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Reviews
The Vietnam War (2017)
Uncomfortable watch, incredibly American
You enter this documentary understanding it's from an American perspective however I feel that it really gets in the way of the potential of this piece. Everything is led the "American loss of life" in this and that. The tens, hundreds of Americans often outweighs the thousands of Vietnamese that fought and died. The footage is incredible and the chronology is laid out impressively but the sincere lack of recognition of the Vietnamese effort in parts, more than occasionally, makes this even more of a difficult watch.
The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019)
Brilliantly witty
The film begins with plenty of quips and old fashioned British humour. Slightly reminded me of The Grand Budapest Hotel in its manner and humour. This film does not deserve anything near what some of the reviews are giving. Clearly many turned up expecting it to be a raucous, laugh out loud comedy which was never promised. What it does do is stick to Dickensian values and humour throughout.
My main gripe is that the balance of the film seems a little off. The beginning and middle parts cross over nicely, however there is a good 30 minutes of rather dull dialogue without the stories moving along very much. The ending then all comes at once, whilst entertaining it compromises the storytelling values from the beginning of the film, perhaps to cram it into the two hour window.
Overall I predominantly enjoyed the script and the performances from the small ensemble of fine actors who were clearly enjoying their whacky roles.
Stan & Ollie (2018)
Thank you for bringing this to my life
Like many, I was unfortunate not to have witnessed Laurel and Hardy or have grown up watching their films. This love story between two friends however had me from the first scene. Coogan and Reilly each deserve the utmost praise for bringing the story of Laurel and Hardy to life and sharing it with every generation. I went from knowing little about the double act to having a tear in my eye as they said their goodbyes at the end.
The Favourite (2018)
Understand that this is not a comedy
This is my first review and I'm writing it to address some of the ridiculous 1/2 star reviews I saw on here before watching the film.
I've seen a lot of negative reviews suggesting that this film was billed as a comedy. I personally haven't seen anything to suggest as such and I think it's worth understanding the type of film you are going to watch before actually...going to watch it.
The script and cast are incredible and whilst there is an underlying dark humour and some very funny lines for Queen Anne (the amazing Olivia Coleman), this is a period drama based (very loosely) on the true story of Queen Anne and her two subordinates in the 17th century. It is not a comedy.
This film/genre isn't something that I would have paid to go and see normally however I was convinced by the make up of the cast and the positive critic reviews. I wasn't disappointed. Throughout, the film was entertaining, funny, dramatic however the reason that I have not scored this 9 or 10 stars is just that it was a little too bizarre for my taste. Some of the fisheye lens shots and the score seemed just a little too much at times to a simple cinema-goer like me however on the whole thoroughly enjoyed it. Would suggest seeing it at the cinema for sure as I think it would get lost on the small screen.
Script and cast are absolutely brilliant.