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jonnymills
Reviews
The Whole Truth (2016)
Atrocious
Dismal and predictable celluloid chewing gum, a waste of our lives, at least the crew got paid. But they won't sleep well with this on their CV's...
Everything is built around "surprising" reveals that aren't surprising unless you were asleep and someone suddenly turned the volume up. Great camerawork, top name actors, studio level cash, predictable bland outcome. How many of these films are made every year? I suppose that if they didn't exist we wouldn't know a "good" film when one occasionally comes along. Hopefully the protagonists use their earnings in order to dedicate themselves to more interesting projects.
As Good as It Gets (1997)
Really really dreadful
I bought a DVD of this having read the blurb and thankfully it didn't cost more than a few pennies. It hasn't dated well, especially in a "Me too" world, and it is now clear that the Oscars went to two very likeable and distinguished actors because they are likeable and distinguished (I have no idea what the competition was that year, but it must have been pretty poor), but the film is atrocious.
Literally as Bad as it Gets.
Bullet (1996)
If Trump was a film...
This is a pretty shoddy outing from all concerned, and probably something that very few of the protagonists in front of and behind the camera will ever want to highlight on their CV. I would say it was a shockingly bad film but there's no shock. I've been lent the DVD by a friend and it's been sat next to the TV for a couple of years, so low were my expectations, but in the end one Saturday afternoon I managed to sit through it all, hence a slightly generous 4/10. It was less bad than I thought!
All it is missing really is a storyline and a grain of originality, and it's about as "real" and "gritty" as a royal wedding, but if you're here for oiled male physiques, violence, MTV style sex and drugs (and I'm guessing you are) then it's going to fine. They must have snorted a trainload of coke while making it, but at least I can at last hand back the box to my friend and say "I have watched it".
Mystic River (2003)
Difficult to identify with
I watched this having read favourable reviews but ended up disappointed. Like many American films of the genre it was full of boorish macho posturing and a plot that reinforces the caricatures of outdated westerns.
It was also far too long. Dull.
A Scanner Darkly (2006)
It's been on my shelf for a while, but wow!
I bought the DVD a few years ago and then it just sat there for a couple of years, but really I should have stuck it in the player straight away. I guess I was put off in a way by the idea that it was an animated film, but it isn't really, at least it didn't seem like it when I was watching. What really stands out is the humour and fear that only Philip K Dick can really blend so seamlessly, it's funny and disturbing, loads better than I expected. There are some great twists and the story is convincing, sad and scary. This is a really great film, I was very impressed; good work guys...
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
Really, REALLY bad
Only people who have never seen good films (very young people) or people who represent the makers (or who have been paid to big it up) will try to tell you that this is good; utterly devoid of class, style, story, character or nuance, this unsubtle bludgeon of a dogs dinner is one of the most depressingly bad experiences I've had watching movies in recent years. They must have been still writing it when the filming was almost done. There are virtually no good ideas here, and a mostly stellar cast is completely sabotaged by the miserable writing. Really poor, especially as the guy made the fantastic Kick-Ass, which remains a minor classic. Avoid if you can.
Quantum of Solace (2008)
Quantum of b#ll#cks
Poorly conceived, and sadly predictable failure of a film. This is what happens when there is no clear plan, no story and no tension. "By numbers", or "dot-to-dot". If that was the case then it just goes to show that most Bond films require, and have benefited from, excellent attention and film-making talent. This is how NOT to do it, although filming during a writers' strike shows that colossal sums of cash are what dictates how mainstream films are planned, and how the money men will never be creators. There is too much to criticise here without going into details; a sad state of affairs and a lost opportunity. Worst Bond film ever.
Stalag 17 (1953)
A "comedy"
This has dated really badly and was ill-considered even at the time it was made. Many people have talked about the story, the actors, the "interplay" and such, but this is really just the biggest advert for Hollywood self-indulgence and misrepresentation of history. There is nothing very original about the picture, and although some scenes are clearly interesting and engaging (as you would expect of a burgeoning genius like Wilder) put together it is predictable, glib and borders on the offensive. Together with other titles that display the same level of hubris this film can at least be credited for the persistence of less self-loving independent film-making.
Really poor.
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Andromeda
This is a really great film, well conceived, well directed and well acted. The story is also very exciting, in an admittedly subdued manner, quite scary, and is food for thought(especially for people who moan about taxes!). I would definitely recommend it as a film to see, although it does seem, as other posters have mentioned, to have suffered terrible injustice in the conversion to DVD. I want, however, to add a comment to the person who submitted the review that I read previously; they hoped that the film wouldn't have a "remake", but didn't point out that this film is actually a "remake" (very loosely, I must emphasise) of a BBC television series of the mid 1960's. The director does pay homage to the British predecessor on several occasions, not least during the closing titles, but the point should still be made, as the original was filmed years earlier and on a misers budget. This film captures the sense of creeping doom, political ineptitude and human terror that the original version could only convey to a much more limited audience, and it must be said, is a general improvement on the already inspired original.