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john-4375
Reviews
Dragged Across Concrete (2018)
A cracking film
Some say this is a slow burner, and I suppose it is, but it had me gripped from start to finish. In my view, it's a masterpiece of understatement: both Gibson and Vaughn are heavyweight enough to convince and get one intrigued about how the plot is going to turn out -- without much fireworks till the final act.
And what a final act that was -- I found it had me on the edge of my seat right up to very close to the end where both the main protagonists ended up dead and buried.
It wasn't what one expected from standard cops and robbers fare. Our flawed heroes (and true enough, I did find myself vicariously identifying with them despite their dubious morality) -- or at least one of them -- didn't end up victorious in the usual kind of way. There was only a relatively small payoff for Gibson's screen partner, who got a cigar box full of gold bullion bars for the trouble he went to -- enough to get her and her daughter out of their dismally situated apartment, at any rate.
This is IMHO as good as anything Tarantino has done, but in a sense more realistic, gritty and believable. It was more than worth waiting for the fuse to burn through. A truly engaging film, getting a 9/10 from me. Only the likes of the Godfather and Goodfellas manage to excel it in my view.
Aseudal Yeondaegi (2019)
Absolutely, gobsmackingly, brilliant.
This series drew me in and really engaged me. I do hope the next series will materialise soon. It's the first 10/10 I can recall ever giving to a TV show, and that includes Frasier, one of my all-time favourites.
No point trying to describe it in detail. One just needs to watch and make one's own evaluation. All I will say is that, more so than many far eastern shows, the plot and dialogue are intelligent and don't rely heavily on martial arts. One gets gripped as the tale unfolds and genuinely cares about the main characters, even some of the baddies, who for the most part aren't painted in crude black and white terms.
Considering the length of the series, the flashbacks and visual summaries at certain strategical moments were timed just right in terms of when they happened and their duration -- enough to constantly keep one abreast of events.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Not one for inveterate cynics.
Before posting this, just out of curiosity, I checked out the 1-star reviews, and yup, they were there, filled with the comments of hopeless cynics who need to grow a heart and soul.
This might have got 10/10 were it not for the most gaping plot hole -- how on earth could Andy have ever dug behind his pictures of popular film stars over the years without his tunnel being detected? He might have been moved to another cell at any time, and if he had, the new inmate would surely have changed the decor. And when they tossed his cell, over the years someone would have been bound to discover his secret.
If only the escape plan had been more believable -- then this film would have got 10/10. But you know what? All the rest is so wonderful a piece of story telling I have to dock it only the one point. Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman.and all the supporting cast including the men we all love to hate -- Gunton, Sadler and Brown, gave magnificent performances, perhaps the best of their careers.
The test of a good film for me is whether I can watch it repeatedly, and over the years, I have. It gets me every time. If by any chance (slim I'd say) that you hasn't seen it, watch it as soon as you can.
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
No idea why I liked this, but I did...
No idea why I liked it so much -- but perhaps it's because it left me feeling happy despite the lack of a strong plot. It's just a slice of life through the eyes of the charming (and somewhat disarming) character of a young, female primary school teacher whom I instantly warmed to.
It kept me entertained all the way through, and as I watched it from a recording on my Youview box, I've saved it for any future moment when I might feel in need of a bit of a lift. It's the kind of film that helps maintain one's faith in humanity at a time when there's not always seemingly much to rejoice about.
The Liberator (2020)
The filter isn't the problem
The filter isn't the problem, though I do wonder why they used it. Never mind -- the real issue is the storyline that plumbed the depths of typical world war 2 cliches. It's even more corny than parts of "Saving private Ryan" were, but at least that had the saving grace of the great action scenes, particularly with the Normandy landing.
I don't often rate films less than 7, simply because I like films and they have to be quite bad for me to merit low scores. This isn't bad enough for less than 6, but apart from parts of the last episode, I found it pretty mediocre.
The Queen's Gambit (2020)
Timing: perfect. Plot: until the last episode, perfect.
The thing about this series was the way it took its time: nothing was rushed, and yet nothing dragged. The timing was perfect, and the dialogue and plot very nearly perfectly supported it.
I'd have given it 10 if the last episode hadn't quite tied up everything in such a pretty bow. Our heroine not only beat the Russians comprehensively, but got her life together -- kicking the pills and the booze -- and, moreover, regained the friendships she had put in peril along the way. In short, it was It was an almost Hollywood-esque ending, and while a little bit of me secretly likes to see that, the rest tells me that it could have been more realistic.
For instance, she could have lost to the Russian champion, but still beat down her demons and got her act together as a human being. Or, she could have beat him but still not fully resolved her life issues. There are several ways the writers could have played it, and I feel that the finale was just a bit too pitch-perfect. Little in life is like that, particularly when the preceding episodes had been so grippingly realistic, portraying a flawed human being played so magnificently by the female leads (both the younger and the older).
All the supporting actors also performed impeccably, and the production values were very good, allowing an atmospheric portrayal of the sixties.
That niggle aside, it was undoubtedly for me one of the best series I have ever seen on Netflix, if not the best. I will probably watch it again and may even buy it on DVD to savour in future.
The Victim (2019)
DNA and Fingerprints aren't plot holes!
To those talking about fingerprints, DNA and so on, I should remind them that Craig Myers was protected by law from having any details about him from being revealed once he had been released with a new identity. Even if there was any kind of forensic evidence about him, it wouldn't have been accessible by Anna Craig or anyone else for that matter.
There is a legal precedent for this in the UK in the case of the two murderers of Jamie Bulger; both of them, being minors at the time of the commission of the crime, were eventually released on license as young men, with fresh identities to protect them against revenge attacks. This doesn't happen that often in Britain, but it DOES happen in extreme circumstances.
That said (thus hopefully closing what some people seem to be claiming is a plot hole), this drama isn't so much about crime as about coming to terms, both for the criminal and the victim's mother, with the consequences of that crime, and as such I found it both moving and convincing: 8/10.
Recount (2008)
I checked the NYT verdict
This was recently shown on UK TV and I must say I enjoyed it very much. I won't add to the comments made in favourable reviews, but I will say, that in accord with a recommendation from a prior reviewer, I checked out the verdict of the New York Times entitled "Study of Disputed Florida Ballots Finds Justices Did Not Cast the Deciding Vote".
I must say, it is by no means clear to me from this article that Bush would have won in all circumstances. One needs to read article fully! One problematic thing was the way some ballots ("butterfly") were designed, which led some voters to believe they were required to select two candidates. I was particularly struck by this comment:
"In Palm Beach County, 5,310 people, most of them probably confused by the infamous butterfly ballot, voted for Mr. Gore and Patrick J. Buchanan. The confusion affected Bush voters as well, but only 2,600 voted for Mr. Bush and another candidate."
Suppose that the ballot had not had a confusing design, and that all these voters had voted unambiguously for one candidate. By my reckoning, that could have generated as many as an extra 2,710 votes for Gore.
The article also mentions other circumstances in which Gore might have won. All in all, whichever way you slice it, it appears to an impartial observer that the jury's still out, and will necessarily always remain so. I have no doubt that there was some cynical politicking on both sides, but speaking as a member of the human race, I am deeply disappointed, as are probably most non-Americans (and there's billions of us!), that Bush scraped in. If this film takes a swipe at Republicans, well, there's perhaps poetic justice in that even if it does have liberal leanings.