Showing posts with label Movie – War. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movie – War. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Movie Review - COVID-19 Lockdown Special (Part 7)

Here are more of the cinematic content I continued to consume between the last post and this one.

1917 (2019)

1917 has but a simple premise – 2 soldiers, Lance Corporal Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) & Lance Corporal Schofield (George MacKay), urgently race against time in a war-torn landscape to send an urgent message to save their fellow Brits in the Second Battalion, led by Colonel Mackenzie. 

As an additional motivation, Blake's brother is also in the Second Battalion. 

Col. Mackenzie needed to call off a planned attack the next morning, as it was a trap that could cost the lives 1600 British soldiers. The movie is so beautifully shot in the “single shot” style. The landscape is also very impressive as it was clearly not shot within a movie studio. The landscape looked authentically war ravaged. This is also based on a true story told to Director Sam Mendes by his grandfather.A GREAT WAR MOVIE. DO NOT MISS IT!

Death Proof [2007]

For absolutely no reason or motivation, former Hollywood Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) uses his Death Proof stunt car (designed with safety features to protect the stunt driver from death) to kill women driving along the roads of remote towns in Texas and Tennessee. 


I know many are Quentin fans and will not like what I'm going to say but this was a bloody waste of my time. Absolute Rubbish from Quentin Tarantino! The characters don’t show a single shred of human intelligence or common sense. Do yourself a favor and STAY AWAY from this piece of trash and save yourself 2 precious hours!

Escape from Pretoria (2020)

Based on a true story of 2 activists against South Africa’s Apartheid back in the 1970s.

Tim Jenkin (Daniel Radcliffe) & Stephen Lee (Daniel Webber) were caught distributing anti-Apartheid propaganda, were found guilty and sent to the Prison in Pretoria. The movie of course spends most of the run time showing us how the plan and execute their escape plan. Hence the movie title.

I have to admit that I personally loathe prison movies (even the much loved Shawshank Redemption) BUT I really liked this one. 


Escape from Pretoria is a great watch as you see how the 2 leads and several other inmates use their intellect and dexterity to devise a way of escape. Being a true story, everything is based on reality. Hence, making it a very intense watch as you feel anxious for them in their attempts in achieving their final objective. Great performances from all the leads. Daniel Radcliffe (best known for playing Harry Potter) can really hold his own. Definitely a MUST WATCH

Mothman Legacy (2020)This documentary looks at the phenomenon of the sightings of this winged creature mainly seen in Point Pleasant, West Virginia from back in the 60s onwards. Eye-Witnesses and researchers were interviewed to make this documentary. 

Point Pleasant had been transformed by this phenomenon and it has helped this sleepy town become a tourist attraction, with a statue as a landmark and even a museum dedicated to the artefacts related to the subject matter.

This documentary will be a compelling watch for people like me who are X-Files fans who like this sort of thing. However, non-X-Files fans may find this to be a hard watch. So despite my liking it, this will not be for everyone.

Ms Sloane (2016) 
Madeline Sloane (Jessica Chastain) is a very smart, formidable and ruthless Political Lobbyist that has a reputation that precedes her. You don’t want to be the politician in her crosshairsShe is such a cunning strategist that she’d make BOTH Zhuge Liang (Liu Bei’s master war strategist) & Sun Tzu proud.
<<SPOILERS>> In her crusade against the powerful opponents that are pro bearing of arms, she manages to convincingly plant her proselyte Jane Molloy (Alison Pill), as a mole in the opponents’ camp. 
Altho’ I’m not a fan of Jessica Chastain, I’d have to say she did such a great job in portraying the cold-blooded lobbyist Madeline Sloane. This is such an intelligent movie and great watch. I may not have liked Madeline Sloane or the way she does things but in the end, you can’t help but respect her! A MUST WATCH! I will definitely want to watch it again.

Zoom (2015)
A comic book artist who works in a sex doll shop - Emma Boyles (Alison Pill), a model + novelist - Michelle (Mariana Ximenes) & a film director - Edward Deacon (Gael GarcĂ­a Bernal).
The comic book artist is drawing a comic of the director.
The director is filming a movie of the novelist while the novelist is writing a book about the comic book artist. Who’s the creator and who’s the creation? The 3 creators lives intertwine and what happens to 1 affects the other 2.
This is quite an unusual watch as the movie switches from Live Actors (comic book artist and novelist) to Animation (the director).  It’s not great but a very different viewing experience. It’ll not be for everyone but if you are looking for a different and unusual movie experience, this might just be it.

If you notice that Alison Pill happened to be in 2 movies back to back in this post, I assure you, it's pure coincidence as I didn't even know her name before these 2 movies. 

Friday, January 27, 2017

Movie Review - Spectral

Movie: Spectral
Year: 2016
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Netflix
What it was about (in > 50 words)
US Forces in the Moldovan War encounter what they conclude to be new weapons/invisibility tech
where the enemies are invisible . This is where Dr. Mark Clyne (James Badge Dale) comes in, to develop hyper-spectral gear for the US Troops to counter this new threat.
Anything special/memorable?
I really like this movie - not so much for the action or story but for the introduction of a NEW type of monster. It's not the SAME Werewolves, Vampires, Zombies, Demons or Aliens. They didn't come from another Dimension or Inner Space.

They were man-made (made of Bose-Einstein Condensate - hence earning it a Sci-Fi genre categorization)! It's a cross between spirits of dead soldiers/people in invisible cyborg bodies with super strength & abilities (they took down a tank with their bare hands!)
Waste/worth the time?
It's not for everybody as it does fit into some kind of movie formula and usual tropes.
However, as I said, watch it for the IMHO the 1st ORIGINAL idea in a LONG TIME !
I highly recommend this movie for any Action or Sci-Fi fans.
Will I watch it again?
Definitely YES. Netflix has done it again! Another winner. Good job!

Friday, March 7, 2014

Movie Review - 300: Rise of an Empire

Movie Title
300: Rise of an EmpireYear
2014
Genre
Action, Sequel, War

Story
This sequel is based on Frank Miller's (Best known for his ground-breaking work on the Dark Knight Returns mini series in 1986 that propelled him to super-stardom) yet to be released GN (“Graphic Novel” to the uninitiated) named Xerxes. I am so far unaware of this project by Miller until now. And now that I am aware of it, I’m anxiously awaiting the release from Dark Horse.
 
Done in the same visually dark & bloody style of the Zack Snyder’s 300 (2006), this movie isn’t really a sequel per se but tells of the stories (yes, in plural) that explain why Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) now has the obsession to obliterate the Greeks.
 
We are now told of how a Greek hero – Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) had killed King Darius, Xerxes’ father, right before Xerxes’ helpless eyes, in the legendary Battle of Marathon back in 490 BC (10 years before the story of King Leonidas in 300 aka the Battle of Thermopylae).

Back to the “present” (480 BC) where in the aftermath of the sacrifice of King Leonidas (of Sparta), Xerxes presses on with his attack on GreeceAthens being the next target.
 

Now, a respected hero & political leader of the Greeks, Themistokles scrambles to unite the various Greek states to muster of a defense force to counter the Persian attack from their colossal naval fleet, hence the movie title Rise of an Empire. Here, we are introduced to the Persian fleet’s ruthless & vengeful commander - Artemisia (Eva Green) who ironically is a Greek.

Altho’ this movie focuses on Themistokles and his Greeks, Queen Gorgo (Lena Heady) of Sparta, King Leonidas’ wife, has not been left out as she plays a pivotal role.Acting
I'm not familiar with Sullivan Stapleton (who plays Themistokles) but he's definitely an actor to watch (this, I'm sure the ladies will agree with me as he gives Gerard Butler a run for his money when it comes to his physique.)

Eve Green, despite being one of my favorite screen hotties (watch for this post at another time) is suitable for the role but seems to have hammed it up a little too much. Having said that, she does send the message across of her ruthlessness but the inner pain from her tragic past that made her into this vengeful, hateful and traitorous Persian commander who leads the naval fleet to obliterate the Greeks didn't really come thru'.

Lena Heady, despite having little screen time, made every minute of her screen time count. As mentioned earlier, Queen Gorgo plays a pivotal role in this movie.Overall
There were a couple of instances where it made me go "Huh? What's going on" due to the rather supernatural/fantastic elements in the movie but I guess movie-makers should be allowed some degree of artistic freedom.

I went to see the 3D version but as I've always said, 3D doesn't really do anything for me and I still maintain that watching movies in 3D isn't really worth the money. Agree/disagree?These were when I saw sea monsters in the ocean and also the look/design of the hunchback (which looked too much like a character from an animated movie).

Other than that, this movie is extremely graphic (Hey, it is from a Graphic Novel after all...). And I would've liked it a little longer because at the end of the movie, it felt like a double-episode of a Tv series. It left audiences hanging. Yes I understand that this leaves room for another sequel, but, well, that's my gripe.

Despite that, I'll say this movie is a must watch! Go out and watch it.
Rating: 7.5/10