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davidosullivan-1
Reviews
Trust (2018)
Boyle totally kicks Scotts ass
I recently saw the Ridley Scott version of this story (you know, the one that does not have Kevin Spacey in it any more) and I just had to post and say, this just totally blows that out of the water.
That was a mediocre movie, not even beautiful, which is the least I'd expect from Ridley, but this is just fantastic, on every level.
The sheer charisma of this film-making is an utter joy to behold and evident across the direction, the performances, thumps out of the soundtrack, every part of this production is innovative, dazzling, fizzing.
My only slight, slight criticism is that the 4th wall breaking stuff from Brendan Fraser is too inconsistent and should have either been ditched or made much more of, more often. I guess they thought it was gonna be a big 'feature' when they were writing it and filming it, but then in the cutting room found they just had so much gold, they just didn't know what to do with it all!
Jump on the ride here, its fab and you wont regret it.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
Terrible direction and writing, wrecks what might one day be a good Episode 8
I went to see this today, curious as to how it could be possible for so many film review sites and publications to rate the film so highly, and yet so, so many actual viewers rate it so badly.
I simply could not believe that Disney could have 'bought off' so many hundreds of magazines and sites (including this one)- after all, if thats possible, why didn't Warner Bros do the same thing with Justice League?
But I'm afraid to say there seems to be no other logical explaination.
The reviews I read from the likes of Empire and so on, spoke about how moving and thrilling the film was. Twitter was alive with people saying they were shaking with excitement and shock and so on.
I honestly think you would have to have serious mental problems to have that kind of reaction to this drawn out, heartless, often cringe-worthy movie.
Sorry to say it, because I wish I didn't agree, and had enjoyed the film more myself, but the overwhelming mass of reviews on this site, that did not like the film, are right.
It does not in the slightest, channel 'Empire Strikes Back', it has much, much more in common with 'The Phantom Menace' particularly in its ill judged attempts at 'humour' that are about on a par with Jar-Jar Binks.
And it suffers from the same key problem that did, terrible direction.
That became totally clear when the first credit shows at the end, 'Written and Directed by Rian Johnson'. Almost everything else wrong with the film could be overlooked, if the writing and direction were not so awful.
Right from the start, we are subject to Johnsons so called humour, and whether its your brand of humour or not, there is no escaping the fact that he relentlessly makes characters do things they *simply would not do*.
Very early in the film Rey hands Skywalker her sabre, to swelling music, asking him to train her in the ways of the force. Skywalker chucks it over his shoulder and walks off. We are supposed to fall about the place laughing, but we just cringe, because there is simply no way Luke would do that.
And that sort of rubbish, happens non-stop through the film, destroying almost every moment of drama, emotion or tension, shaking you out of the story, removing every trace of any feeling of 'epicness' this 'space opera' should have and subjecting us again and again to Johnsons, inane, insensitive, childish attempts to make us laugh.
StarWars never was 'funny' per se. But it had funny moments and these came about not from some forced directoral 'cheap gags' but from the characters. Han Solo was a wize cracking, cynical, rogue, and therefore he said things that were funny sometimes, but always the comic moments were believable as things those characters might *actually do or say*
The other big issue is that its far too long, but again this smacks of poor direction to me. The film just feels like it desperately needed a decent editor to tighten it up, give it the pace and drama it deserves, but that Johnson just would not let it happen, couldn't get rid of all the 'good bits' he added.
The light at the end of the tunnel, is that most of the garbage *can* probably be edited out by fans. So once the DVD comes out keep your eyes peeled on fanedit.org for a better version. There are edits on there that even make 'The Phantom Menace' almost decent.
Misfits (2009)
To all lovers of US TV series who wish UK offered similar
I have never written a review on IMDb before, and I have loved series like Lost (season 1), 24, Dexter, the Tudors, and I am a Brit who has been pining for our native talent and broadcasters to come up with something that will hit the same spot for me.
But OMG I just got to series 2 episode 4 of this and it just blew me away. The plot lines that led to this, and the way its been choreographed and the emotional BLAM of it has just knocked me for six. So I just felt I had to add my voice here in the form of a good review, so that hopefully others will branch out and experience this too.
And what's more to love is, it's NOT a glossy fantasy sci-fi, despite its 'high-concept'- its so wry, dower, grungy, full of dry humour. I have never laughed out loud so often in a series before. Despite it being kind of sci-fi fantasy, the emotional core of it is rock-solid, bold, human reality, there are even sex scenes that are not schmaltz or over romanticised but so true and right and genuinely passionate- in the way humans are- not movies.
Man I totally love this and had to write a review to let everyone know, its a tricky start to the first season, but soon the humour kicks in and the plot threads start to intertwine in the most intriguing way, and you are hooked and it totally, totally pays off- at least so far. I just can't wait for more.
Enjoy ;)