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richard_r_strauss
Reviews
Outlander (2014)
Beautiful programme, slightly let down by a revolving door of villains who are all "a type"
This programme is clearly written for the female gaze, my wife and teenaged daughter are big fans.
In between Jamie Fraser getting his shirt off for their edification, there's enough action, intrigue and suspense to keep me on board. Even if the sword fighting, gun fighting and naval combat scenes seem to be more based on a lady who lunches' idea of war might bike, which is in strong contrast to the gritty war movies of the last 20 years.
But the sympathetic characters are SO well written and convincing, it is wonderful to see a show so full of real credible people. And the whole thing LOOKS amazing, it is great to see a period drama set in this time that is set and costumed well.
I have only one real gripe -
We've just finished season 6, and the show seems to be in some danger of turning into Vikings or The Handmaid's Tale. Just an endless dark tunnel of relentless constant fear and suspense, fueled by episodes of horrific voyeuristic violence.
I find myself constantly trying to predict who is going to be this season's Jack Randall, or this season's Stephen Bonnet.
It would be WONDERFUL to see a season where the plot wasn't dependent on some malign, insane, jealous, evil hater who is hell-bent on destroying them.
They are living in epic times, surely encountering native American tribes, slavery, and the intrigue around the lead-up to the American Revolution, would be more than enough to drive the story of a historical drama for a while? Without needing to introduce yet another insane evil hater?
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
This is beautiful. The 12-part documentary is over ---> there, somewhere.
I had no intention of seeing this in theatres, until my wife booked it as a 41st birthday date night.
How could anyone possibly pretend to be Freddie Mercury? This movie will surely be a sad, cringeworthy, awful disaster, right?
Rami Malek quickly set me right about that misconception!
I think this movie was intended to be *A* Freddie Mercury & Queen story, not THE DEFINITIVE and encyclopedic Freddie Mercury and Queen documentary that some critics seemed to be expecting.
This is a band that brought a message of fun, irreverence, a bit of slightly edgy sexiness, but always an overarching goodness, at a time when homosexuality was still technically a criminal offense in my country, and "gay" was a byword for "stupid" or "disgusting" even among children.
Their songs are bangers that you want to sing along to, but there are poignant moments in them too.
This film does a beautiful job of recapturing that spirit, while telling a reader's digest condensed version of their story that seems to get the bits that matter right. These guys made our world a bit better than it would have been without them, this movie celebrates that while filling in enough interesting behind-the-scenes gaps that someone like myself with only average knowledge of their off-stage story will walk out feeling like I not only know more about them, but I understand them better.
I Think We're Alone Now (2018)
Speak UP!
Great to see a film where it's all about the acting and not an explosion a minute.
I wish they would speak up though; the atmospheric music is so loud, and all of their dialogue is so quiet and so mumbled.
Prometheus (2012)
Same old
I hadn't seen this movie before, and yet I felt like I had.
This is the bit where the two guys who got left behind are going to get killed by that alien thing in the water... oh how about that, they did.
She's probably feeling unwell because she's got a parasitic alien growing in her abdomen. Oh how about that - that IS what it is!
And now the waif-like, unlikely survival heroine is running through the hexagonal corridors of the besieged spaceship, fighting for her life as it all starts to fall apart around her and the 2-dimensional minor characters get taken out one by one.
I feel like I've seen this all before somewhere?
The Road (2009)
Extraordinary
I've never appreciated what I have, or wanted to go and hug my own little boy as much as right after watching this film!
This is one of the most gripping movies that I have ever seen, by a mile. The way the man's love for his son is portrayed, paramount and unbreakable right to the end, despite the most frightening and hopeless circumstances imaginable, is stunning. I'd like to hope that in an apocalypse fewer people would be willing to kill and eat others, because what kind of life is that, but the scenario the film presents is chillingly real.
In particular for me, the scene in the first cannibal house, in which he man prepares to shoot his son rather than let him be caught by the cannibals to suffer a terrifying death in the hands of brutal strangers, is unparalleled. It is also totally believable, which shows the strength of both actors.
Other war films, disaster films, zombie films I've seen just seem like flashy pyrotechnic entertainment for big kids with short attention spans by comparison.
(My only slight criticisms are all with minor details of the plot...
By the time they stumble upon the second deserted cannibal house (and once again narrowly avoid being captured by returning cannibals) I thought SURELY by now they would have learned their lesson about approaching ANY building or structure with extreme caution? And in their shoes I think I would have to be EXTREMELY cold before I'd even contemplate lighting a fire at night, when goodness only knows how may cannibals could be out there hunting.
Oh and the Man is an INCREDIBLY good pistol shot too... two fatal direct hits from two shots; both at long range, one a head shot on a guy holding his son close to him, the other a flare from a flare gun fired through a second storey window across the road. Pretty tricky!)
Good Dick (2008)
Fluffy Bunnies and a happy ending? Look elsewhere.
I really liked this movie.
On a technical level it's not often I see a movie where characters this flawed, messed up and unlikeable are played so well. Bravo! This is not just another lame "two misfits meet, discover twoo wuv, and live happily ever after" type movie.
Nor is it yet another "likable ordinary people triumph over adversity in a heartwarming tale about the profound goodness of the human spirit" movie.
I liked the way it illustrated the truth that sometimes two people who are on quite different journeys will meet, and affect one another in some way, maybe one of them will learn something, and that's really about all you can hope for. But it's not a tale of two star-crossed lovers, and was never meant to be.
I don't think we're supposed to like lying, manipulative, creepy stalker ex-druggie dude. I don't think we're meant to see his utterly selfish attempts to pick on a clearly vulnerable woman hoping to get laid (and at the same get a free roof over his head) sympathetically as though this behaviour is actually some OH SO ROMANTIC determination to do something special with this poor girl - although a surprising number of people seem to have viewed it that way? No, the guy is not very likable. Yes, he exhibits an ugly attitude of "You need me!" and "there must be something wrong with you if you won't have sex with me." Yes, the girl is traumatised and seriously damaged. No, there probably isn't much hope for them having a lovely life together. That's the point of this movie, I think. It's a glimpse into a horrible, bleak place. It succeeds in that.
Android Apocalypse (2006)
This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Best approached with low expectations.
The actress playing Bairstow's character's wife was so wooden, when we met her I had trouble determining if she was meant to be a human being or some kind of android concubine. I wish she had been the latter, as that would have made his hostility to androids actually interesting. But this is not the sort of movie in which a flawed, believable, possibly self-loathing character confronts his inner demons, and in doing so illuminates some facet of the human condition for us.
This is about a mixed ensemble of fair to mediocre actors doing their best to stumble through an awful script, delivering their clunky lines against a backdrop that is at once expensive-looking and yet full of inconsistencies. There is a key action sequence where androids saddle up in shiny new Jeep Renegades from the 1990s to battle each other (and some knife-shooting, levitating drone robots)in a hectic car chase. The use of lighting is "hey look we can do THIS effect too!" more than it is genuinely atmospheric. Overall look is one of daytime television at its worst.
Meanwhile, a Nazi-themed evil genius villain stalks around his neon green illuminated lair, wearing his Count Dracula coat, and shooting the camera a series of laughable looks to make sure we get that he's bad and he's almost ready to hatch his evil plans.
I felt the central relationship between Scott Bairstow's tough guy and Joseph Lawrence's android developing his own humanity was well played, and was pretty much the only good thing about this film. I wish those two gentlemen well in their future endeavours, hopefully they will leave this sort of thing well behind them.