Change Your Image
amunro-368-74378
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
The Vietnam War (2017)
Perhaps you needed to be there
As others have said this is not any easy watch. Perhaps more so for those of us that were there. Why? Because this is a straight, factual account that simply rings true.
The American perspective is not my own. I was there as an Australian. We too had our homegrown SDS, Weathermen, and antiwar protest groups. When there, I dont really remember anyone who honestly thought we should be there. But there we were. Even the CIA advisers in Saigon, Bien hoa, Vung Tau and well, elsewhere, were of a similar view, in my recollection.
I've recently gone through an illness that has brought all this back into focus. I've shared with folk things I have never spoken off, for the first time. Apologies for oversharing here, but I guess it is important to some of us when this experience has remained with us for ever, and where we just don't speak about it.
This documentary speaks for us. It doesn't propagandize. It doesn't engrandize. It doesn't sensationalize. It is however remarkably well done.
It is a must see for any student of history if for no other reason than we will all have to deal with both Iraq and Afghanistan in a not so dissimilar manner as well.
Valley of the Boom (2019)
This is not bad, but a tad inaccurate. Worthy nontheless.
I lived through this. Even visited Netscape in New York while working for SGWarburg in the UK. The senior analyst working on the floor above me sold his Mozilla (his name of the source) code to a young guy in the US for what we were lead to believe was roughly 10k pounds.. We used to tease him about it. So, perhaps the original premise of the origination is perhaps a tad skewed.
I still have the the original documentation encapsulating the beyond browser technical specs for a hybrid between browsers and email which indeed my team created, which in turn became Outlook after our MS partners stole it. It really is plain to see were you to simply look at the original specs. So the documentary is absolutely accurate in how aggressive MS was back in the day.
I actually employed a Pixelon senior technician. He became an SGWarburg director, which trust me was not all it was cracked up to be. He turned out to be a wife beater and ended up in an Californian jail after being tracked down and extradited for previous misdemeanors to a female employee in the US. Which kind of summarises the Pixelon culture. Go #MeToo.
As a production presenting the times this rendition is both mildly inaccurate and entirely American centric. The internet after all was not invented by Americans, DARPA not withstanding. Oddly it was actually one of these rare things that came out of a bipartisan collaboration originating in Switzerland. But hey, far be it for me to attempt to represent an actual representation of the history I worked through, participated in and indeed continue to retain original documentation defining the instigation inherent in the actuality of this period.
This production is worthy. Perhaps it will encourage viewers to look further.
Valhalla Rising (2009)
Wernor Herzog may have met his match
This is, in style, 'Aguirre, the Wrath of God'. Not better. Not so different either. It is however, an incredibly good rendition of this very minimalist sub genre.
I imagine if Herzog were to view this film he would chuckle and, like me, be perhaps mildly disappointed in the last 5 seconds or so.
Reviews have been mixed. Some have called this art house. Its not really. Its a tad too visceral for that (it would probably offend many of the more touchy feely art house crowd). There is very little dialog. Almost every point made in this production is made through either body language or facial expression. The spoken points are, like in 'Aguirre', there to demonstrate cultural norms of the various antagonists as all characters in this story are antagonists with the possible but dubious exception of the boy.
If you are looking for entertainment, look elsewhere. If you wish to immerse yourself in something very unusual that you may well remember for many years dive in on a cold winters night with the rain lashing against your windows. Its extraordinary.
The Quiet American (2002)
Amazingly accurate portrial of a past time
I don't know what it is about Graham Green, but he really did get it right, repeatedly. This, no exception, and the producers, actors and all bring his work to life.
I recently watched this movie again, after fifteen years, and indeed after 45 years or so from living in Viet Nam, in both Saigon and Vung Tau as a boy. I'm not so old as to know the Saigon of 1954. I did not arrive until just after the Tet offensive in 1968.
The set scenes, most, presumably shot in Hanoi, are very surprisingly accurate. I only recognised the centre square in Saigon. The only difference from when I was there was the number of cheap Honda motor bikes on the streets. Which of course would not have been there in 1952-4.
My father worked in foreign aid, was debriefed every two weeks or so, and kept tabs on all his employees just in case one of their relatives went VC and they, that would be the employees, could be used as blackmail. The CIA were very, very prevalent around my fathers circles and yes, the underlying premise of American intervention and destabalisation is absolutely spot on; me, having been mentored as a young lad by a small few Americans.
The occasional quip in the film about the sound of an explosion is also eerily accurate. You really did get to know the sound of various devices going off. As kids we counted the helicopters (Hueys) going out and coming back in. Train spotting with a twist. We could tell, at least we told ourselves, whether gun fire was Armalite, M1's, M16's etc, AK's? We kept diaries and even pretended we knew whether it was a Chinese AK knockoff or the real deal.
We even used to, being kids, boast about our scars. Most of us snuck out after curfew. The concrete abrasions didn't really count, they were just near misses. The spaulding burns meant that you were in an aircraft, serious cudos. But I digress and I've drifted off point.
So. This really is a remarkable movie. Written in its original by Graham Green and expressed in such a way as to have stood the test of time by this wonderful rendition. A must watch, and indeed a must read.
Tales (2017)
Wow. Awesome.
I get that there is a character limit. I would like to break it now.
Awesome. Me, white guy who grew up in south east Asia. The juxtaposition just nails it irrespective of culture. Good job, remarkably well done. This is a must see, even if it doesn't support your particular polemic.
Seriously, view. It will turn you the head and entertain at the same time.
The Handmaid's Tale (2017)
A must read for young women
Obviously I have prefaced this with the word read. I bought this book, and that would be the book written by Ms Atwood, for my seventeen year old daughter only a few months ago. Who knew, its now transcribed to digital media.
And so it should be.
Not quite like the book but close. The Black and Jewish questions for example were not addressed by the producers, which is a shame as it further cemented the casual bigotry within the Christian dystopian universe of the book.
This is a political polemic written in 1985 by a woman who had her finger on a very specific pulse. She predicted an imagined future within a Christian society that is demonstrably, and indeed tragically, evident within some Muslim societies today, as it was of course back then. So this is a mirror, a juxtaposition.
I am not going to wax lyrical on the merits of cinematography, as others have already done so. What I am going to say is that as an educator this effort is worthy of compulsory viewing for young women. Some men will not like it. Many Christians will not like it, nor should they.
This production is an exceptionally good peace of work by the production crew and actors but most of all by the writers. Remarkable, awesome work, and thank you.
As a footnote and having now watched episode ten in the first series I really, really like the negative reviews. The illiteracy, the frequent politically biased and often misogynistic sexism, the quiet apologists and, indeed in some cases, the overt Christian bigotry prevalent in so many negative reviews is just wonderful. If you doubt the veracity of Atwood's principle supposition then the negative reviews are also a must read, and if you do, pause and think again. I have no doubt that many of these negative reviewers would feel quite at home in Gilead.
Halt and Catch Fire (2014)
Slightly flawed but awesome nonetheless
I only reserve full marks for the rarest of things. Were I able to I would give this a definitive 9.5.
I'm an old software engineer and I lived through the period this show resides in. Were I to characterize myself within this arc I would fall firmly between Cooper Andrews character and M D's character (again editor in the way. Why would an editor prevent the use of an actors name, seriously!).
Much fitter though, as were most of the people I worked with. Unlike Hollywood characterization we ate better as well, dressed better etc. After all we were paid certainly well within the top 1% of the economic bracket.
Its eerily reminiscent. The software wars were really as prevalent as this show defines. Truth being stranger than fiction makes me wish that the show runners just defined it as it really was.
I've had various clandestine government agencies interview, and indeed pretend to procure, software that I and some of my colleagues have created, across continents. They were always really bad at it. You could always tell within a close approximation what rank each person in the room fell under. Generally speaking, it was always the senior Sargent that gave it way, usually within 30 seconds or so. Training back in the day not being, I don't know, lets just say civilian orientated.
So, enough said. This show is actually awesome, but it is not an accurate version demonstrably. It is very entertaining though and represents a mild version of the actuality of the times.
-------
As an adjunct to my previous post, all of three years ago, I am now watching series four. I actually worked with the guy who wrote Mozilla back in the day. He worked on the floor above me and overlooked my teams code. We gave him a hard time. We thought we were better.
He sold his code for roughly 10k pounds to a couple of MIT students (pretty sure, could have been Cal Tech but I'm going to stick with MIT) whose fathers worked in hedge fund banking. That was a new thing back in the day.
Typical story. He and I also, worked in banking. I'd written some software that was relevant within the newly emergent online sphere - hyperlinks (Jesus, I really hate the way this editor makes me destroy the English language), way before browsers existed. Originally developed by Rank Xerox, thirty years earlier, who knew?
His work became Netscape. And then you have Brendan Eich and others who developed not just careers but industries predicated on this mans shoulders.
The real story is way more interesting than the Hollywood version. But hey, entertainment is what entertainment does.
Ófærð (2015)
Just Wow
I actually don't want to talk about the quality of the production, the rather awesomeness of the acting, the underlying wonderful weirdness of the story. What is it about Icelandic cinema that just makes it work, repeatedly, on steroids.
They have done it again. Seriously good job well done. I really am in awe. A must see for those who are interested in how to make it just work.
For students, do not ignore this. Just think why the BBC found it worthy. Yes I could go on, but this really just does speak for itself. Go forth, and meh, these guys are just a little bit good.
Aargh! Apparently I have not yet reached the word count. Bugger. I don't actually want to talk about the actors, or indeed the system, or indeed anything actually about the production. It really DOES speak for itself.
X Company (2015)
Surprisingly good
Is this historically accurate? No, not at all. Is it entertaining? Very much so.
This is all character development. Story. I really cant wait for the next series now that series 2 has been given the green light.
In this day and age we have Agents of Shield, Captain America et al. All of which are complete fantasies. This is a hi-bred. It is demonstrably a more realistic rendition of Marvels Agent Carter, same same but with a thin veneer of accuracy. More compelling than Carter, simply because it is more closely aligned with the truth.
Having said that, it is a very well characterised fantasy rendition of reality where the emphasis is on characterisation.
In any event, very compelling. Looking forward to the next rendition.
P-51 Dragon Fighter (2014)
What a great little 'B' movie
Please don't misunderstand me. This movie is just crap. Wonderfully so. Tarantino, Rodriguez, et al, eat your heart out. This was not an 'A' movie pretending to be a 'B' movie. It is most definitely just a 'B' movie. The best I've seen in at least a decade.
I downloaded it simply because I thought it might be an interesting 'B' movie (and no, I wouldn't have paid to see it - I will however try to pay them as a thank you though).
You know how it goes, sitting at home alone, family at a jazz festival, me working. Need some non thinking down time.
Have no expectations other than badly scripted, badly acted, nonsensical plot, but a wonderful representation of this second tier, cheap genre. Which I kind of expect was the producers point.
Just what I was looking for. The best nonsense I've watched in years.
The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2013)
What an exceptionally excellent movie
The science is dodgy. However it is real nonetheless, insofar as this is the best we have come up with. Four hundred years of magnetic motion amounts to very little when there is a drag, and indeed a sell by date, on the mechanism.
The underlying premise in the movie however is death, guilt, and love. The tool is simply spin for the story.
Brilliantly proposed.
Beautifully done.
Science as opposed to sport, the old story repeated. Quite exceptional, and endearing, and frankly, (not an expression I use often) quite lovely.
Simply a gem. Seriously worth a watch. So, please, watch and enjoy.
Babylon (2014)
Black, compelling and seems to annoy conservative Brits. What more could we ask for?
Wow, so many negative reviews from older people. This is black comedy at its best. It pretends (very accurately) to be real but is a caricature of itself. Whats not to like. Wonderful.
I'm not currently looking at so many negative reviews from IMDb, but some how this hurts the sensibilities of many British folk seemingly at a political level. Its very anti-establishment, and beautifully done, superb actors and very confrontational in that it propends to be establishment but isn't.
Interesting, compelling and very worthy. Others will comment on the skill and performance more accurately than I, but in sheer effrontery this just works fine.
The Wrong Mans (2013)
Dark, very dark, but just hilarious
I'm not going to wax lyrical about production, or indeed the constant juxtaposition between characters, drama, and of course comedy. It really does speak for itself.
My only criticism is that I wish the episodes were longer. How they pull it off in the short format is an amazing testament to the authors skill.
I'd also add that I don't think I have ever seen anything quite like this. Its quite remarkable. Sure, I've seen comparisons, but this is pretty unique. Its also slick, dark comedy. Me, I found the first episode compelling, wanting more, but was left feeling slightly uncomfortable, wondering whether the writers could pull it off. Well, they did, in spades.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012)
What an exceptionally good piece of work
This was a difficult movie for me to watch. It played too much into what it is like to be a foreigner in a foreign land. Is it done well? Yeah pretty much. Is it realistic, probably not so much. Is it a very worthy attempt? Yeah, you bet.
The film is about who is the protagonist. Equally it is about who is the antagonist, but it leans very heavily on the protagonist side.
I've only ever seen one movie that exemplified contemporary war realistically, at least in my experience. That was "The Killing Fields". This movie is a much more subtle rendition of the same. Just for that it is very worthy of a watch.
I've given this a 10 on IMDb, simply because I suspect the nae sayers have been either armchair observers, or embedded observers. You kind of have to live within the community before you can critique it. This film is a critique of us. Specifically the west, the middle class, those who care, and indeed those of us who actually have a choice.
Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012)
The frachise has changed. Interesting change though
This was unexpectedly worthy. I don't actually like this franchise, but this episode is worthy if for no other reason than the principles excel themselves. Aficionados will, I'm sure, disagree with my comments.
In and of itself this works just fine. It still leaves the franchise open for more, with an intriguing twist at the end. This is not smart cinematography, characters appear, disappear, drop out. Even the action is mediocre, given that this originally was action personified. However, its an intriguing theme that perpetuates itself, like any good meme.
In summary, well worth a watch if you like this genre, even if its devolved to light entertainment.
Me, I think the underlying theme has serious legs, but (and yes there can only be a but in this sentence) its parochial and can go so much further.
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome (2012)
Just about frakking perfect!
Apologies to those who don't know this series but swearing appears to be a little different 30,000 years ago, apparently.
What an excellent production. Beautifully reproduced Galactica / Cylon universe. Why, why did not this pilot go to series. Go figure.
I'm not going to spoil it for you, but for those of you who have not come across this series on TV and for those of you who have not yet seen this prequel, all that I can say is, you bastards. I envy you. Seeing something like this web production, back on back, for the first time – kind of perfect. When it is this perfect, well - its just rare.
This is an exceptionally good tale. Perhaps one of the few filmatic tales that transcend the written word - this was never a real written story - but hey who am I to judge. Judge for yourselves.
Safe (2012)
What an unexpected surprise!
Yes, Safe took me by surprise. Not normally a fan of this type of movie perhaps simply because the formula has been repeated so very many times. Statham was his enigmatic self, as always, but there is no denying his default character is undeniably well suited to this genre.
Yakin has a long list of movies to his credit, most of which have been heavy on cliché, action, and on occasion special effects, but none of which particularly captured attention or indeed are particularly noteworthy. Safe however is unusual. It has cliché, action and effects to spare - and it still works dramatically. Go figure, who would have thought?
It wasn't until the rolling credits that I realised why this movie worked so well - or to be more precise why such a set piece worked dramatically. The list of executive producers is, frankly, astonishing. Kevin Spacey, to name just one (and there is another five all with huge credits to their name).
Safe deserves to be seen if for no other reason than it is an excellent example of the genre. Much more importantly though, its just good fun. Well worth a watch.
Green Street (2005)
Wow! What a great movie!
I'm not going to do a literary critique here, I'm just going to say how realistic, poignant a compelling this was.
Fifteen year ago I was that boy, behind the West Ham goals, as they played Nottingham Forrest. Apparently it was a friendly match - not that I could tell.
I was taken there by a couple of lawyer friends who thought it would be a good wheeze to show an Australian what a real football match was. Trust me the film did not do it justice - how could they, its so full on as to be unbelievable.
Its not just shouting and singing, its whole crowd body movements and chanting. Needless to say after I had been clouted around the head a few times by those behind me for saying stupid things like "WOW! that was an amazing goal" (when the other team scored and everyone around me was in complete silence - and I was still shouting of course - such a dork). My friends kept telling everyone around us that "It's alright he's an Australian!". Everyone got friendly and kept trying to tell me how to behave.
The one thing that I missed in this film was the press on the train platforms and the access tunnels. My wife and I personally witnessed an old German man get beaten trying to protect his wife who had fallen over in the press. He was hysterical, and had lost the use of English before he disappeared under a flurry of fists. Not because anyone had anything against him, or indeed that anyone knew what was going on, but simply because he turned on the crowd in an attempt to prevent his wife from being crushed. There is really something animalistic with these matches.
I have also watched, at different times on different matches, the police, on mass, arrest people arriving to an away match in London, disappearing with their arrested charges and those commuters left behind finding that the platforms have gone from all but empty to so seriously crowded that those not moving with the crowd were in very real danger of falling onto the tracks.
Anyway, this film took me straight back to fifteen years ago. Its an amazing reproduction. I am not aware of such an accurate portrayal of the various "firms". Highly watchable, compelling and engaging.
Hunter Prey (2010)
What a little gem
I've kind of scored this more than it probably deserves - but damn, I've missed these completely out there little gems. Its speculative fiction at its best. Think of those obscure TV Twilight Zone episodes from two decades ago.
A simple story, a soldiers tale. There's no real twists, what you see is what you get. The context however is the story, and by that I mean its all in the dialog. Commentators are quite right in comparing this with "Enemy Mine", which is by far the closest film comparison despite all the various other film references, and I would go so far as to say this is a better story, despite being portrayed on a much lower budget.
Sure, there's obvious errors throughout. I'm sure film buffs will point them all out, but hey, a wonderfully obscure, wonderfully simple story that kept me captivated throughout. Not every ones thing of course but, hey, very worthy nonetheless.