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1917 (2019)
Historically incorrect.
All technical marvels are accepted, and the film's brutal realism acknowledged. However, the premise that the British high command would give two flying handshakes about the fate of 1600 troopers is historically bordering on the insane. In 1916, from July through November, the Battle of the Somme took place. The British lost 20,000 men ON THE FIRST DAY. The total dead and wounded was one million. The premise of this film completely negates anything that cleaves to accuracy. Kubrick's 'Paths of Glory' from 1957 was far closer to reality than '1917.' Perhaps something resembling this chain of events did occur in WW I, but that would have been the rarest of exceptions. The lasting impression this film imparted to this reviewer was one of absolution; exoneration for stupendous military incompetence, and for the high command's disdain toward those in the trenches.
The Wraith (1986)
Some 1980's flicks were awful.
Here's one. The only actors 'acting' are Sheen, Fenn, and Quaid. Everyone else is chewing the scenery in their roles as ridiculous stereotypes of punks, gearheads, car hops, teenagers, etc. Gratuitous nudity is without any purpose, other than to please juvenile male viewers. Cassavetes broods constantly, and doesn't do much else. The soundtrack is AWFUL. Some eighties music could be cool, if culled from indie or alternative genres. Spandex-clad hair bands died out as quickly as disco did in the seventies, both for an excellent reason. Their music stinks. As far as the plot, it's wandering and without any logic or horror development. I know it's supposed to a fun flick, but I didn't like it when I saw it years ago, and like it even less now.
Hell to Pay (2005)
Awful, plainly awful.
This is a sorry collection of tired clichés, stereotypes, and just plainly awful script, direction, set design, and acting. I honestly could not stop watching, hoping that someone would do something professionally; I was completely disappointed, to say the least. I have seen better high school productions; the onus of this TV abomination rests on the shoulders of the writer/director. Some of the former stars have aged so much, it was difficult to identify them, especially James Drury. William Smith, Lee Majors and Stella Stevens were easily spotted, but Bo Svenson, Peter Brown, and the rest passed by almost unnoticed. Movies like this are only green-lighted because of the stars' presence in the cast; the rest of the actors in 'Hell to Pay' were just plain amateurish...but the blame for that still rests with the director.
Zardoz (1974)
turgid boring Boorman
This pastiche of sci-fi clichés and gratuitous female nudity is beyond description. Jaw-droppingly simple-minded, soporific, self-indulgent twaddle! Never has a director fit his name so well: Boor Man. Connery in a red diaper sleepwalks through his scenes; a giant floating head spews guns and tired homilies; women walk about bare-footed and flirting. Critics who gave this cinematic train wreck positive reviews need interventions or serious counseling; this film is like news footage of tragic events: simultaneously horrifying and fascinating. One keeps waiting for it to improve, but it steadily devolves into a confused mud puddle of disjointed images and trivial dialog. I advise first time users to prepare for watching Zardoz by getting thoroughly baked and/or wasted (sort of like prepping for oral surgery). The experience is far more tolerable with most of one's brain disengaged.
Three Tales (2002)
A challenging visual, moral, and sonic adventure
Please give this film a chance. I find it strange, to say the least, that difficult and intelligent films such as "Three Tales" seem to attract those IMDb reviewers who are incapable of understanding them. This is an important and complex cinematic journey which not only demands that the viewer pay close heed, but that he/she actually think about what he is seeing and hearing. Reich's operatic score is brilliant, but he has been producing fascinating pieces like this one for over 30 years. The director has fashioned a film which results in an absolutely mesmerizing counterpoint and complement to the Reich score. The three events in the film: the destruction of the Hindenburg, the obliteration of the isle of Bikini by nuclear testing, and scientists who discuss the cloned sheep Dolly (interspersed with a synthesized-speech robot which can learn from its environment), all bear powerful witness to the probability that we have not yet evolved far enough morally to deal with the consequences of what we can produce technologically.
A footnote: not many people are aware that Dolly was 'euthanized,' when she was about five years of age, I believe, due to morbid obesity, advanced arthritis, and severe gastrointestinal disorders.
Zatôichi (2003)
Beat is no swordsman
It is almost de rigeur in today's action films that the stars show some knowledge of martial arts. Therefore, even the most martially ignorant cinematic darling can train for a couple of months, and present the viewer with a superficial appearance of fighting experience. In Japanese sword play (iaijitsu), it is imperative that one move one's body (taisabaki) in order to effectively block, cut, and remain relatively in one piece. Beat Takeshi, although having crafted an aesthetically pleasing homage to the character of Masseur Ichi, never moves his feet! His 'sword work' is created from artsy camera angles, and editing techniques. In a real confrontation with live sword blades, I am afraid that Beat would be reduced to sashimi in no time. Comparisons with Katsu Shintaro are inevitable; he is after all the originator of this character. Sadly, there is no comparison; Katsu-sama was a master swordsman, plain and simple. His purported feats of swordwork were mostly fictional devices (slicing sake bottles lengthwise, cutting coins in half in mid-air); his draw-cut-return however, was blinding in speed, and flawless in execution. His fights against multiple assailants were exquisitely choreographed and martially believable. Beat Takeshi's exposition of the Blind Swordsman saga is only a passable episode; the revelation at the end that Ichi is sighted is a ridiculous and unnecessary plot device. I am afraid we will have to wait longer for a worthy successor to Shintaro Katsu's Zatoichi.
Sora no daikaijû Radon (1956)
"Rodan" is more than just a monster flick.
After reading all the reviews for 'Rodan,' I sat back, somewhat amazed and perturbed that no one seemed to have gotten the obvious point of this film, a point which has not escaped this reviewer since the age of 14. No film, book, work of art, or essay is ever produced in a vacuum. This is true of all cultures, more so of cultures such as Japan, which place a very high premium on past history, and its effects on the present and future. If one can look past the 'cheesy special effects' and the bad dubbing, etc., it should become apparent to any viewer what "Rodan' is: essentially, a commentary on the not too distant past (in 1956), that is, the Second World War. The film's prologue and much of its dialogue make no bones regarding the writers' intent: to call attention to nuclear testing, nuclear war, and man's general destruction of the delicate balance of nature. If any doubts linger, please listen to the narrator's words as the two reptiles are dying in the end: can anyone NOT understand that these monsters perishing in flames represent the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?