pottypat Reviews

Hunting Emma (2017)

Oh dear

[3/10 · 25 May 2018]

Not one of SA best efforts. A very plodding pace with much time to digest the scant plot Even at +50% speed it still dragged a bit from one action set piece to the next as the snarling twitching cut out baddies bit the veld. I think the crew must have had fun making it. I have to commend the actors for managing to keep mostly straight faces as they menaced our heroine.

Things to Come (2016)

Zut Alors, what a bores

[2/10 · 1 July 2017]

Gave it 2 because of good photography and location shots. I watched in the sincere and desperate hope of superior GILF Isabelle Huppert getting smutty, cos you know, it's a French film innit? And they always get their kit off don't they? Instead I got a pretentious French philosophical waffle-a-thon that left me in a Nihilistic post Dioginistic trance with Platonic overtones. Watching paint dry would rival this for entertainment value. It appears to be a vanity piece for the director/writer to demonstrate they studied philosophy.

Liza the Fox-Fairy (2015)

1960's Capitalist Hungary? A delight from start to finish

[10/10 · 3 May 2016]

Had to write this after seeing a cruddy review from some local misery guts who waffled on forever and ever about how bad it was. Long reviews are generally an indicator of little to say along with a sense of self importance. Well Liza was a great film in my opinion. The movie, if fantasy fairy tales are your thing, is a well written, beautifully visualised and made European film. There aren't reams of dialogue to put off those who don't like subs, just enough to move the plot and produce gags. The casting is faultless. God bless the Hungarians for financing it's production. To invoke the awful Hollywood cliché that invariably stops me from seeing movies, it is a 'Timeless Classic', Much like 7 Faces of Dr. Lao. I recommenced it, it's funny and entranced me and will do many others for decades.

Leila Khaled: Hijacker (2006)

An essential documentary

[10/10 · 14 April 2016]

This incredibly well made and very sad documentary is important for anyone who wants to understand what the motivates the Palestinians and been behind all the tragedies that have befallen Palestine and Israel since the Nabka. If you don't and have already a narrow fixed view, it may not. I can only agree with the other reviewers Jasper and John who have put together intelligent and coherent reviews that I can not better. I recommend another documentary, The Gatekeepers. This consists of interviews with the retired heads of Shin Bet, one of whom says that there have been opportunities to resolve the conflict, that have not been seen as politically expedient by Israel's ruling political parties. My mother a survivor lost her entire family in the Holocaust and my view of the nightmare that is the Palestinian Israel conflict, has changed 180 degrees in the last 50 years.

The Finest Hours (2016)

Awful rubbish

[1/10 · 10 April 2016]

Aw, goldarn it, shucks honey! From the opening shot this screamed Turkey and I inwardly groaned that a great story of heroism had been pulped into a simpering stew of sentimental Disney cliché. I admit I got as far as the ship scene thinking it could only get better but nope. As the crew all stood together discussing their impending doom in half a sinking ship, in a gale with 15 meter waves, they barely moved. It was almost as if they were on a stage set, which of course they were. At that point I had had enough and left. There is nothing new about the cinema sausage machine cranking out bland rubbish. There is a huge audience of drooling, infantile morons who will lap this kind of drivel up. It also helps to employ and enrich the less gifted of the artistic community. I then found some cocktail sticks to push in my eyes, trying to drive out from my shrieking memory what I had just seen.

Iron Sky (2012)

Great fun, loved it

[9/10 · 13 September 2015]

An entertaining burlesque farce in the honoured mould of Mel Brook's well over the top satires of classic film subjects. If you are the sort of dimwit that thinks the standard Hollywood box office crud; Pearl harbor, Battleship and Titanic etc. are cinematic art, go and read the bad reviews. These, often miss spelt, appear to have been mostly written by thin skinned patriots who don't get irony and need plenty of loud music to understand plots. A little bit of historical knowledge and a few war films under your belt will help a little to 'get' more of it, but not necessary to having a good laugh. Great performances especially from the German actors Udo Kier and Götz Otto who chew the scenery with gusto.

Summertime (2014)

Decent Chick Flick for guys

[7/10 · 28 November 2014]

Watched this out of curiosity as it was not the sort of thing I would generally go for. It has a pretty decent script and covers some serious matters while having a couple of hilarious, unexpected moments. On balance a pretty solid but lightweight film, with good all round acting performances and directing. I enjoyed it and it was a bit of an antidote to the clichéd Hollywood film sausage factory. The women in the film had enough depth for me to empathize and for them to seem real. The men were almost props to the action, if you'll excuse the Freudian slip. I'm not much good at waffling on, I need the ten lines for the review. Get it out and watch it with a female friend.

Hunting Elephants (2013)

A great evenings entertainment

[8/10 · 1 May 2014]

I enjoyed this and we sniggered away at all the vulgarity and many jokes. No ghastly PC humour here and a refreshing take on ADHT. What I found interesting was the depth of tragedy, characterisation and realistic exchanges along with what was essentially slapstick. I can recommend this as pretty good evenings entertainment. Sasson Gabai and Moni Moshonov are wonderful as two old 'terrorists' underplayed their roles to great comic effect. A great performance from Gil Blank as the grandson. A nice surprise is Patrick Stewart playing the uncle an awful English ham which he appears to relish. 'Dying is easy, it's comedy that's difficult' I'm giving it an 8 as it deserves it.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

A Dreadful Mess smeared from here to everywhere, again!

[1/10 · 1 May 2014]

It rates a completely unjustifiable 8.1 on the Incredibly Muddled Dodgy Blog, therefore I am only adding this unnecessary review to attempt a balance. The irrelevant extensive additions to the original story add nothing at all, including the ridiculous over-long computer game-esque fight and chase sequences. I admired Jackson for Brain Dead but what he did to the trilogy was smear audience capture clichés all over it after removing far more relevant elements of the story. He has done that here in spades in order to spin it out and keep costs down. Why bother with a plot when you can have another fight sequence or another chase. I'm really, really, really glad I did not pay to watch this and felt very let down by its greedy stupidity after it was lifted from a pretty good yarn by Tolkien. Never mind the complete alteration of a great plot to provide a three letter word guide for the dumdums who managed to sit through the trilogy listening to the ghastly fake Celtic music. AGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH!

Brief History of Disbelief (2004– )

Reasoned and Rational

[16 August 2011]

A first class polemic not without humour by the erudite now Sir Jonathan Miller. This does not seek to demolish religion but rather to point out the obvious, that anything based on a given, or belief is possibly by its very nature false. Belief is that one unconditionally accepts things as true regardless of if there is no supporting evidence and today we are surrounded even more by the violent and catastrophic results of this. Miller's informative documentary, with Bernard Hill adding the odd historical quote, was pleasure to watch as he examines centuries of intelligent thought and unintelligent stupidity. 'Which God do you want to believe in, the one that made you or the one that you made?' 'Your ability to think is God's gift to you. What you think about is your gift to yourself' Prem Rawat

Passage (I) (2008)

Back Passeage

[1/10 · 27 May 2011]

I could not find Passage anywhere. I bought a copy from the states, a waste of £12 and hence me writing my first IDMB review. I got very excited when I came across this 'Movie'. I checked out the site, watched the trailer and when I looked it up here at the IDMB I tragically failed to notice the 2nd review and 1 star by 'Mr Avid'. The first review giving 5 stars by 'fergus—mitchel' in retrospect looks suspicious as it is his only one and seems a pretty slick PR puff. We tried to watch Passage last night but got very bored by the cutting back and forward to the 'making of'. I tried to fast forward to the expected drama, but all there was, was this tiresome switching between drama/doc/navel gazing as it lurched slowly to its cringe-worthy conclusion. I hoped for a drama or documentary and got neither. We gave up after 25 minutes of contrived, self important waffle and bullshit. It is a shame as 'Mr Avid' in his succinct review says John Ray's story is a terrific one and the cinematography is actually very good with breathtaking location shots. The NFBC wasted their money on this. I looked to see if 'Fatal Passage' had been made as a movie but unfortunately not. Give this a miss. Go get the book.