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Reviews
3 Body Problem (2024)
Not the story in the book
A muddled mess interposing things from the novels with things not in them and completely out of order. If you haven't read the books it's probably a 2/10 as the series is a jumbled mess.
The novels are an immense sci-fi opera with a massive scope and beautifully woven together to lead you through a series of philosophical and complex scientific ideas to conclude with a terrifying premise.
The 3 body problem is a genuinely unsolvable scientific problem. Another unsolvable question is the Fermi Paradox posed by the brilliant mathematician Enrico Fermi when he asked 'where is everybody', these novels propose a worrying answer.
Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023)
Yet another remake of a classic
The Seven Samurai arise again in a galaxy far far away. I find it hard to understand why film makers try to remake a classic movie. They just can't compete in any way with Kurasawa's magnificent Samurai movie.
Yes it's in colour and magnificent 4k but eye candy just doesn't cut it.
Rather than a bunch of bandits our heroes now face a gigantic fascist dictatorship with so many men and so much firepower you would need a massive force to stand up to them let alone beat them. But then you've got to somehow beat an old black and white movie in Japanese with no special effects made by one of the greatest directors the world has ever seen.
The vast amount of money needed to make such an epic with spectacular effects unfortunately doesn't compare to the wonderful photography, great acting and magnificent battle scenes of the original.
Maybe 5/10 is generous. I will watch the second part and maybe readjust my rating.
Dracula 3D (2012)
A giant praying mantis ?
As a film equivalent of the many Hammer Dracula movies a poor attempt. Nice cinema photography, decent settings but a rather thin storyline.
Like the later Hammer films a few good looking topless female vampires but unlike Hammer rather poor acting and no real atmosphere.
Very poor casting especially Dracula who was dull as dishwater and about as menacing as a cardboard cutout.
It's a great pity that's director like Dario Argento has produced such a lack lustre rather dull boring film. It would appear he is just making films for the sake of it, relying on his previous reputation.
That such a master who can make film such as Suspiria and The Bird With The Crystal Plumage to name but two of his earlier magnificent films is reduced to this is very sad.
As for the giant praying mantis what can I say - words fail me.
Glass Onion (2022)
Puzzle box
Starts with a number of people receiving an identical extravagant puzzle box. And this is exactly what the film is. A large extravagant expensive puzzle box. Beautifully filmed, magnificent setting, well acted. But all in all this is all the film is.
This puzzle box of a film is at its core an empty box, all flashy and showy on the outside but an empty box all the same. The problem is while the plot is quite interesting and the twist part way through is unexpected and could lead to a number of interesting outcomes it doesn't really deliver in the end. This is down ,a great deal, to the main characters all of whom are thinly fleshed out and in one way or another are rather obnoxious. I couldn't care less about any of them and their shallow selfish existence.
Monster (2022)
Varied episodes
There are excellent performances by the lead actors - Evan Peters as Jeff, Richard Jenkins as his father Lionel and last but not least Niecy Nash as his neighbour Glenda. Khetphet Phagnasay as one of the victims fathers was also very good. The rest of the cast were adequate.
If you're old enough the story is well known and here was dealt with in an interesting way. It starts with Dahmer's arrest and then is told in a series of flash backs and forward to some of the events in the story, some covered more than once from slightly different points of view. While I quite liked this some people may find it a little confusing.
Where the series looses points for me is that there is too much padding and repetition in many of the episodes making them drag. The series could have been cut down to 5 or 6 one hour episodes without loosing the story and it's impact and would have been far better.
5 out of the 6 points I rated it are for the lead actors performances especially Evan Peters.
A Blood Story (2015)
Abysmal dross
A truely awful movie. The acting is very poor all the way through but isn't helped by the dialogue which is just bizarre. All the male actors look like they have just walked out of a 90's porno movie as does the lead actress and the set design. The storyline similarly resembles the type of stuff you'd get from a porno movie. The movie starts off slow and drags itself along at a snails pace with a couple of scenes (the mild whipping scene and the female lead bathing in blood scene) repeated more than once. Linnea Quigley has a bit part in two scenes not really pertinent to the plot and was only in the film possibly to draw in a larger audience.
Don't waste your time watching this.
Pramen zivota (2000)
The Master Race program
An excellent film about the Nazi attempt to breed a new Aryan Master Race. Beautifully filmed and well acted it shows the breeding process for the next Nazi generation from selection of suitable Aryan young women and their training to the pairing off with young SS men. The children thus produced will eventually be taken from their mothers and brought up by the Nazi Party to be the new supermen and women to continue the Thousand Year Reich.
This is completely true and many children were born not knowing their real mothers and fathers. Some never knew the truth of their birth others only learned the reality in old age.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022)
Average start
The world, the photography is stunning; the characters not so much. In the films the characters appear real, comfortable in the world. A lot of this cast do not, particularly many of the elves. Elrond seems particularly badly cast. He sounds like he's reading from a script, his movements are stilted unnatural. The script could be tighter there's too much filling to bulk out the episodes.
Oddly the harefoots appear to be Irish while the dwarves are Scottish! Why! The ordinary humans are a mix mainly English while the Elves appear mid-Atlantic, do you really need different accents to identify the different races of Middle Earth when it's obvious by just looking or them.
The comedy cuts are out of place also.
We can only hope it improves.
Men (2022)
Folk horror nearly
Excellent acting, fantastic score, beautiful photography.
This film is stunning in many ways. Potentially a great return to the traditional British folk horror genre. A quiet English village with a population of eccentric characters, a lone female seeking peace and quiet to find herself after a shocking incident, all the required elements.
The Green man, Gia Mother Earth, it was all going so well right up to the ending. Even the rebirthings except the last one.
The mood was lost , the pagan folk element beautifully set up was cast aside.
This could have been so much better with a real folk horror ending but it wasn't to be, pity.
The score is for everything except the last few minutes which unfortunately really spoiled the film.
X (2022)
Poor effort
Could have been better. A rural slasher movie which lacks tension, atmosphere, menace. Adds nothing new or worthwhile to the genre. The acting is poor the storyline trite. The start of the film shows the aftermath of what happens, the Sheriff is asked to look in the basement his face shows shock, horror cut to close up the real story then starts. At the end of the film expecting a return to the start by seeing what the Sheriff saw and maybe some shock twist we get nothing.
Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)
Bored for eternity
48 years ago my friends told me to read this new book by Anne Rice , they said it was brilliant. For some reason I didn't and have still not read it of any of her books. I also didn't wish to watch the film that later came out even when it was recommended to me.
So now in 2022 I've just finished watching the film 10 minutes ago for the first time. With little else to do tonight I decided to see what all the fuss was about so many years ago and I must say I don't understand it.
I give the film 2 out of 10 for the cinematography.
The story is trite, unexciting, uninspired, plodding. The acting awful. There is no soul no passion in the performances the actors are just reading the words in a dull way seeming totally uninterested in the whole thing.
This is one of the worst films I have seen.
Don't waste your time it's not worth it.
Mad God (2021)
Is god mad?
Does the title mean that god is insane or rather that god is not happy about something. I rather think the latter.
The film is visually stunning. The stop/go animation beautifully done unlike most modern cgi which I personally find unrealistic. There are many references in the film e.g. To the master Ray Harryhousen, Eraserhead, Star Wars, Lost in Space and a million more many of which I probably missed.
This is a film made with passion and love beautifully created, but not for everybody. If you like a strong storyline, or action movies or character development or great acting this is not for you. If you like beautiful photography or movies that make you think or movies that show great imagination (and usually only great movies provide all three) you should watch it.
As for my own interpretation - I think that god is annoyed at the mess that humanity has made of his creation and after failing in many attempts to rectify this by taking small steps he finally resolves to wipe the slate clean and make a fresh start.
Gothic (1986)
Gothic by name gothic by nature
I have put off watching this film for over 40 years for one reason, but more of that later.
For me Ken Russell movies have always been a bit hit or miss. Some I love some not so much. Most of his films are over dramatic verging on the melodramatic but Gothic beats them all. A mad drug addled bad trip to fry your mind.
Visually stunning and beautifully photographed it is a feast for the eyes. It also lives up to its title.
The story of the night that inspired Mary Shelly to write Frankenstein (the modern Prometheus) and Polidori to write the Vampyr has always fascinated me. Clearly it wasn't quite like Russell imagines but the essence is there. Gothic novels were written before and many after but probably none were inspired like Frankenstein was.
I'm glad I finally watched the film but the reason I put it off so long still lingers and is why I gave the rating I did. The reason being I have never liked Gabriel Byrne as an actor and while I thought everyone else of the main characters were very good I , unfortunately, did not like Mr Byrne's portrayal as Byron. A pity Russell chose him.
Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)
Interesting
Visually stunning child of David Lynch and David Chronenberg. Don't attempt to understand it just go with the flow. 9/10 for the sheer audacity of it.
Dune (2021)
Hit and miss
The film has lots of eye candy but some of the CGI is poor. Lots of nothing going on for long periods but great if you like watching sand. If you haven't read the book it could be rather confusing. If there is going to be a part 2 to complete the story then it could be 5 hours long if paced like part 1.
Paul is definitely miscast and the Harrkonens not as crazily psycopathic as they should be. David Lynch did them better and given free range by the studio would have made a much better version than this.
All in all a poor attempt at a probably unfilmable book - though maybe a trilogy in Peter Jackson's hands could work.
Werewolves of the Third Reich (2017)
The worst film ever
Unbelievable total rubbish. The most ridiculous film ever with the worst storyline and the most abysmal acting ever. If the people in this film are professional actors there in the wrong job, they would have been better using crash test dummies. One star for the nerve to make such a pile of trash.
Ojing-eo geim (2021)
A first thought
I have only watched the first episode but have a few thoughts.
1) the concept of having desperate people compete for lots of money or their lives or both is not new so must have a unique idea included to be fresh
2) concentrating on a single character may not be good. The viewer must be sympathetic to this character must want the character to succeed
As for point one the visuals are good, using childrens games is ok but nothing special. Hope if evolves in future episodes. It would appear from first watching that some kind of societal control experiment is being carried out due to the scale of the games which could probably be only carried out at a governmental level - again this is old hat
As for point two the initial lead character is somebody (I at least) am not sympathetic to. He's an indolent ,addictive gambler of fairly low intelligence. I don't care what happens to him. Also like lots of other films, whatever close shaves he gets into it is unlikely that the main character will be killed off. Thus there is no tension he will survive ,maybe only just, every time.