Tag: film

Posted on

The Railway Man

I normally don’t wait too long before writing these “reviews” of movies in case my opinion is coloured by talking it over with other people. “Review” is a rather loose concept. I write exactly what I think. It doesn’t mean anything in the real world.

The Railway Man was a good film. Much like “12 Years A Slave” everyone should watch this. The brutality of the Japanese army and what they did to the slaves they used to build the railway through Thailand and Burma (Myanmar) is terrible. Everyone should understand how man can treat man if he is conditioned to do so [see Evil below].

Ultimately this film is not as much of a downer as “12 Years”. The theme running through the film is the terror of war and how people are affected by post traumatic stress disorder. BUT the ultimate theme of this film is forgiveness. This is surely man’s greatest asset. The ability to forgive, not to forget but to understand the terror of other times and then to forgive and allow peoples to work together to reconciliation. We are not different as human beings. Whichever part of the world you come from, whatever your religion (or none), whatever your abilities, whomever you support in sport and whatever the colour of your skin (and all the other different ways we segregate ourselves) we are the same. We are NOT different races. We have different cultures. We are raised differently. In the end, however, most of us would forgive and learn to live with our mistakes and work to correct future issues. Ultimately I believe that humans should and eventually will do good for each other.

To be good to each other we have to overcome inbuilt prejudices. We are tribal creatures and fiercely territorial. We want to be in gangs and to feel surrounded by people who think the same as us. We are animals who yearn for togetherness and knowingness of familiarity. To trust and like others we have to leave behind eons of evolution and hard-wiring in our brains. We have to constantly battle our thoughts and work to make sure that we can be the best we can and do good to others.

We would not fight and kill and maim each other if we could all sit around a camp fire and chat and make food for each other, become a single society. Religions, governments, sports teams, schools, villages, music, politics, practically all aspects of human behaviour involves us being in “like” groups” and forces us to “be on one side or the other”.

I repeat: We are all the same. We are not races.

Human beings need to get together and sit. Face to face. Talk. Consciously overcome the inbuilt prejudice and work together. Work together for the common good. To make the world a better place for the entire human race.

Look around the corporations and governments and see if you see that happening anywhere. I would be most surprised.

If we can learn to forgive and learn to listen to each other and help each other then we might have a chance on this little rock orbiting the Sun.

Hmm. That went a little left-field. Oh well.

After watching this film I read a comment on IMDB. The person said in the “trivia” section that the film uses the compressed time technique as in reality it took a couple of years between meeting and marrying. Apart from a few special films I think all films use compressed time. Does this commenter write this is all film trivia sections?

The film uses compressed time to speed up the story. Eric Lomax and Patti Wallace did meet in 1980, but in reality they didn’t marry until 1983. Eric didn’t learn that Takashi Nagase was still alive until 1993, and they finally met in 1995.

Evil
This should really be a longer communication by itself and maybe I will write one someday. For now I would like to say that I don’t like the media describing someone as “evil”. Considering the world is over seven billion humans there is plenty of scope for all manner of people. Most will fit into the constraints of society and some will not. Some people do terrible things because they don’t know any better, these people should be helped. Everybody else probably does terrible things because of greed or jealousy and many other reasons. These people are probably quite rational and know that what they are doing is wrong and so they should be punished within the bounds of what that society thinks is suitable. By society here I mean the laws of the land [as agreed by elected representatives] and not just what the victims think should happen, perhaps that is another communication to write: The problem of laws and society.

I am not claiming that this is a complete dichotomy. I am oversimplifying the issues to make a point. My basic view is that people either do bad things and know they shouldn’t or a smaller proportion of people do bad things and don’t know any better.

When people who commit terrible crimes are labelled as EVIL by the media it infers that these people are not rational. That these people have been inhabited by EVIL and it has been there since birth. EVIL is a religious term. EVIL means it’s ok to seek revenge in a terrible manner as there is nothing that can be done for that person. EVIL means we don’t have to examine the REASONS behind what that person did. We don’t have to look for excuses, we don’t have to seek rational arguments why they behaved that way, we can just accept that they are EVIL and should be treated as such. Labelling people as EVIL removes the responsibility to ask why and allows us to ignore reasons why.

This whole communication came from the Japanese doing terrible things to other people during the second world war. Should the wrong doing be punished? YES. Did some of the soldiers enjoy what they did? YES. Were many soldiers acting on orders and their society telling them to be brutal? YES.

Should we forgive and understand? Most Definitely.

Out of all this we must LEARN and REMEMBER what happened. We should aim to become better people. We should aim to do good for all.

Once again. We are ONE human race. We are the same.

Posted on

12 Years A Slave

This is a very powerful film. It was very hard, as a “modern” person with mostly liberal values and also someone who has no belief in god but believes we should do good to each other, to understand that this film was mostly true. The treatment of the millions of people who were considered slaves and of those who are slaves in our current times is shocking.

It is hard to imagine a time when the LAW of a land allowed the OWNERSHIP of people by other people. This film should be seen by everyone, it should be required viewing, it is very good.

It was interesting to see the stylistic additions to the film. The long shots of the Louisiana countryside and calming times of clouds. This was in stark contrast to the violence and conditions within which the slaves were kept.

In one scene a female slave is whipped. This is a graphic scene. My emotional reaction to this was far more than my reaction to the similar scenes in the film The Passion Of The Christ. I think I reacted more because this happened to real people over and over in a barbaric system of legalised slavery. The mutilation of Christ in the Mel Gibson film didn’t bother me. There’s not a great deal of evidence for it [in fact there isn’t any good evidence for the existence of Christ himself].

Overall this is a film worth seeing or if you don’t want to see it you should be forced to.

Posted on

American Hustle

I left a little earlier today to get the to cinema and compared to yesterday I got there during the adverts, but this was, apparently a popular film, and I had to sit right at the front. Actually, I didn’t have to sit there, there were spaces towards the back but the whole front row was free and it was easier to sit there than to hunt a spare seat surrounded by people I wouldn’t mind being surrounded by.

An interesting thing about sitting this close is that I could see the pixels in the projection and this was a little disconcerting. I could only see them if I looked for them otherwise I let the film take me over. Curious to see the workings of digital projection this close compared to proper film.

American Hustle is an American crime film in the vain of Goodfellas. I enjoyed it a lot. The acting was brilliant. All the way through I was trying to work out who the lead actor was and when the credits rolled I was surprised as I hadn’t recognised him. To be honest I’m pretty bad a recognising film type people and that is subject of a future post. I didn’t recognise Jennifer Lawrence until about 3/4 of the way through the film. It was her eyes that gave her away!

I have noticed that this has received good reviews from the critics and that is very good. The film is well made, acted and shot. It is all in all: good. Is it a classic? No, because there are other films that have done this with better or equivalent results. I guess it’s Goodfellas for the 2010s generation.

My one problem is that I need to like the characters in a film to truly like it. I’m not sure I really liked these people. Although I really wanted to know the end of the story I didn’t care one way or another for the people [apart from the son]. They weren’t the most likeable people. The other character I actually liked was Stoddard Thorsen, the middle manager in the FBI. His story about ice-fishing was brilliant, a lovely little plot device.

The film opened with the words:

Some Of This Actually Happened

Well, that’s nice dear. It’d be more interesting to know which bits were real and which bits weren’t. Thanks, Wikipedia, for giving us the details.

Yes, this is a good film, but it left me feeling slightly empty.

Posted on

47 Ronin

I booked a ticket for this film and thought that the showing time was 18:20. I finished editing my website earlier at 18:15 and left to get to the car, which is never parked close to my house. On the way I looked at my reservation time for the cinema and it said 18:15 showing. This meant I had 5 minutes fewer to get to the cinema than I had thought and I was already late.

It turns out I got to the cinema and in my seat with two trailers to spare. Pretty efficient timing! I managed to miss the adverts and other trailers. While I’m waiting for the film I don’t watch the screen anyway. I read a book on my Kindle app on my phone. I’m currently reading about NASA’s contributions to computational fluid dynamics over the last 50 years. Fascinating.

The film, 47 Ronin.

This is based on a true story, which I’ve just found out [thanks Wikipedia]. It’d be more interesting to create a film about the discovery of this story and its manipulation over time to create societal values. Anyway, this film was ok. Just ok. I haven’t rated it on IMDB yet but when I do it will be a 6/10.

Keanu Reeves. Why? I’m amazed that this guy gets paid for doing what he does. I don’t think I’ve seen him act yet. Well, maybe in Bill and Ted’s? Is he the big name there because everyone else is Japanese and no-one will know them? Or perhaps it’s because he has black hair. Whatever, a good actor he is not. Fortunately the story did not need him to act  he just had to stare.

The rest of the cast were good. I particularly liked the witch. I thought she was brilliantly seductive.

Problems [potential SPOILERS]

  • Lazy editing, or possibly for an American audience. We see the wolf’s eyes and a bit later the witch. Later when Keanu recognises the witch we get a flashback. SERIOUSLY? Are the audience that stupid that they won’t remember the eyes from earlier. I nearly screamed out.
  • I don’t know where it was filmed but it was stunning and I hope that it wasn’t CGI. The locations were brilliant although at times the backdrops used for studio shots were a bit obvious. See below more details.
  • MAGIC. Is it necessary to have magic? Isn’t this a good enough story without magic? If I realise I’m watching a fairy tale then I can cope with magic but this seemed a little annoying. The film would have been far superior with a better script without magic but then the effects probably wouldn’t have been needed.
  • Alien creatures? Really. Lizard people living in an enchanted forest? And, the TEST. Poor writing. It was obvious. Have another go at this one people.
  • Dutch Island was cool and I liked the idea but it probably never happened. I have been reliably informed that it existed, thanks Pom, although its depiction in the film was nothing like the real thing.

Overall this is a film for the modern generation who have loved the Lord Of The Rings and want more of the same. This could have been a brilliant film but failed.

Moral Rights
So much of the film relies on the Japanese codes of honour and trust. I found myself drifting off halfway through into thoughts of moral truths. We, as a society need moral codes and this film and story are there to inform us of these values. We should be truthful, we should be honest, we should care and we should keep our honour. These values come from us being humans and tribal creatures rather than from any book or religion. Religions and their books [and politicians or any two-bit celebrity] seem to be allowed to have their views on moral rights and wrongs. I find this amusing. Surely it’s up to society to decide? For example, when did what the Prime Minister earns become a benchmark for peoples salaries? Blah, blah, blah. Time to stop.

Locations
Have checked with IMDB for the locations of filming and I feel cheated.
Ronin Locations

Posted on

Thor – The Dark World

This is a really enjoyable film. It is funny, predictable and grand. Finally, superhero films have grown up.

I went to see this film in 3D as the showing time suited me better than a standard 2D showing. I don’t normally like 3D films as the 3D effect adds nothing to the enjoyment of the film for me. It’s a rather pointless gimmick [I am planning to write about my response to 3D at another time]. I was generally quite impressed as there weren’t too many gratuitous 3D shots and nothing in the film seemed out of place.

I like the CGI and battle scenes. Normally CGI battle scenes seem too busy and too much blurring. I struggle to make sense of what is going on on-screen. Thor did this well with sensible battle scenes and nothing over the top. A battle recently didn’t like was Superman’s final fight in his latest film. I like the fact that the people of Asgard use swords to fight, even with all their tech, it allows for good scenes in films. The final destruction was well done and not over the top as most films tend to make it.

The plot line doesn’t really matter. Once you invent “gods” and mythical creatures you can do anything you want in terms of plot [much like Doctor Who] and creatures [much like Doctor who]. The last part of the film and the epilogue just go to show you can just make-shit-up. Five infinity stones? Wow, they suddenly appeared from nowhere and can now be used for future films, clever but not thrilling. By the way, I don’t read graphic novels and so have no idea if these are in the books.

The cast was stellar and hammed it up brilliantly. Nice to see an old version of the Doctor in there and also nice to see Rene Ruso pop up, I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen her in anything since Lethal Weapon 3.

This film was good fun and well done. I laughed out loud many times, on occasions by myself, but I don’t care.

Posted on

Gravity

I went to see this film and was rather excited about it. When I go to the cinema I generally don’t watch the trailers. Most trailers seem to give too much away about the film and if you see them once then you don’t need to see them again. If it is a film of which I am already aware and am looking forward to then I won’t watch the trailer and I will continue to read my book (on the Kindle app). Occasionally there’s a trailer that makes me look up and Gravity was one like that. Firstly it’s in space and I like space stuff. Secondly it was directed by . This was enough to make me very excited. Since I first saw the trailer I have avoided seeing it advertised since, I don’t want to know any more about the film.

I was rather worried that my expectations for this film were going to be too high. I have seen a number of films where I have been overly looking forward to them and have ultimately been disappointed as the film didn’t live up to expectations.

I needn’t have worried.

The opening shot was awesome [literally]. The rest of the film was beautifully filmed. It looks just stunningly gorgeous. I even decided to see it in 3D and in the past this has tended to remove something from the film but this was really well done. I won’t write too much because the trailer is so minimal and I don’t want to give anything away up in this section. Basically, apart from some simple scientific issues, this film is absolutely brilliant. I’d even go see it again. I am happy with the scientific short-cuts, as the film would not have worked or flowed as well if it had been truly simulated.

Go see this film. I dare you to be disappointed.

SPOILER ALERT

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of errors I picked up on. You can’t get out of a space suit in about a minute. It takes about an hour to get the whole thing on so this was a little imperfect. When returning to Earth the astronauts have their backs to the ground, Bullock’s return was filmed in such a way as to imply she was heading face down, or facing the direction of motion. There’s more analysis over at Phil Plait’s blog pages at Slate.com

Posted on

Ender’s Game

Wow!

I have bought the book but will read it after seeing the film. I’m currently working my way through Ringworld by Larry Niven. Back to the film:

It was ace. I really enjoyed it. I didn’t know a great deal about it before I went. I’d had a small synopsis from a friend and so went with a complete open mind. I loved it. The visuals were really good and the story was rather excellent. Go and see it.

I’m trying desperately to not give anything away but for me there were two moments when my jaw hit the floor. I guess if you’ve read the book you’ll know what these are.

It was great.

 

I don’t like the descriptions by the press of it being Harry Potter in space. That’s not what it is about. It’s a story with a wonderful political background and reflects on the politics of the time. Whereas Harry Potter is just the latest in a long line of book series that sell lots, it a generational thing. Every generation has “their” Harry Potter, or Famous Five, or Swallows and Amazons. My main issue was that Ender looked like a young Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory and I had to work hard to remove that thought as I watched.

Posted on

White House Down

Channing Tatum – Who? Am I that far away from popular culture now?

PROBABLY

So, I went to see this film because of my Washington DC visit earlier in the year. I really like seeing places I’ve been in films and on the big screen. It’s like seeing London in big films. I feel that slightly more personal connection with the movie because I can say “I’ve been there”.

You get what you pay for with this film. I wanted a brain dead action thriller. I got a brain dead action almost-thriller. The good things about the film: DC looks nice, politicians are the baddies. The bad things about the film: pretty much everything else.

The President doesn’t want to be president. Congress don’t want him to be President, but he is trying to secure a middle-east peace deal. OK, that’s fair enough. But, the rest was just poor and laughable terrible. The script was bad. The action was over the top and implausible. Oh, it was bad. But, as with my tweet rating of 5, it was bad done well, rather than being just a badly made bad film, it was a well made bad film!

It’s curious how some of the most recent American films have depicted disgruntled Americans as the baddies. Perhaps they are waking up to the fact that the greatest threat to USA peace and security comes from within the country and that external factors are small in comparison [US Government shutdown].

Posted on

Man of Steel

Went to see Man of Steel on a 2nd Chance Thursday. To be honest I wasn’t even aware that 2nd Chance Thursday existed but there you go.
This was a really good film, apart from one minor thing more of which later. I really enjoyed the “names” in the film the cast was excellent and there was someone new at every scene change. Having said that the story made the film not the actors so that was good.
It was nice to see intelligent use of emotion throughout the film and the story played out in flashback. This was much better than, say, Wolverine or any other cheap basic superhero movie. Much like Avengers this film had a good script and good direction.
I’m not sure I understand or agree with the reasoning why Clark was so strong and I’m not sure how being able to jump far means that you can fly and change direction but I’ll overlook those bits.
It’s curious that it’s ok to destroy Manhattan again, or rather Metropolis. After 12 years we can finally have falling skyscrapers and aircraft exploding after hitting buildings.
I did not like the final fight scene. Two brilliantly strong men fighting to destroy each other and the final move comes down to “breaking the neck”. Why didn’t that happen in the first place?
This was well worth seeing. I really enjoyed it.

PS: There was one part of the movie that freaked me out and I haven’t searched the interwebs yet for information so I am probably wrong. When Superman is under the machine in the Indian Ocean it looks for a brief time that his face changes to look like Christopher Reeve’s superman. If this was deliberate then it is awesome. If it’s just me then I think I need to turn down the pareidolia section of my brain.
PPS: I laughed out loud at the church scene. It was hilarious. Clark could have got that same advice from anyone though, you don’t need a book and “gods” to guide you.

Posted on

Riddick

Riddick. Watch the first one. Don’t see this one. It’s the same film.

 

I was greatly annoyed at the sexism inherent in the script and screenplay. Katee Sackhoff starred in this film, previously known for playing the most excellent role-model “Starbuck”, Kara Thrace in the TV series Battlestar Galactica. Her first line in this film, as the only woman in the cast was:

Are you going to clean that up?

Seriously. A great female actor who’s been a force for strong female characters asks about tidying up the room? What a waste.

Also, there was a gratuitous boob shot. How disappointing. Just not needed. I really like Katee Sackhoff as an actress but she was let down by this film.

Privacy Policy Proudly powered by WordPress