Change Your Image
antiussentiment
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Lists
An error has ocurred. Please try againReviews
C*A*U*G*H*T (2023)
Hey US folk, leave your 2 star reviews here.
This extremely adult comedy is not for Puritans or folk who don't like having the crap pulled out of their culture. So, conservative Aussies and most Yanks.
Hence the plethora of 1 and 2 star reviews.
It is fabulously irreverent while being very close to the actual bone. Sadly, the world portrayed in this series is not too far from the truth.
The characters, ridiculous script writing and direction are near perfect for this project. There are sooo many technical Easter eggs in this I've lost count.. Maybe this show is a playful reminder of how simply broken the world is. Laugh it up people, and don't buy the various media and government propaganda that drive the narrative of supposed freedom.
A must for people with an off kilter sense of humor and a love of early Mel Gibson.
Long Way Up (2020)
Difficult moments make media magic.
Charlie and Ewan are their usual charming, can cope blokes. Marveling at the landscape, people, moments and the madness of it all. Interwoven with their story is the experiences of their extended crew. Added to this, they've decided to use electric vehicles. RIVIAN utes and custom off road Harley Davidsons. I'm certainly not a Harley fan. But these bikes are pretty trick...
Their trip would be reasonably difficult regardless of charging e-vehicles in south and central America. And indeed the difficulty this presents adds significantly to the entertainment.
A worthwhile watch, which I would have enjoyed more had they subtitled international units. I understand this was made for a US crowd, but come on you two, folk who have no idea about pounds, miles and feet would like to understand the scale of things too.
Brabham (2019)
Gone in a spit second.
There are some really wonderful folk interviewed here, but you'll never hear them speak more than 10 words before your cut away to something else.. ..and you'll never get to see them ponder a question.
This documentary has almost epilepsy triggering editing. I feel it's made for US audiences, where if a scene lasts more than 3 seconds it's too long, as that's all the director thinks the viewers attention span can handle.
This is a subject that is well worth covering. But that Mr Brabhams story is covered like a music video aimed at sugar loaded teens is a tragedy.
Mulan (1998)
A Californian saggy red lantern
My sweetheart is a big Disney fan. So over the handful of years we've been together I've found my self watching a good deal of animation i would otherwise have ignored. Moana, Coco and Ratatouille left me with an unexpected sense of joy. Stylish stories with a quiet moral woven into the back ground.
Mulan, though set in China, feels like a cheap Chinese restaurant in California. If you are making a film set in a foreign culture? You should do your leg work and get the feel right. Simply putting the family name first on a character and making some assumptions about honour does not cut it for Chinese. This movie felt like a good B grade western with a thin Chinese theme pasted over the top.
Then there's the message. The movie is obviously trying to put a woman up as a heroine. A "lady triumphs and wins the respect of the men" happy ending story. But really the only message here, is that if you're a woman and want to be judged as an equal, you need to be as good as three men to even stand a chance.
Add to this some expected cheesy Disney moments and Eddie Murphy being a little over the top and I was left with a passable but hollow feeling.
Flat Top (1952)
You'll do as I say!!
A story of a green squadron on a US carrier in the Pacific in 1944. When they land on the USS Princetown, they find their new CO is a cold, tough as oak, stickler for the book. The CO also delivers his lines as though he's made of oak.
There is plenty of good flying action. I also liked the historical footage of battleships conducting shore bombardment.
The plot is leaky and the squadrons' planes morph from Corsairs, to Hellcats and even to Helldivers. It is all pretty predictable and the characters are hard to feel attached to.
But I think the hardest thing to stomach is the levity displayed by the US pilots when they are killing people. It's a war people, not a football game.
Das Boot, Enemy at the gates or even Tora Tora Tora are a much better bet for your evening battle flick.
The Way to the Stars (1945)
A thoughtful well crafted story
If you are looking for a war film where black as black bad guys are dealt violent and bloody justice buy faultless good guys? This is not the film for you. In this film you find ordinary people making there way from one day to the next as best they can.
The characters are colourful and varied. Though their emotional travels they develop and share their lessons openly with the viewer. There is no simple lessons or clean cut right or wrong. the characters are heroes not because of their battlefield antics, but by their personal interaction and support for each other.
The Way to the Stars is directed at pleasing walk, with some clever camera angles and thoughtful pauses. The battle scenes are all subliminal. So while you do get to see all sorts of planes flying, landing and taking off. There is next to no combat action. This is ok, as the film is really here to explore the affect combat has on the characters, not the actual combat it's self. In this, it's very close to perfect.
I'd recommend it to anyone other than a gore hound.
Total Reality (1997)
A reasonable plot with a clumsy script.
I really like the idea that book based cult could lead to a dystopian world. The story rolls along at a good pace, a sci-fi dirty dozen, here to do the governments dirty work. Though it feels like one bunch of bad dudes have got one bunch of good guys hunting down another bunch of good guys.
The dialogue is bland, though not too spoon fed. Many of the sets illustrate the low budget of the piece. But I did like the space craft.
This is a B grader made for a bored audience. Passable, but that is all.
Fury (2014)
I struggled to the half way mark.. then gave up..
I know wars are violent. I expect to see violence in a war movie. But it should be in context and relevant to the period. The gore in this film is put there simply to satisfy those who get vitriolic pleasure from bloody vengeance..
While the misguided violence was annoying, the multitude of tactical plot holes really sank it for me. Do you really park up and ruminate life next to a burning tank full of ammunition? Do you really patrol bunched up next to an ambush threat. The war is nearly over. The Germans had realized they'd lost months ago. Would a company of soldiers fight to the last man knowing their support MG and AT guns were taken out? Did GI's really chatter away in 21st century slang? Even the hem line and thigh split in the dress of the lass hiding under the bed is unrealistic.
Two stars for good action scenes and an insight into how a tank crew operates.. Zero for script and tactical accuracy.
Movies that pitch them selves at the lowest common denominator in the theatre get none of my love.
Great Planes (2008)
Arghhh!! My Eyes..
I watched one show (the Catalina) and that is enough. Why do documentary maker edit stuff like it's a music video and do cometary like it's a Hollywood drama? I'm not an idiot that needs to be kept awake by over the top, excited 16 year old boy, narration.. I sat down to watch this documentary because I was interested in the subject. There's no need to sell it to me like it's going to whiten my teeth the other side of sparkling.. I'm already on board, all you have to is tell the story.
Then jerky, chop, cutaway, blur.. The editing of various scenes on that episode just about gave me tourettes.
They also spelled the name of our national airline wrong. There is no "u" in Qantas..
If all the episodes in this series are produced this way I'd avoid them..
Fail fail fail..
The Deep Blue Sea (2011)
Romance noir?
On the surface The Deep Blue Sea may seem like a romance noir piece. An attractive young woman, married to and older society gentleman, finds her self drawn to a dashing young chap. In fact she is. But as the film plods slowly forward you begin to realise, despite her constant declarations, it's not love that draws her. Our main protagonist is a manipulative control freak who needs a new conquest. Her husband, now firmly wrapped around her finger, has lost all his challenge. A "what ho" fighter pilot from the recently finished war may be just the ticket.
At one point she asks her estranged lover to stay one more night. However this is not couched as an offer, but a plead to his already torn heart. In the morning she asserts her self more firmly by placing shoes on the table after he's explained that pilots think it bad luck. As the control she has over the pilot fades, she becomes depressed. But it's hard to feel sorry for this wholly un-likable woman.
Her husband, a patient caring chap has mostly dealt with his ended relationship, though he leaves the door open just in case. A plodding gentleman. The pilot on the other hand develops as the movie draws to an end. A man still stuck in the sky's of 1940, struggling to move on to the next phase of his life. The closing scene of the film shows everyone is still living in the emotional wreckage of the war.
The film is shot almost entirely in low light. This helps reflect the sombre mood. This is not a film with a rewarding story, but one with a hundred observations and two or three lessons. Not the least of which is the land ladies correct definition of love. The screen writing is the real strong point of this film and the viewer is expected to do a bit of work.
Serenity (2005)
You got to love a top shelf B
I enjoyed the Firefly series, so when i saw that the movie was on the TV last night I thought I'd sit in. however over the last few weeks I've been watching Six Feet Under and Game of Thrones. It appears this has affected my judgment as i found the acting in Serenity a little wooden. Fillion delivers his work with the warmth of a trout and found my self much more detached from the characters than I remember. The screen writing had a too much groansome cheese for my liking. Too much yabber, when a look or some body language would do. A highlight of the film is the special affects and art direction, they were pretty good. The set work and ship design are great.
Having said all this, I should point out that the strongest part of this film is it's plot. For that alone it's worth the view. Don't expect a well crafted masterpiece but it's a damn good B grader. Definably worth a view for Scifi fans.
Battle Hymn (1957)
Lovey message but..
This film has some lovely sentiments and messages. It's all the more touching given it's based on a true story. Hess is certainly a man I would have liked to shake hands with.
Hess, is a World War 2 veteran with emotional scars left after a bombing accident over Germany. After trying his hand as a preacher and feeling empty, he finds him self back in the US Air Force in the 1950s Korean conflict. A large group of child refugees move him to act, and hopefully, ease the pain of the previous war. Certainly a story worth telling.
Sadly the direction and much of the acting are very very cheesy. Hudson is adequate and the children are wonderful (as you'd expect). But many of the other performances are contrived and stilled. With the exception of some real combat camera footage, the battle scenes are thin. Evidently only men bleed when they are shot? If you are making a War film about a serious subject, I believe Hess is such a subject, do it the honour of not wrapping war in a flouncy skirt. Just a mid afternoon filler.
The Fourth Protocol (1987)
Just not believable.
We all know Freric Forsyth supposedly wrote great thrillers. Sadly I'm not sure this is the case in this instance. There were too many moments in the film where I wanted to say "what? that's never going to happen!!" Point in fact would be expecting everyone to believe that there was a nuclear accident in a housing estate.
At 1.5kTon, it's only a small bomb. They say in the film the crater will only be "2 mile across" so investigators will rumble a rat strait up. Then assembling fissile material with out a containment or even protective clothing?? your kidding me right?
Also the premise that an atom bomb will go off by mistake. Atom bombs are incredibly difficult to explode unless you get stuff to happen just right. So that is a plot fault for starters. Sheesh...
I liked the ideas that all the agent managers were self serving prats, though Forsyth's portrayal of all the Russian characters as cold automatons is a bit dated, probably even by 1987 cold war standard. Michael Cain doing his best "Micheal Cain" is well worth a star or two though.
A final thought... Mr Mackenzie, if you are going to show a woman with magnificent breasts topless, allow her to sit or stand in the shot. Large breasts prone do not do them selves any justice at all.
a.