robar-4 Reviews

Falling Skies (2011–2015)

Enjoyable Scifi Series

[8/10 · 22 September 2015]

This turned out to be one of the better science fiction series of recent years.For me it got off to a bad start with some cheap looking FX and poor acting which made me give up after the first season. However I tried again when it came on Netflix and I was hooked. The acting, writing, direction and FX had greatly improved and one could now get involved with the characters and their plight. The big minus though is the insane camera work which got worse with each season. Season 5 uses hand held cameras for every scene which made it almost unwatchable as the camera jumped all over the place. Why is it that D.O.P's these days find it necessary to wobble the camera about while the characters are having a conversation. Hand held cameras are OK for dramatic action scenes but their over-use can make the viewer physically sick, destroy any involvement or interest in the story....The final episode wrap up was a bit rushed but overall this was a great show and I am sad that it has ended...

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Great action entertainment but lacks decent story

[9/10 · 7 September 2015]

Having worked with George Miller on all three previous Mad Max movies over 30 years ago I was really keen to see what he would come up with number four. Well, the lack of story was a little disappointing, but as a comic strip action movie it scores well. However, a two hour chase from point A to point B then back to point A was a bit pointless, and without some decent dialogue one just didn't care about the characters... Top marks to John Searle for his fantastic camera-work which provides a visual feast to compliment the spectacular stunt work....The hard task was to replace Mel but Tom Hardy does a decent job. Nicholas Hoult was great as Nux, and it was good to see Hugh Keays-Byrne playing the bad guy once again. (He played Toecutter in the original Mad Max film). Overall, this is an entertaining action movie that certainly delivers what it sets out to do, and should keep the action fans happy...

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Worst Film Ever

[1/10 · 28 June 2008]

Thank you George and Steve for promoting knife carrying youth culture. How many more young people will die because of this grossly irresponsible and stupid film. Will the death toll also extend to children playing in old fridges copying what they saw in the movie's most excessively stupid and totally irrelevant sequence. Then there is the film's opening scenes with a car load of young people harassing other law abiding motorists. What are the producers telling us here? "Go for it kids. A bit of Road Rage is good fun!" As for the plot-did it really have one? Did anybody really care. The writers obviously couldn't decide which side Ray Winstone's character was on.He seemed to change sides every few minutes. Even Jones seems confused at the end,and who wouldn't! With such a ludicrous ending he was probably feeling like us.Praying for the movie to end!

Outlaw (2007)

How do we stop this movie madness

[1/10 · 19 January 2008]

I had not heard of this movie until it turned up at my local video store. Although my instincts told me to leave it there, I read the synopsis and thought with its topical subject matter and reasonably good cast it could make an interesting movie. However, this time my instincts proved right and this movie can be summed up with one word - "unwatchable". The appalling camera-work makes one physically ill as it darts back and forth, up and down, rarely keeping the subject in the frame. Directors and cameramen like Nick Love and Sam McCurdy fail to understand that the camera should not draw attention to itself. If it does then the audience is distracted from what they should be concentrating on - the story. In this case, as the director is also the writer, one would think that he, above all those involved in this production, would want his story about a subject that concerns us all, to be understood, otherwise why bother making it as it all becomes rather pointless. Maybe the director chose to use this camera technique to distract the audience, as there are so many holes in the plot. There are some horrible examples of "Stupid Cam" out there, including the 2nd and 3rd installments of the "Bourne" trilogy directed by Paul Greengrass and Peter Berg's "Kingdom", but "Outlaw" has to be the worst...And it took 42 producers to put it together. ..Shame on the British film industry..

The Kingdom (2007)

Hollywood return to steady cam....PLEASE!

[1/10 · 25 October 2007]

A lot of reviews have already been written about this movie, some good, some bad. However, the comment I wish to make concerns the use of "Wobble Cam" cinematography. This has to be the second worst movie I've ever seen using this technique and it was almost unwatchable. The worst being "Blair Witch" with Paul Greengrass's "Bourne" & "United 93" taking the third and fourth place. "The Kingdom" had some big spectacular action sequences, which should have been good, but the camera-work was so appalling it was hard to see what was going on. Even when the cameraman managed get the action actually in the frame the scenes were cut too short. Why have Hollywood producers and directors chosen to torture their audiences. Maybe a hand held camera can heighten the dramatic atmosphere of certain sequences but why wave the camera around while the characters are talking to each other. Making the audience aware of the camera is pretty stupid technique as it destroys any involvement in the story and characters. Of course bad camera-work can also disguise bad direction, which can sometimes be fixed in editing, however this didn't work for "The Kingdom". What ever happened to Steady cam! ...One Star is too much for this heap of rubbish!