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adrianj
Reviews
300 (2006)
Spectacularly, audaciously, outrageously silly!
Apart from acres of beautifully toned male flesh, comic-book blood and guts and a graphic novel sheen I didn't really know what to expect from 300.
The dialogue is at best cheesy and at worst cringe-inducing. The characterisation is adolescent. The sex scene is incredibly unsexy. Realism is never given a look-in. As history it is hysterical. But, still, I enjoyed it.
The production design is wonderful, the colours and effects (mostly) are impressive. The costumes are fabulous, those 'Spartan' torsos are glorious, a joy to behold. The fantastical, monstrous, madness of the 'Persians' beggars belief.
Sprinkled with laugh-out-loud moments where you just can't believe the film-makers thought they could get away with yet another ludicrous spectacle. 300 is a lot of fun.
Absolute tosh of course, you'll wince at most of the dialogue, you'll laugh at the audacity of it all, you'll drool over the 'Spartan' hunks in trunks, you'll love (or hate) the look of it but give it a go, just make sure you leave your serious head at home!
Der Untergang (2004)
Extraordinary, Impressive and Disturbing
This extraordinary film presents in chilling detail the affect of the failure of Hitler's Third Reich. By keeping a close focus on Hitler's bunker and the government district of Berlin we can concentrate on who these people around him were and how they reacted to him and the imminent collapse of the Nazi dream.
The acting and direction are assured and the visual impact of the film, both in the claustrophobic bunker and the ruins of Berlin itself, is impressively realised. Part of the horror of the film is that it does all seem so very real - these are real people in a real situation - and that is terrifying.
For me though, the most disturbing thing is that although the film recreates specific events of World War II, it stands as a warning to us, today.
Hitler, Goebbels et al, had a vision. A vision of purity and truth, a vision that millions of people took to be real, genuine and achievable. The problem with all such visions of purity and truth are that they require absolute fanaticism. For the Nazis there was no alternative, like for Magda Goebbels who could not see any future for her or her children without the Fuhrer. For these fanatics, if you cannot live up to the dream you have failed, and there is no compassion for failure.
The truly terrifying thing is that the world is still full of fanatics - be they al-Qaeda, born-again fundamentalists or Balkan nationalists. They have no place for non-believers, and should they ever gain the support that Germany gave Hitler, we risk being plunged into the dark ages again.
Traudl Junge's final words of the film are a chilling reminder for all of us, that no one can be 'innocent' when the fanatic calls.
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Putting the magic back into the telling of ghost stories
I hardly need to say anything ... or rather I can't say anything that hasn't already been. This is a excellent movie; we've had gore-fests, we've had horror-parody, now is the time for the return of the *intelligent* horror story.
'The Sixth Sense' works it's magic by suggestion; by simply going *just* far enough from normality that the viewer spooks themselves.
There are a couple of moments to make you jump, just to make sure you are in the right frame of mind; there are a few unpleasant ghouls, but this is no Clive Barker fright-a-thon.
From those simple elements it builds slowly (perhaps a little too slowly) and you start to share in the torment of young Cole as he searches for an escape from all the "dead people" who inhabit his world. Eventually psychologist Crowe offers a way out and you sense that the film will have a happy ending and that, as it were, the ghosts will be laid to rest. But no, just when you start thinking all is well with the world, the *real* truth is revealed.
It's not a 'Carrie' style heart-stopping moment, but the final twist is so brilliantly played out, you can't help but go back and revisit all those key moments that suddenly make a totally different sort of sense.
The beauty, the magic, of this film is provided by the two splendid performances from young Osement (Cole) and Willis (Crowe) drawing you effortlessly into their world, making the unreal palpably real.
Knowing that there is a big 'twist' to this film, you may well be able to work it out for yourself, but even if you do, you will surely enjoy this beautifully crafted film, a film that puts the magic back into the telling of ghost stories.
The Trench (1999)
Quality performances make a simple film powerfully effective
Who would choose to make their debut a WWI character piece set within the confines of one trench? For his first directorial effort William Boyd has not tried to run before he can walk, and Paul Nicholls in his first released feature plays a role he clearly empathises with.
The relative inexperience of Boyd is evident in the modesty of the production - no expensive effects, no epic locations - but that actually works well in this study of young men trying to cope with the unthinkable horror that characterised the World War One battlefield.
Cooped up for days in dreadful conditions, the various characters - the naive (Nicholls), the intellectual (D'Arcy), the objectionable (Dyer), the loveable fattie (Strachan) - at turns argue with and provide support for each other, but at the end of the day have to face almost certain death on their own and in their own way.
This is not a great film, it doesn't quite provide a strong enough focus to help you empathise with the characters, for the most part it feels like a filmed play, but as a film it is able to provide moments of real visual power such as the final scenes as the boys finally leave the trenches to face the German guns.
For those last few minutes, the realisation of what they are about to do hits you hard, you can really sense the terror that they must have felt.
Despite it's "theatrical" feel at times, and the constraints of its setting, this is a fine and evocative film, with an excellent cast. Paul Nicholls, Danny Dyer and James D'Arcy are not alone in giving faultless performances, but the star of the film must be Daniel Craig, who is superb as Sgt Winter, a man who has survived the battlefield once, but knows his luck is about to run out.