mattwidd Reviews

They Shall Not Grow Old (II) (2018)

A harrowing new perspective on 'The great War'

[10/10 · 17 October 2018]

I was lucky enough to bag a ticket to the one off showing of Peter Jackson's They Shall Not Grow Old, having watched a lot of World War One documentaries and made countless visits to historic sites across France and Belgium I was keen to see what was being marketed as a 'new' perspective on The Great War, it did not disappoint. Jackson chose to create a narrow focus narrative for this 1 hour 30 minute documentary to allow the viewer to delve into the fine details often missed in more sweeping documentaries trying to cover all aspects and areas of the conflict. Jackson chose to look closely at the lives and experiences of British native frontline troops in Belgium. The documentary follows a linear timeline beginning with the breakout of war and the initial volunteering of thousands of young men excited and ready for an adventure for King and Country and ends with the great sense of loss and uncertainty of the future the troops had by the end of the war. The entire documentary is narrated by records of surviving troops recorded in the 60s and 70s, this was an intentional move by Jackson that definitely adds to the ability for the viewer to connect and relate to the survivors. I especially found the stories and anecdotes about the goings on behind the lines during down time and R&R for the troops captivating as it is often over looked in other documentaries solely concentrating on the combat and horrors of war. The pain staking effort and lengths Jackson and his team went to to restore this footage not only with colour but with frame rate, sharpness and especially sound is breath taking. Taking the time to have professional lip readers painstakingly review all the footage so allow us to then know and hear what was being said truly brought the footage to life. My only issue with the film, something that is made note of by Jackson is of course because of the time in history and available cameras there is no actual combat footage available so you do spend a large amount of time just watching still hand drawn cartoons of the battles from the time, something that cannot be avoided but does detract from the immersion the rest of the film creates. I highly recommend this film to everyone, it is important we see the true perspective of what our ancestors went through and never forget these brave men and women.

Hereditary (2018)

A slow paced family drama with ultimately no pay off.

[3/10 · 19 June 2018]

I went into this film knowing exactly what type of film it would be, having seen The Witch, that I found to be a slow paced 'artsy' attempt at horror and It Comes at Night, which I highly enjoyed, but even with that prior understanding of this film type I still came away disappointed. This film was nothing more than a slow burning family drama that in the last 20 minutes became a slap dashed cliche ridden attempt at a horror film. The trend now seems to be for a horror film to be taken 'seriously' it needs to shed all aspects of actual horror...all these 'artsy' horror films that are just long winded drawn out borefests. This film could have been great, the score was on point, the acting was great but it just lacked any attempts to be scary at any point. 3/10. Try better.