andy-633 Reviews

Invasion (2021–2024)

"It's sci-fi Jim, but not as we know It"

[4/10 · 11 December 2021]

"Invasion" is a ten part sci-fi series about an "alien invasion of earth starring Sam Neill". Given this premise, writers have taken the unusual step of showing no obvious invasion, no aliens (until episode 9) and, aside from a brief cameo at the start, no Sam Neill. The first thing to say is that there are a lot of reviews that came out before December 10th 2021, which is when the finale aired, so maybe it is safest to ignore these as they are by definition based on only part of the series.

However, having stuck with it to the end, I have a lot of sympathy with those that gave up early. There are many issues, one odd one being the lighting, which in many scenes is absurdly dark. I am fan of film noir, but in one episode I could barely make out what was happening at all. The dialogue is often mumbled, though this is helped if you switch on subtitles. However, the problems are deeper than this. Sure, this is no "Independence Day" style affair: I have no problem with the idea that the action will unfold through following several survivors, and really don't mind that much that the whole alien invasion thing is just a backdrop for these five little parallel dramas to play out. My problem is that I had a lot of trouble engaging with the characters, which is an issue with the writing as I don't think the acting itself is exceptionally bad. There are even one or two intriguing ideas: it is unusual to see a thread play out in Japan, which is somewhere I have spent a lot of time, and this is perhaps the best drawn of the mini dramas. I found the US soldier just too one dimensionally shouty, the female nearly a doctor to be oddly irritating, and the English children in their "Lord of the Flies" style setting to be even more annoying than her.

The plot, such as it is, has a really absurd "deux ex machina" resolution that made no sense to me at all, as if the writers had just given up and needed to wrap things up suddenly as they had an urgent appointment to get to. The trailer certainly mis-sells the series, but for me that is the least of the problems. The limited special effects are pretty weak in my view, the aliens (when they finally put in a brief appearance) not especially menacing, and the assorted mini-dramas just lack any real coherence. I love science fiction and had some hopes for this series, but I regret to say that it is a real clunker. Bafflingly, Apple have renewed it for a second season. In the words of the US soldier Trevante towards the end of Episode 10: "I'm not watching. I done that".

The Coldest Game (2019)

Watchable but with problems

[5/10 · 9 February 2020]

This is a spy thriller set during the Cuban missile crisis, and centred around a fictional chess match between the Soviet and US chess champions in Warsaw. The US player is indisposed at the last minute, and the Americans substitute the last US player to beat him in a game, a college maths professor with a drink problem, played by Bill Pullman, who no longer plays chess. It transpires that the CIA have an interest in the match, with a clandestine meeting set up. But who can be trusted?

Bill Pullman is a good actor and does his best with the material, but the plot is pretty thin, the kind of thing you might see in a single episode of a TV series. There are also some irritating errors. One CIA person says that they know Russians have sent ships to Cuba but were "too small" to carry nuclear warheads. This is ludicrous, as. a nuclear warhead measures maybe three feet by one, and weighs about 100 kg. It would fit in a canoe, never mind a cargo ship.

On the chess front, I am probably being picky as I play chess quite a bit, but there are also several annoying aspects. The person who oversees the game is an "arbiter", not a "judge", and players do not pass draw offers via the arbiter, they just ask the other player. I understand that for film reasons the players are playing their moves unnaturally fast, but near the start the Pullman character says that the opening will "come down to the Italian game or the Rousseau defence" after the Russian's first move is revealed. This is absurd, as the Italian game is somewhat rare at grandmaster level, and the Rousseau opening is extremely obscure and would never be played at really top level. As for someone who hasn't played chess for a couple of decades beating the top Soviet player, that SI extremely implausible. Even Garry Kasparov, former world champion and arguably the best player of all time, struggled to perform in a tournament when he made a brief comeback a decade or so after he retired.

I had more of a practical issue with the main information to be passed at the clandestine meeting, which seemed unlikely to really be the key to the Cuban missile crisis to me but I don't want to reveal a spoiler. The bigger issue is that the film rather plods along, with limited tension. It is watchable, but hard to really recommend.

Samurai Gourmet (2017)

Charming

[8/10 · 13 May 2017]

Samurai Gourmet is the story of a 60-year-old Japanese man, newly retired, and still figuring out what to do with all the time he now has on his hands. He explores a variety of different simple, local restaurants, and at each meal he encounters some kind of moral dilemma. For example, should he intervene when a chef is being rude to two young foreign customers? He is a cautious man and tends to keep himself to himself, but daydreams of a vigorous, wandering samurai from the middle ages – what would a samurai do in these circumstances? Each short episode tends to follow this format, so becomes a little predictable, yet it has sufficient charm to still be enjoyable. The main character Takeshi Kasumi, played by Naota Takenaka, loves his food and has a great range of facial expressions whilst eating – the pure enjoyment of a good meal really comes through. There are plenty of lingering shots of the dishes being prepared and cooked, and there are some touching scenes with the Takeshi's tolerant and caring wife. This series is the very opposite of a Hollywood drama: the characters are just ordinary people, very little happens in dramatic terms, yet somehow each episode, with its little story of a small incident in a man's life, manages to be engaging and uplifting.

Salting the Battlefield (2014 TV Movie)

The end is Nighy

[5/10 · 20 April 2014]

A remarkable cast was assembled for this: Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham-Carter, Bill Nighy, Olivia Wilde, a who's who of British acting. There are spies and politics, a prestigious writer, so why did this end up being so dull? It is hard to fault the acting, but the script somehow manages to plod along with barely any tension. It seems more like a talking shop from an Islington dinner party than an action packed spy thriller. I enjoyed Fiennes' suspiciously Blair-like prime minister, and indeed the performances all round are fine, with Mr Nighy portraying a silken if disgruntled ex-spook. Yet the action, such as it is,, trundles along at a funereal pace.

Perhaps Mr Hare's undoubted talents are better suited to the stage than to the moving picture. I can't see this leading him to being asked to write.a Jason Bourne screenplay any time soon.

Dark Water (2005)

Acting wins out over special effects

[9/10 · 25 July 2005]

What distinguishes Dark Water from so many of its current Hollywood contemporaries is the shunning of special effects in favour of acting. An old fashioned notion, but one that pays off since you really get into the characters in the film and care about what happens about them. The performances are uniformly excellent, from Pete Pothelswaite's seedy janitor to Jennifer Connelly's lead role. The tension builds up slowly and there are deft touches, such as the lawyer's pretence of a family while watching a movie alone.

I just wish there were more films like this these days. It is so tempting for a director to use CGI effects to conjure up scary moments, when this film proves that what is needed is a good script and fine performances.

The Hole (2001)

Flawed but interesting

[8/10 · 26 December 2002]

There are several things to like about The Hole if you can get past the initial plot problem - why would four supposedly intelligent people go willingly down a bunker and close the door, with no guaranteed way of getting out? If you can put that to one side then you have a reasonably clever plot twist or two, with a hardly original but still effective idea of a flawed narrator. Moreover you have an excellent performance from Thora Birch, who proved her talent in American Beauty and the excellent Ghost World. There is one of the more promising (and certainly sexiest) young Englsh actresses in Keira Knightly, doing a convincing job in what must have been at times an unpleasant role. The male actors are less convincing and fall into familiar stereotypes without adding depth.

Fortunately the soundtrack is nicely chilling, adding to the tension very effectively. The director seems very pretentious from his DVD commentary "the school, set in an almost Blakeean (sic) England" - not too many dark satanic mills here Mr Hamm. At least he avoided the cliched "one year later" ending, which fortunately stayed on the cutting room floor. All in all, a film that manages to build some tension, and while its plot borders on the absurd at times the overall effect is more interesting than most Hollywood teen horror attempts.

7/10.

Kill Me Again (1989)

Kill this turkey off

[2/10 · 15 May 2002]

John Dahl shows little of the talent he displays in his other movies. Here the writing is weak, with some bizarre plot holes and poor dialogue. The normally reliable Joanna Whalley struggles with a US accent, while Val Kilmer just appears bemused. The bandaged hand he gets at the hands of some thugs is presumably an attempt at a knowing reference to Jack Nicholson's nose in Chinatown, but only serves to remind the audience what a gulf there is between the films.

Don't let this put you off other, much better John Dahl films (Red Rock West and The Last Seduction).

The Pumaman (1980)

Simply the worst

[1/10 · 8 December 2001]

A strong candidate for the worst film ever made. It has it all: wooden acting, laughable special effects (watch a man fly: badly), a plot that would make a grown man weep. Donald Pleasance must have been really short of cash to have persuaded himself to sully his reputation with acting in this. The best way to view this film is on the "Science Theatre 3000" TV series, where a spaceship crew provide sarcastic commentary as they watch truly bad films such as this.

Curse of the Demon (1957)

Classic suspense

[10/10 · 21 January 2001]

One of the things about great horror films is that less is usually more - never show the monster, as the mind can conjure up much worse things than special effects. Of course in 1945 there were very limited special effects to tempt Jacques Tourner, but he manages to turn in a genuinely chilling film. It is a shame the wooden Dana Andrews was cast in order to appeal to the Amercian box office; otherwise this is a near faultless film. If you liked this movie try and see "Cat People" also by him (and later remade by Paul Schrader).