AJ108 Reviews

Drone (I) (2017)

Britty Brilliant

[8/10 · 3 April 2024]

Yes, flawed, but wow, kept me on the edge on my seat of the whole and correct time.

If you're looking for a relevant action thriller, this is great. Great cinematography, background music, relevancy...

I liked this a lot, albeit despite its flaws. I won't spoil it for you. The characters, on opposite sided of the world are well developed.

If you're looking for good intelligent entertainment, this is it.

An excellent commentary on 2010s U$A drone warfare. Great plot ish, tho not logically perfect in final scenes... great chr development... bit o sex... Interesting contrast re Pakistani re US culture... Highly recommended!

Oppenheimer (I) (2023)

Beyond Tedious - A Wasted Opportunity

[3/10 · 5 August 2023]

This is one of the most amazing and fascinating stories ever - the development of the atomic bomb. Unfortunately, Christopher Nolan has chosen not to tell it. Instead, he has adapted the biography 'American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer' by Kai Bird. As chris2004 comments in an Amazon review of that book, 'I was looking forward to this book thinking it might go into the detail of the Manhattan project, the science around how the bomb was made, and Oppenheimer's contribution, as "father of the bomb". The book though only spends a brief time reviewing his work at Los Alamos and virtually nothing of his scientific work. Most of the other 500 pages just revolve around his social activities and, later on, the actions of the American Government to determine whether he was a Communist spy. A rather tedious read in the end. I can't imagine how they managed to make this into a film.' Indeed.

The start, and much of the first two hours in flashback/flashforward are spent in interminable post-Trinity hearings where Oppenheimer is being persecuted for his alleged communist sympathies and connections. We get subjected to a beyond-tedious web of politics, egos, tale-telling and allegations, much of which is concerned with the pre-emptively answered question of whether an essentially retired physicist should keep his security clearance.

The cinematography and acting performances are superb. Oppenheimer's back-story, relationships and moral dilemmas are well-handled. The most gripping parts of the movie are the re-creation of 1940s America and the development of Los Alamos. Sadly, opportunities to explain how the technical challenges of developing the atomic bomb were overcome are completely lost. For example, Oppenheimer leads a meeting of developers and mentions the relative required critical masses of uranium-23? Versus plutonium in about one sentence and five seconds. In later sequences, we see two containers slowly fill up with marbles as the elements are obtained. Drawings showing how the fissile materials are compacted together are briefly shown, but never explained. The movie shows presumably accurate models of the atomic bomb components, but again, there are no discussions of the actual physics. All we get are incomprehensible flashes of abstruse equations. We don't even get told whether the first atomic bombs used uranium or plutonium. That's how much prominence the science gets.

The climax, the test-firing of the first atomic bomb, Trinity, occurs after two hours. The following hour is composed entirely of black-and-white committee hearings. What a wasted opportunity!

Cleft Lip (2018)

Incredibly disjointed but well worth watching

[6/10 · 9 January 2022]

A plot full of holes you could drive a jugganaut through, and plenty of entirely random scenes/sub-'plot's, but for all that, a well-acted modern London-based adaptation of the ancient Greek tragedy.

The worst, most unbelievable bit for me was the central encounter/car crash scene: FFS, wouldn't they have had an emotional meeting? Apparently that was beyond the writer's expertise. For all that, nice locations and semi believable chacters. I wouldn't say I enjoyed it, but it kept me engrossed to the end.

Ana by Day (2018)

Absolutely mesmerising

[10/10 · 22 October 2020]

Brilliant characters, sexy, a fantasy fantastic scenario, heatrenching situations, wierd af... I couldn't put it down. Not your average film by a long chalk.

The Spy Next Door (2010)

Cheese on steroids

[10/10 · 15 July 2020]

As many others have noted, this is not a 'great' movie in the sense that it is mentally stimulating. It's mental candy floss; it's fun fun fun, and if you appreciate that, you'll appreciate this. Of its genre, it's the bestest. Fun for all the family, or even lone viewing if you're low and up for an upper.

Great comedy spi-fi.

Excursion (2018)

Ameteur drama

[3/10 · 17 August 2019]

Interesting concept. More of a play than a movie really, with five actors and two locations. Poor writing, with incomprehensible actions by poorly-acted characters, and often inaudible dialogue.

The kindest thing I can say about this movie is that the key theme is how time travel produces paradoxes, and the whole plot is a barely comprehensible mess, so in a way, it illustrates the point.

Flight (I) (2012)

Brilliant yet subversive

[5/10 · 12 July 2019]

Flight is a brilliant, engrossing, well-acted (and very long) movie. For entertainment value, I'd give it 10. But overall, 5. Why?

Pilots have criticised the actual flight and crash sequence for being unrealistic. They have a point. For what must have been a very high budget movie about flying, it's a major fault to not have involved pilots as aviation consultants in ensuring this sequence was more realistic. For example, real pilots apparently do not *ever* get into any kind of smart talk or chat during the takeoff phase; they stick 100% to business. There is also no 'Mayday' call during the emergency. The emergency sequence can well be (and has been) criticised on a technical level, but in terms of movie excitement is second to none. Indeed, it is overwhelming and tear-jerking. I applaud the movie-makers for this, and can excuse most shortcomings on the basis of drama.

The majority of this movie though is stick-to-your-seat non-stop enthralling. What bugs me about it though is the heavy Hollywood narrative. African Americans are the greatest lovers, the greatest aviators, although flawed (like all of us), ultimately the most moral and truthful people. White men, exemplified by the co-pilot, are weak, emotional idiots, or white women attracted to supposedly gorgeous African American men. P-lease! I'm just so sick of this being rammed down my throat no-stop.

The Interpreter (2005)

that t

[1/10 · 18 May 2019]

The first few minutes of action, set in Africa, make this look like an enticing spy movie. Unfortunately it's all downhill from here on.

The fundamental problem is that the movie's basically about the potential asassination of an evil African president by other evil African men, none of which any rational viewer could quite honestly care less about. None of the characters are even slightly likable or relatable unless maybe you're an African Kidman beta orbiter.

Deepening the problems, we're meant to identify with a moronic female UN interpreter, the UN itself, one of the African political rivals and the US Secret Service as agencies of good, all worth caring about.

It may be a passable vehicle for some establishment hollywood/UN agenda, but for anyone with anything between the ears, this is a complete waste of time.

I admit to only watching the first hour (of two)

The Heartbreak Kid (2007)

Extremlely sickening h33b Hollywood romcom

[2/10 · 1 December 2018]

I gave this tripe 2 stars on account of some truth & funny moments, but really, stear clear. Pretty typical degenerate stereotypical stuff. Great locations, pretty wh00rrz and inciteful moments about great fionces turning into wives from hell. One has mixed sympathies for the h33b guy.

Bee Season (2005)

Unbearably twee, drags, unrepresentative Hare Krishna bit

[1/10 · 19 April 2006]

We took this film out to see the Hare Krishna bit. But it was rather disappointing. There was no explanation of why the son was attracted to Hare Krishna beyond being attracted to the pretty Hare Krishna girl Charlie. She gives him a book, but we cannot see the cover. Dad gives plenty of speculative quasi-religious philosophy in his lecture and to the daughter, so why we are spared so much as a "we are not these bodies" is beyond me. Then before you can click your fingers, the son is wearing the saffron robes of a bramachari monk while being woken by Charlie's kisses in the temple. Yeah, right. The producers did involve devotees, submitted a script and received suggestions back, but apparently ignored the feedback, and preferred to leave the Krishna conscious part confused and enigmatic. The one good bit is a great kirtana. Then the first time the dad shows any interest in his son it is to charge into the temple, threatening the devotee who answers the door to get his son "back". Yawn.

Apart from that, the film seriously drags. You could summarise what happens in about three sentences. Plus, it's unbearably twee, with non-stop emotional moments. The ending is similarly confused and enigmatic. I suppose the acting is good, but you can't make a good film out of a bad script. No stars.