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nrummey
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Gettysburg (1993)
This should be show in schools to understand what the American Civil war was about.
As as historian, watching movies about historic events worry me. 99% of the time films like these are full of historic inaccuracies or include side love stories that have not relevance to the event which is being told ie Braveheart and the relationship between Wallace and Princess Isabelle.
This one is correct to the history books. (on both sides ** because this film mostly shows the side of the Confederates it does explain it was not about slavery but rights of the states** )
This movie they nailed it 100%. Most descriptions of the film will say it is based on 3 key events in the battle, Buford's holding action, Little round top and Picketts charge but there is more to this battle I do feel they should of got in on the film. (it would of cost a fortune in extras and be 10 hours long however)
Casting - Each actor was picked due to his resemblance to the man he is portraying, however each actor was brilliant.
Martin Sheen played Lee as most from history would describe him - a soft spoken grandfather type figure that commanded respect.
Jeff Daniels as Chamberlain was great especially when he roared 'BAYONETS' (as Ex-British infantry) this gave me goosepimples :)
However the best performance by a country mile was Richard Jordan's portraying Armistead, as a Shakespearian actor this was just brilliant. Especially his 'Every Virginian is American' speech.
I think what made this film great is the extras, the reenactors, which oozed the level of commitment the real soldiers had and the location was actually filmed on location.
Free State of Jones (2016)
Civil rights movie based *loosely* on History.
This movie has a bit of everything, this is why I rated it so highly. Its about Civil rights in the deep south and how even from 1860''s to 1960's not much changed and you could argue till today also. It touches on the Civil war with quite accurate and gory depictions of a civil war battlefield. When I watched this film reminded of Ned Kelly as in one bloke defying the authorities and going his own way. The historic accuracy is lacking mainly due to the lack of records about this story. But it doesn't matter as the film needed some creative liberties.
Casting - MM was brilliant in it as a likable chap everyone else backed him up well.
The Scenery & Store were good, since that wasn't the point of the movie I'm not really basing the rating on that.
Overall. Cracking film.
12 Angry Men (1957)
Simple film, gets you thinking.
The only way I feel I could write a review on this film is to take some of my background knowledge of the film ie. The awards it won and the play by the same name.
This film is based on one set, a courtroom side room where a Jury of 12 men are stuck in a room with only one person voting not guilty and it builds from there.
The casting is good, I personally recognised only 4 other of the cast from A-movies, which is good as only their 4 stereo-casted characters came out in the film most notably Henry Fonda 'reasonable stubborn wise man' character.
The storyline was good in the sense that it kept you hanging till the end and weigh up the question 'reasonable doubt'.
My only downside to this film was the ending. Ie there wasn't one. It felt like they run out of money and stopped.
Gangster Squad (2013)
Comic Style Movie about Gangster a year before someone managed to make it decent.
Despite the A-Class cast this film just did not make it higher than a 6 star for me.
The storyline and how it was building up just never happened.
The historic accuracy was not there. You could tell the scenery was made on a film set or used CGI. Gunfights were just cheesy.
It felt like they made this film to trial how they *not the same people* would make Sin City. It feels like the director of Sin city sat down in a meeting with his actors and producer and said what were the failings of Gangster Squad and how could we make Sin City better.
However it was fun.
Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (1966)
One word to describe this - MASTERPIECE
If someone was to ask me "What one film you need to see before you die" my answer would be this.
Casting perfect. For me Eli Wallach performance was the better out of the three for me. Clint Eastwood did his thing to perfection, Cleef played the Bad guy as he does so well.
Scenery, Storyline and Score just perfect, as with all spaghetti westerns.
The Hateful Eight (2015)
Can Tarantino make a bad film ???
I rated this a 8.
To me, what makes a film rate higher than a 8 is the correct casting, scenery score and storyline all combining to make me feel I made good use of 2 hours of my time.
Casting - Awesome, right people for the right role. It feels like he reversed casted, i.e.. Got a actor to be in the film and then made the character based on the actor.
Tim Roth, as a fellow Londoner hearing his fancy-pants accent was hilarious, then switching mid-film back to his normal cockney self brought me a cheer.
The rest of the A-Class actors were perfect. I was waiting for SLJ to say his famous quotes from pulp fiction but it never happened.
Scenery was beautiful, Score perfect.
I never put spoilers in my reviews however the wife did say she only counted seven though most of the film, So Channing Tatum entry was a awesome surprise.
I don't rate this higher than a 8 for only one reason - seriously long dialogue As you can expect from a Tarantino film, Just not my thing.
The Revenant (2015)
I feel cold......
If you want a film that shows what the wilderness on the frontier might of been like this is the one.
Casting - Perfect, Di Capro at his usual, Hardy doing his thing, a few surprises like Arthur from Peaky Blinders.
Scenery - Just Beautiful, having spent alot of time out in the wilds of the Rockys they have found some awesome locations.
Storyline - Typical revenge theme set in the world of trappers, tbh I didn't care about the storyline since the scenery is just too beautiful to notice.
The only reason I rated a 7 from a 8 or 9 is that of the muffling of the voices (could bearly hear them speak)
Django Unchained (2012)
New Classic - Western tension mixed with a tad of comedy
Love this film.
Tarantino is a master and legend of our time.
Casting perfect, stage perfect, score perfect, storyline is a copy ofcourse but did it justice.
Best part of the movie is the shootouts. Deliberately made spectacular and gory in Tarantino style.
The Harder They Fall (2021)
It is rare I switch off after just 30 minutes on a film with 5 stars
I'm not going to waste much time with this review mainly as it fells to me not much time was spent with the casting and effort off creativity.
Poor effort on all accounts, Storyline stolen and typical western cliché, with poor acting and worse score.
A Most Wanted Man (2014)
my view on the most realistic spy drama
Film-play? = Looks ok, nothing special. camera was shaky at times, boring cuts.
Cast? = PSH was very good at his role of playing unwell tired aged spy. the 'badguy' was likeable as it turned out he was not a bad guy.
Storyline? = interesting especially as it highlighted not all muslims are badguys.
Score? = n/a
Re-watchable ? = No, one time film
Why I scored down? = nothing spetacular in screenplay or score.
Why I scored up? = very interesting, showed how not all spy films need to be action filled.
Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)
American bond - that is fast paced and funny - minus the PTSD.
Spoilers = don't read if you haven't seen the film.
Cinema/Film Quality = very good screenplay, awesome graphics - bonus is Tom cruise does his own stunts.
Story-line? Simple easy to follow and ties in with previous films especailly the "Max" element
Cast? Very good casting, British actors always are casted as bad guys. Henry Cavil was hot and very buff - and im straight lol.
Score? the IMFf theme tune is historic
re-watchable? Yes certainly
If you like spy films + lots of car chases and hot birds. this is the film.