g-w-l Reviews

The Man with the Iron Fists 2 (2015 Video)

This film contains some unexpected magic...

[4/10 · 28 April 2015]

Here you can learn, how a movie can start and actually also end as an real epic movie - with elements from one of the oldest and proudest cultures on earth and perhaps the greatest and oldest philosophy our human civilization has developed on earth, and get transformed to an B-grade movie, in no time. Lot of crap effects with red fluid in slow motion and meaningless violence. Nothing really fits in this movie - from HipHop to music from a old Western: 'the good the bad and the ugly'... A black American actor as black American blacksmith...? If the story were great, we will probably not care about the detail so much. But a weak story, the viewer begins to wonder about all the mixed up elements from different genres.

Landscape from Thailand (with even elephants...?) - no Chinese language language at all and the play and fighting scenes are performed poorly, more like in a school theater - all of this is staffed inside a Chinese Martial-Art movie. With all this elements, incongruent set together, it seems like a awful wast of money - producing and to buying the movie.

There are beautiful scenes of Thailand... There are very deep spiritual thoughts in very small glimpses, but used like parsley on a inedible mush. Then back to the rather mechanical fight scenes. I could nearly hear the director on set: "People will see action, people will have distraction from their own miserable life, so don't bother with the story or anything else, just show some action". Underestimating the viewer and at the same time a perfect recipe to produce a B-grate Movie!

• Shooting a typical french movie in the Netherlands, with all the tulips and Windmills i the background, will probably be for some people in US not disturbing - it's all together in Europe anyway and doesn't matter for them. Or... Asia is Asia... Thailand, China... whatever... For us who are, or have been in China and Thailand many times - there are enormous difference in nature and building-styles and a totally different experience to be in this two different countries. I have never been a fan of Western movies - made in Italy in the 1970s - either. I had also he kind of experience like "something is not right and steals the focus"e already 40 years ago. Perhaps you will not buy this movie and see it instead on one of the millions of super commercial TV stations - with 5 minutes movie and 15 minutes commercials. With a good mix of toothpaste, call your plumbing specialist, hairstyling, Real Estate and Carwash - you will enjoy the 5 minutes movie, in between the commercials and don't realize any in-congruency anyway. It is still to us humans one of the finest Art to make a great movie, where there are being taking care of all the details and everything fits together. Then the whole world will stand up and applaud excited.

Revolution (2012–2014)

For me, far the closest to an post apocalyptic scenario as we can get

[10/10 · 27 April 2015]

This series is something special! Not only worthless brain-food to distract from a boring life. I'm studying and teaching psychology for centuries and also having a IT Engineer background. Of all series ever - from Revolution we can learn most, because it show us, some of the possible realistic outcomes, when - for some reason - the power is gone. The story is just a story and represents just some kind of cause. It doesn't actually matter why - the time after is in fact most counting for us, to survive.

Seen in a larger frame, there is some frightening possible reality in Revolution.

Its about the human reaction and is sometimes very close to, what we can expect, in this kind of situation.

When Hurricanes, Quake or other catastrophic events happen in our area, we experience, how little we can relay on our credit-cards, our cellphones and the system we did use every day, previous the catastrophic event. Now all is just dead plastic or metal.

But in this case, around this devastated area, we still have a fully functioning system in all the other parts of country - who can send helicopter and buses, to transport people out from there. And we have the complete health-care system and first aid and everything else in other parts of the country.

What if everything stops in every country and no help is coming from nowhere? What do people actually do? The batch of an officer is nothing worth anymore. No title or anything is anything worth anymore... The electric doors in the super-marked will not open and no cash registry. No bank account and no hospital and no TV or radio, no Internet or Games, no destruction anymore. How will we actually react? As community? As a city, as a country? Perhaps acting like grasshoppers in large groups and finding places with food? We have never been in this situation and don't know how it all adds up. Who'll be in charge? The smartest? The most brutal? A democratic elected group? How does our frustration and desperate attempt to survive, our need for protect our family influence our decisions? Do we act like the previous law is still in charge, or do everybody make it's own law?

All of this is part of this series and so much more. It will really be wise to continue Revolution, to give people an idea, how we can act better in a totally crisis. Show us some brave and heroic behavior and excellent strategies we can use in such situations - instead of getting desperate animals, because we where totally unprepared. Nobody else will ever prepare us, to survive in a complete collapse of the system, we are not trained to - ever!

Humans using modeling from our first year to learn every skill in our life - learn to walk, learn to speak, learning skateboard, bike, car....

When the power is gone, we have never had any models and this creates very easy a chaotic situation for everybody.

More Revolution! or a series like it, so we can watch and learn on a conscious and perhaps unconscious level. Revolution were great entertainment at the same time!

Änglagård - Tredje gången gillt (2010)

This movie is showing the bright side of Sweden and Scandinavia, like very few others!

[8/10 · 11 April 2015]

Actually I was looking for a number 4 movie and see a pretty dumb Review from another Norwegian. It is so far from truth as it can be. Comparing to movies from Finland and Norway, this Swedish movie is definitely much better then this two countries ever have produced. Especially the Norwegian movies are dark and many of them you get the impression they are made in front of a microphone in a studio - like old fashion radio theater. Dark pictures in a backyard, people are screaming all the time and no connection to our reality. Dark and depressive thoughts and comments.

In Änglagaard I see exceptional and fantastic pictures, the characters are played well, as they actually do exist and all the twists and angels a live on countryside can possible provide. All of this without the need of crashing hundredth of cars and shooting 1000th of bad guys, like some people expect in every movie.

For me sure one of the best and warmest movies from a Scandinavian country ever!

Dragon Day (2013)

With the potential for a great movie - but the wrong director...

[2/10 · 25 November 2013]

It could have been a great story, with this actors in place and a lovely set - low budget or not - this could have been a great movie. The nationalistic undertone: 'only American goods is good' and all the stereotypes shows clearly, the director Jeffrey Travis has no clue about modern psychology - how people act in real situations and he forced the actors to be in high gear on the beginning of nearly every cut.

Like when a car is running in first gear and full speed all the way. The body language will automatically be unnatural and artificial. Actors in Blockbuster movies have the same arms and legs and body - they just use them on a more elegant way - by switching to second, third, fourth and fifth gear in acting. Results in more calm actors and balanced, higher speed.

And technical it is fare out. As Engineer I have designed enough chips to know they only can do simple things. Switch on some pixels on a screen, or off. All are designed by different people, with different ideas, and doing different stuff. They will never, ever work together! One code does not work on another chip from another company. Apple code does not work on Android Phones etc.

And last but not least: Japanese People are working together in large corporate structures. Chinese people do never act as one. They have always in history worked in clans and families. Mao did try to change this to a collective structure, without very much luck.

Now in 2013 they are back in the old family structures again: "My family is producing chips for Apple and hates your family, because they producing for Microsoft....Google... whatever" This is the reality, when we are living and working in China today.

The suspicious mind of our ancestors the monkeys can still show up in all parts of our earth. Like in this movie... Do not make the world a saver place, do not wake up people, only spread unnecessary fear and takes hope from many people. Producing enemies is easy, producing friends anywhere is a lot harder.