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Reviews
Scarecrows (1988)
Cheesy Creepy Goodness
Alright... this is some classic Sunday afternoon movie action. It's cheesy, it's a little creepy (sometimes really creepy), and basically what an 80's horror flick needs to be!
It's far from top end, and far from well written, but it's fun. With a bit more of a budget, it could have spawned a bunch of terrible and equally implausible sequels. Actually, it probably should spawn a bunch of terrible sequels, with the better effects we have today...
If you like the cheese, and if you like the goofiness that made 80's horror what it is, you'll like this movie. If you're looking for a dramatic crime/horror combo, this will probably leave you disappointed.
Have fun calling the kills and wondering who's going to make it out alive!
Armadillo (2010)
As real as can be.
I'm a veteran of two tours with the Canadian Army in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. When friends, family or random passers by ask me what being there is like, I refer them to Restepo and Armadillo.
This movie is closer to my experiences in theatre. Lots of patrolling without a whole hell of a lot going on except watching the threat level increase as you go. It also covers what happens at home when someone hears something, distorts it, passes it on and the actual participants from the original event get caught up in it.
It's a great movie, well filmed and well edited. If you wonder what it's like "Over There", check it out.
And a quick FYI: when they clear the trench after shooting at the insurgents in it and throwing in a grenade, that's a drill. No crimes there, just a well executed drill.
Allen Gregory (2011)
Junk
I have a decent vocabulary, one developed through years of reading and scrabble, and I don't have anything other than profanity to describe this show. It's not funny, it's not clever, it's not nice to look at, it literally has no redeeming features of any sort.
The characters are infuriating and unlikable. The plots are vapid and come off as though the writers were trying (and failing) to make some sort of commentary about intellectuals/the political left/homosexuals.
It's terrible, pure and simple. Compared to it's competition, it's distinctly lacking. Even against programming like the Cleveland Show, which is still finding its legs, it's terrible.
It's junk. Pure and simple.
Restrepo (2010)
War doesn't need a story.
When my friends and family ask me what deploying to Afghanistan was like, this is the movie I tell them to watch. I have never seen so accurate a depiction of modern soldiers on operations as I have in this movie.
I have completed two tours in Afghanistan with the Canadian army, both times in outside the wire capacities as a member of a Force Protection platoon and as a member of the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team. The interactions and actions of the locals, the "magic line" you cross and can be shot at after, the shuras, the incidents, the injured civvies... This movie had me riveted and I cannot recommend it enough.
Some say "Generation Kill" is the depiction of the modern soldier at war; it's not. It's a taste of it. This documentary and the events, action, reactions and depictions of the soldiers is real. If you want to know about the war and what it's like in Afghanistan, this is you movie.
The Hurt Locker (2008)
They got something right that few other movies do.
This movie is not a typical Hollywood war film. It has some parts that are, but in many ways it was quite grounded in the reality of the deployed soldier.
Having spent some quality time in Afghanistan before seeing this movie, I was curious as to the type of war movie it would be. It was gritty. It was unpleasant at times. It sexed up a few things, but tried to stay grounded.
What it did better than any other war movie I've ever seen is portray the mentality and difficulties of a soldier returning home to his family. His trouble engaging in conversation with his wife because all he's known for the last year is IED's and gunfire. She's not interested in the details when he tries to share. He's overwhelmed by the tasks taken for granted at home, staring at a wall of cereal boxes ad unable to make a choice. Alone, bored and overwhelmed, he does the only thing he can think to. He goes back. The look and expression on his face say it all.
Without that part, this would have been a 6/10 for me. This part, this often overlooked part of soldiering, is what popped it up for me.
Supernova (2000)
Decent SciFi
Supernova is a straight forward, no frills SF/thriller movie. Where other films would have suffered a bit by having somewhat stock characters and a well used plot, this movie pulls it off. The villain is genuinely unlikable, and the characters act in believable ways. All in all, it pulls you into the setting and story without any significant "What the!?!" or "Lame!" flow breaking moments. While this movie could have been a lot more, more SF movies should try to be like it!
The special effects are a bit dated, but still quite good because of their sparing usage, the film setting largely speaks for itself without the need of flashy effects and weird aliens to remind you it's a SF movie. The dialogue is good, with characterization being strongly shown by the way the crew speaks and interacts.
Supernova (2000): Saturday Night Movie at Home