED to behave like jingoistic morons by the producers. Good to see that a lot of American viewers also found it extremely distasteful and insulting.
To cap it all off, (spoiler ahead)....when AF1 crashes into the sea at the end, the special effects almost made me laugh out loud. It looked like something from early 80s science fiction TV!!Also, the wonderful U-boat captain played by Jurgen Prochnow in 'Das Boot' is relegated to a minor role playing an ultra nationalist General. What a shame. Instead the major roles are taken by wooden actors who should know better, namely Close and Ford. I thought the best performance was given by Oldman, who's venom as the zealous terrorist is credible. The reviewer before me pointed out the major flaws and I'd agree with him/her, especially the part when the staff parachute blindly into the sky over E.Europe. The secretary has the most idiotic smile on her face as she drifts down towards probable death/capture/torture/drowning/etc. This film is practically another Delta Force or Rambo with better special effects and marginally better acting but overall it is still a pitiful effort. Passenger 57 and Die Hard 2 are much better 'aircraft related action movies'.
Wall Street (1987)
''its trench warfare out there''
(SOME SPOILERS IN THIS ARTICLE!!!)
Gordon Gekko says words to this effect when lecturing Bud Fox (Sheen) on the rigours of the free market economy. And he's absolutely right. The good and bad things about American capitalism are brilliantly put forward in this masterpiece about greed, corruption, hypocrisy and guilt. Stone is telling us, in Gekko's words, 'that greed is good, greed is right, it's what marks the upward progression of mankind' BUT also that our world and our economic systems produce both winners and losers. For every dollar Gekko takes, someone somewhere loses that dollar. The business this man is in is not about 'creating' anything as such, its living off the buying and selling of others and in a metaphorical sense, these stockbrokers and mega-capitalists are vultures.
Fox's father sees a greater vision in the actual building and creativity of humanity and perhaps that is what truly 'marks the upward trend of mankind through the ages', not Gekko's ruthless destruction of company after company. So creativity is better than greed according to Srone. Couldn't agree with him more but there certainly is money to be made off those stock markets. Someone said they couldn't understand the wheelings and dealings on the stock market floors. Well, I'm starting out in the business and to be honest, I don't have a clue either!!
I thought it was clever the way one of Fox's colleagues at his stockbrokers firm is termed a 'loser' by John C. McGinely's character (another good performance by the way). That character always professes his belief in the 'fundamentals' of trading, complex things like P/E ratio, company's management, their net worth, pension fund sizes, etc. And yet, he's a loser!! The stock market, like human history, constantly repeats itself in a never ending cycle of boom and bust. It's just that simple. It doesn't matter who's in government or what investments or interest rate cuts they make. In the short and long term those markets move up and down because of the way we FEEL about a certain company, or the way we FEEL about our country's economy. Stone hints at this underlying theme from time to time. In the end, ironically both Gekko and Fox are 'destroyed' by sticking to those complicated 'fundamentals'......they wipe each other out in a sense. Maybe Stone is saying that the system (or that particular profession) ultimately creates losers seeking the fast buck, rather than Martin Sheen's 'Egyptian like' belief in the inherent value of creation. Ultimately, playing the stock market is one big gamble but hey, it's fun!!
The film's prophetic value is also startling......remember Nick Leeson and Barings bank in 1995? ONE man driven so hard by greed and ambition he brings about the collapse of one of the world's greatest financial institution and devastates the markets. Like Fox and so many others, he thought he could feel the way the market would go. His world came crashing down around him. Stone's Wall Street truly is a mesmerising insight into the human condition, I'd go and rent out the video tomorrow!! By the way, also read Nick Leeson's 'Rogue Trader', also fascinating, even if youre not interested in stock markets, bulls and bears.
The Delta Force (1986)
just sit down and watch it.........its good for a laugh
My reaction to this movie when it first came out was great......I was 9 and it represented everything western society had told us to feel good about....namely, there's the dirty Arab terrorist, kill him. Oh ,look at those brave Americans and those poor Jews, oh my god they are such victims!!! Can you sense the sarcasm?
And surprisingly, when I saw it for a second time a few days ago, I again looked forward to it despite knowing about the myths and the overwhelming American jingoism which I'd come to associate this and others of its genre. However, I'd also been told somewhere that these types of films represented something else: the reaction of a nation bruised by war in Vietnam. OK, the war had ended over 10 years before it was made but I still felt there was something to this. Americans were looking for action figures and heros, they didn't want Shakespeare, sushi and Chardonnay, they wanted men who could raise national morale and since the US could not march back into Vietnam for another bloody round of fighting, Norris and Marvin were the next best things!! Thus we have the perfect setting: A hijacked plane with Auschwitz survivors and sailors destined for a bloody end. Funnily enough though, some of the Arabs weren't painted in too bad a light. They are generally kind to the women and children (releasing them), they respect the Christian church in Beirut that has stood there for hundreds of years even though they are Muslim fighters in a civil war. We even see glimpses of humour from them in contrast to the often cringingly zealous attitude of the Yanks.
I actually thought the theme tune was ok.....nah nah nah nahnahnah, nahhh nahnahnah nahnahnah (or thereabouts.........I'm still humming it today). For what it was, which was two hours of senseless violence, jeeps blazing machine guns and rocket motorbikes, Lebanese air traffic controllers and paramilitary thugs.......I sort of enjoyed it, felt sorry for the Jews resigned to their fate and laughed as the hapless terrorists are blown away to that theme tune.
A Good Man in Africa (1994)
light humour about incompetence and corruption in Africa
This film was on late night, mid week BBC television ,last week and I found it fairly easy going in general. It wasn't complicated at all although in some ways it attempted to be so due to the sex subplots involving British diplomat Colin Friels (who also bears a passing resemblance to Ewan MacGregor strangely enough). Those subplots of course came second to the themes of corruption, incompetence and confusion which I have to say reign supreme in Africa. The seemingly intelligent, progressive leader is actually corrupt to the core and is well played by Louis Gossett I thought.
The film also took a somewhat farcical view of African culture and politics which is completely over exagerrated but funny nonetheless. For example, the names and words of certain things amused me, like 'newly independent' Kinjanja for example. The local currency was the 'jan-jan' (?), the capital city was unpronouncable, and the locals believe in a god of thunder called 'Shango' which in a way becomes the driving force of the plot and causes our hero Friels all sorts of amusing moments. If struck by lightning, the victim also had to be 'cleansed' by a 'ju-ju' man??!!! True, the locals are portrayed as simple, god fearing, useless idiots which is something of a Euro-stereotype of Africans in general it has to be said. But the British diplomats, played by Friels and Lithgow, are also given rough treatment......they bend over backwards for a corrupt leader, can't deal with local politics, are xenophobic and bumblingly incompetent. But from these situations I did draw a certain degree of amusement, if only due to the fact that I lived in southern africa for over ten years and some of the stereotypes and mishaps were classic Africa.
Some good looking female actors also help the film along although the likes of Diana Rigg are under-used. Connery puts in a forgetful performance but both Friels and Lithgow are entertaining. The sticky atmosphere also comes through as does the general hurly burly life of a foreign diplomat in Africa..........I'll give it 6.5/10, easy going and good for a few laughs.
Battle of Britain (1969)
RAF vs. the Luftwaffe
Overall I found this film to be very entertaining. The aerial sequences such as the dogfights and the German bombing runs were I have to say superb.....look at the wide variety of aircraft nearly or completely accurately depicted. There are Heinkel 111s, Spitfires, Stuka-87s, Messerschmidt 109s, it really is quite visually stunning and remember there was no Industrial Light and Magic back then.
The plot is somewhat vague but I don't think it needs one. All historians know what the story entails. It involves an outnumbered RAF facing the might of the Luftwaffe who outnumbered them 3-1. German fighter aircraft were better machines although their bombers suffered from poor armament, mediocre range and speed and unescorted would have been blown to pieces, which again is accurately depicted. The scenes of German bomber crews being killed in apocalyptic air battles over the English Channel are startling and very disturbing I found. In that sense, there is unevenness in the film.........we see German pilots dying horrific deaths but we don't see it nearly as much on the Allied sude even though young Allied pilots were dying horrific deaths as well in burning aircraft. This to me represents the typical pro-Allied propaganda evident in many films in the 1960s/70s. If you want to hate the Germans thats fine but depict killing, vengeance, etc. in equal proportions.....
In saying that however, it was good to see the Luftwaffe pilots such as actor Kurt Jurgens portrayed as the dashing, brave pilots that they were instead of the expected stereotypical Nazis which didn't prevail. It was nice to see German actors speaking German (with subtitles) as well, unlike Enemy at the Gates for example where the Russian and German soldiers are played by strong accented Englishmen. Battle of Britain ultimately to its credit acknowledges that both sides threw brave young men into the battle and both sides lost heavily. Ignoring the lack of balance, the somewhat rushed and crowded atmosphere and a few historical inaccuracies which are sometimes apparent, enjoy this film for what it is: a classic war drama with many superb British and German actors
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Joker's character underestimated
A lot of people seem to be overly impressed with the first half of this film and then either disregard or rubbish the second part. In fact, to me the second part stands out as a very unusual and fascinating study of human conflict. The first half though seems simplistic, stereotypical and contrived which (apparent) ex-marines on this web site have called into question. For example Hartmann's brutality which would perhaps not have happened in reality. However, the first half does have interesting themes of hardship, guilt, relief, humiliation and the emotional results of all of that(as found in D'Onofrio's character).
But to me the second half stands out in this film. Modine's character is explored in greater detail and reveals a cocky though very intelligent young man in a strange land, surrounded by murder, chaos and vengeance. We see themes of revenge throughout: the killing of Hartman, the dead villagers in chalk, the death of the sniper all of which our Private Joker plays a role (or there abouts). He uses metaphor and humour to relieve the strain of his situation to an extent. He is the alter ego really of the brutal kind of soldier that the United States produced for and indeed within the Vietnam war, for example Adam Baldwin's character, etc. Someone mentioned that joker is 'the beacon of hope' in a sense, a humane character we can find comfort in. This is very true and untypical of most of the soldiers we see. Joker's philosophical ideologising can be clearly seen in his references to Jung's 'duality of man' and his remark about 'wanting to meet stimulating and interesting people of ancient cultures, and kill them..', as well as in his desire to study military journalism as opposed to the typical 'infantry' role of the marine. The reference to the Vietnamese as 'the finest people on Earth' also struck me in the midst of all the soldier's prejudices. In that same scene, the soldier also speaks of how 'When this is all over we're gonna miss not having someone to shoot at' which spoke volumes of America's role in Vietnam and indeed other conflicts around the world. In a sense thus Modine IS Kubrick in the film, he is the camera and the eyes through which we see the war as Kubrick wants us to see it.
One of the superb ultimate ironies of the film of course involved the use of sex. There are constant references to sex, both in the first half and more explicitly in the second half, when the men encounter prostitutes. They nearly all treat women badly or have a degrading opinion about them (Joker's and Cowboy's banter, the scenes when the second prostitute is introduced to the group, etc..) but ultimately of course, it is the FEMALE sniper who proves so skillful and who dispatches three of these so-called 'finest killing machines on Earth'.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
simple, pure, beautiful cinema in a world of mediocrity
Some of the comments on this forum have described this film in parts as being unrealistic and simplified but to me this film represents a purity and a brilliance in film making that is very uncommon. What were those people at the Oscars thinking when they passed up Morgan Freeman for best actor? He was quite simply superb....his character is so believable, so warm and compassionate, if ever a convicted murderer displayed his traits of reason and forgiveness it'd be a crime to keep him behind the sterile, evil walls of somewhere like Shawshank. Robbins also plays his role in quiet perfection as the thoughtful city banker wrongly imprisoned for murder. I think the man deserves his comparisons with Orson Welles.....what an actor. We see both brutality and humanity in the prison guards and some lighter moments when they all begin to realise they can profit from Dufrane's financial wizardry though of course the forced and immoral contract with Dufrane in enriching the sadistic Capt. Hadley and Warden Norton always lurks in the mind......the potential for violence and betrayal never far from our minds. If US prisons were like this, I feel genuine pity for the inmates, no matter what their crimes.
I thought the imagery and cinematography, as well as the stirring soundtrack to be other remarkable features. From the Maine flag fluttering in the breeze as the camera sweeps over the prison....to the inmates listening to the Marriage of Figaro and finally to Red's walk through those sun drenched fields in search of Andy Dufrane's promise under that great Oak tree. In one word, inspiring.
The ability of this picture to move has been vividly described in many past comments and the script in itself is like some beautiful songbird that flew into Hollywood and brought the the notion of quality to new levels. It's not that it is complicated, it is a simple story but that's where its genius lies I believe, that's why most rank it amongst the greatest movies ever made. Robbins' descriptions of the Pacific beach he one day hopes to be on, his heroic attempts to bring these wretched and brutalised prisoners a taste of freedom and normality actually carries them beyond those ideals and on to a higher plain almost. He gives them (if only for a short time) an inner peace which transports them beyond those prison walls. Though we never forget that the great majority of them are there because they committed violent crime, the irony of it, as Robbins says himself, is that he had to come to prison to become a crook. This seems to be the case when men and women are incarcerated for long periods. Robbins' hope is of course one of the major themes of the film and I found that you can, in a strange way, transport this to your own life, to your current problems and fears and that is the genius of films like this, it liberates the viewer as well, makes you think.
V (1984)
excellent sci-fi series for those who don't like sci-fi
When I first saw this series growing up in South Africa I was blown away and to be honest when I watched the series last year here I was still impressed even though in general I don't like sci-fi. Marc Singer and Michael Ironside as well as Jane Badler and Faye Grant all gave consistently good performances and I don't think they ever slipped up even though the script writers did go OTT sometimes. I felt and still feel the special effects to be good, though obviously not up to todays standards. For example the alien motherships, their fighter aircraft, the alien weaponry. One thing I wondered whilst watching it was where are the alien tanks? Surely they would need these so as to help human resistance in the cities and country. They just drove around in jeeps with a laser cannon on the back.
Another very interesting aspect was the World War 2 theme which ran strongly through it and the aliens were cast as sort of Nazi invaders. Look at the alien flag (it's like a swastika), look at the helmets and uniforms of the alien soldiers (a lot like German uniforms of WW2). There was also the issue of the 'V' symbol which was used in occupied Europe as an anti-Nazi symbol in the 40s. There were also human collaborators who helped the aliens and were reviled as in occupied Europe. The resistance of course were the central anti-alien force just as in France for example in 1940-44. It was all cleverly done, with a good atmosphere of an occupying army portrayed (there always seemed to be menacing alien patrols walking around in the background, etc., just like German troops in occupied Europe). There were also 'good' aliens like there were, dare I say it, 'good' Nazis (like Schindler) who tried to undermine a brutal regime. The fact that Badler played the sort of Himmler role (not the head honcho by any means) was strange also.....you'd have thought the writers would have made her an all powerful 'Hitler' figure.
The theme of survival was very important too in the series, the struggle was in a sense one of survival.....the human race would be eliminated if the aliens succeeded and so the resistance had to fight back. Similar to the Nazi era whereby the German people felt themselves to be threatened almost as a race and thus fight back, leading to destruction and tragedy. The aliens are also like this, they have come from a dying world and feel themselves to be in danger of being destroyed as a race and so attempt to eliminate the human enemy for their own ends. Very existentialist ideas indeed, reflecting on man's own nature of self-destruction and brutality.
The first part of the series I felt was also the best part, when the humans welcomed these seemingly human visitors from another planet....it was an intriguing period as the two 'races' intermingled and happiness and mutual cooperation gave rise to the inevitable mistrust and hatred. The later episodes did though I felt go awry. For example the creation of a cross-breed, Elizabeth, who had special magical powers, that just annoyed me quite quickly. What perhaps really would have happened if the two species 'mingled' would have been no cross-breed at all or perhaps one like the first 'ugly' alien that quickly died after Robin Maxwell gave birth. All in all though I thoroughly enjoyed the series and wish they would make a movie perhaps out of it or another series.....excellent stuff.