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Reviews
Ghosts of War (2020)
It was that bad
Dross. 90 minutes of my life that I'll never get back. Cliche-ridden garbage. Is my review long enough yet? On word would have sufficed.
Wanderlust (2018)
I guess even actors have mortgages and bills to pay.
Awesome soundtrack? Only for the hearing impaired suicidal. And that's possibly the least of its shortcomings. Awful script, woeful acting and a lack of direction. As a comedy it's not funny and there's a limit to how much disbelief one can suspend for it to work as a drama. Expected more from Collette and Mackintosh, sadly about what I've come to expect from the bbc, joining other recent offerings such as Keeping Faith and the truly awful Age Before Beauty in the category labelled "complete waste of time, resources and licence payer's money." The "acclaimed" Bodyguard no better.
Sé quién eres (2017)
A Show of Two Halves
The BBC were right to stop broadcasting after the tenth episode, the thought provoking cliff hanger was genius. Where they were wrong was in subsequently airing the remaining six episodes which were preposterous. Quite apart from the ridiculous twists is the even more ridiculous timescale - wouldn't know for sure however I'm reasonably confident that not even in Spin can a funeral be held within a day of dying!
Phase IV (1974)
Creepy Scientist
By far the creepiest aspect of this film was the American scientist's attraction to what was supposed to be a child. Yes, I know the actress playing her was aged 19 - 20 at the time of filming but her character wasn't, as evidenced by the bit of trivia stating she had to wear a special corset to hide her maturity. The way she's presented to Lesko towards the end of the film, like Adam being presented with Eve, and indeed his own commentary, in which he states it was 'clear' what was expected of them, confirms how he views her and her role, at least in his mind. Still, I suppose 40+ years on, he could claim it wasn't him, the ants made him do it.
Shadow (2009)
Scope for improvement
The end is what redeems this movie, not just because it's finally over but because it helps make some sense out of what hitherto was nonsense. Tough as it is, you do need to watch it all the way through for the Jacob's Ladder-esque revelation to give it any kind of context.
That said, it's not a patch on Jacob's Ladder, it's laden with clichés and burdened with cartoon characters delivering dreadful dialogue and glaring holes in the plot, not all of which can be dismissed by the final revelation. Soundtrack jarred too.
To me, it was like the director had watched Jacob's Ladder and maybe Deliverance or Southern Comfort and thought he could create an homage to all three in one movie, maybe with an element of Freddie Kruger thrown in for good measure. And failed.