ged_b Reviews

Love (I) (2011)

Time spent here can never be recouped. Go elsewhere for all which this attempts to offer.

[2/10 · 20 February 2018]

Confusing. Eratic. Emotionally charged for long periods with a huge expectation which never comes to fruition. Not to relax to, or laugh at, or get into, or wonder at (except perhaps for what the heck is happeing most of the time). It COULD have been a dynamite film, but it wasn't. It hinted, badly, at a great plot, while bashing my ears with mediocre trancelike musak, while cutting from one silly scene to another in an endless (or did t merely feel like endless) cycle of nothing to nothing shots of nothing but what we've seen before.

We get instant gratuitous shot of the close up of a woman's arse coming straght from another unrelated scene. What does that signify? Nothing at all!

We get a smoke alarm waiting until the entire ISS is filled with a toxic smoke until it rised in pitch enough to rouse this astronaut from his deep slumbers, from which he leaps, instantly awake, to dash across the entire length of the station, while clutching his tshirt to his face, to get to his face mask/respirator! Ugh!? Talk about adding stupid action/drama to break the endless boredom and FAILING!

NOt sure why I didn't give this a 2.

I remember someone once saying that "a true bore is someone who can go on and on about something which is the tiniest bit interesting." and this film sums it up perfectly. It always appears to be on the point of something better, revealing, telling, informing, happening, and nothing ever does. Until the last scene which is not explained or examined and does not fit at all.

Perhaps the book is better? But I seriously doubt it.

Leviathan (I) (2012)

Leviathan as a 'documentary'?

[2/10 · 17 November 2013]

It's not a documentary. It's art. As such it is quite unusual and can be a bit hypnotic, but as a documentary, it is dire. Perhaps if I'd been ingesting LSD25 or other hallucinogenic, or even been smoking some 'righteous' herbs it might have won me over more, but chilling out one cold evening it was neither entertaining nor enlightening nor even controversial or emotional at all.

Dull art, mostly.

It even goes as far as to begin to repeat itself at one point, and allowed me to think.. "Oh good, it's ending with full circle", but it was only half way.

Junkie (2012)

powerful stuff

[8/10 · 17 November 2013]

If you watch this, do so with an open mind, and I mean WIDE open.

It's incredible. While I was watching it I had the thought in my mind of something I read quite recently where some well known voice had derided addiction as disease. He (at least I think it was a 'he') stated that addiction is not a disease as with addiction one can choose to give up at any time, whereas with disease one can not. I.e. If I am an alcoholic, then I can stop drinking and get well, with some will power and support perhaps. If I have cancer I can't simply decide not to have cancer any more. Although this is true in some cases, as in cancer, it's certainly not true of all cases. Addiction is a disease, same as cancer, only it's a different type of disease.

This film takes a deep, raw look at addiction, from a very interesting perspective. It's a kick in the face of the usual crap which deals with addiction.

The Master (2012)

General thoughts and feelings 10 minutes after watching

[5/10 · 1 October 2013]

It's a drama of parts which don't always go together, not even in the random fashion some films have. Disjointed might be too strong a word, but not really flowing or compelling either. The only common flow throughout is the music, which is pleasant, though rather bland after a while. Some of the philosophical ideas have a pretence of depth, but this is dashed near the end with a few words of a lesser character, so it rather destroys itself. There are moments of seeming intensity, but nothing to really lift the film at all. If it wasn't that some of the actors are superb, it would be entirely dire. Not exactly a waste of my time.

Someone once said that the definition of a true bore is not someone who is not interesting or engaging at all, but someone who is a 'tiny' bit interesting or engaging so you can't quite pull away from them. This film was it..

Hammer of the Gods (2013)

Historically inaccurate Hollowood Cliché, but without the budget.

[2/10 · 19 August 2013]

If the historic connections had not have been made and instead the film was merely a barbarian fantasy, then I would have given more likely a 7/10. As it is, the thing fails to hold up beyond 4 minutes.

From the off the film lacked credibility. Vikings landing on a foreign shore from a long ship without shields? No no no no no. The Hustrwic website states: "The use of shields was nearly universal in Viking combat. Someone without a shield would be, quite literally, defenseless, and would likely be cut down very quickly. So, most every fighting man had a shield." and it is common knowledge among any historians of the period (even amateurs like me) that Danes who went Viking most often took more than one shield each with servants or slaves to carry them.

As an international film, I'd say this is something of a disappointment, even without the historic howlers, and is lacking what British films normally would bring to the theatre - authenticity and quality of flow, acting and character development - instead wading into the mire of Hollowood (deliberate spelling) cliché but without the advantage of the MASSIVE budget which the California moguls can throw at such films.

Sad effort spoiled what is an excellent storyline with immense potential.