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travelbug_2001
Reviews
Underbelly (2008)
Bloody excellent!
Now firstly I can't help but to roll my eyes at reviewers slating the series having not watched the whole series! I can think of plenty of series that didn't grip me with the first episodes but I gave it a go & it was splendid.
I moved to Australia 9 months ago so I didn't know any of the history of the gangland wars beyond seeing on the news here that they were extraditing Tony Mokbel for murder after his dramatic escape to Greece (series 2 perhaps?).
I've watched the whole series & it was bloody excellent. I live in Melbourne & it was interesting to see the locations I recognised. Now what really made this great imo is that I've met people who were exactly like the characters portrayed, they were believable everyday people - therefore it felt realistic.
Perhaps it's not as slickly produced as the Sopranos but I'd imagine the budget is rather different. "Underbelly" - being set in Australia had an entirely feel - a real Aussie vibe compared to US vibe which made it interesting. Both series are excellent in their own different ways.
Highly recommended viewing!
Saw III (2006)
What a dreadful waste of time & money...
I thought the first one was great. The second one was not so good as it moved away from the idea behind one and reminded me more than a little of "Cube". However "Saw 3" - well it's rubbish & about as scary as an angry kitten.
The acting is really atrocious and the plot a totally pathetic joke. All of the gory scenes were very fast, there was no build up at all and they were as gory as possible without any point leaving you to just cringe but not care at all.
The ending painfully long with "educational" flashbacks for anyone not remembering 1 & 2 or that were senile enough to not remember what happened 10min ago. It was filled with boring predicable "twist" after "twist" leaving a 'message' & it went on and on and on and on
My husband said it was one of the worst films he'd ever seen & that the people that allegedly fainted whilst watching it must have done so out of boredom...
Banlieue 13 (2004)
Perfect action
Banlieue 13 (District 13) is quite simply close to a perfect action movie.
Nowadays there are so many movies that try to be more than they are. They try to make the plot clever, add twists, and even try to get good acting. Even worse, they try to get all of it in a film.
Now don't get me wrong - of course I like to see good acting but if it's going to be good - make it good not half hearted! It would be much better to make crappy actors talk as little as possible. Perfect example is Keanu in "The Matrix" - he barely talks at all. That is absolute perfect as he can't act to save his life!
Over the years CGI has become the norm. Less and less real stunts are shown, they are just faked instead. Sadly it's quite rare that the movie budget can afford decent CGI so we are left with dodgy CGI, crappy plot & bad acting. That is one of the tings that makes "Banlieue 13" (District 13) so refreshing. It is not CGI - they are actually doing the stunts for real. They are incredibly fit & fantastic at it. It just leaves me with my jaw dropped - most of us would actually die if we tried to do what they can do!
**Small spoiler to anyone unaware of the plot**
So as I said, it is quite simple close to a perfect action movie; it has; very simple plot, loads of fantastic real stunts (not CGI made for a change) performed by amazingly fit guys, an honest cop, a noble criminal, bad & good guys are evenly matched (which is rare), there is a criminal kingpin & his underdogs, at stake: honour and the lives of millions & all that in 85min!