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birdrecruit
Reviews
The Following (2013)
I can suspend my disbelief no more.
I really enjoyed this series at first. It was exciting, full of surprises and I was ready to suspend my disbelief on a plot that was not very believable. The acting was great too and Kevin Bacon is magic in any thing.
However, after a while it all became somewhat clichéd. The FBI would start to track a phone message from the Following and the phone would just go off too soon. The computer boffins would track the Email but it would have 'some sort of encryption'.
The other phenomenon was that that cult members would pop up everywhere like breeding mice. It was a shock at first when the police woman was a follower but the shock value went with the second policeman and Kevin Bacon's ex-girlfriend. It reminded me so much of a 1960's series called The Invaders ( A Quinn Martin Production as the deep-voiced introduction used to say) where nearly every man and his dog turns out to be an alien in human disguise.
Add all this to the ridiculous amount of killing, the English accented Bond villain type antagonist with his get out of jail free card and I did think a one time it was meant to be a comedy. I am mostly through the first series now, I have about 5 episodes to go but I think I will give up.
Overlord (1975)
Beautiful Film about Awful Events.
Just watched this on Amazon Prime and really enjoyed it. It was unusual and original. I found myself struggling to place it in the decade it was made at first. It was so authentic re the war, I thought it was just post war at first, then as the more liberal language came in , I thought it was the sixties. Turns out it was mid seventies.
The film has a wonderful dream like quality with the hero foreseeing his own death. I don't know if the black and white film is shot on Ilford FP4 or not but it seems to have all its massive range of greys from white to black in it. This combined with the music and some of the documentary footage, although quite shocking at times, makes it paradoxically a beautiful film.
Some of the documentary film was outstanding. I have never seen some of the invasion devices shown before. There was one like a huge Catherine wheel that sped on to the beach. There was another that just chewed through the barbed wire defences. Further, there was a shot from a bomber flying low over a coast line which was so clear and real it pulled you in totally to the fictive dream - it didn't have any of the usual distancing of many documentary or fiction films.
Good film - I recommend it.
The Man Who Captured Eichmann (1996)
A reasonable film that could have been excellent.
I think it was a reasonably interesting film. However, the majority of the film focuses on the relationship between Eichmann and one of his captors. The film could have been excellent if the very best character actors ever were used. Robert Duvall is good but he is not in the same league as De Niro or Pacino.I'm not suggesting that they should have played the part but you need a method actor for a character as complex as that.
Some things were not convincing - the two weren't supposed to talk (were the doors sound proofed that no one knew) and where was the tension involved in this. Eichmanns family were looking for him but no real tension there - everyone knows the outcome. Perhaps the filmmakers should have bent the truth a bit and had the Israeli headquarters nearly discovered.Why were there so many characters on the Israeli team with none really given a chance to make an impression on the viewer?
I kept waiting for something to happen really, some account of Eichmanns trial but it just ends with him flying off to Israel.
The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
A lightweight chick flick.
My wife suggested we go and watch this and I was half encouraged because I thought it might be based on a Dennis Wheatley novel.However, to my disappointment it was all about a fashion house. I was so bored in the first 15 minutes had I been on my own I would have walked out. However, I stayed and I must say I enjoyed some of the one liners - it was slowly dawning on me it was meant to be a comedy (Most of the cinema audience were not laughing however). I think Meryl Streep glued it all together with her acting. I cant remember who the lead actress was and I don't care. All I can remember of her was that her bottom eyelids seemed to be stretched downwards like gravity was already working on them.The big screen made some of the scenes really breathtaking to look at but this will not translate to TV I don't think. Paradoxically, speaking of TV it should really have been a TV one off and not a film. I expect to see it in with the £3 bargain DVDs in 12 months time.