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Reviews
Island Zero (2018)
It was the end that let it down
The set up was good. The atmosphere was built up nicely and it was well acted. The concept of the creatures was cool (ha ha) and I enjoyed it.
But when the reveal about one of the characters happened and the entire film flipped I just got irritated. It didn't need petty human drama and cliche motivations. It was already cool and mysterious monsters with unknown motivations would have been more intriguing than standard conspiracy fare.
Taking Lives (2004)
Terrible movie that kept getting worse
Corny, badly directed, over acted, stupidly written and embarrassing for all involved.
Hao xia (1979)
Excellent
The sword fighting was out of this world, the fights scenes spectacular without the flying on a wire techniques (until the end) that are way too common today. The scene with Chan and Pray was probably the highlight of the movie. The characters in the assault on the bad guys mansion were cliché but the movie is comfortable with it. An injection of humour from Woo.
The plot with it's twists and turns was unpredictable and exciting and you couldn't tell who was good or bad or which side people were on.
A good sense of suspense and well timed surprises. The depth of the story is quite intense for a flighty film of this genre and reaches you in ways most kung-fu flicks don't.
Sankofa (1993)
Outstanding
There is no better movie on that period in history. It shows the African spirit not only as passive and accepting or merely as a vehicle to be brutalised by an antagonist who is given all the lines but here the Africans are allowed to be people. We see a real portrayal of people with feelings, emotions and lives.
It touches on some of the aspects of mental slavery that other movies avoid, such as the biracial son of the master and a slave being indoctrinated with the church to hate his black mother and her spirituality. The scenes with him gazing longingly at white Madonna and child imagery in a church being attended to by a white priest telling about his wicked heathen mother really ring home.
From start to finish this is definitely the black perspective on slavery. Amistad is nothing to this. Amistad was about a court case, did nothing to the actualities of slavery or the deeper issues as Sankofa did with panache and feeling.
The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)
Excellent
I took the message of self determination and exploiting the exploitative system to take skills and knowledge back to ones own community. Inspiring. Using counter terrorism tactics to teach the street gangs guerrilla warfare is just an example of this but it's handled well in the movie. I like that they don't throw in a tacky ending but leave it out there.
The scenes with Dan training in the CIA are confusing at first because you don't quite know where the movie is going and it did seem a little too easy for him to convince a street gang to follow him into urban revolution but that aside the sub plots like the friend who turns him in and the middle class black woman of his being scared by the revolutionary blacks make for a brilliant film.