Xerra-Baldy Reviews

The Farthest (2017)

Outstanding

[10/10 · 1 April 2018]

The technology in 1977 was amazingly primitive to what we have today and yet the brilliant scientists at NASA got a spaceship outside of our solar system? And who's to say Voyager 2 won't do the same?

If the two crafts hadn't launched when they did then we wouldn't have seen two of these planets until around 2150. Sobering thought.

I really do think that, if we hadn't done this, then there would have been no New Horizons visiting Pluto or most of the Mars missions.

We're lucky that Nixon had a limited vision for giving the go-ahead for this mission back in 1972 and Jimmy Carter for starting the process with the moon landing back in 1969.

This documentary is a fascinating insight into the 12 year mission plan to get from launch to leaving Neptune's orbit. If you're a space junkie like me then you have to watch this.

Ready Player One (2018)

Good popcorn movie to watch if you have NOT already read the book.

[5/10 · 31 March 2018]

Review can be summed up by the subject line. The book is a classic to many, many people due to it's huge cultural 80's references. I think a movie was almost a bad idea as, no matter how long it was (2h,20mins), it would never be able to be accurate to the film without removing huge chunks of the story.

And they did.

Not going to put in any spoilers but they shifted a lot of scenes around - like having the main characters meet much earlier - and also the situations of these chars. One scene, which involves a huge part of the book, they even swap which character is involved. Kind of daft when that character deliberately put themselves in that situation to try and resolve a situation. Vague, but people who've read the book and seen the movie should know what I mean.

Big race at the start was obviously just put in to do some heavy CGI for the popcorn brigade that would demand it. That's not even in the book at all, for heavens sake.

Plot lines from the book where the founder of the companies backstory was much more developed.

I could go on but I know it was always going to be a tough book to film. The movie is ok on it's own but, if you do see it, I really recommend you read the book afterwards. If you've already read the book then it's your call on seeing the film but I do suspect you will leave the cinema unsatisfied.

It's kind of like being given a cheese sandwich and then finding there's no cheese in it.

Becoming Bond (2017)

Insight into Lazenby is fascinating but inconsistencies are present.

[8/10 · 12 March 2018]

I was looking forward to watching this documentary as OHMSS is one of my favourite Bond films and I've read so many conflicting tales about why George quit the series on a high, etc.

George comes across very well and proves he's not afraid to show emotion on screen with a rather personal moment he shares with us regarding an early love of his. I've always considered him to be an excellent screen presence in OHMSS and, even almost 50 years on, he's still a very engaging screen presence. After listening and watching all his anecdotes spread through the reenactment scenes, I found myself wishing he'd continued the series and taken better advice. No spoilers, however.

I wasn't so satisfied with the reenactment and mostly found myself wishing that we could have just had George talking to the camera for the movies duration and left our imagination to picture the scenes. However, a plus point for Jane Seymour's brief part in these scenes. It's wonderful to see her on screen again in this. Memories of Solitaire in Live and Let die all came back when I twigged it was her. Additionally, I thought Clementi - apologies if I've spelt that wrong - was perfect for her part, as she's a stunning girl and came across extremely well in all her scenes. If George's real girlfriend of the time looked like her then it's obvious why he was so smitten.

As for the actor playing younger George, I'm not so convinced. He comes across as a competent enough actor but he looks nothing like the George of 1968 when he was filming OHMSS. That did put me off when they inter-spaced interview clips of the real George from the time and the actor reenacting them. Very distracting.

I do heartily recommend this documentary for anyone wanting to know the story but, no offense to George, I don't think he was telling us everything when you recall all the stories over the years.

Other insights make me question the details when, at the beginning of the film he states that illness in early childhood only left him with half a kidney, yet the trivia section on George states early on that at one point in his life he donated a kidney to a family member. Work that one out.

In conclusion: I enjoyed it a lot but most of that is just listening to George himself rather than the actors reenactment.