Change Your Image
Lars-Gosta
Reviews
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
Good, but could be better
I give this film an eight, it is good, but does not reach all the way. What I primarily lacked was an atmosphere - it just did not feel much like 1899. They could have just put in a little bit more extra effort in period details and the film would have become more interesting. I did like the touch that it was an armsdealer that was the baddie - poignant in our day and age, but they fail to properly convey the image of hell in his factory/fortress. The characters are not developed at all. Those bad things aside - I enjoyed the film; the film makers at least tried to make something better than ordinary.
Julius Caesar (2002)
Flawed, but oddly compelling
I enjoyed this miniseries. I have some objections though. There are several factual errors, like Pompey did not crush the slave rebellion (Crassus and Cicero did), there was no law against armies south of the Rubicon - Caesar just transgressed his jurisdiction to do so. Important characters and events like Catilina's revolt, Crassus, Octavian, the war in Spain, etc. are totally left out. The characters are very shallow. Caesar himself is to sympathetic - he was a shrewd and ruthless politician.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
More actual than ever
This film is more actual than ever. It is scary how our leaders fail too learn any lessons from this film. It should be required watching on any general staff course. I can only recommend everyone to see it and be very afraid when they laugh!
X2 (2003)
Did anybody see the political overtones?
I like the idea of the administration overreacting to a terrorist assault and the cliffhanger ending with the president is left do decide wether to moderate his approach or continue on the downward spiral. I found that stance brave of Hollywood to take considering the political climate in the US now. Otherwise I do find the film not as good as the first, mainly because the plot, while good, is not so tight as in the first, and the acting is bad. In the first film the good actors (Xavier, Magneto, and Wolverine) were given larger parts which helped disguise the poor acting from other members of the cast. In any case it is the best film I have seen in a long time.
Canadian Bacon (1995)
Eerily ahead of its time
This film is funny. It is also scary. first I thought it was made recently; but it was made before even Bosnia! It does not make fun of Canadians: it makes fun of US stereotypes of Canadians. It is really a biting satire of US society. OBS, spoliers ahead: The arms industry needs a cold war and the president needs to boost his ratings; they make a deal and sets out to create a cold war with.... Canada! The plan is a tremendous success, until a bunch of flag waving, beer guzzling, gun tooting patriots decides to make the war a little hotter.....
Whoops Apocalypse (1982)
The funniest and blackest sitcom ever made
This is an undeservedly forgotten gem! I wonder why you can't get this one on video or DVD; it really deserves it. At least it deserves to be aired again. As with all great comedy it is dead serious at bottom, and its message is as urgent as it was in 1982. About the only serious line in the whole film is the very last one, and the effect is really powerful.
Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
Does not really reach its goal, whatever it is....
OK, on the whole the film was not that bad - our money was not wasted. On the other hand the film has several problems. The first and most serious in my eyes is that it is directed to Star Trek fans, and not science fiction fans in general. I belong to the latter category. Many good ideas, quite good acting, beatiful scenography, interesting plot. The film is also slow, with the plot moving at a snails pace. OBS - spoilers ahead! But the whole time I felt something lacking. It seems to me that the film is geared towards trekkies - you need to know so much about the Star Trek universe to understand the film. For instance the working s of the Romulan senate. The charatcers are not well developed, especially Shinzon's vice roy. He is a more interesting character, and his motives are never explained in the film. Why would they want to destroy Earth? He also gets a singularly unglorious end. What was most annoying though was the death of Data. From the discovery of the android it was obvious that one of them would die. Then after he had died everone was mourning, despite the fact that many others had also died - even bridge personnel! Why spend so much time reminiscing over one member of the crew - who did not even leave a spouse or children behind!? Add to that that all his memories were anyway downloaded into the android! On the whole, Insurrection was a more honest film, and better beacause of that.