Reviews

Due to the hype, I was put off seeing this movie as they seemed to intent on bombarding you with it that it seemed that they knew there was something wrong with it and were desperate to want people to see it. Well, I eventually went and saw it. First off it is a good movie and if you liked District 9 you'll like this. The political overtones are missing but if you were looking for a commentary on today's society you could well read into the movie shades of capitalism, class war, unfair and, even in the end, shades of Obama care. Then again a B feature like 2012 could boost the same except for the Obama health care plan. On the face of it, the movie is a good old-fashioned space yarn but with a dose of violence thrown in. What was really off-putting was the fight sequences which were rather hard to follow as the camera was all over the place. Having said all that I really enjoyed the movie despite the rush at the end to tie up all the loose ends.

Never judge a book by its cover as if you look at the cover for this movie you'd probably think it is a good American v Good Soviet v Bad Soviet movie and a re-hash of THE HUNT FOR RED OKTOBER. Well, my friend, you'd be wrong! From the outset let me say I'm a big fan of submarine movies and also let me say that I thought the Hunt for Red Oktober was a poor movie. In fact, as far as I am concerned, it stank. Not as bad as that U Boat flick with Matthew McConahey but still for all the hype it was pretty lame. This movie, however, was what the Hunt for Red Oktober should have been and if you really must have a comparison then it would be the Russian version of CRIMSON TIDE. One of the things I liked about it was the lack of American interference in the movie. This was about a Soviet sub and to have the American's directing the events (like in the Hunt for Red Oktober) would have spoilt a really decent movie. Alright, the ending sucked but it still retained enough to make it the best sub flick since CRIMSON TIDE. Ed Harris, as always, puts in a great performance but the standout, by far, is William Fitcher who was great in this movie.

A bio of the 5 men who built America would have been more interesting had they concentrated on the men themselves instead of the vast sums of money they made. And the interviews with modern money makers simply made it a greed is good promotion. To hear time after time that these men were not about the money is simply stupefying as that is what it was all about. And in order to show how powerful these men were they were given a monetary figure to show it and then another to show how much they would be worth now. It seems to me that the modern "captains of industry" (Jesus what a self promoting piece of shite that term is) hanker back to a time of these moguls could trample over every right and every law just to make money. It seems like they are still trying to get back to those time with the export of industry to countries like Pakistan and others who little or no workers rights and pay their workers the same wages Rockerfeller and their ilk did in their time. One of the most disgusting things about these modern moneymakers is the way they admire the underhand things of the past. Take the time when these moguls threatened to shut down their factories and put their workers on the breadline if they did not vote for McKinley.Seem to remember Thrump and others saying the same thing if Obama got elected. They refer to the scramble to make money as a game. A game played with workers rights, votes and indeed their very lives. And they want to get back to this time. A time when the Wall Street gurriers can wreck what they want and watch from mansions on high as the rest of us drown in the floods that follow. History does repeat itself unless we learn from the mistakes and praising these men for greed is simply playing into the hands of those who want to go back to the time of JP Morgan, Carnaghie and the rest.

Given the amount of hype surrounding this movie you would have expected something akin to Lawrence of Arabia but in reality we have something like an episode from CSI or something like that (don't watch much TV, sorry). Most of the critics seem to want to pan the film because of the torture scenes but I actually think this is a strong point in the movie. There is no bleeding hearted Liberal stepping up to say its wrong as there were none doing it at the time then and there. There is no concession to the moral outrage and nor should there be. This is a "warts and all" film about how they killed Bin Laden and in that it is better then most Hollywood movie about war. We see enough condemnation about what is supposedly right and wrong when a nation is fighting a war but in reality war is cruel. So all those bleeding hearted Liberals who condemn the film for its portrayal of torture without the moral outrage I say its about time we got more movies like it... and I am one of those bleeding hearted Liberals. The problem is that the movie is too long, to short on story, overbalanced with an extended battle sequence at the end and overbalanced also with torture scenes. Having watched the movie I left the theatre with no moral outrage, a so-so attitude and wondering whats on next week.

First off, I hate movie like these. By these I mean the type of movie shot like a bad documentary with disconnected scenes with a really thin story line. I like Jeff Bridges a lot and he is a really brilliant actor but it seems like he was placed in a scene without a script and told to act. I know this is not true but it seems like it was ad libbed for most of them. Therefore if it was scripted Bridges deserves an Oscar. But like that Mickey Rourke wrestling flick and some Ryan Gosling shyte about a school teacher it was just a group of disjointed scenes clubbed together to tell a simple story in an artsy-farty way. Actually this is not so much a review of Crazy Heart but of all these type of movies. You know the type. The actor getting on with his job but the drunk cameraman trying to keep his feet and occasionally failing as the camera fecks off somewhere else with the poor actor still doing his stuff. Lord Thunderin Jesus, come the feck on and end these documentary-style pieces of shyte and give us some decent stories to get involved in instead of looking for the sympathy vote from unsympathetic characters.

So you get friends coming to you to say "you gotta watch GOT, it's amazing!" and not being a TV watcher you ignore them. So you see the series on offer on DVD and you mention it to the wife and low and behold you get it as a present. So you watch it and hope that it is going to be something special. And low and behold you ring up your mates after watching a number of episodes and say "WFT is this shyte?" And then you remember these same "mates" were lollygagging about "Dexter" (which is possibly the worst mistake I have ever made when buying DVD's recommended by "mates". But back to GOT. It is not just that it is going nowhere but, like, Dexter, is it quickly running out of ideas. So far, some kid was murdered by a brother and sister but he doesn't die and wakes up not remember anything. Or does he? Or who cares? And then there is the nudity and sex. Right, it is HBO, and there is nothing wrong with a bit of nudity and sex, but Jaysus, we have watched a few episodes now and the sex business is just there for no reason. No "plot" advancement. No explanation of character. Nothing. Just sex. Alright there is an incest scene but interestingly not graphic and this is the whole premise of the story. As I said we are about 6 or 7 episodes into this shyte, but the story is thin and as of yet we have not had the obligatory lesbian scene (HBO trademark, come to that every Network trademark). Something to look forward to I suppose as there is feck all else. The 2/10 rating is for the character of the midget brother and Sean Bean. This rises it slightly above awful. And for those who will say watch the whole series and then comment I say do I have to? Really, do I have to?

Really liked this movie and I am not a fan of the Horror flicks. I suppose not being one and forced to watch endless Horror movies with the wife, this came as a pleasant surprise. If you are expecting Friday the 13th and the like then you will be disappointed but if you are not expecting Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein then you will also not be disappointed for it is neither!!!! If the girlfriend wants to watch "a scary movie" and you want to watch, say, Dumb and Dumber, then stick this one on and you will both enjoy it. Well me and the wife did anyway!!!! As this "does not contain enough lines" I thought I'd add that you might also get lucky for choosing such a scary, funny, movie. (Didn't work for me, I'm married!!!)

I like the movie and the acting was superb but it lacked drama. We all know what happened but the movie needed something more. Take for example, Ron Howard's Apollo 13 which was based also on a real event but never faltered on the drama. Lincoln needed that. Anyone who ever read the book on which this movie is based will remember that there was a lot more drama involved. Having said that, Daniel Day-Lewis is absolutely mesmerizing as Lincoln no more so when he is explaining why he wants the 13th Amendment passed. BTW, in my opinion, the opening and last scenes in the movie are redundant. The battle sequence is out of place and Lincoln's death is unnecessary. The scene where is walking away should have ended the movie.

Tarantino's best movie in my humble opinion. From the opening sequence to the final scene, it truly is the ultimate spaghetti western without the bad dubbing. There are standout performances from all the leads, including Samuel L Jackson but also from the likes of James Remar, Don Johnson and even Bruce Dern. Nearly every character used the N word except the women and strangely Tarantino himself. I don't make notes about movies but I will stand corrected if someone who does disagrees. There are some faults. For instance, Tarantino's cameo. God bless him , he really can't act and placed an added burden on himself by trying to do an accent which is difficult to place (turns out it is Aussie!).

The basic premise of the show, a serial killer killing serial killers is fine. It's the rest of it that really is a let down. As I hate spoilers, I'll just say that the basic problem with the show is the writing. Aside from Dexter himself the rest is just filler. So overall a show let down by the "extra's" and each season could have been done with a 2-hour movie. And here is an idea they might play with. Instead of his sister trying to "do" everyone including you-know-who why not have her chief suspect for one of Dexter's murders (and remember all of them are unsolved) and they only way to save her from the chair is for Dexter to come clean at the expense of losing his son for ever. Just a thought.