bigdex101 Reviews

Deterrence (1999)

Dumb???

[9/10 · 13 February 2007]

I was pretty shocked when I saw the overall IMDb rating and the negative user comments. Considering the "one set" limitation - you have to have some pretty good character / dialogue to maintain interest - and I thought the film kept up just the right amount of tension until the truly shocking end - see recent events in Iraq.

I thought the whole point was that the US was threatened during the re-election phase of a President out to prove his metal - Pollack was brilliant.

Its set in a Diner so that the President is FORCED to listen to Joe and Joanna Public - likewise they get to see the inhuman pressures put upon the person in that Office.

Who cares if the bloody B2 looked like an F17 or whatever the bloody plane is supposed to be THAT AIN'T GONNA RUIN THE MOVIE - it was made on a shoestring and is a great example of how to make a substantial picture without spending millions of dollars. It gains gravity from the storyline rather than an A list cast. A strong, gripping film that seems to have grown in relevance over the years.

The Sopranos: Mr. & Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request (2006) Season 6, Episode 5

Staggeringly good

[10/10 · 30 September 2006]

This episode just aired in the UK on Freeview. I'm still reeling. The episode begins with a reformed Tony exclaiming to Dr Malfi that, after his near death experiences, something deep within him has changed. From now on he's going to cherish each day, family (particularly his daughter) are the important thing. The episode ends with T spewing blood into a toilet bowl after a particularly poignant/pointless bout of violence. The kind of violence that defines Tony - necessary, pointless and always brutal. The journey in between takes you through such a kaleidescope of emotion you begin to feel giddy. The central event - the wedding - moves effortlessly from high farce to tear jerking tragedy. Throw in the usual intrigue of plot twists and turns. Mix in a startling revelation about an established character that can only end in more bloody tragedy and you're left helpless, pleading for the madness to stop whilst gagging for more. Damn fine television.

The Path to 9/11 (2006)

Terrifying and gripping, so why alter the facts?

[6/10 · 15 September 2006]

I watched "The Path to 9/11" in awe and horror. A superb piece of television: serious, thought provoking. It somehow managed to reflect the horror whilst retaining respect for those who paid with their lives. Harvey Keitel's face as he hears the sickening thud of the top floors of the WTC beginning to pancake; the prayers of the firefighter's Chaplain; the depiction of the incredible phone call between the United 93 passenger and his wife: I won't forgot those scenes for a long time. I'd also like to mention Martin Brody who plays Atta. It can't have been easy to play such a perverse character The look in his eyes as he headed for the cockpit chilled me to the core but he somehow managed, in a few minutes of screen time, to make the character three dimensional.

So I am saddened to read, in sources that I know and trust, that the film makers let some glaring inaccuracies spoil a superb script. I can well understand the anger of Madeline Albright and other members of the Clinton administration. But why did the makers let these mistakes stand? I really don't understand. They didn't add to or detract from the overall message: there was a huge failure of intelligence and defence. We simply weren't prepared. We didn't see it coming. Those who did, their voices were ignored or drowned out. Not by evil people, but by people like us who couldn't imagine that the USA would ever be subject to such a "successful" strike on its own soil, at the heart of America.

It makes me uncomfortable to think that our collective memory is subject to such false accounts of history. It is disrespectful and damaging to those who lived through the events, and more importantly, to those lives horribly snuffed out by the events. They deserve better.