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wildw
Reviews
Knowing (2009)
Left me confused
An odd film this one, not at all what I expected. Having enjoyed National Treasure I was expecting some kind of puzzle-solving Nick Cage adventure, which it sort of was, but. . . I didn't understand it.
I'm not going to complain about the religious message, I can live with it if that's what they want to do. All in all I sat through the whole film and quite enjoyed it for the most part. I just didn't understand what message it was trying give me.
The list of disasters didn't seem to achieve anything, when it appeared to be the central premise of the film. I didn't follow what the aliens were trying to achieve with that apart from being prophets of doom. I can accept that aliens or angels may not think the same way we do, but in the end they could have (and did) just show up at the end and rescue their chosen few. The cryptic warning didn't help anyone.
Perhaps the message was, as the science lecture suggested, that everything is predetermined and our actions don't really matter. In that sense it is a Simpsons ending: Lisa: Perhaps there is no moral to this story. Homer: Exactly! It's just a bunch of stuff that happened.
Blake's Junction 7 (2005)
Disappointing
I had high hopes for this having heard about it a while back. Finally got hold of the DVD release and was left somewhat non-plussed. I love the premise of the Liberator crew still on the run, by now reduced to a beat-up old car. I like motorway service stations too, they're odd, surreal places, particularly late at night. But somehow I found this short lacking.
Besides the costumes and props, which are excellent, there's very little that's very "Blake's 7" about it. For a homage to a show loved for its dialog and characters, the script is really lacking - the characters don't interact or have dialog anything like those they're emulating, and there's pretty much zero plot. I got to the end feeling "is that it?" They could've done something so much better with a 15 minute short like this, considering the effort gone to, if only the writers and cast had taken some interest in the subject matter.
Hyperdrive (2006)
A mixed bag
The BBC went mad with the effects budget, and there were good ideas, but somehow it didn't all fit together. There were funny moments, some of comedy genius, but they were put together almost like a sketch show. The episodes didn't flow logically through much of a plot, more like a bunch of funny things that happen in space.
Kevin Eldon is a funny guy, and I've loved his work since the old Lee and Herring shows he did, but he only really has one character - the insane freak, and he just doesn't fit here. Nobody that bizarre would end up as chief of security on a spaceship. Yes, I know its a comedy, but its a sit-com, and the situation should at least be believable and consistent for it to work.
If it returns, and it does deserve another chance, I hope it improves, and decides what it wants to be.
Survivor (1987)
Tsk, apocalypse happens and everyone starts calling themselves "Kragg"
Man returns from space to find war has devastated the earth . . .starts promisingly with a solar powered train, and the hero almost dying, but alas we are not spared the rest of the film. What few people he comes across all try to kill him, except for a scary foreign girl that he becomes. . .erm. .. friendly with.
Well, she gets kidnapped by some bad guy (what is it about the future? There's an apocalypse and suddenly everyone changes their name to Kragg) and being the only woman he's seen, he has to go off to save her. Not too bad a film in the "so bad it's good" sense. A rare accurate post-apocalyptic world - no water OR petrol.