Change Your Image
matjusm
Reviews
Kill Switch (2008)
Now this film is something else....
I had been watching a lot of Steven Seagal film reviews on Youtube. They were not good film reviews, but mostly just highlighting how lazy, nonsensical and bizarre his films are. After some Googling, I found that this is a film that almost perfectly captures that style of filmmaking. I had to give it a shot to see if Seagal's recent work is as bad as they say it is. Also note that not only does Steven Seagal star in this, he also wrote it, so it is truly his creation.
In short, yes, this movie is hilariously bad and filled with things that are just utterly bizarre. But if you want to watch an example of how hilariously bad filmmaking can get, then this is not a bad candidate.
Lets see, where do I even start (spoilers incoming).
The basic plot is that Steven Seagal is a hot shot (there are several scenes where other characters praise how awesome Seagal's character is) Memphis detective on the trail of two unconnected serial killers who like to kill beautiful young women. Yes you read that correctly, the film has two parallel but completely unconnected storylines. At no point do the two serial killer storylines in any way interact with one another. I think the only reason there were two of these put into the film was because with just one of them, there wasn't enough material to drag this out into a standard length 90-ish minute feature, so the writer (Seagal himself) just thought that lets just copy and paste the same storyline a second time into the film, with some modifications.
Seagal's character is one who in real life would be fired from the police on day 1. Every place he goes to, he starts to seemingly arbitrarily and with no justification just beating up or shooting people. People who have not done any crimes or endangered anyone, people who he's not even sure are the ones he's after, he just starts beating them up for no reason at all.
The production quality is decent at times, but then at others is a complete joke. The audio quality wavers up and down consistently, where characters in the exact same location are perfectly audible in one scene, and then the camera cuts to a different angle and you can barely understand anything at all. This isn't helped by Steven Seagal's insistence that he speak only in a mumbling fashion, and for some reason insists on doing an accent like he's African American which is just so bizarre. That's if he speaks himself at all, because large parts of Seagal's dialogue are dubbed over by someone else. And not just one person, there seem to be multiple voice actors jumping in and out of the film reading certain lines for him.
In fact Seagal's laziness isn't confined to speaking lines. The use of body doubles that look nothing like him for scenes that really don't need body doubles at all just adds more unintended hilarity to the movie. His laziness is also evident in the script, where numerous things that happen seem to do so for no reason, many things aren't explained at all or it seems like Seagal had an idea for why A leads to B, but it remained in his head and didn't make it into the script, leaving the viewer scratching their head as to why something happened.
The cherry on the cake is the ending. After the two serial killers are aprehended by Seagal's character, you'd think the movie would end, right? Nope. We then get a scene where he arrives at some mansion in what is presumably Eastern Europe or Russia with a luxury SUV, to meet his model-esque wife and two children (plus a nanny he's eyeing up). Leaving aside the question of how he manages to fund this expensive parallel life and family on the salary of a mid-level policeman, the entire thing has no connection whatsoever to the rest of the film. Like there was zero reason for it to be included, and zero things leading up to it. In fact the character had a girlfriend in Memphis as well, on top of this second family.
This hopefully gives you a flavour of the calibre of high quality filmmaking that Steven Seagal has been busy with these past years. I did get a lot of good laughs out of this film, but they were not intended as the movie takes itself very seriously.
A showcase of truly bizarre, lazy and nonsensical filmmaking. Watch this with your friends and have a good laugh.
Glass Onion (2022)
Decent Netflix entertainment, but not much more
An eccentric tech billionaire invites a group of his friends, as well as Daniel Craig's famous detective Benoit Blanc, for a weekend murder mystery game getaway on a remote Greek island. Things don't go quite as planned, and things get more serious than intended.
While this is titled as 'a Knives Out mystery', there is no connection to the previous film aside from Daniel Craig. The film at the start does give off a bit of a Last of Sheila vibe, but then turns things into something more of its own. As suitable for a mystery film, there are plenty of twists and turns along the way.
Overall I found the film broadly entertaining, the cast of characters varied and interesting, even if there was a bit of overacting (Foghorn Leghorn is back at full throttle). The story and characters kept me hooked the whole way through, however I do think the final act was a bit disappointing for me as it got a bit too silly.
Another thing the film played on was that it explicitly referenced the pandemic, restrictions, masks etc several times, dating the film to a very specific period. While some elements of it served the story, others were just unnecessary and tacked on. While relevant now, I think in a few years time people may be a bit confused by it.
7/10 - decent entertainment, but not much more than that.
Crimes of the Future (2022)
Emotionless and incomprehensible
I went into this film relatively blind, not having seen the trailer and only having read the one sentence plot summary. I'm not going to try to put my own version of the plot summary in here as I can't say I truly followed what was going on, but its something to do with body parts and changes to human physiology in a dystopian future.
As I mentioned in my review title, this film is quite incomprehensible. Now I completely get that a film doesn't need to spoon feed the audience everything and gives their intelligence some credit, and not everything even needs a nice tight explanation. The problem with this film is that its gone too far in the other direction, where too little is explained, and so many things are just so plain weird that they make no sense at all. In fact very little in this film makes much sense and there are so many bizarre occurances that come out of nowhere.
Although the special effects are good, the film is let down by the dialogue being mumbling, which makes a difficult to follow/understand film even worse. The effect of all this is that I at least felt no emotional connection to anything in the film, it just sort of happened before my eyes, but as nothing really made sense, then I didn't really care for any of the characters or story. It was just dull.
I have no idea where the film seemed to get its high Rotten Tomatoes score, its really not worth it.
The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959)
Excellent old school nautical thriller
I'm a sucker for anything nautical themed in film, as well as mystery/thriller films. This movie wonderfully combines those two elements.
The plot revolves around a merchant marine officer (Gary Cooper) who tries to prove that the cargo ship he was on was deliberately scuttled my the crew, relying on the reluctant help of a salvager (Charlton Heston), and operates as a combination of a courtroom drama, as well as a high seas action-mystery-thriller.
Even just the two titans of Hollywood on screen together, Heston and Cooper, make this film worth watching. The plot doesn't give everything away at the onset, and keeps you involved. The film is old school in some ways and definitely not perfect, and while that might not be for everyone, I absolutely loved it. If you like the works of Alistair MacLean, particularly films like Ice Station Zebra, then this is in a similar vein.
Highly recommended if this is the type of film you're into. 8/10.
Crooked House (2017)
A mediocre made-for-TV-esque effort
This film popped up on my radar during my search for mystery films. As I love Agatha Christie's work, then this seemed to fit the bill just fine. In short a former spy who is now a private detective is hired by his former lover to find her grandfather's murderer before some sensitive family secrets are leaked.
I'd say it very neatly follows the classic Agatha Christie formula seen before in 'Murder on the Orient Express' and 'Death on the Nile' of a colourful cast of characters in a somewhat secluded location, while a clever detective tries to figure out what's going on, with plenty of twists along the way.
While this hits all those notes, it offers absolutely nothing new. The whole thing comes off as very generic, trying to replicate the success of Christie's better known works. What annoys me even more is that the whole thing has a very cheap, made for TV feel to it. It just looks like an episode of a BBC period drama, produced on a tight budget.
Feel free to skip this one, you aren't missing out on anything.
Barbarian (2022)
Really enjoyed it
A young woman shows up at a remote Detroit AirBnB, only to discover that someone else has been double booked for the same house. As they get over the initial awkwardness of the situation, they begin to discover that they aren't quite alone in this house.
What I liked about the film is that the pacing is good, it doesn't feel rushed and instead eases you into the storyline and characters. The woman getting to the BnB and getting to know her co-tenant, and from there the two discovering some unusual things in the house is very well done in my view. It gives everything time to sink in, yet at the same time without becoming slow.
I didn't watch the trailer for this, and that probably helped with the unpredictability of some of the film's elements as just watching the story, you don't easily predict what is coming next, and the introduction of Justin Long's character wasn't something I could have foreseen.
That being said, this is still a relatively classic horror film in what it delivers, however I enjoyed that instead of relying on jump scares, the film builds things up gradually and leans more on atmosphere to deliver chills. There were a few elements in the final act that I wasn't too keen on as maybe a couple of cliches crept in, but overall a nice solid and refreshing horror movie.
The Gray Man (2022)
Not bad, but soulless and mediocre
The Grey Man is about an elite CIA operative (Ryan Gosling) who is chased around the world by a sociopathic rogue operative played by Chris Evans because he found out some secrets about their mutual boss.
While the film is broadly entertaining and well put together with good production values, the storyline doesn't offer anything new that a dozen other films have done in some way, shape or form before it. James Bond, Mission Impossible, Jason Bourne and dare I say it even XXX with Vin Diesel are films this tries to borrow from with a star studded cast and a big budget, but it comes off as hollow.
There's nothing refreshing or new here, and while I can't say that all those other spy films are masterpieces of originality or plausible scenarios, at least they offered something that was unique to them and you could tell some passion went into producing them. The Gray Man feels like a lot of money was thrown at a film crew to make some sort of spy action film, but everything feels just so commercial. The acting is just phoned in by most of the cast, and you never get any sense of feeling for the characters or caring much about the story.
The film goes through at least 10 different locations where things happen, but most are so rushed through that you don't really appreciate any of them and they add little to nothing to the story. Its almost like they rolled the dice on what country to set a scene in, filmed it there, and then edited it into the wider film. In fact it isn't just the locations, but much of the film is just paper thin plot and uninteresting characters weaving together action sequence after action sequence. Don't get me wrong, the action isn't badly done, but there's just so much of it that you don't really appreciate the sequences the way you might in other films. Its just another shootout upon shootout, and you become a bit numb to it.
This isn't a bad film per se. But I strongly recommend you watch one of the Bond, Mission Impossible or Jason Bourne films that so obviously inspired this, as they are far superior.
Virus (1999)
A sci-fi/horror/action film that isn't as bad as the scores suggest
I really think this film's IMDB/Rotten Tomatoes score do not do it justice, and make it out like its one of the worst films ever made.
The story is about a small tugboat crew that come across a seemingly abandoned Russian research vessel in the remote South Pacific. With dreams of salvage fees, they board the ship to take it over, only to find that there is something else onboard, an unknown lifeform that is out to destroy them.
I first saw this film in my early teens, and now watched it again some 20 years later. I didn't remember much of it and wasn't expecting much based on how this appears to have been reviewed. Now don't get me wrong, this is by no means a good film. However it is by no means any worse than so many other sci fi or horror films that don't strive for artistic greatness. The best way I can think of describing this is that its a B-movie concept made with A-movie money and stars (Jamie Lee Curtis, William Baldwin, Donald Sutherland, Cliff Curtis). The production values are excellent, helped greatly by the fact that they had use of an actual full sized ship for the film instead of only relying on miniatures, CGI or soundstages.
I'm a sucker for anything naval/maritime related as well as horror and mystery. This is a film that combines them all, and while not a great film, its perfectly decent entertainment. 6/10.
Blonde (2022)
Needlesly fictional and uninteresting
Leading up to the release of this film, I re-watched a couple of Marilyn Monroe's classics, Niagara and Some Like it Hot. I was looking forward to this as she is a fascinating person, but this film unfortunately brought out none of that.
First off, just be aware that this film is in no way a biopic. It doesn't try to be, it is a fictional film about a real person, where some events in it are inspired by things that really happened, it focuses largely on the tragedies of her private life. What I can't fathom is why. She had an interesting real life, but for some reason the filmmakers decided that instead of doing something based on that, they'll make up something about her, but unfortuntely the result is completely uncompelling and uninteresting.
Her rise to fame is shown only as a quick montage of some pin-up posters, with no further context or information. The real story in fact involved a young future president Ronald Reagan looking for ways to promote the war effort during WWII. This could have been an excellent addition to the film, but was completely ignored.
The film is made up of largely unrelated episodes of Marilyn's private life, and the filmmakers try their best to make it as depressing as possible. There's no coherent story that really connects them together, and you could probably cut out half of them with no impact on the wider film. The film is quite quiet with minimal to no music, so one can be forgiven for falling asleep during it. One depressing episode after another just leads you to never develop sympathy for the character and interest in the film, and it just feels so unnecessary.
Ana de Armas is a pretty good Marilyn, and one thing I have to give her credit for is that she actually does a pretty good accent despite not being a native English speaker. I struggle to recall any other non-native English speaker pulling off an American accent on film. Unfortunately it is just not enough, and her performance is completely overshadowed by an uninteresting story.
If you want to watch a good film about a 20th century pop culture icon, then Baz Luhrman's movie about Marilyn's contemporary Elvis Presley is far superior in every sense. That is what I think this film should have been, but it ends up being nothing.
3/10, recommend you avoid.
Eight for Silver (2021)
Starts off promising, but descends into mediocrity
A pathologist (Boyd Holbrook) comes to investigate a series of strange occurances in a village in late 19th century rural France. A group of gypsies has gone missing and a curse appears to hang over the town, and one rich family in particular.
The film I think starts off quite well, building a sense of mystery with pretty decent cinematography and a few chills. The scientist coming to solve a small town issue is reminescent of Johnny Depp's character in Sleepy Hollow.
The downsides begin here which is that I felt little to no connection or sympathy for the characters. Boyd Holbrook is not a bad actor in this film, its just that his character has the charisma of a piece of soggy toast, and you feel relatively indifferent to both him and everyone else in the film. Furthermore, while the film is meant to be set in France (with several characters having French names), others seem English or Irish, and the film never explains any of this. I'm just left scratching my head as to what I'm meant to be looking at, is it just some generic 19th century "European" setting that is an amalgamation of people and cultures from across the continent?
While there are a few scares and chills in this film, it relies more on jump scares than on atmosphere, and ultimatlely they become a bit too predictable. With characters you don't really care for, the nice visuals of the film aren't enough to make you care for what's happening, and ultimately I ended up feeling hollow and unsatisfied by this. Its not a bad film or a B movie per se, but just has little to offer.
The Most Dangerous Game (2022)
Fascinating premise, but a truly awful film
I watched this film as I had recently re-watched the 1932 original, and found the story and premise to be a fascinating one.
The basic story is as it has always been: a group of people on their way to a hunting trip (in this case a father and his son) get stranded on a remote island after a shipwreck, where they meet a reclusive baron who hunts men for sport. The cast aways, along with some others who were stranded there before, of course become the target of the baron's latest hunt. So far pretty interesting right?
The first thought when I watched it was that it felt like a really cheap made for TV film. But on deeper reflection, that is giving it too much credit. The quality of this (in terms of acting, production values, script, direction) is more akin to the 'story' in an adult film where it seems like they did just one take to tick the box that yes they've done it and then move on to the next scene.
The film really feels like it was made for a high school film club, in terms of both a near non-existent budget and people who couldn't act if their life depended on it. The delivery of lines of dialogue, both what is said and how its said, is silly to the point of making me laugh. In fact the only redeeming quality in this film was that some of the stuff was so bad that it was funny. I have no idea how the director shot some of these scenes, watched the replay and then thought that "yes, that's a good piece of filmmaking, leave this in", and how the editor later on didn't die of laughter splicing this together.
The script also takes the viewer for a complete moron. The main character, played by Chris 'CT' Tamburello who's only claim to fame has been some reality TV shows, is a former soldier suffering from PTSD. You'd think mentioning this once would be enough? Not for the makers of this film who bring it up five or six times, plus numerous hilariously bad flashbacks to his time in the combat, just to make sure you didn't forget that he's a soldier during the c90 minute runtime.
In some ways, the badness of this film is reminescent of Tommy Wiseau's The Room with the occasional unintentional laugh. But while as that film was made with passion and heart (as misguided as it may have been), The Most Dangerous Game was both bad and done with no effort and no budget. Its not even good enough to laugh at how bad it is.
Truly a 2/10, watch the 1932 version of the story instead which is a really good film.
The Northman (2022)
Conan the Barbarian 2: Viking Remix aka The Northman
A young boy who's father is killed sets out to avenge his death as a muscular adult in a mystical ancient land where reality and sorcery intertwine. Sounds like a certain Arnold movie? Nope, its The Northman.
Drawing heavily on Viking history and Norse mythology, this film really is a modern day Conan the Barbarian set in a different universe. Don't get me wrong, its not a bad thing at all, and if you liked Conan, you'll probably like The Northman as well.
I quite liked how the film made good use of bleak landscapes to showcase the harsh life of the Vikings, utilising a lot of monochrome and shadows to bring you into their world. A brooding soundtrack and numerous pagan/Viking rituals intensify things further.
This is in many ways an old school adventure film that shouldn't be looked at as one trying to be too spot on with historical accuracy. It is not necessarily a light hearted one like Indiana Jones, and it does deal with some more serious issues such as revenge, how violence begets violence, and how nobody really wins from more bloodshed.
With a star studded cast.(including big name actors in small roles, watch out for Hafthor Bjornsson, Willem Dafoe), its an interesting film and does a pretty good job at exploring the world of the Vikings, something that Hollywood perhaps hasn't done as much of compared to say the ancient Romans.
7/10.
Climax (2018)
An acid trip of a film about an acid trip
I went into this film knowing near nothing about it aside from it being about a group of dancers at a retreat who end up drinking an LSD spiked drink.
And that pretty much sums up the entire film. As I read subsequently, this was a largely improvised production with minimal script. The film is mostly a collection of dance sequences (quite impressively done- the actors are very talented), conversations between the characters (about a large variety of things including sex, abortion, incest, drug use), and a slow decay into madness as the LSD kicks in, with people doing increasingly insane and bizarre things. It features quite impressive long takes that are a sight to behold. The combined use of music, lighting and odd camera angles/editing make it feel like you the viewer are also going on this acid trip with the characters.
On the other hand, I felt the film was really devoid of a plot (and hence much substance), and frankly that's not what the filmmakers were going for. This really is more of an 'experience' than a story per se, and if that's what you're after, I think this does it quite well. What did annoy me was that a lot of the scenes just went on for far too long. There's a collection of interviews at the start of the film that introduce the characters, and some scenes later on in the film that I think overstayed their welcome. I think what they were trying to do with the film was to draw you into it with these long scenes, but I felt a bit lost and alienated by the end of some of them.
So yes, if you want to experience a big screen acid trip, watch this film. Just don't expect much else.
6/10.
Brick (2005)
This film offered me nothing
I love film-noir and I love mystery/thriller films, hence why I thought that this could be interesting. Unfortunately I was wrong and just stopped watching half way through.
The characters are not sympathetic or interesting, the plot is incomprehensible which is not helped by the dialogue being spoken by mumbling (or just poor sound quality due to the low budget) and using lots of slang that doesn't sound as cool as the filmmakers might have intended and that most people will have fly completely over their heads.
Da 5 Bloods (2020)
I was left unimpressed
I'm a fan of Vietnam war films, Full Metal Jacket and Apocalypse Now are among my all time favorites. But this one just left me indifferent, a lot of it I feel flew over my head, felt too forced and just wasn't great film-making.
Its very clearly a film with a political message, and I think an important one at that. But it just keeps repeating it very explicitly over and over again and often goes off on a tangent, ignoring the underlying story and characters completely to trumpet that message yet again. It just feels far too forced at times, instead of flowing naturally through the subtlety of the story.
I think its a film that might speak more to you if you're from an African American background, in which case this review might have been different. But as a European growing up in a place where there was not a single person of a different skin color, I think a lot of the themes and references in this film flew higher over my head than B-52s over Hanoi.
As a film its mediocre at best.The acting is pretty good, by all of the 'bloods' and the scenery is exquisite. But that was largely it from the positive side. The war scenes are not very well done, and come off as cheap/cartoonish at times. The story goes off on too many side tangents with frankly preposterous plot points (in a film far too serious for those to be suitable) that drags it out into a 2.5h long yarn. A lot of that could have ended up on the editing room floor and would have made for a better film. There are numerous clear references to other Vietnam/war films (most notably Apocalypse Now and The Three Kings) and the film tries to take a little from here, a little from there, but in the end just ends up being a bit of a garbled mess with no clear sense of direction of what it wants to be.
Spectre (2015)
Spectre: as a Bond film it's almost there
Spectre, the latest of Daniel Craig's outings as Bond is certainly the most classic Bond feeling film of Craig's films. Gadgets, chases with expensive cars, a key henchman and globe trekking: it's got them all.
The plot revolves around Bond discovering about an organization called Spectre (a nod to the Connery era films and the origin of Bond overall). At the same time however changes are happening at MI6 with a shift towards NSA/GCHQ style data gathering as opposed to assassins in the field, leaving Bond to be acting on his own accord.
Also unlike most of the previous films, Spectre digs into Bond's past, telling us about his parents and upbringing which is quite a departure from the very impersonal and admittedly two dimensional characters of the pre-Craig era.
As a lifelong Bond fan, I have to admit that I still prefer the films of Connery, Moore, Brosnan, Dalton and yes even Lazenby to those of Craig. However Spectre is definitely getting closer to those films, even if it isn't quite there yet.
Sam Smith's theme song is a largely unmemorable one unfortunately, though it isn't bad either. The only thing about it is that his singing in Falsetto for a Bond theme just feels out of place a bit. The music in the film overall is still feeling a bit generic action thriller-esque with not as much use of the classic chords as I'd like. Not saying that the heavy brass of John Barry's orchestra should constantly be blaring but it could certainly be used more, really adds a lot to the feel of the film.
Overall a pretty decent film. Definitely the most 'Bond' feeling of the Daniel Craig ones.
The Interview (2014)
Not quite up to the hype
Saw this film recently and I must say that it doesn't quite live up to the hype that has been generated by all the talk of hacking into Sony.
The film is essentially a buddy comedy where a talk show host played by James Franco and his producer played by Seth Rogen head to North Korea to interview Kim Il Un. Before they go the CIA however gives them the task of assassinating the leader.
The movie plays on the opposites that are the characters with Franco's being a somewhat dumb, naive and hotheaded character with Rogen's being more level headed.
A lot of the comedy is derived on the interaction and dialog of Rogen and Franco but it is here that I find it doesn't always work. Franco's character is just far too over the top, a bit obnoxious even, and just gets on your nerves quite quickly.
The plot line gets pretty absurd quickly but that is of course to be expected. The film has it's moments and it is funny at times but I find it ends up being just mediocre and you keep wishing that Franco's character wouldn't speak as much.
Passable entertainment but nothing spectacular. 6/10
The Last Valley (1971)
Interesting film about the evils of war and religion
Set in the early 17th century during the 30 years war somewhere in Germany, a weary educated traveler Vogel (Omar Sharif) is escaping the death and disease of the conflict when he finds his way to a secluded idyllic valley village, a garden of Eden of sorts, that has gone untouched. Behind him come a band of soldiers/mercenaries led by The Captain (Michael Caine). They decide to settle there in this land of plenty and ride out the winter, forcing themselves onto the villagers. Vogel becomes a middle man, a somewhat of an enlightened neutral observer not too far on either side between the soldiers and the villagers.
The film I feel is really about pointing out the pointlessness and evils of both war and religion. Its shows how religion makes men do insane and inhumane things that they'd usually never do and hence causes war and that ultimately nobody really wins. In fact I'd say this film makes one of the strongest atheist statements I've ever seen on film.
The acting is top notch by both Michael Caine and Omar SHarif. The filming was done in Austria in Tyrol which provides for stunning scenery which they take full advantage of in the film. John Barry, known much better for his work on the Bond franchise, has done one of his works of all in this film. You can still hear hints of that strong brass section that has become so associated with Bond ripple through the main theme.
Good film, well worth the watch.
Ein Unbekannter rechnet ab (1974)
Weakest of the 'Ten Little Indians' adaptations
This is the third time the Agatha Christie classic "Ten Little Indians" has been brought to the big screen (after 1945 and 1965) and I must say with regret that this is certainly the weakest one.
The story is the same as it's always been: 10 strangers are invited by a mysterious stranger to a secluded hotel. This time its set in the Iranian desert of all places (this film was made before the fall of the Shah) however this unique geographical location is under exploited.
The cast is a mix of Oliver Reed, Richard Attenborough, two ex-Bond villains Largo and Goldfinger. The rest I must admit were unknown to me.
As said before: the story is very much the same as before, absolutely nothing is added to the story, the atmosphere or execution. In fact I'd say that the film is rather quiet with the dialogue lacking in content. The characters seem almost detached from the mystery unravelling around them, it doesn't seem to interest them. They put very little effort into discussing or trying to resolve the mystery. Somebody gets killed and the characters seem to forget about it almost instantaneously.
The film really fails to get you into that good "whudunit" feeling where you're wondering what happens next or how what just happened may have occurred. Its very underwhelming.
The direction isn't very successful either. The location isn't exploited quite as well as could have been to give you a sense of isolation and hopelessness. The soundtrack decisions are frankly bizarre with the background music often ruining the atmosphere.
Overall a disappointing effort, watch the 1945 or 1965 versions instead.
Skyfall (2012)
The ship is heading towards the right course but its still far from home port
I have been a huge Bond fan for as long as I can remember, I have seen all the films multiple times. With the latest one, Skyfall, Bond is starting to make his way back to his roots but only just slightly.
The plot revolves around a stolen list of MI6 agents that the agency is trying to retrieve while at the same time M's dubious past is catching up with her in dangerous ways. Bond goes from London to Turkey to Shanghai to Scotland with a fair bit of chases and action on the way. M takes a very prominent role in this one and James Bond's character, including his flaws and background, are explored much more deeply than ever before.
But is this what we really want from a James Bond film?
The key issue for me as a long time Bond fan is his style, the formula of Bond. Up until Die Another Day (included) the Bond films had a very uniform style of lighthearted escapism with all the little tweaks that make Bond Bond included. However once Daniel Craig took off with Casino Royale (and what continues into Skyfall) is a Jason Bourne/Mission Impossible style relatively generic action-thriller with some Bond elements thrown in. Bond had a formula that worked very well, there was nothing wrong with it. It is supposed to be a little lighthearted, a little shallow, chauvinistic, stylish escapist entertainment. You went to see a Bond film because it was fun, it was so detached from everyday life and every guy wanted to be like Bond. Now however they have gone down the route of making a very "dark" Bond film, here a lot of attention is on the characters and their problems and and the plot line which has usually been of Bond trying to save the world in some way is utterly secondary in Skyfall. However I as a true Bond fan want to see him in a plot driven save-the-world type of mission, I am not interested in a dark character drama that is close to being indistinguishable from any generic thriller.
That is the biggest flaw of this film: it is ignoring a formula that works so well and instead tries to be something new....but that new is just copying Jason Bourne and other similar films. Skyfall, as it is released 50 years after the first Bond film, is rich in references to the older films which are a delight for a Bond fan to watch out for but they really are more a depressing reminder of "the good old days" and stand as a stark contrast to the cold empty shell that Bond has become today. Particularly the female element, such a key aspect of all previous Bond films, is very toned down and it seems that M is more the Bond girl in this film than any other girl.
However to finish on a high note, the film had a very nice ending from the standpoint of a Bond fan, a hint of things to come which seem to be going back closer to what Bond used to be and should always be.
The film itself isn't bad, its a very interesting thriller. Its only that it isn't very strong as a Bond film but from the way things were heading in Skyfall, it seems that the next Bond film should be a bit closer to what Bond should be.
The Black Hole (1979)
Very interesting sci-fi thriller
The Black Hole
A deep space exploration mission (4 men, 1 woman and a helper robot) stumbles upon a long lost spaceship parked next to a black hole. On board they find the solitary eccentric yet brilliant captain Dr. Reinhart with his army of helper robots who is on the verge of a revolutionary discovery regarding black holes. However as the explorers come to discover, there is something a bit off about what is going on aboard this re-discovered ship.
Although this is a Disney film, do not let that fool you. Though there are some light-hearted moments of comic relief, this is overall a very dark and spooky space thriller. There is a sense of mystery as clues to what is going on are revealed one by one and this keeps you at the edge of your seat.
The real stars of this film are the visuals. Made at a hefty cost of 20 million $ it was one of the most expensive films of its time and fortunately that money was well spent. The special effects are excellent (even by today's standards) and the sets are grand and well built. The film is a real feast for the eyes. This is all supported by a score from James Bond composer John Barry who's tunes, often reminiscent of 007, make a great addition to the film.
Overall pretty interesting story and great visuals.
The Last Voyage (1960)
Very good maritime disaster film
I must say this is one of the best maritime disaster films I've seen.
The film is about an aging cruise ship on an ocean voyage. A fire in her engine room sets in motion a disastrous series of events that puts the ship in ever increasing danger of sinking. The officers and crew do their best to keep the ship afloat while a desperate husband tries to rescue his wife who's been trapped in her cabin before the ship goes down.
The film is a story of people acting under pressure and about how people go out of their way to help others who they've never met before. What I liked about The Last Voyage was that it was quite a realistic film with minimal melodrama, tension that just kept on building until it just glued me to the screen and a good selection of characters.
One of the film's biggest assets was the fact that an actual ship was rented for use in this film and partially sunk. All the sets are actually on a real ship and this greatly added to the realism, something that even the best soundstages, CGI and miniatures can't beat.
A good watch.
It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)
Positively surprised
When I read the plot outline I felt that this was going to be another cheesy B monster flick but I was wrong, this film wasn't bad at all.
The premise starts with a US navy submarine coming into contact with an unknown creature during a routine patrol. A couple of scientists are brought in to help find out what they're dealing with and ultimately how to destroy it.
What I like about the film is that the plot is quite methodological, it shows the steps that the navy and scientists take in identifying, locating and in trying to fight the undersea creature. Everything is given a "scientific" explanation and unlike what you'd expect to see in a modern film of a similar topic, there's nobody championing peace or trying to "understand" this creature. Everybody is on the same side and that is the side of blowing this thing up.
It seems that the makers got quite a bit of help from the navy as there's plenty of footage of real navy ships and this really added to the film. Of course the centerpiece is the create created by Ray Harryhausen and various other special effects. Though by today's standards some of the effects can be considered a bit flimsy, this doesn't take away much from the film and it is overall a fun 80 minutes of monster fantasy.
Bombers B-52 (1957)
Pretty decent Air Force drama
I didn't really know what to expect when I started watching this but I am glad I made the decision to do that.
Karl Maiden plays an experienced Air Force crew chief who's job it is to keep the planes flying. He has spent some 20 years in the air force when he gets an offer to work for a company for multiple times his current salary. His late teens/early 20s daughter is very vocal about him taking up this offer and his wife is leaning towards that as well. So he decides to put in his resignation papers with the Air Force but they take some time to go through.
At the same time major changes are taking place on the base he is stationed at. An old acquaintance, a man who Maiden's character is not too fond of due to past events, becomes a senior officer at this base and the unit is chosen to become the first one in the US Air Force to take delivery of the new B-52 bombers which they must now get to know. Everybody wishes for him to stay and help out with the new planes and he decides to do that until his resignation papers are processed. During this time, quite a few things happen, both in his personal/family life as well as some adventures with the new planes.
What I liked about this film is that the drama isn't forced or too overbearing. It is more down to earth, if even to say realistic and something one can relate to. Another huge bonus is that the film had the full cooperation of the Air Force so there are no miniatures or painted backdrops. All the planes are real (quite surprising that they'd feature America's latest achievement in aerial weaponry in a film as much as this) and the sets are actual air bases. Its a pleasure to watch all this big hardware moving around.
If you like films about the air force with a bit of personal drama thrown in, this is quite good.
The Siege of Firebase Gloria (1988)
A lesser known Vietnam film
The Siege of Firebase Gloria is not a very well known Vietnam war film. In fact it hardly gets a mention at all and is overshadowed by films such as Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket and others.
The premise is as follows: a Marine patrol led by sergeant Hafner (the great R. Lee Ermey) ends up in a remote US Army outpost deep in the jungles of Vietnam right at the start of the Tet offensive. Hafner takes command and must fend off waves of attacks by the Vietcong and NVA.
The story is quite interesting of how these men, outnumbered and almost forsaken must defend themselves against all odds. Although Ermey's role isn't too big (the film focuses on a few key soldiers), he is great in every frame he is in. Having been an actual Marine, he reprises his role as a tough commander with a witty tongue. The film in general find a nice balance between the main story while at the same time showing how war takes its toll on men. Interestingly enough the North Vietnamese commanders are also portrayed and fortunately not as cartoonish enemies but competent leaders.
The production values are quite good, there are lots of real helicopters, the sets and location are grand and well built and the action scenes quite vast in their scale.
However the film doesn't reach the levels achieved by Apocalypse Now or Full Metal Jacket. Despite that, its still worth a watch.