Bendara Reviews

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

The Best of all Godzilla Films

[9/10 · 16 December 2023]

This movie has a excellent plot and excellent acting. The story was good and the script believable showing how real people react with fear to the incomprehensible. It leaves all Hollywood superficial and cliched versions far behind.

Godzilla is an analogy of the horrors of nuclear war and how the destructive urges of mankind unleashes massive suffering on the itself. The subplot of government ineptitude and denial especially in a country emerging from a military dictatorship is a subplot of how autocratic regimes always fail the people and why it is often up to individuals to assume leadership and innovation: a very big problem in modern day Japan with a paternal and conservative culture that is unwilling to face social issues that have been present for decades and which are now of deep concern.

The Best Offer (2013)

A tragic sense of betrayal

[9/10 · 25 June 2020]

A deeply moving film about a man desperate to connect with others. A story about a man's life in elite society but still an outsider who becomes an intimate friends with the most unlikely people given his inability to develop friendships. A courageous and haunting film by writer and director Giuseppe Tornatore that shows great creativity and originality.

The Lost City of Z (2016)

Good movie without the Hollywood hype

[9/10 · 15 December 2018]

Although this move didn't move at a terrific pace, it was a more realistic representation of actual events that occurred in the search of Z. No Hollywood revisionism or melodrama, The Lost City of Z certainly felt authentic and genuine.

Mr. Turner (2014)

A masterpiece

[10/10 · 15 July 2018]

The portrayal of Turner by Timothy Spall is nothing short of a masterpiece. It deals with the incredibly complex and famous British painter, Joseph Turner, who is full of faults and haunted by personal demons: a true outsider who is allowed access into the upper class due to his brilliance as a landscape painter. If you want to watch a movie about a real human and the real people around him, see the movie now. Spall is superb.

Black Panther (2018)

Boring and predictable. Typical Marvel Movie

[1/10 · 31 March 2018]

I wasted my time with this movie, as I have with other super hero movies of late. The characterisation of Black Panther, as with Ironman, Thor, The Avengers, et al, is simple to say the least. There is no character depth and the plot in BP was as weak as any of the others. The only thing going for these genre films is special effects, which when broken down may look good, but are totally divorced from reality.

Godzilla (2014)

Totally misleading and dishonest

[1/10 · 14 June 2014]

I enjoyed the trailer to this movie as it was suspenseful and full of promise. I was afraid that it may be the best part of the film: unfortunately it was.

The film was nothing like the trailer clearly stated that it would be. I very much resent being manipulated like this by Hollywood. It only creates the impression that Hollywood considers movie audiences as fools, to be held in contempt.

This movie is not about man versus Godzilla at all. In fact Godzilla is the good guy doing battle with his own adversaries with humans on the periphery. I just hope that Godzilla launches his own attack on the makers of this film before they make the inevitable sequel.

RoboCop (2014)

As good as the original, if not better

[8/10 · 18 March 2014]

I didn't expect to enjoy Robocop 2014 but this remake was as good as the original. The movie is about a man turned into a cyborg by a ruthless security organisation with only one interest in mind - profit.

Alex Murphy is critically injured by a car bomb and becomes the property of his employer Omnicorp that rebuilds him into part man part machine. Omnicorp has complete control over Alex, with the ability to 'shut him down' at any time. A modern day Frankenstein, Alex hunts down his would be assassins and then, inevitably, turns against his creators.

Robocop is a critique on the ruthless corporatism of the global economy, the increasing irrelevance of individuals' rights, and American imperialism in the 21st century. The movie is less clichéd than most Hollywood movies, giving it an air of originality. Nevertheless it is still escapism and a veneration of violence, although the violence is Hollywood styled and therefore enjoyable at a sanitized level.

August: Osage County (2013)

Powerful and tragic

[7/10 · 8 January 2014]

August Osage County is a a story about a disconnected family brought together by a common tragedy. The matriarch is a bitter women who having felt abandoned by the children that she has never really loved, remorselessly attacks them when they return home out of a sense of duty. From here on any semblance of family unity breaks down as accusations fly and bitter memories of distrust and jealously are re-visited.

The performances are all very good but the relentless journey by the mother towards self-destruction is exhausting, and unpleasant for the audience as well as the characters.

I found the movie depressing and a little too self indulgent. Julia Roberts seems to play the hard faced bitch too well. I felt empty and discouraged by the foolishness of the human spirit in this movie. August Osage County won't get many Oscar nominations as it is too difficult to enjoy.

In the Fog (2012)

Poignant and tragic

[7/10 · 20 April 2013]

In the Fog depicts the decisions that people are forced to make during times of conflict where they are no longer masters of their own fate, but victims of circumstances beyond their control.

Suchenya, the main protagonist, is confronted with choices that no one will ever want to make but, along with other characters in the film, is forced to make them. The story is not so much the consequences of those decisions that determine the characters' fate but the unexpected events that unfold as a result of those decisions.

This is an slow moving but thoughtful film about impossible choices some of us are forced to make that profoundly shape our futures.

The scene where Suchenya's interrogator waves to him would have to be one of the cruelest waves ever seen in a movie.

The Watch (I) (2012)

Dull, vulgar and a waste of time

[1/10 · 12 September 2012]

Ben Stiller and pals form a neighbourhood watch to help solve the murder of a friend, and end up saving his adopted town and the world from an alien invasion.

I saw this movie with my sister and we both agreed that it is one of the worst movies that we have ever seen. The plot meanders about to fill in time and the dialogue is so appallingly bad, that I was left wondering how anyone could ever write, let alone finance, such rubbish.

Although it is a satire on aliens, the movie had only an occasional half decent joke. What is most disturbing about The Watch, is the obsession of some Hollywood comedies to promote the gay life style as an underlying theme. The gay sex jokes in this movie were vulgar, embarrassing and totally out of place, making a bad movie even worse. I found the same vulgar humour in Horrible Bosses.

I would not recommend this film to anyone. It is a total waste of time with zero entertainment value.

The Iron Lady (2011)

A brilliant piece of acting from Meryl Streep but.....

[31 December 2011]

This is a well made film, made even more so by the sheer professionalism of one of America's best female actors. The movie is structured on numerous flashbacks from Thatcher's teenage years up until her last day in office. On top of this is Margaret Thatcher in her twilight years as a typical 80 plus women haunted by her past and recently dead husband.

The narrative is clear enough, but the flashbacks are way too many: the film would have done much better with half the number. Far too much emphasis is placed on the elderly Margaret and not enough on Margaret the prime minister. I think the reason for this was to illicit greater sympathy from the British audience, as Thatcher's legacy still raises great controversy.

Because of this approach, critical events in her tenure as prime minister are neglected, such as her relationship with Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. In fact the theme of the cold war is all but ignored in this film.

Overall a better than average film which certainly deserves an Oscar for best female actor but not best film.

Outback Fight Club (2011)

Great story about ordinary everyday people

[8/10 · 12 November 2011]

A genuine story about a group of boxers who make a living as part of a travelling tent boxing troupe. The characters talk about the challenges they face in the ring and the demons they battle in their every day lives. An honest story about real, every day men and women. The owner of the boxing team is Fred Brophy who began his tent boxing show in 1978 and in 2010 considered retiring and thus ending the travelling show for good. The team mainly tour Queensland but also visit other Australian states, although not Victoria and NSW due to excessive regulations. This is one for the family as the violence is more entertaining than anything else. Good fun.