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The Journey (2016)
Surprisingly engaging.
I ended up watching this after idly channel surfing. I have always enjoyed watching both Colm Meany & Timothy Spall so I was interested to see what they could do together.
I was born in the late 60's, so the spectre of the IRA hung over my entire childhood. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that as a Scottish Protestant, the IRA was the closest thing to pure evil that I could imagine at that time. That being said, I was never a fan of Dr Paisley's fire & brimstone rhetoric, despite him being on the 'good' side.
As I grew older, I realised that The Troubles were far more complex than my childhood understanding of them, and that there was good and evil on both sides. I was relieved and grateful for the people of Northern Ireland when the Good Friday Agreement was signed and I recall the relationship that Martin McGuiness & Ian Paisly had. It was curious to see these two bitter, bitter enemies become a united leadership team for Northern Ireland, and to see the genuine warmth between them.
'The Journey' did an excellent job of imagining how that car ride played out, and both Spall & Meany were tremendously good as Paisley & Mcguiness. A film that takes place for the most part, in a minivan, shouldn't be as engaging as 'The Journey' turned out to be, but all the actors involved managed to keep me truly invested in their story.
The supporting cast was excellent, and it was a pleasant surprise to see John Hurt in what must have been one of his final roles. I must also single out Ian Beattie as Gerry Adams. I always felt Adams was particularly sinister and Beattie managed to convey that menace very convincingly.
I'd definitely recommend this film to anyone interested in the history of The Troubles or even to anyone unaware of the turbulent events that led up to the Good Friday Agreement.
Invasion (2021)
Why all the hate?
My husband and I watched this over several nights and we were absolutely enthralled by it. Yes, the pace is slower than the average alien invasion movie/TV show, but that's the beauty of it, in my opinion.
I liked how the writers focussed on developing the characters and revealed things about them very gradually. I felt Mitsuki's pain at facing the loss of her girlfriend, Hinata. When you love someone so deeply, you will do literally anything to find out what happened to them. Casper was an intriguing character, and I want to know what his connection is to the aliens and if he's really dead.
I knew that the aliens couldn't have been defeated so easily, but the reveal of the massive ship at the end, sucking up the oceans, was amazing.
I'm glad there will be another season, as I felt invested in the characters by the end (except Luke, he was a pain in the backside).
I'd urge people to ignore the negative reviews and watch this series, it's slow paced but that's not a bad thing.
13 Minutes (2021)
I'd rather run INTO a tornado than live with this lot.
This film must have been written by people who really, REALLY don't want anyone to visit America.
Many of the main characters were horrible people who were openly racist,/homophobic/selfish, and/or deeply dreary. It took SO long for the tornado to arrive, by which time I was hoping it would wipe most of them out. Yet, despite the town being obliterated, they all survived to carry on living their awful lives.
It included just about every hot topic you can imagine;
Illegal immigration, closeted homosexuality, disability, racism, abortion, toxic masculinity, working mothers, and evangelical Christianity. However, these issues were never properly addressed or resolved in a meaningful way. They just seemed to have been included to try to give the film some gravitas and elevate it above being just a disaster movie. Unfortunately, the writer and director failed to grasp that what makes any kind of disaster movie enjoyable, is having characters whose fates we actually care about. Since none of the people in the film managed to engage me, I was utterly indifferent to the peril they were in.
The cast contains several well-known actors but their presence did nothing to enhance the movie. It was a waste of their talent and time.
Brazen (2022)
Oh dear.
I don't even know how I ended up watching this, but I'm sorry I did. I stuck it out to the end to see if I was right about the killer. I was.
There are multiple issues which made it such a bad film. The acting was really wooden, the dialogue was cliched and unintentionally hilarious at times, the music was awful, the plot was dull and full of ridiculous things that just wouldn't ever happen, the characters were all two-dimensional and the whole thing lacked any sense of tension.
Don't even watch this with low expectations, it's really far worse than I've made it sound.
The Silent Sea (2021)
Excellent Korean series, worth sticking with.
I binge watched The Silent Sea over two nights, (something I rarely do), and thoroughly enjoyed it. The premise was intriguing and the mysteries of Balhae Station were slowly revealed over the course of the series, which meant the viewer was kept guessing as to what was going on.
I'm a sucker for Korean films and TV, and The Silent Sea was as good as anything I've watched previously. I was delighted to see the brilliant. Gong Yoo and Bae Doo-na in the lead roles. They are both immensely watchable in this, as you would expect.
If you're a sci-fi fan I'd definitely recommend this series, but be aware that the pacing is slower than most western produced fare. That being said, it's worth sticking with it, as it gets into its stride from episode 3 onwards.
One final comment I'd make is that, as is usually the case, it's far a better experience to watch in the original Korean with English subtitling. The American accents in any dubbed production are incredibly jarring, and for me, they wrench me out of the action. It's much more enjoyable to hear the actual voices of the actors delivering their lines than the dubbed voices of their English speaking counterparts. Regardless of how accomplished the voice actors are, they can't portray the same emotion as the actors who they are overdubbing.
Vigil (2021)
This is based on my husband's comments.
My husband served on board a Trident class sub and from the next room I could hear him fidgeting and sighing.
He didn't enjoy episode 1 and I doubt he'll bother with the rest. His main problem, and probably unique to anyone who's ever been in a Trident class boat was that the interior looked nothing like an actual submarine. In addition he felt the officers acted in a very unrealistic way, the MOD police don't use dogs, their uniforms were wrong, civilian police wouldn't have been involved in the investigation & the plot was all over the place.
He's fairly tolerant when watching a TV series or a movie, I'm normally the one who's fidgeting and sighing, so for him to dislike it says a lot.
Lovecraft Country: Meet Me in Daegu (2020)
Amazing episode!
I loved this episode, it really added depth to Tic's character and motivations. I liked that they focused on Ji-Ah and showed her importance to him and perhaps gave some insight into his actions in the present timeline.
Jamie Chung was wonderful to watch as Ji-Ah, I really got a sense of how conflicted she was between pleasing her overbearing mother whilst trying to figure out who she was and what she wanted from life. The scene where it's revealed that she is possessed by a Kumiho was so shocking and unexpected, even for a show that revels in the shocking and unexpected. The special effects are brilliant in this series, they never feel gratuitous and always add to the sense of horror and otherworldliness. I'm always unsettled after watching this show, which I'm sure is the intention of the creators.
My only criticism was of how quickly Ji-Ah seemed to develop feelings for Tic. She saw him act in the most brutal way imaginable and he was party to the death of her best friend and yet she seemed able to move past that fairly quickly. Perhaps this was intentional and was due to her not being quite human and not possessing the full spectrum of human emotions. I'm not sure.
Anyway, I'm thoroughly enjoying Lovecraft Country and will be sorry when it ends. There's no other show quite like it and that's got to be a good thing.
Lost in the Pacific (2016)
Ridiculously bad. Unintentionally hilarious.
If you approach this film expecting a quality thriller/action/sci-Fi then you are going to be sorely disappointed. Just warning you now.
There is literally nothing in this that didn't produce snorts of laughter from our family as we watched it. The 'acting' is atrocious, the dialogue is eye-wateringly awful, the plane itself must be made using the same technology as the TARDIS as it has actual BEDROOMS, the uniforms that the flight crew wear look like they were styled by the folk who made Thunderbirds and the CGI is APPALLING.
Nothing that happens makes any sense. The plane suffers a fuel leak and has to land on a mysterious island, and yet next thing it's ok to take off again without anyone appearing to fix the leak. Whilst on the island they're attacked by red-eyed, mutant cats. (And by cats I mean literal cats.) The CGI used to make these cats is so bad it defies description. They are quite simply, ridiculous. Suddenly two military types appear in a jeep and are rescued mid takeoff, and then they proceed to hijack the plane and after various shenanigans, force it to land on an aircraft carrier.
By this point we were all stunned into silence by the sheer dreadfulness of the thing. The film is so full of cliches and tropes it makes 'The Room' look like it was made by Martin Scorsese.
For sheer (unintentional) entertainment value I'd give it 6 stars but my conscience demanded a 2. It's in my top 5 of worst movies I've ever seen and I don't expect it to be replaced any time soon.