Reviews

I bought the film having seen clips of the pagan ritual on Youtube. If you are looking for some conspiracy stuff to sink your teeth into. This delivers. Some brilliant eerie parts that I am glad I paid for so I could watch them in my own time and without interruption.

The film itself is better than average. But it does get confusing and somewhat cryptic towards the end. Also the scenes where Nicole Kidman's character is acting strangely/hysterically were dire and I skipped past them. Shorter, more controlled sections would have been better, for my own tastes only, of course.

Of the three Kubrick films I have seen this one goes after The Shining, Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket. But it has high production values and if you can get your head around the end, an interesting story to boot!

At first I thought this might be an anti-confederate propaganda piece. While I am sure some of it was exaggerated. Like in most wars both sides had people who enjoyed others suffering. The real life camp commander was hung after the war for good reason. As you will see in the film. His bad behavior and cruelty is a crux of the plot. In that he gravitated to the role due to a personality that liked inflicting un-neccesary suffering on captured soldiers in a war (not criminals).

With the dynamic of the film not just being Confederates against Yankies, also the element of the unprincipled 'Raiders'. Essentially a civil war era prison capo, given favorable treatment to boss the camp for the confederates.

One of my favorite moments in the film is when a raider who is to reveal the location of a tunnel is dealt with. This part is one of those where you look away and look back. Won't say more on that cos it would spoil it.

It's not the best action film. But as a story this is great. The personality of the prisoners is portrayed superbly by a largely green cast (in 1996). It is important that you can empathise with the characters and that is done brilliantly here and probably why I would give it an 8 and not a 7. Matinee.

Original was much better. Tim Curry and the child actors in the first film were mustard. This time light mayonnaise!

It's not particularily high budget or (on release) well publicised, but this is another good film starring Tom Cruise. A little bit different to the usual shooting and car chases. Following the life of an airline pilot that pitfalls his way into the deep state. First taking spy photos and then as a drug smuggler. This is a neat little film and there is not much time to feel bored. Everything happens pretty fast and at times the story suffers from a few parts where you have to fill in the blanks yourself. But I really enjoyed this film overall and it has a few funny scenes too. It is not a hugely political (propaganda) film and actually a fairly honest portrayal of South American drug smugglers and the immoral American facilitators. It is not a left wing film that is basically blaming Americans for everything, which is nice because if it had been it would have been terrible. These are all criminals and immoral people and the film isn't too worried about showing these characters as dangerous. No doubt the real life counterparts were extremely dangerous. This is portrayed brilliantly by Cruise's character having guns pointed at him every time he touches down in a cartel jungle hideout.

The CIA handler in this film is also quite funny. He is very well versed in 'thief' speak and does not give anything away. Not even his real name as the movie ends! Also the guy who plays Escobar looks so like the real Escobar I was wondering at times if the real Escobar had never actually gone to jail and played his own part! The ending is a little bit predictable but is also a very emotional one for the viewer. I don't want to give too much away there. All in all a good watch

Very funny adventure story. It could so easily have been a po-faced action film. But the fact that Connery and Caine have such comedic chemistry makes it a good action film with laughs throughout. Who cares what the PC gnomes of today think. Brilliant non-pc riot! Probably accurate also since the area that Caine and Connery try to become 'kings' of. Is very a remote and poor area to this day.

Connery is a ladies favorite and you can see why. The man has a lot of charm about him. Caine is more roguish but funnier! Honestly I never felt bored during this film. When the actions dies down there is a satirical moment. Then they defend themselves from desert raiders. The raiders using the accurate long Afgan rifles that caused the British army nightmares in the Khyber Pass. So it's very well research as well. The core story is a Rudyard Kipling novel. So credit most go to him first and foremost. But the crew and actors including the side parts by Christopher Plummer and Saeed Jaffrey are spot on. Deserved an Oscar, if it didn't get one (don't know, don't care).

Bored me to tears! About 5 good jokes then the rest could have been written by a pre-schooler. I burnt the disc instead of giving it back to Blockbuster (this was a while ago).

If you want your children to be utter morons get them this.