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eagle63
Reviews
Gravity (2013)
What a movie!
This one had me at the edge of my seat. That hadn't happened for ages.
Do watch this one in 3D on the big screen, it's much more effective that way.
The cast is small , with Sandra Bullock taking up most of the movie in a film that basically has a cast of two (putting aside some voices such as ones from Houston). She copes with this burden beautifully.
What more can I say? It compares favorably with 2001: A Space Odyssey in terms of isolation and space (Ryan Stone and deadly space debris storms as compared to David Bowman and HAL). A similar feel exists here.
It was a very memorable night out indeed for me.
La migliore offerta (2013)
A sting in the tail
For the most part, this is a mystery/romance story, but it takes a sharp twist towards the end and some confusion follows. It's difficult to describe without entering spoiler territory, but there you are. Do note the name of Donald Sutherland's character - Billy Whistler.
It seems overly long - about three hours. It tells the story of a auctioneer/antiques dealer, called Virgil Oldman, with a haughty attitude, some ethical problems and a secret art collection who gets a new mystery female client, called Claire Ibbington, who has a major effect on him. Mystery settles in when numerous questions arise? What are the mysterious components that he finds - and what do they build up to? Why is Claire so reluctant to meet him, and what is her life story? Who is that odd woman in the nearby tavern/tea shop? All these and more get answered...for the most part.
Never Back Down (2008)
Rough Stuff
This is one unpleasant film: to think that large groups of youths (male and female) are deriving entertainment from seeing savage fights is reminiscent of the fight culture of the 1840s in the USA - as shown in "Far and Away". The sole difference is that this feral culture is being carried in the 2000s (160+ years later) with the Internet and mobile phones being used as modern-day enhancements.
For me, this scenario is the most repugnant part of the film - even more so than the feral Ryan McCarthy, the villain (relatively speaking) of the film.
This is not the film to be showing to your children after a church service.
Click (2006)
Too much tastelessness
This had several aspects that were of great concern - in particular the exposure of minors to bad language and sexual matters.
The first half of the film where minors were involved in such 'funny' scenes as a dog who has intimate relations with a stuffed duck, is particularly bad in this respect. This 'gag' gets played to death. As for that scene where Sandler breaks wind in Hasselhoff's face, there were no minors involved in that scene but it was still utterly tasteless. No warning about this stuff (other than some generic ones about medium coarse language, etc) exists on the video and if anyone picks this off the video or DVD shelf expecting something gentler and more Disneyesque , these scenes will shock the most.
The second half gets better when the tastelessness goes away. These scenes will be fast-forwarded over in this review in the interests of avoiding spoilers but they do show what happens when the fast-forward mechanism in the universal remote gets out of control. They almost atone for the ugliness of the first half. Almost.
Recommended for anyone who thinks that the repetitive playing of scenes involving a , well, lonely dog and a toy duck is hilarious, and that films like these represent the very pinnacle of freedom.
Mary Poppins (1964)
Practically Perfect In Every Way
Like the lady herself, this film is practically perfect in every way - great characters, excellent effects (including an award-winning cartoon performance), good film score, great humour.
This account of how a suitably mysterious lady of many mysterious talents enters a household and reunites a slightly dissected family with two somewhat lonely children after first enchanting the children is as enjoyable as ever.
Recommended viewing for young and young at heart.
Freedom Radio (1941)
Powerful stuff
This film has a lot to say about to what extent the allied powers knew about the horrors of the Nazi regime by 1940. The "cleared for general viewing" notice that appears just before this film starts adds a small something to this film now.
It tells its story of a decent doctor in Nazi Germany effectively. No explicit violence is used - yet its remarkable how powerful a bullet-riddled door or a Nazi thug approaching a young girl for "assistance" about her grandmother can be.