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duvel123
Reviews
Deepsea Challenge 3D (2014)
Disappointing
I had been been looking forward to this for years now. I love good documentaries, about science, the cosmos, nature or history. I love submarine movies. I am a geek. If anyone was going to love this, it was me.
But I didn't.
For starters, the geek in me was very disappointed next to no time was spent showing off the technology. How does it work? How do you build electronics and camera's and other equipment that can resist that pressure? How do you navigate or communicate at that depth ? I was dying to find out, but I learned nothing. Even when things go (very) wrong in early test dives, no explanation is given of what failed, why it failed, how they solved it. Meh!
Then there is the "plot"; I get it that some time will be spent on Cameron's history, why he wants to do that etc, but it takes forever. Is this movie about an expedition or about James Cameron? If only they spent half the time that Cameron claims to glorify himself to talk about the sub, I might have like this.
Finally, there is the (anti)climax of the film. Not sure if this should be considered a spoiler, but when he finally dives to the bottom of the Marianas trench, it seems like he spent all of 2 minutes on the bottom and the most exciting thing he saw was some mud sliding. You don't even get to see a trench or underwater relief, let alone anything alive. Just sand. Now I get it, this was a documentary, not a scripted movie, but really, if that is all there is to see there, what a waste of time and money. Not too mention a waste of my time.
A Common Man (2013)
I love Ben Kingsley
Any movie with Ben Kingsley surely cant be as bad as reviews here said. Really, I love this guy. But after seeing "a common man", I stand corrected. Its even worse. The script is ridiculous, the dialog so bad its almost hilarious, the music is painfully bad, the acting absolute rubbish. I hate to say it, but even Kingsley is anything but impressive in this movie.
Throughout the movie I kept thinking there has to be a back-story to this. How did this thing ever get made and why oh why did Kingsley ever sign up for it?
I got to write a few more lines before I can submit this. But I have nothing else to say. Don't waste your time on this.
Schellebelle 1919 (2011)
10 for effort
Schellebelle 1919 is not your typical movie, and I don't know if one should judge it as such. This project never really was about the result, it was all about the journey.
If one doesn't know the story behind the creation of this picture, one might be disappointed; its clearly not the best movie ever made. The scrip is a bit weak, screenplay often leaves to be desired, acting is a mixed bag with some strong performances and some rather poor ones. Photography is pretty good though, and the movie has a very authentic atmosphere. Overall I definitely found it enjoyable, but no more than that.
But if you know this movie is the brainchild of 2 guys in a pub making a bet that they could engage an entire (small rural) village to produce and act a movie; from the costumes to the set building to the acting, (almost) everything was done by local amateurs most of whom have never acted in their life (and most of whom will never act again). It was all done on a shoe string budget too, if you take that in to account, the result is simply stunning.
Ester Cattoir (Coralie Van De Velde) delivers such a strong performance, I have to wonder why I haven't seen her in other movies or at least TV work since. I was almost as impressed with Karel De Jaeger (Adolf Annemans) who I could have sworn to be a professional actor, and a good one at that.
Overall, as a viewer I would probably rate this movie only 5 or 6 stars if I didn't know anything about it, but it being what it is, I have to give it a solid 10 for effort.
Dexter (2006)
What a disappointment
I usually go by IMDb ratings to pick what to watch. When something has a score of 9+, it tends to be really good. But this.. well, it isn't.
There is no suspense, no intrigue, no clever plot. Worst of all the main character is completely unbelievable as someone who at the same time is a sociopath that feels no emotions whatsoever, and yet only tries to do the "right thing" by killing "bad guys". It doesn't make a lot of sense and the constant and tiresome voice over acting tries to sell this as layered somehow, but it just doesn't work; its not a intriguing multi faceted character, its an obvious and transparent attempt by the script writers to make an empty emotionless sociopath somehow more "likable". Well, I didn't like him. And not because he is a sociopath killer, there are plenty of sociopath movie characters I did like.
The other characters are better described as caricatures.
Perhaps its unfair to judge this series after seeing all 5 seasons of "the wire", which did live up to its score; the concept of Dexter had promise; a serial killer leading a double life could have made for a very interesting series, but this is just boring.
Don't be fooled by the score. I know I was.