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Man of Steel (2013)
Utterly incoherent.
Wow - what a mess of a film 'Man Of Steel' is.
Scene after unconnected scene jump out of the screen. Trope after predictable trope are presented, with no connectivity and less narrative. It's as though somebody threw a few superman comics at a TV showing MTV. Most music videos contain more character development, better dialogue and more believable stories though.
One gets the impression that everything surrounding the action set pieces was an afterthought. Much of the film feels unrehearsed and performances often feel like first of second takes with under-directed actors unsure of the tone of the scene they are playing and the motivation of their characters.
Even the special effects, which are crucial to a film like this, are ropey. The early flying sequences are laughable; reminding one of the old superimposition methods. Later battle sequences suffer from the levity and flimsy feeling CGI often has, and since we have no idea about the people involved, we just don't care about the outcome.
Avoid at all costs.
Rocky Balboa (2006)
Mawkish, confused and pointless
This new Rocky movie is far too much of a homage to the excellent original film. For the first hour or so it works clips of the original in to the new movie to the point of being vastly over-self referential.
The movie deals with Rocky's burning grief for his dead wife, and how he exorcises that grief through, guess what, more fighting!
I can understand the premise - but it all seems too easy. Rocky fights the world champion - surprisingly doesn't get totally destroyed and then proclaims that 'the beast' (his destructive feelings of grief) has gone.
Unbelievable mawkish tripe. The big fight itself is poorly choreographed and suspension of disbelief was virtually impossible.
The various narrative devices used - the computer simulated fight, Rocky's son's distance, the poorly judged 'romance', et al.; never come to fruition in the story - simply providing impetus to get to the big fight.
Rocky's 'powerful' speeches are full of 'ordinary guy' bluster, but lack substance.
Watch the original Rocky - it's a superb movie. Leave all the others well alone - including this piece of garbage.
Green Street (2005)
Laughable
This film is utterly laughable.
Football hooliganism is a real and serious problem. The way it is presented here a ridiculous caricature which has little to do with the real world.
Although it appears to have been written by an Englishman, the script feels as though it was written by an American, due to it's complete lack of authenticity.
The story is also completely unbelievable. I simply cannot suspend my disbelief enough to accept that the Elijah Wood character would react the way he did to his experiences with Pete.
It's a shame as the cast are pretty good - apart from Charlie Hunnam's accent, which seems well off, and his swagger is comical rather than intimidating.
Imagine football Hooliganism through a pornographic soft focus and you have this movie. Poor and unintentionally humorous.
Oyster Farmer (2004)
Gentle
This is a very gentle movie that, while being quite relaxing offers little real dramatic content.
The characters are endearing enough and there are some nice comedic touches. Cinematography is reasonable, although one feels at the end of the movie that not quite enough was made of the wonderful location. Most of the movie seems to take place in mid-shot, making it seem a little soap-opera for my tastes.
There is one too many sub-plot in the movie, and along with some confusing chronological chopping up of the narrative, this spoils an otherwise decent film.
By all means go and see it, or rent it - it's enjoyable enough.
Just don't expect anything terribly stimulating.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
The most sadly misunderstood film
* SPOILERS *
The vast majority of people have misunderstood this wonderful, intelligent movie.
This is a film partly about the ever-increasing anthropomorphic nature of our tools, toys and gadgets. It uses the Pinocchio story as a template and elements from Brian Aldis' bleak short-story to drive the plot.
Every scene in the film raises philosophical questions about our increasing reliance on technology and the forms that technology takes. We should also be questioning our emotional reactions to each scene as we watch it. Why do we empathise with David when he is dumped in the woods, why do we empathise with Teddy when he is being taunted, why do we feel the cruelty of David's 'brother' and fear the outcome of his jealousy so intensely? These things are just machines - why should we care?
The most striking moments are when the machines empathise (or would SYMpathise be more appropriate?) with each other, at the flesh-fair, Gigolo Joe helping David, Teddy protecting David...
It doesn't fail to send shivers down my spine when Gigolo Joe proclaims 'They made us too good to quick'. These machines are so complex they have evolved emotional responses of their own (or at least the ability to display them as a consequence of their programming). Whether they are 'real' or not these mechanical emotions serve the purpose of ours (which are fairly mechanical themselves - relying on chemical reactions between hormones in our bodies, there is nothing spiritual about adrenaline, testosterone et al) and this provokes a mixture of feelings feelings of dread, awe, guilt - and indeed empathy are provoked by the AI's superb script, acting, direction and cinematography which relates the ideas I am delving into here (and many more) in intelligent and stylish fashion.
Empathy has been explored before in a book about the nature of humanity that introduces mechanical (or in this case synthetic) emotions. This book is the famous "Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep" (later Bladerunner) by Phillip K Dick and returns with a vengeance in this film to similar but even more devastating effect.
The ending of this movie is hotly debated - many misunderstood it utterly - even thinking the robots of the future being depicted were aliens! This ending is utterly chilling - humanity has passed on and the robots are our true 'children'. David is discovered during an archaeological expedition by these new highly advanced robots and appears as an ancient still-functioning relic who holds information of much use to them. The robots only function was to provide joy by receiving love (like a complex Teddy bear). He is put out of his constant 'misery' (or what we would interpret in human terms as misery) by these future-robots when they conjure an illusion of his 'mother' in his mind for him out of some DNA.
At this moment we realise that it is a chilling thought that humans could create a being that could feel misery in this way. Requiring the love of one person but never able to get it - even if they wait for many millennia. And then, with an almost-imperceptible jerk of the head, David 'dies' and we remember - this is *just* a machine. We also realise on second viewing that David doesn't blink one for the entire film.
I have covered some of the main points of the film in a very slapdash way. I hope that my ragged conveyance of these ideas (especially compared to how they are put across in the film) can convince some people to go back to this movie and experience it as the master-work it truly is.
When you see this film remember that this is not Die Hard with robots - you are watching an intelligent and emotionally complex film. The more effort you put in the more you will get out of it.
The Wicker Man (1973)
Wonderful and Unique
There are at least 4 versions of this wonderful and unique film. If you see one of the hacked-up versions (in which two nights of action in the full version are badly compressed into one) you will miss what the all the fuss has been about as the plot and development of various characters will pass you by in a whirl of confusion.
If you see the wonderful new release however you are in for a treat.
Not only is this a wonderful detective story with twists and turns aplenty, it has atmosphere in spades. The juxtaposition of the carefree islanders' joyous pagan religion based in nature with the more macabre elements of ancient customs creates a delectable confusion in Sgt Howie and ourselves.
Wonderful evocative music and Christopher Lee are the icing on a cake equally filled with joy and fear. "Summer is a coming!"
The Others (2001)
Poor ending and obvious twist spoils a beautifully made film.
***SLIGHT SPOILERS*** The Others is a wonderful cinematic film. It is beautifully shot and brilliantly acted. The script is also pretty good on the whole.
The plot however could have done with some tweaking and I feel that some elements of the screenplay could be more subtle.
The twist was far too obvious for me - as soon as the husband returned it was obvious what was going on.
I guessed even before that however - as soon as servants arrived at the house. There are too many unsubtle clues - especially if one is au fait with ghost stories.
A film well worth watching - but not as good as it could have been.
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Beautiful but bland
Over-long portrayal of the paradoxical relationship between man at war and his environment.
This juxtaposition was photographed in a manner second to none - however, the point could have been made just as well in a half-hour short. As it is it repeatedly hammers home the same tired old references (a bird of paradise in a tree, a gun - a beautiful flower, and explosion - et al) over a tedious 3 hours. The characterisation and writing is exceptionally poor with some decent performances saving you from the full horrors of the script on first viewing.
The spoken-word narrative is what ultimately sunk this film for me; schmaltzy and unbelievable the film ends up feeling cheesy and smug; rather-like a parody of the over-rated Apocalypse Now.
Self-indulgent tedium - watch Das Boot or Dr Strangelove and save yourself a boring (but visually pleasing) couple of hours.