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Reviews
In the Face of Evil: Reagan's War in Word and Deed (2004)
Redressing the Balance
This documentary covers a lot of old ground. Some may think that it is unnecessary for a rehash of old ground but I don't. This film is obviously an attempt by the right wing of politics to answer the conservative bashing of Michael Moore style docs that have become increasingly popular in recent times.
This film is based on a book but comprehensively covers Reagan's rise to power and his development of views on communism. We see how he came to see it as the greatest threat to freedom in the world and how he stood up to the Soviet Union in a deeply courageous way. Whatever your views on Reagan's politics this is a very interesting topic to examine.
In terms of film making this documentary does fall short in a few ways. One gets the impression that the maker had limited access to interviews and footage as a lot is told by narration and only a few people (i think 4) are interviewed for the documentary. In some ways it is not as slick as we have come to expect from recent documentaries and comes across more like a history channel biography but nonetheless I would recommend this film to anyone wanting to know more about Reagan's contribution to the cold war.
Wendigo (2001)
Don't listen to the other reviews
I just watched this film. In fact the credits are still rolling. I watched it against all the reviews here because I thought we might as well give it a go.
That film was brilliant. The people here were obviously hoping some big silly Freddy type figure was going to turn up and spoon feed the plot to them because they're too dumb to pick up on subtlety. What I really loved about it was that it wasn't even pretentious.
Brilliantly directed and really lovely scripting. Not overplayed with excessive dialogue. it let you come to your own conclusions.
The film is about a Wendigo, an ancient spirit that can shape shift. No it's not a big scary figure that's going to have a showdown with the good guy at the end because as the man tells us "nothing between the sky and the earth is evil" (or words to that effect). Shit happens essentially.
You can see this film in two ways either if you really want to make it a horror film the Wendigo screws around with some people. Or you can see it how I think it's meant to be. Stuff happens in the world and people have to find ways of understanding it. Th Wendigo is one way of understanding why bad things happen.
Thought provoking, pretty and totally engrossing! Watch this film.
Jason X (2001)
A whole load of friday fun
Not many films can make it to there tenth outing and do it with this much style. Jason X is of course the big nineties (or should I say noughties?) remake of the series but its done with such loving care and such a good sense of humour that anyone who enjoys good silly horror fun will love it. It's not terrifying but it has great jump shocks, imaginative deaths (minor spoiler) especially the frozen head one, and great little jokes. The film starts a few years from now in Camp Crystal Lake Research centre where Jason is being held. Unable to execute him this is where Jason has ended up but then of course some government people who think they can contain Jason turn up, ignore the cute scientist warning and do what they want. Anyhoo without spoiling it too much Jason and the women scientist end up cryogenically frozen and are then found by a group of teenagers on an expidition led by their professor a few hundred years later. The idea of putting Jason in space may sound silly but it is thoroughly enjoyable. This film is cool. Trust me.