Bondek Reviews

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Unsurpassed

[10/10 · 12 January 2007]

In the years since I started to watch Star Trek, I have come to love this movie. There is the rich characterisation involved, Kirk confronting old age, restlessness at being stuck in a desk job...Kirk & McCoy's conversation early on is excellent as is where he talks to Carol Marcus...

Moments that still provoke some tension and excitement are the Reliant's opening shot and when Enterprise returns fire. That build-up of when Reliant continues head-on and the dialogue cutting between Reliant and Enterprise. "Raise shields" "They're raising shields..." And so on. That moment as the Enterprise heels over, the red alert lights on...no doubt if it had been done in 2002 (when Nemesis was done) we would've had three-way angles of the attack. The dialogue is some of the best in the series of movies. The effects such as Genesis, the Mutara Nebula are excellent considering this is a time when CGI was very early on. Reading Shatner's Movie Memories I got the feeling and do feel this in fact that if it had not been for Wrath of Khan, Trek would've sunk there and then. No TNG, DS9 etc. I feel, perhaps some do as well, that between them Harve Bennett and Nicolas Meyer saved Trek. Maybe I'm being melodramatic but compare this film to Motion Picture (Which I do not watch and have watched so little do actually consider TWOK to be the 'first' Trek film) and you see how Bennett, Meyer and others changed it for the better.

James Horner's music as in Trek III is sublime, the top highlights being the Genesis Countdown theme and Battle in the Mutara Nebula.

The scene with Spock's death (even if you know what happens next, ST3 etc) still provokes emotion and I would never ever deem a Trek movie other than this as the best.

Battlestar Galactica (1978–1979)

From far beyond the Stars

[10/10 · 30 October 2006]

Watching the new BSG (or BSG2004) has made me a fan of this. I sense people shaking their heads, but to me this remains the better even if the new one tackles issue of the day. There was a very real sense re-watching these of how a second series could go. The episodes after "War of the Gods" for the better part were building up the route home. "War of the Gods", "Greetings from Earth", "Experiment in Terra" and "The Hand of God", showed if anything that gradually the Galactica was coming closer to Earth and were finding more clues. Ignore the BSG 1980 series...I'd love to have seen Richard Hatch's Second Coming series come to life. His books are more or less an extension of this, showing a return of the Pegasus, Baltar and other twists and turns. Galactica is not a rip-off of Star Wars, far from it. Whereas there is a Rebel Alliance with bases, Galactica is but one battleship with a 'ragtag, fugitive' fleet fighting as she tries to find Earth. To para-quote Robert from "Free Enterprise", "Only classic Galactica! Only the original 28 episodes!"

Dunkirk (1958)

"They chose guns, we chose butter"

[10/10 · 25 September 2006]

I ignore Empire's slating of this movie as I write this. Dunkirk remains one of the greatest war movies that there is, yet it is not in effect a war movie. Although detailing the collapse of France and the greatest naval evacuation, it is an anti-war movie in regards of Bernard Mills' character and his death towards the end. For a film made towards, indeed at the end of Ealing's reign it has a staggering cast. Notably there is Sir John Mills (a legend of the highest order) playing one of his many 'in uniform' roles. No one role is made to jump up, all are quietly understated. The use of b&w footage from 1940 intermixes brilliantly, such as the Stuka attack on the woodland outpost bombed into submission. Lionel Jeffries is in the medic scene where they draw lots, again a brilliant scene that is laden with emotion. Sir Malcolm Arnold's score for this film (re-used for Heroes of Telemark) is absolutely first rate. The theme when used to show the little boats leaving London provokes a shiver to run down my spine. Sir Malcolm died this weekend gone and will be sorely missed.

This film is the rarest of war films like Dambusters, no love theme, and stoically brilliant.

Genevieve (1953)

For any age

[10/10 · 3 August 2006]

I have seen this movie countless times since I was about six and although born 32 years after it was made I still enjoy it, for one it features my favourite actor Kenneth More and also it is just so funny. The Brighton-London rally is more or less a sideshow to the going-on's in this movie, the bad luck befalling John Gregson and Dinah Sheridan and Ambrose's laugh. Scenes such as the 'hawling like brooligans' and the end scene are hilarious. In fact I cross Westminster Bridge most weekdays on my way home and it is obviously hard to imagine that, that old beautiful car once made its way onto the bridge when there was little traffic. Compare it to now. A movie from a bygone age that should never be forgotten. Three cheers for Genevieve.

The Big Red One (1980)

We don't murder the enemy, we kill them

[10/10 · 27 July 2006]

Watching this six years ago on Channel 5 I was struck by the emotion of the film. Having seen Lee Marvin in The Dirty Dozen I saw him play a man weary by yet another war. The characters, as is said on the bonus disc of the Reconstruction, are all facets of Samuel Fueller. Mark Hammill in a post Star Wars role plays Griff who is an unerringly good shot until seeing the horrors on the TORCH beaches turns him 'yellow bellied.' I was disappointed by the way it seemed to be haphazard editing wise and was surprised and pleased when the Reconstruction came out. The missing 47 minutes make this movie and make it as firmer and as emotional as before. Forget the cheap budget this film worked on and forget the fact it used Ireland and Israel for locations, focus on the men who gradually form a close knit bond and survive from Operation Torch right to VE Day. Most emotional I found was when Lee Marvin is carrying the young boy around after the extermination camp, and when the boy slumps over silently how Marvin carries on walking it is hard not to feel tears. But the Big Red One is intermixed with dashes of humour. Such as the scene where Zab is trying to explain to the Belgian landlady that he wants a woman with a big rear end to rub it against a frosty window because he's trying to honour the late Kaiser's wishes and ends up saying. "I'm a big tit man." All in all this is in some ways an early Band of Brothers but is, dare I say it, far superior.

The Hunt for Red October (1990)

I would like to live in Montana...

[9/10 · 27 July 2006]

I first saw this way back in 93 I believe and since then became a firm fan of the Ryan novels. My Red October copy is the most read but it is the film which is most watched. There are now 4 Ryan movies and three different Ryans and by far Baldwin appears the best. The movie starts off brilliantly, Sean Connery and Sam Neill (one of my favourites) atop what appears to be a normal sub until the camera pans out and it is a leviathan of a ship. Basil Poudouris' Hymn to Red October never fails to stir and is his best work in my humble opinion. Naturally, aspects from the book are dropped or tweaked. USS John F. Kennedy becomes the Enterprise, HMS Invincible vanishes entirely, the E. S Politvisoky and her demise is not seen nor is the president and so on. Considering how long films are nowadays (Peter Jackson, stand up) an extra hour to build up the film and perhaps use Invincible or the Russians being offloaded in America and then out would have been good. Otherwise my only major gripes are probably trivial. Admitting that I am a Trek fan, Gates McFadden (a.k.a Dr Beverly Crusher) has two lines and that's it. Granted her character does not appear in the novel just a shame that she only has that, McFadden subsequently turned down the role of Cathy in Patriot Games and thus it went to Anne Archer. Also, Borodin's death. He didn't die in the novel and as in the novel I warmed to the character in the movie. In fact, to my knowledge there are no Russian deaths in the film apart from Putin and the GRU/cook. I recommend this to anyone who likes the novel, the novels in large but to anyone. Just a pity that Ben Affleck is now Jack Ryan and that the films are 'prequels' now.

Quincy M.E. (1976–1983)

Original House/CSI

[10/10 · 25 July 2006]

I first saw Quincy just under ten years ago when they showed it on BBC1 in the afternoons. My first memory was of the cops fainting when Quincy shows them the autopsy in the credits. To be honest my favourite character altered between Sam and Astin but I like the cast as a whole, the Danny-Quincy banter (always trying to get that recipe) that dynamic storyline and what have you. I always enjoyed how Quince solved complex cases, although he dealt with the dead it was similar to House or CSI probably more CSI. One episode springs to mind when they search for a boy who's been hidden underground in the desert, they search everywhere and it's by finding a rare flower that starts them off and finding the boy. Quincy dealt with issues as relevant today as they were in the 70's and 80's. Our treatment of people of different race, sex and religion. Quincy was someone who genuinely cared and played excellently by Jack Klugman.

Of course, let's not forget that 'funky' soundtrack!

The Truman Show (1998)

Terribly underrated

[10/10 · 26 May 2006]

My friends and I agree that this film is underrated to many. It came out roughly in the same time as EDtv so there are comparisons made. However, as in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Carrey demonstrates his skills as an actor. A straight actor and to be honest, I prefer Carrey in Truman Show and ESOTSM and even Man In The Moon to his comic performances. A funny man he is but unlike say, Bill Murray (a fave of mine nonetheless), Carrey can make the change from funny to straight easily. Watch this film and question life itself. Like The Prisoner and other such things it can throw up some questions. The whole Big Brother angle on life and what-have-you but mostly just watch this for a drastically underrated performance by Carrey.

The League of Gentlemen (1960)

The greatest

[10/10 · 25 May 2006]

When I first watched this it felt slow to get going but after they dupe the Army it really gets going. Repeated viewings have made the entire movie great. From Jack Hawkins to Nigel Patrick the cast shine brilliantly. A Boys Own tale in a way...the plot is simple ex-Army men who have been disgraced for whatever reason go to rob a bank. The movie builds the plot with comic moments and then it all goes ahead only for the plan to go awry in the most unlikliest of fashions. Excellent scenes are the Army scene. The lines with the private saying to the rumour to get to attention: "Get stuffed." to which David Lodge as the CSM comes in and bellows: "GET WHAT!?" Or the end sequence just before they get caught involving 'Bunny' Warren who has little capacity for alcohol it seems. Sadly, this film is largely forgotten because of the obscene BBC comedy that bears the same name.

I wish I had it on DVD, this movie is the beeknees.

Carry on Sergeant (1958)

As you were, sergeant

[10/10 · 25 May 2006]

I have liked this movie since I was at least eight and that's been twelve years and still I like it. As a kid I liked most of the Carry On films but now have become browned off by the majority except for Sergeant. Sergeant is a heart-warming tale featuring William Hartnell -the first Doctor Who and with excellent bit roles such as in The Yangste Incident and his last platoon. It features some of the well known Carry On faces such as Terry Scott and Kenneth Connor who is my favourite in this one as Private Strong. Excellent lines that still make me laugh and scenes that do likewise. Also starring the late great legend that was Bob Monkhouse. This is in my opinion the greatest of the Carry On movies and right up there with comedies of the time such as Doctor in the House, Wrong Arm of the Law and The League of Gentlemen.