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A Murder at the End of the World (2023)
Diappointingly average
I was sooo looking forward to a new Zaj & Brit bit, shattered by the cancellation of the OA. I really really wanted to like this show, but it was banal mid-beige at best - a techno-thriller without a single original idea, a jumble of well-trod tropes amounting to a resounding "meh!"
That said the first episode was well-constructed and engaging, and it left me drooling with anticipation for a clever twisty unfolding, revealed through two amazingly charismatic young leads. But that was as good as it got, sadly. The rest of the characters were empty cliches, and Clive Owen (whom I used to adore) played a vacuous and loathsome villain, embodying every tedious narcissist tech-boy trope. How could anyone be charmed or impressed by this human skidmark?
Anyway, you have been warned - the strong start deteriorates inexorably, and this clearly well-intentioned production, by a talented and passionate bunch, just left me cold and empty, unlike almost every other B&Z joint I've seen.
I'm sad about it.
Tears of the Sun (2003)
surprisingly excellent guilty pleasure.
I guess it shouldnt be so surprising as Fouqua has made many excellent films, but this is one of my favorite military action films. Its flaws (sentimentality and artifice) are forgivable and easy to overlook in the unremmitting flow of action and horror. Willis gives an outstanding (by his standards) performance, and looks every inch the part - he is at his peak here I guess. Belluci is great and the SEAL team all become well-drawn characters in the course of this (not over-long) story. Couldn't fault the mil-tech (though advancing into fire walking in a line shooting from the hip was a rare bad look), and the Lisa Gerrard soundtrack really elevated the entire enterprise. Tom Skerrit is always good to see. Also liked how the baddies were given some attention - reminded me a bit of "behind enemy lines" in that way. Anyway wanted to write a review because for years I looked at the poster/promo for this film and thought "no, thank you Mr Willis", but I was surprised moved and above all entertained, so...recommended.
His Dark Materials (2019)
A Triumph!
I had always opined to anyone who would listen that "The Amber Spyglass" (vol 3 of the Trilogy) was essentially unfilmable (with a War in Heaven, a great escape from the Land of the Dead, and heavy doses of Gnostic Metaphysics), and whilst the first two seasons of this production were excellent, I had grave reservations about how they were going to wrap it all up, and especially about what would have to be excised and elided to finish the story in one season.
Well, I was so wrong! This is an amazing spectacle and a lovingly crafted homage to the source material. They even manage to expand on some aspects of the story that the book glosses over, such as Asriel's Republic. So much attention to detail and creativity, and it was the little touches which I so appreciated - the wheels of the Mulefa, and the pathetic demise of the Authority for example.
I had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes for the last half an hour, which almost never happens,and I am so glad they took the time to wrap up the story properly - contrast with the postscript to "Return of the King", say, where I was groaning with boredom and itching for it to be finished.
The Themes and Plot have aged really well, becoming even more mainstream and relevant - considering how many movies and other aspects of pop culture have been playing around with the multiverse, and how the many worlds interpretation of Quantum Physics is gaining credibility.
Thankyou to all involved for making this such a triumph of storytelling - an ambitious and noble endeavour. Now I am just so looking forward to the 3rd Book of Dust sometime in 2023, please, pretty please Mr Pullman?
Medieval (2022)
See it for yourself - not to everyone's taste but I loved it!
I was dubious after seeing the trailer for this film - it looked grim, murky and confused. I did some historical research before watching it and I would recommend - it is trying to depict a very complex and ever shifting political situation and demands a lot of attention and engagement from the viewer.
Some people won't like the bleak setting and jerky camera work.
This is a superior piece of action entertainment that should get anyone's heart pumping and engaged with the fate of the characters. There are some really awesome actors on display here - I especially liked Ben Foster and Matthew Goode.
I was surprised by the choice to tell a story from very early in Zizka's career, but I am glad that there were at least some references to the Hussite Rebels (one of the earliest attempts to reform the Church), and there is an awesome postscript scene showing the start of the Battle of Grunewald - one of Zizka's greatest victories that broke the Teutonic Order.
House of the Dragon: Driftmark (2022)
I could not see a thing!
What was the DP thinking? Could they not afford lighting for this episode? Inexcusable and unwatchable - worse than the battle of winterfell! Seriously this was one of the worst pieces of television I can remember. I wondered if there was something wrong with my screen. If it was just a couple of scenes I wouldn't have minded, but halfway through I just turned it off and figured I would listen to a summary podcast since the screen was just black anyway. Why shoot scenes, characters and costumes that cannot be seen at all on the screen? Did no-one realise what this looked like? What is going on? Is it just me? Is this some new minimalist fashion?
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022)
Unfortunately awful...
I so much wanted to like this show, and I hated all the toxic fan bigotry that dogged its pre-release. I am a deep Tolkien fan and could not care less about colorblind casting and balanced gender roles.
So it looks pretty good overall and I liked the production design. I was not a fan of the harfoots or the time compression, and was prepared to forgive the way the showrunners "adapted" the pre-existing lore, though I didn't like a lot of the revisions and reinterpretations - The History of Numenor is especially poorly done. I didn't mind warrior Galadriel, but the other Elven characters like Elrond, Gilgalad and Celebrimbor are pretty dubious depictions. (not a fan of short-haired elves either.)
But how can they spend $1 Billion and have such a terribly written script - the characters spew almost nothing but vacuous platitudes and the dialogue has almost no redeeming features.
I was prepared to forgive and tolerate a lot, but as the season goes on it is becoming almost unwatchable. Such a waste!
Speak No Evil (2022)
Please inform yourself before you watch this film - especially if you are a parent.
I am NOT squeamish I will happily wade through buckets of gore and demonic supernatural horrors, but I found watching this film (an especially the last 15 min) an extremely unpleasant and disturbing experience.
The closest comparison would be Haneke's "Funny Games" or the home invasion scene in "A Clockwork Orange". The Horror is banal, nihilistic and very human (also very European IMHO).
So I just can't give this film a high rating - it is just too awful and oppressive. Is it well-made, effective, realistic? I really don't know. But I did NOT like it.
People are arguing about whether the passivity of the victims is problematic or unrealistic, but the whole movie hinges on this core:
"Why are you doing this?"
"Because you let me."
I think there is no doubt many people "go gently into" and do not "rage against" death.
I was able to shrug off the experience fairly quickly because I am a fighter. My wife is a committed pacifist (though luckily not a pescatarian;)), and I bitterly regret inflicting this film on her - she was unable to sleep the night after watching.
You have been warned...
Mayor of Kingstown (2021)
Not for the faint-hearted
I love Tyler Sheridan's work, but this is some seriously messed up stuff on screen here - not for the squeamish.
I can't believe people are clutching their pearls about a few clear-eyed monologues on US history, while ignoring the depths of suffering and degradation being depicted.
That is more messed-up and very telling....
Revolver (2005)
Thumbs down from me.
I love me some Guy Ritchie fun and silliness. He doesn't always hit the mark, but usually I find something to enjoy - even the King Arthur one kept my attention and engagement and had some great lines and performances. "Revolver" however...is a steaming pile of rehashed horse manure garnished with a whole load of pretentious wank. The script seems to think it is some kind of profound meditation on the nature of the self, but is just banal pop psychoanalysis. I could find no redeeming features, novelty, wit or interest here. Performances were yawn inducing. Not recommended.
Sunshine (2007)
engaging film yet preposterous plot
So i'm a big fan of the Boyle/Garland partnership and the stellar (solar ;p) cast of this film. It is a gorgeous and absorbing thrillride. Yet...i'm not the first to point out the so very many gaping plot holes. The effort required to maintain suspension of disbelief was distracting verging on overwhelming.
I will just describe a single one: Benedict Wong forgets to adjust the angle of the sunshield during maneuvers. We are all human. Everyone makes mistakes. Perfectly reasonable, even for a highly trained astronaut. This is why standard procedure in critical or dangerous tasks always involves having a second person to double check and look over the shoulder of the primary. Ever heard of a co-pilot? Ffs we had to do this high school chem labs!
Stuff like this reminds me of "Another Life" - that preposterous Katee Sackoff vehicle crewed by a bunch of imbeciles I wouldn't let mow my lawn.
Great film all the same.
The Spine of Night (2021)
Great fantasy story, well told - let down by mediocre animation
This was an intelligent, original and well-written story. Maybe the animation will appeal to some fans, but I thought it was rubbish. "Retro" or low budget even, doesnt have to mean crude. I loved the stylised approach of "Wolfwalkers" for example, but there just seemed zero aesthetic sensibility in this film. Another useful counterpoint might be the recent "League of Legends" adaptation on Netflix which was just drop-dead gorgeous.
Don't know if "Spine of Night" was rotoscoped - but along with blocky coloring, the movement rendering was particularly poor. Most disappointing of all - the combat scenes were plain awful! I have seen more convincing sword fights at my local Renaissance fair, and there seems no excuse for this in an animated film - surely the whole point is to free the creators from the constraints of real physics?
Anyway, i had been really looking forward to this film and it is certainly worth a watch, but I was also pretty disappointed overall.
The Gentlemen (2019)
Gulity Pleasure.
Exceptionally entertaining, full of stand-out performances from great actors - too many to even pick out the best. Funny and clever, arch and self-conscious without becoming pretentious or convoluted. Even die hard Ritchie fans will admit he hasn't always been hitting it out of the park in recent years, but this story feels comfortingly familiar (think Snatch) without being just a rehash. The "single malt and wagyu" privileged sensibilities will rub some the wrong way, and it walks a line with some very un-woke humour, but if we can't laugh at ethnic stereotypes (including our own), we are much impoverished. I loved it.
Foundation (2021)
An exercise in turd-polishing.
This is a strange choice to make into a prestige TV series - no doubt a famous and influential sci-fi title, but Asimov's trilogy is more than 70 years old now, the plot is dreary stuff and the ideas (while engaging enough at the time) seem dated and uninspiring. I suppose there is an argument for topicality - declining Empires and such, but there is so much better source material, even if your investors need IP and name recognition. Look at "The Expanse" or "Altered Carbon" - the books they are based on are not my cup of tea, their ideas are derivative and their storytelling lazy, but they have made for entertaining television. After the first 2 episodes, I just don't see why anyone bothered, and it seems such a waste of creative talent and gifted performers. When is someone going to adapt a Neal Stephenson novel, FFS?
The Man from Mo'Wax (2016)
Serious 90's nostalgia trip.
I am the same age as Lavelle, and contend that the 90's hip hop and electro music has never been surpassed - apart from DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, Portishead, Massive Attack and the Beastie Boys (all referenced in this doco.), think Lamb, The Chemical Brothers and Leftfield just for a start; then the more underground artists like Coldcut, DJ Spooky, Kid Loco, Herbert, Coil...
Even if you were not into the scene, this was an entertaining biography following the dramatic peaks and troughs in the life of a gifted visionary and flawed human; even a kind of everyman story - perhaps resonant for every privileged gen-X male. It is questionable whether Lavelle is really an artist, or just a kind of curator - a particularly creative, ambitious marketing and A&R man, who was in the right place and time to make a career from his passion.
So many of the people interviewed in this film are fascinating in their own right, artists and producers pivotal to this early 90's London music scene and the amazing art that it produced - not only in the electronic genre, and not only music.
There have been some great music docos recently, and I look forward to more - especially this year's "Sisters with Transistors" which I haven't tracked down yet. So despite my obvious bias I believe this an objectively engaging piece of storytelling and recommend it unreservedly.
McMafia (2018)
Good Series, Stupid name
Whoever titled this excellent drama should be fired - I would like a second season also.
America: The Motion Picture (2021)
Extreme lowbrow fun.
We got some class-A whack-a-doodle nonsense right here, and it's awesome!
If you like your humour scatological, absurd, and VERY offensive then you will love it.
If not, this film is just going to annoy you. It is not subtle or sophisticated.
The satire is pretty thin stuff and the narrative relies heavily on the conceit of dys-chronous cut-up history to maintain our engagement - i was always waiting to see what the next anachronistic wink would be, and you never have to wait long (Tea 'N Tea - FFS!)
So if you have trouble accepting George Washington and Abe Lincoln being Homoerotic BFFs, look elsewhere for your entertainment.
Some may complain this film could further compound American ignorance of quaint notions like "Truth" and "Facts", but I reckon that lifeboat has already sunk.
Also, this is an interesting counterpoint to "The Underground Railroad" and its similar approach, using a-historical pastiche as a narrative device.
Reminiscent of "Team America" and "American Dad", this may keep citizens giggling as democracy continues down the toilet.
The Education of Fredrick Fitzell (2020)
Superior Philospohical Entertainment - Worth The Watch
This isn't perfect, and explores tropes similar to Jacob's Ladder, The Jacket and The Matrix - but compares favorably to the awful genre films that get churned out these days (Infinity, for example). It has heart and integrity and repays the viewer's investment of attention. It isn't as perfect as Shane Carruth's or Brit Marling's auteur work, but IMHO is authentic enough to resonate with deep experiences on psilocybin or other hallucinogens, without cheap exploitation.
Troy: Fall of a City (2018)
not for everyone it seems...
...but if you are a fan of Greek epic and tragedy then there is a lot to appreciate in this subtle and deep telling that shows unwavering commitment to the narrative, excellently written and performed characters (including the Olympian Pantheon) and an understated yet distinctive visual style that let the story (in many ways THE story of our culture) speak itself, and move its audience as the finest tellings have been doing for thousands of years. This is not history, or psychodrama, or romance or action. It is a story of human being, especially our powerlessness in the face of the inhuman forces which animate our world and whose utter indifference we all must suffer. Cassandra, especially, is superb.
Cursed (2020)
To counterbalance the haters - if you like fantasy give this a try!
Look this show has plenty of flaws (I would have given it 7.5/10 if I could), but it isn't awful and has lots to recommend it. It is fantasy and requires total suspension of disbelief, so if you are going to get cranky about a black Arthur go and watch a reality show. The graphic novel source material is not familiar to me though I like other Frank Miller work and adaptations, so I had faith that the storyline was going to be solid. Netflix has produced a lot of rubbish lately and I was worried "Cursed" would be, but there are plenty of great performances along with the shaky ones, the cheap VFX are offset by some pleasing production design and graphic lacunae, and the mix of camp presentation with coherent mythos and serious themes reminded me a little of "Buffy" - I hope for another season!
Momentum (2015)
Awesome pure schlock action flick!
Suspend disbelief, wallow in the sexy and ultra-smooth performances of Kurylenko and Purefoy, and admire the stylish low-budget production! Sure, its not cerebral, but neither is it crass or stupid. I loved this film...
The Great Hack (2019)
tedious self-aggrandisement + blatant rehab. hack job
Light on information and heavy on Cliche.
If you want to be informed by a great story, read the "Guardian" and "Observer" long reads about this topic. Th doco. was saccharine, meandering and very low-brow.
Watching the film-maker buy an artisanal coffee before driving his Lexus to pick up his kids from Montessori school provoked in me an odd emotional cocktail of boredom, annoyance and nausea - and I am a hard-left radical.
Nausea blossomed into disbelief when the film tried to rehabilitate one of the central villains of the story by showing her New-Age transformation at Burning Man.
Overall this was a problematic and very sketchy telling of an important story.
Another Life (2019)
I was sooooo disappointed!
I love scifi and I'm prepared to accept imperfections in a production - even netflix's "Lost in Space" reboot had its moments, and I appreciated the flawed "Io" for at least having some vision and ideas.
This was awful...I persisted beyond the first episode to make sure I wasn't being unfair, but WTF were these people thinking????
The cast looked like they'd been plucked from some glam reality competition -who would put these people in space? Then we had to swallow the nonsense plot - Hibernation for a 3-month trip? FTL without even a warp/hyperspace figleaf?
Star Wars is more credible and realistic than this!!!
A complete waste of time to watch, and effort to make - I went to my library and rewatched "The Expanse" (now there is some sci-fi TV to be proud of) just to get the bad taste out of my mouth and expunge the memory of this garbage.
Doomsday (2008)
I like neil marshall, but this is a little much!
One of the oddest, silliest and most shameless trashy action films I have ever seen. Quite jaw-droppingly brazen in its awfulness and genre-exploitation. Melding zombies, cannibals, post-apocalyptic tribal punk, swords and castles fantasy, dystopian surveillance sci-fi contagion, shoot-em-up gore, and every other cliched movie trope imaginable.
I can see why some people would find this very entertaining, but it is lacking in any sensibility or subtlety.
SEAL Team (2017)
Enjoyable.
This isn't high art, but is well-made and engaging. I actually like it more than "The Unit" which suffered a little from Mamat's pretentiousness, and I think it is better quality overall than "The Brave"
American Ultra (2015)
Truly a bad film...
I love a mindless action film as much as anybody, I don't have high standards or make pretentious judgments, I can suspend disbelief and swallow a ridiculous plot or premise in the name of good fun, but this was just too much. I should have known better, and there were clear warning signs, but I thought if it has Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, it can't be all bad. I was so wrong. The two stars were great together in 'Adventureland'- which was also unlikely, but turned out to be a smart, sweet dose of nostalgia. They are talented actors who choose good films ('Twilight' being the clear exception). Stewart is mesmerising and gorgeous on screen, and that was the only reason this film deserves even one star. Maybe I'm missing the point, maybe it is meant to be contrived and flimsy, but the violence is so over the top and seemingly without a trace of comedy or even irony. Maybe Tarantino could have puled something like this off, but to see a bunch of talented actors trying to work with such a turd of a plot and script just made me cringe.