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j-fernandez01
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No Escape (2015)
Excellent
Yep, there's a few plot holes and a few slightly unbelievable sequences (try jumping down off something only six feet high) but overall it delivers on every level. Good interplay between the main characters, and lots of empathy with them too. You want them all to make it, but are never really certain whether they will.
I've lived in Asia, as an Ex-pat, but delivering nothing more harmful than a television signal from Hong Kong. I have however travelled throughout the region and there are places in the Philippines and Malaysia and Thailand that have made me feel as uncomfortable as a memorable morning I once had in Ciudad Juárez. Emotions and situations can turn on a dime and the scenario is as others have observed quite believable.
Not entirely convinced about Brosnan's accent, but then again I still enjoy Mary Poppins, so perhaps it's not overly important. A film to see once, because once you know, you know, but it is worth that once.
Recommended.
Star Trek (1973)
Worthy
If, like me, you still crave new ST material and can't quite bring yourself to watch another re-run, or worse wade through another tedious 'Enterprise' episode then this might just be for you. I remember watching a few episodes of TAS on Laser back in the early 90's, but then TNG was still being made, Voyager was yet to be and even the inferior DS9 was happening. To my eternal shame I wasn't that interested and gave the discs back to the chap who lent them to me.
I've just got the whole series on DVD and find I'm enjoying going through them. This is definitely bite sized at 30 minutes, and the pace of each episode seems almost indecent compared to the more leisurely 49 minutes of TOS episodes. The scripts are full grown though - in particular 'Yesteryear' and 'More Tribbles' would and should have graced TOS and indeed I think were originally intended for the 1973 era Star Trek II.
Others have commented on the quality of the animation and while I accept that, in fairness Filmation probably did their best ever work on this series. What really lets it down is the lack of interaction between the actors (all parts were recorded separately, Shatner's at whatever town he was in on his theatre tour) and the rather stiff delivery by the three leads, reflects that.
But it is unmistakably Trek, almost contemporary with TOS, and fresh - at least to those like me who haven't really seen it before. Sits with pride next to my other Trek DVD's
Thunderbirds: Trapped in the Sky (1965)
I might be missing the point but...
...if landing the plane normally was going to set the bomb off, how does keeping the landing gear up and plonking it down on three cars (two of them remotes which proved hopelessly unreliable as one of them crashed) save the day?
Again totally preposterous but totally brilliant. From a time when we could 'beat' nature and technology was king - can you imagine the protests now if someone said "Let's fill the sky with planes filled with nuclear reactors - what can go wrong?" Throwing rough figures at it, there are around 40 commercial planes going down unexpectedly every year - ignoring military and light stuff. Since 1965 that would have been approaching 2000 Fireflashes. Lots of three eyed fish would have resulted...
Still there's a reason at 52 I still watch all the repeats, and it's because they're brilliant. As a wise person has already reported on these pages, we still don't see the strings.....
Thunderbirds: Day of Disaster (1965)
Preposterous as usual, but brilliant
So, if you were in the business of launching Rockets. would you ever consider;
1. Building the rocket some miles from where you were going to launch it 2. Transporting it on the back of a lorry over a bridge 3. Using a bridge you've never tested 4. Fuelling the rocket before tilting it on its side on a lorry 5. Sticking two workers inside the rocket for the ride.
No? Forget it then, you're no good for Thunderbirds. If you can suspend belief for an hour though, switch this one on and get taken along for the ride. Nothing better on a Sunday morning before lunch or Sunday afternoon after the pub, when it'll all make a lot more sense!
The Astronaut Farmer (2006)
Utter Hokum
But I loved every minute of it.
This isn't the first 'rocket in the backyard story' but it is perhaps the best of them. BBT has a gentle approach to his characterisation, and you warm to him and his family.
There's plenty of ups and downs in this tale to keep you intrigued to the end, particularly when you think he's muffed the whole thing.
Good all round support and a fine cameo by Bruce Willis, puts this in the top drawer. Suspend your belief, toss away your cynicism, and just enjoy this for what it is. Don't miss the credits at the end though, they add something to the whole mix.
Vantage Point (2008)
It almost worked
Just caught this on Sky in the UK. As others have pointed out the constant rewinding comes across as a gimmick, and an annoying one rather than a clever device. As you might have guessed each story is told from a different perspective - the 'clever' part being that each reveals a different clue each time.
There's no chance of the audience engaging in this a la 'whodunnit' however as Quaid's character has all the information at the start that we are denied until the end.
If you can stand the same story being told a number of times, then you'll get through to a passable climax filled with gunshots and car chases. I'll not bother watching it again though, its novelty soon passes.
Match of the Day (1964)
Largely Irrelevant
There was a time when ITV and the BBC had the monopoly on top-flight football. You either watched football on Saturday night's Match of the Day or Sunday's The Big Match or you didn't watch it at all.
Those days are gone.
Pubs actually emptied early on Saturday nights as beer soaked football fans streamed home in order to catch a few moments of their team. You always took a chance though, as the order the matches would be shown in was never published in advance. This was a 'trick' to ensure that the viewers would compliantly sit through every other game until theirs came on.
However Manchester United fans soon came to realised that even a goalless draw of theirs would be shown first, whereas the long suffering Arsenal fans knew that their 5-0 victories would be shown last - long after the Barnsley's, Sunderland's and Hull City matches went out. The reason, I'm told, is that the MOTD Editor is a Spurs fan. Might be more appropriate to have a follower of football in charge, but who I am to criticise? Nowadays of course things are different. By the time MOTD stumbles on the air on a Saturday night, with its tired format and jaded on screen line-up, the football watching public have spent the day streaming their matches on the internet, and selecting extended highlights on Sky Sports of their team's game. Soccer First airs a half an hour before MOTD on both the Saturday night and the following morning, neatly capturing the audience.
It's your choice. Either stay up to the small hours in the hope of seeing a snatch of your game, or hit the red button on Sky and see the lot. I know what I do.
Plimpton! Shoot-Out at Rio Lobo (1970)
A glimpse into another world
I see the IMDb lists this as a stand alone documentary, but this was aired in the UK as part of the excellent "Man Alive" series, which was a current affairs documentary strand that ran for many years in the 60's, 70's and 80's.
I saw this once, as a child nearly forty years ago, so memory is a little scratchy but I remember Plimpton arriving on set, interviewing a number of the cast and crew and being invited to take part in the actual movie. He seemed concerned about remembering his one line ("I got a warrant here for you sheriff") and strangely about his accent had he spent time in Europe to lose his American accent? It was also an issue for him how he was going to die, and received a deal of advice from the other supporting actors in the movie as to how to act it. I specifically remember him being told to keep his eyes open and to fall against a wall, and I see that now appears as one of his quotes in his biog. It may be that he adopted the advice as his own after this documentary and appearance.
Another highlight in the Doco was the large number of takes it took to deliver the line "Hey you in the jail, I got a message for you but don't wanna get myself killed doing it" It ran into the forty's before the actor got it right, but nobody really cared, it was that kind of a set. Wayne was charming and avuncular, and the supporting actors were a real fraternity. It's no wonder Wayne surrounded himself with them.
Inter-cut with these interviews, was Plimpton's struggle to learn his lines - which they changed at the last minute, as well as his delivery which was thought to be wooden. In fact they threatened to drop him at one point which threw him into a panic. Eventually though the whole thing went ahead, although the death scene wasn't quite what he'd hoped. He was wired into a harness and pulled back to simulate the impact of a bullet and thrown against the wall.
I wonder if this still exists? It is a glimpse into the world of films and westerns that surely doesn't exist any more. Worth a look if you can get to see it.