waltech-1 Reviews

Swallows and Amazons (2016)

Ransome spins in his grave

[1/10 · 15 November 2019]

Apart from the location and the names of some of the characters, this film has nothing to do with the plot, characterisation or anything else of Ransome's book. It is a travesty and the writer and producers should be ashamed of themselves. Other reviewers have mentioned the appalling changes to the interactions in the Walker family, the changes to the other main characters, and was it so hard to find an Australian actress to play Mrs Walker that she suddenly becomes Scottish?

If you want to make a film about Russian Spies in 1935, write a new one, not totally screw up a classic story about children.

Churchill (2017)

History for the ignorant

[1/10 · 9 November 2019]

A truly appalling film, written by someone who had not read even the most basic WWII history books before coming up with this tripe. It is even worse that a studio decided to produce it, so one can assume that they were equally as ignorant as the writer. Not revisionism, simply a pseudo-historical garbage fantasy, and other words fail me.

Becoming Bond (2017)

A raconteur in full swing

[8/10 · 15 June 2018]

Well worth a look, perhaps best described as a slapstick documentary of GL's life. I am around the same age as George and remember the Bond films and On Her Majesty's Secret Service was the only one I ever liked enough to watch again. I was always curious as to whether the stories of the making of that film were true as there was a lot of talk about it at the time. The "Australian" settings bear no resemblance at all to the Australia of the time, and it was a bit bizarre to see it dressed it as some sort of Antipodean California. I liked the intentionally corny acting as it fitted well with the overall tone of the film, and the cinematography was excellent. Jason Maybaum playing the young Lazenby was perfect.

Very enjoyable and a lot of fun to watch a charming man continuing the tradition of the Great Australian Yarn.