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The ParaPod: A Very British Ghost Hunt (2020)
What would you choose?
If you were asked to rotate your company on a desert island for a week - would you ask to be joined by sceptics or someone with a more open approach to the possibilities of other layers to reality existing?
The problem is that in this era, science has reverted to scientism and skepticism has become a discipline all of its own when in fact science and spirit used to blend in a far more intelligent manner than we are surrounded by today.
This film did nothing to change that situation - in fact it detracted from both sides of the "debate" with inane discussion and school-yard humour. Barry 'the believer' was possibly the worst advocate for the paranormal you could find... there's more articulate discussion in random YouTube comments than anywhere in this hour long romp into nowheresville.
I'll just add one case to any true skeptics out there... it was monitored and analysed by science based observers... but of course no-one dares bring this case up in any media efforts. The Scoles Project.
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Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom (2015)
History can be defined after the actual events
- So we all want cultures and political "regimes" that are repressive to be removed - especially these days by 'the people', not a stealth bombing run. What this docu made me realise most of all is that most of us lead such hectic, confused lives that just as we think 3 lines of facebook sums things up or 75 characters on Twitter is a suitable digest version of various events - the same is true for catching the news headlines once a day after work. What I realised most ppl required to *really* grasp the complexities and nuances of the Ukraine 'revolution' could not be anywhere near accurately presented in news coverage on TV - nor in any one hour documentary - whatever side or angle you may have tried to represent. Geopolitics is now what Peter Dale Scott called 'Deep Politics'. There are now so many layers to events that end up on our on dimensional TV screens that one single person can no-longer, truly get some sort of 'objective' take on events at the time. As with 9/11, wars in Iraq, chaos after subtle intervention by the West in Libya etc - the truth either comes years later or continues to get further blurred. So Winter on Fire for me may have shown the true nature of a movement growing and asking for change but it wasn't that it failed to report the 'other' (Russian) side - it simply could not do so in the allotted time. Complex histories, funding from US and Euro 'Foundations', the re-hash of the newer Russia framed as the old gulag Soviets (Stalin was a psycho to many, including Ukrainians) meant that in the desire to show the latest colour revolution - it masked some really underhand tactics by factions of the Ukrainian side which you'll only have seen if you had hours to spend watching several news mediums in real-time... at the time. Which few of us could manage.
The Weight of Chains (2010)
Finally a fresh look at a complex situation.
I watched the first phase of the Balkans 90s conflict play out whilst studying for a degree in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution at a UK college... it was made immediately part of the course. Since then I've made a constant effort to keep an eye of how things have progressed - right up to the recent duping of the people in Kosovo - who seem to welcome being made one big US/NATO base.
Anyway - apart from a 5 part BBC series - nothing has tackled this issue in the depth it demands till now apart from this Documentary. Ignore the handful of reviewers who claim it's "Serb propaganda" - that's just idiotic - in fact this is one of the best produced and written documentaries I've seen on contemporary geopolitical monkey-business to date! The interview snatches are all from erudite commentators, the chronology is unravelled in a comprehensive manner and footage they've amassed really adds a human quality to things. The footage of elderly Serb and Croat neighbours being forced to pack-up and leave after living together without and issue is heart-wrenching (and definitely not staged before someone suggests this).
Also - by peeling away the propaganda the Serbs have been framed with for so long - we finally begin to hear the real ramifications of the war... which was partially a CORPORATE war. Bosnitch adds some amazing facts - such as the Yugo car industry being terminated by clever bombing - and the take-over by US firm Philip Morris by Clinton agreeing to bomb three times a very successful Serb cigarette factory - so much for military targets??! Recommended. A total and much needed breath of air.
The Point of Regret (2011)
Some good plot ideas - even if the ending was guessable
It winds me up when people mark down or are overly critical of film projects obviously done with limited resources... you can't use the same yardstick as those films with vast corporate Hollywood or Guy Richie Inc backing. What should shine through whatever the circumstances is the plot and script, in fact having a reduced budget can make a clever director and cast work harder to get their ideas over in a more effective or unique way.
I initially didn't hold much hope for Point of Regret but soon got pulled into it. I initially watched it mostly for the fact it was filmed in Worcester where i grew up... it was the first film to be given filming permission in the city's cathedral. Although I'd pretty much guessed the ending by the half way point - this didn't detract from the main thrust of the story being told. I actually grew to enjoy the cast's performances on the whole and thought there were several good plot turns and effective story-telling elements.
The scenes with William filming himself as an academic "Doctor" doing suicide research was a bit strange - didn't fit in some ways - but i guess it drove the concept 'point of regret' home for the viewer. On that note - suicide by gas oven has not been possible since Britain made gas from coal which stopped just after WW2. It's impossible to die from sticking your head into a gas oven these days I'm afraid. Still - that's a minor point. -
Pathfinders: In the Company of Strangers (2011)
PVC British Glazed Houses in 1940
I suspect due to a slight nostalgia mixed with patriotism - we find the vast glut of WW2 dramas and films receiving high ratings on places like IMDb. Some deserve it - like Band of Brothers, other don't.
This films diminished budget seems to have been an excuse to get bad actors who can't deliver lines (but have been told to leave 'poignant'.... gaps.... for dramatic effect). In addition the camera work is bizarre - weird close-ups at strange moments, bad editing and sound that needs normalising to avoid you constantly having to locate the volume control.
Apart from that there's the odd bit of decent dialogue - but not much. The enemy Germans are portrayed in the usual manner all lazy war films do... nothing to challenge the distortions of history here. Oh - and I'm sure I saw a British house looking very up-to-date with PVC window frames - maybe they were back-engineering from alien window tech in the 1940s??
Warning!!! Pedophile Released (2009)
Decent first time effort at tricky topic
I'm guessing some people would see this banned from it's title alone but it's worth a look passed the "P" word before those people find themselves too outraged. This film was rated at 7.7 when I first found the page today - I'm guessing as sometimes happens the cast, crew and their moms all sign in and hit the 9* rating at first then the voting settles to a more realistic level.
For a first film attempt on what seems to be minimal budget this wasn't too bad. I can't decide if employing a title like they did was part of a promotional gimmick to get the film some attention - which of of course works a treat in our current, media frenzy era over this subject - or if they truly wanted to touch on a topic many larger film outfits would run a mile from. Apparently the two lead characters penned most of the script and it does a fair job of covering some of the basic issues that would be encountered in a situation where a male had been accused of underage sex with his girlfriend and the fallout post-jail.
Read basic as meaning just that - the film's script doesn't reveal the complexities and depth of the issue to any real degree - it seems instead they left it to the acting and long, mostly silent scenes following 'Echo' around to do that job for them. How well it achieves that result I'm unsure. Some of the scenes and effects worked well but there was constant over use and over emphasis of the shaky hand-camera viewpoint - shakes and scene blur movement when you just didn't need and and really didn't want it - I felt like turning away for a break on occasions. On top of that there were some bizarre choices of music... everything from rave beats to a long scene with a minimalist discordant piano.
I gave this 5 out of 10. I'd loved to have given it higher for a couple of young, new actors daring to tackle the topic on zero budget. However for me it didn't work - there's way too much made of the aimless (supposedly aimed at atmosphere and character empathy I guess) wondering around scenes when that time could have far better been spent highlighting the complexities of what can go wrong within the framework of a possible wrong conviction for underage sexual assault. If you want an informed take on the social/media treatment of this issue - check out Chris Morris's infamous Brass Eye TV series on it. -
Beneath Hill 60 (2010)
Quick Point - Dental Care in 1916
There's been so many quality period films and TV series of both the first and second World Wars now that you'd think directors would have got the details down to perfection. IN this film they did in most aspects... the mud and claustrophobia we're well illustrated but I kept being distracted by on glaring (literally!) aesthetic detail they'd decided not to bother with. All these WW1 troops had gleaming white teeth - and full sets at that.
Dental care certainly wasn't close to creating celebrity smiles in 1916 - even more so after a few years in the trenches eating bully beef and putting up with bad daily hygiene conditions. When you're spending a few million on filming a realistic era of history - why skip on elements such as these?! The little details help the viewer to suspend disbelief and for me - once I saw the first soldier with a full white set - I found myself watching all the others in comparison when I should have been starting to feel transported to their plight.
Dan Aykroyd Unplugged on UFOs (2005)
A detailed, informative no frills account of the contemporary ET/UFO situation...
I particularly liked Sereda's work on the NASA UFO phenomena and this was really my main reason for obtaining it. I think having Dan Ackroyd in it is good for publicity and will pull in a few more waverers whereas the more ardent information seeker will take pretty much anything novel in the field when it comes out.
I don't know much about what Dan has been up to acting wise since Ghostbusters - but obviously a lot of what he has been doing revolves round detailed research UFOs and anti-gravity technologies as he is surprisingly well up on all the current evidence and philosophy in the field. A bit I found interesting was when Dan was on the phone to Britney Spears and some kind of M.I.B. agency materialized.
Although it's a pretty steady and uneventful interview style, the dialogs between the two and the occasional clip thrown in make the video more than watchable and unlike the vast majority of TV junk UFO/Alien genre programs we're fed - 'Unplugged...' really delivers an informative summary of just what could be going on and more importantly how we should begin DEALING with the situation.
In the 21st century we cannot go on treating this field as a side show or joke - whether out of fear or ridicule we need to grow up as a species, eradicate secrecy and expose the massive black budget spends. This DVD is well worth the time and expense whether you are new to the subject or a seasoned guru of all things alien.
More on the UFO phenomena and how it relates to Omega-Point issues at http://www.utopiated.net