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Reviews
The Midnight Sky (2020)
Well, I enjoyed it!
I watched this film in 2 viewings because I started the initial one far too late!
From the get go I have two of my favourite settings: space and arctic - what's not to like?
Yes, there are countless 'holes' in the proceedings as we have countlessly already been told - is this exclusive to this one movie?
I liked the acting, I liked the sets, I liked the two (three) stories that were ultimately brought to the fore and I had no trouble in accepting that the 'Girl' was probably the space travelling daughter (?) that Mr Clooney's character had never met - but whom he wanted to make peace with before his demise.
I enjoyed the the Arctic scenes along with the space ones, the story worked for me - I only need a 'sniff' of what a story may be about - it isn't too hard to fill the gaps in. that is called 'imagination'.
I might watch the movie again - I liked it, it had meaning for me and made sense to me - I hope the film is a success and Mr Clooney directs a few more - I like his style.
Dunkirk (2017)
Wow, what are other people watching?
This movie came across as sterile, in the extreme.
It really did look like what it was - a big budget movie based on events from 1940 shot on location in 2017!
I find it hard to believe this movie had a budget of circa $100 million.
The aerial action scenes were just not exciting - they should have been with the budget involved.
The whole 'panorama' of human activity in this movie just seemed listless and bereft of any heart/passion.
Perhaps this is someones interpretation of how the operation developed, but somehow it just does not captures the rawness of war for me.
After watching Hacksaw ridge a while back (and thoroughly enjoying it)this just did not work on any level for me.
I really could not get engaged with any of the characters, the visuals I did not find particularly awe inspiring and there was little sense of urgency - which led to a feeling that whatever action was being portrayed it almost felt out of context and didn't matter anyway.
Momentum was not built up in this movie and the differing stories being developed (the aerial, the rescue and what was going on, on the beach) did not bring the story to any fulfilling conclusion.
War of the Worlds (2005)
Irritating!
I am a great lover of sci-fi movies and remember watching the original as a child, so what of this modern revisit? Well my thoughts back in 2005 (and 10 years later having watched it again a few evening ago) remain the same - the children of Mr Cruise are irritating to the point of killing the movie, yes folks, the girl is on a scream-fest at every opportunity (and then some), whilst the son is just plain argumentative and unpredictable to the point of being nonsensical. Cruise is still maturing in this movie (I really enjoyed his later sci-fi movie outings: Oblivion & Edge of tomorrow) and still using some of his old thespian techniques such as body language, that 'swagger', light bouncy movements that feel like he is going through the motions of a rehearsal - in fact that term kind of hits the mail on the head - many scenes looked like rehearsal shots rather than what you would expect in the finished product. Throw in Tim Robbins escapades and the whole thing becomes quite jarring. Not a catastrophe - but this really feels like the director lost control of the characters behaviour and the script would have needed work to iron those issues out.
House of Cards (2013)
Missed opportunity
Hi
As soon as I saw the first few action sequences I lost interest in this flick - I could not understand how given the financing that must of gone into this, that basic stuff like getting the right camera angle for a fight sequence could not be achieved? I mean, if your actors/stunt people are half good (at fight sequencing)then fair enough they might be able to (strike, block. kick) close enough to each other to make the action appear realistic, or you might film with the actors making 'soft' contact in slow motion (and then speed things up) or just get the right angle (behind the person throwing or receiving the punch, for example) - but having poorly choreographed action filmed at 90 degrees to the camera with obvious space between the combatants strikes just makes no sense. There was a certain (good) quality of production to some of the non action sequences that belied what I just described so I remain confused about this one - ultimately though, disappointing.