Exactly what I was hoping for with this retelling of an already great story. All the actors (with the especially impressive 19-year old actress of Claudia who you would swear, simply due to her acting abilities is older) perfectly personify the characters they play. I really hope they do season 2 and I'm so excited to see it! I was enthralled every episode and can't wait to see where this goes, especially with that season 2 cliffhanger, and not just the one regarding Lestat, which most of us familiar with the books would already have partly known was coming. Bring on season 2 🙏🏻 Very keen to see where this goes.
Reviews
3 Reviews
Red Dog: True Blue
(2016)
No where near as good/emotional as the original but still watchable
9 February 2019
The scene cuts in this were really strange, one of the first things I noticed. They just didn't seem to flow and made the movie feel choppy?
The acting in this movie was very subpar which really surprised me? When I saw the cast I thought I was in for a treat but no? The jokes seemed very forced and fell flat nearly every time. It almost felt like people from overseas trying to write Aussie "jokes".
I didn't understand the supernatural aspect of this movie, I assume that bit was just the older Mike trying to spook his son maybe. But it just didn't seem to make sense and felt out of place (again). The ending was genuinely sad but I couldn't help but feel the whole time watching it "I know you're just trying to make me feel the same thing I felt in the first" so it just didn't do the same for me.
But my main annoyance with this movie was Red Dog. In the 1st Red Dog, Red (or blue I guess) always seemed to have a place, his presence pushed the movie along and brought people together. His presence in the movie made sense and brought together all the central conflicts and helped resolve them.
In Red Dog 2, Blues presence does nothing but provide a cute face. This movie was honestly just a coming of age movie and you could have removed the dog and nothing would really change? His presence really did nothing to push the movie along and it wasn't until nearly the end that he actually did something. Also in this movie Blues presence makes barely any impact on anyone but Mike. In the 1st he connected with everyone he came into contact with (even the "evil" cat!), but in this, nothing? It was just bizarre. Look I'm not going to be entirely negative. This is a perfectly watchable movie, I would by no means walk out of it and I had a pretty enjoyable time watching it. As a film by itself, it's fine. Just compared to the first movie you can't help but see all the downfalls about this film.
Red Dog was a beautiful, emotionally moving, incredible tribute to a real dogs undying loyalty. I actually cry thinking about that movie I'm not even joking. In fact in the opening scene when you see the devastating montage of the first I legitimately started bawling just remembering it with the music. Red Dog: True Blue just doesn't contain that same magic that tugs at the heart strings. You can tell it's desperatley trying to do that but just falls flat and seems like a typical cash grab. I feel the director and writers genuinely tried to live up to the former magic but let's be honest, you can't beat the first and I tend to go by this rule with movies, if it's not broke don't try to fix it.
But my main annoyance with this movie was Red Dog. In the 1st Red Dog, Red (or blue I guess) always seemed to have a place, his presence pushed the movie along and brought people together. His presence in the movie made sense and brought together all the central conflicts and helped resolve them.
In Red Dog 2, Blues presence does nothing but provide a cute face. This movie was honestly just a coming of age movie and you could have removed the dog and nothing would really change? His presence really did nothing to push the movie along and it wasn't until nearly the end that he actually did something. Also in this movie Blues presence makes barely any impact on anyone but Mike. In the 1st he connected with everyone he came into contact with (even the "evil" cat!), but in this, nothing? It was just bizarre. Look I'm not going to be entirely negative. This is a perfectly watchable movie, I would by no means walk out of it and I had a pretty enjoyable time watching it. As a film by itself, it's fine. Just compared to the first movie you can't help but see all the downfalls about this film.
Red Dog was a beautiful, emotionally moving, incredible tribute to a real dogs undying loyalty. I actually cry thinking about that movie I'm not even joking. In fact in the opening scene when you see the devastating montage of the first I legitimately started bawling just remembering it with the music. Red Dog: True Blue just doesn't contain that same magic that tugs at the heart strings. You can tell it's desperatley trying to do that but just falls flat and seems like a typical cash grab. I feel the director and writers genuinely tried to live up to the former magic but let's be honest, you can't beat the first and I tend to go by this rule with movies, if it's not broke don't try to fix it.
2012
(I) (2009)
Severely underrated movie!
4 August 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Disaster movies tend to follow a basic formula; focus on protagonist and their family, everything is good to fine, disasters begin happening, protagonist and family have to find someway to be safe, protagonist and family saved and live in the end. This film is no different in that aspect, however I honestly don't understand the hate this movie has received? Generally I don't tend to trust critics reviews anyway and for this I was right not to. Yeah in terms of story line it's your basic disaster movie formula, but the way this movie is filmed and the focus on quite a large amount of characters outside the protagonist and his family is done beautifully! The special effects are so brilliant they honestly have me grasping my seat and holding my breath even though I've seen this movie on 3 different occasions (it's on tv now that's why I decided to do this review). The disaster scenes are done so so well and again make me anxious each time I've seen them (and that's not just because of my conditioned fear of Tsunamis since 2004). I do love John Cusack and he is great in this and does a great job portraying Jackson, the protagonist of this movie. In fact all the main actors are great in this, the only nit pick I have is with Chiwetel Ejiofor, who plays Adrian, in the scene where he's on his phone to his dad for the last time saying goodbye. Too me he didn't seem sad enough for a conversation you know is going to be the last before your father perishes in the middle of the ocean somewhere. But again that's just a nit pick, don't get me wrong he was brilliant in this movie and really did have a sense of urgency about him. Also the scene where he addresses all the leaders about opening the gate was fantastic and he did a great job of portraying that. The devastation scenes are what really tie this movie together though (which would make sense for a disaster movie), I've never seen a movie portray worldwide disaster so well. The scream in the distance, people clammering as they fall from buildings being shattered by earthquakes, the fires in the distance, it just all seemed so real and raw that it honestly gives me shivers every time. Sometimes in movies like this the special effects can just make the movie too "actiony" and eye roll worthy, but the scenes just portrayed what that would really be like so so well. If you don't like disaster movies I still say give this movie a chance! It's got a really important message that is not cringe worthy (as they can be in these types of movies) but actually really important and relevant. And not just in a Climate change way. On a deeper level I feel this movie comments on class differences by showing in situations like this the 99% would realistically be left behind, and we always do in many aspects of society and culture. But all in all this movie ticks all the boxes of a movie of this kind for me; great special effects, tension, family dynamic, multiple characters focused on just the right amount, a message that is important and relevant for our time, and just an interesting movie that keeps your concentration the whole way through. If you haven't already give this movie a watch! Honestly each time I've seen this movie I've appreciated it a little more.
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