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Reviews
Hell or High Seas (2021)
Heart felt story in an engrossing documentary
This is a great story. A story to bring awareness to military suicides and the difficulties veterans encounter adjusting to a civilian lifestyle. My company sponsored a Zoom call with Taylor and Stephen... which happened to be the day after Taylor's child was born. One of the questioned asked of him was why PTSD was so prevalent in non-combat personnel. Once he described the pace of operations that he faced as a rescue swimmer and the low success rates of missions I understood how that stress is not left with the Navy when you go home. And as a 20 year Navy guy myself, I found it crazy that the military is not doing more for those leaving the service. If nothing else, all military members need to see this movie.
The Tournament (2005)
Must-see if you are a hockey parent
This is an awesome representation of that sub-culture of North Americans that are hockey parents. I believe season 1 was filmed during the hockey lockout year to provide some relief to hockey fans. Season 2 stretched things a bit much... the story line got a little more macabre. I had the series on DVD but that was lost along the way... which is a shame, cause I've never seen this on a streaming service. By the way, don't watch the outtakes. The bleeped cussing of the little girl goalie is less humorous when they aren't bleeped...
The Conversation (1974)
Inconsistent Characterization
I will take the advice of another reviewer and watch this again. The acting was fine and the plot was interesting. The story line was a bit of a surprise but some of the events just didn't make sense. Gene Hackman as Harry Caul is essentially a less confident version of Edward Lyle from 1998s Enemy of the State (which is a fave of mine). But for all the suspicion and mistrust he carrys, he throws an impromptu after-party at his warehouse with competitors and unknowns in attendance? He allows a competitor to place a pen-microphone in his lapel without a second thought? He suspects nothing about the advances made by woman who insists on getting to know him and sleeping over? I guess there could be such a thing as a surveillance groupie, and he is the king of surveillance, but the King of Surveillance's Spidey senses should have told him something was amiss.
This film was entertaining and had the feeling of a Hitchcock suspense thriller. But the only way I can incorporate the scenes described above is to assume that Harry was both an expert and a bumbling fool, and while there were certainly multiple aspects to his personality, I don't think this one was intentional.