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timdanaher
Reviews
Barbarians (2020)
Quod iter erat! Was für eine Reise war das!!!
I absolutely loved this series. Watched all six episodes, back-to-back - I couldn't take my eyes of the screen. I honestly thought that they'd embellished the story, with Arminius's being brought up as a Roman but, no, that really happened. And Thusnelda was a real person! The decision to use Latin for the Romans' speech was a brave one, and It's paid off handsomely: those who know about these things say it's the best Classical Latin ever committed to the screen (unlike 'Passion of the Christ', which used Eccesistical Latin, which wouldn't be spoken for another 1000 years).
Utterly gripping, there HAS to be a second season. DO NOT watch the English-dubbed version.
Random Quest (2006)
Terrible, Just Terrible...
Completely misses what made the original short story so magical: here, Colin Trafford finds himself in a completely different world, rather than the subtly different world of the original, and how he finds Otillie is completely different from the original: Wyndham's story, as written, is human, moving and believable - this version is cold, sterile and completely unengaging.
Fractured (2016)
Very Effective Little Thriller...
So this starts out as a standard home-invasion thriller: good-looking young couple reach their idyllic weekend getaway cottage, banter and hanky-panky ensue, but the girl seems to think there's someone in the house and starts getting more and more worked up. And then... well, I'm not going to say what happens, but something happens that shifts your entire perspective on what's going on and, from that moment on, I was hooked. Obviously made on a small budget, but the director (also co-screenwriter) has done a great job. Yes, there are a few plot holes - won't say what they are because, spoilers - but I couldn't believe the way this film sucked me in once it got going. I'd agree with other reviewers that the final scene could have used a bit more 'oomph' and maybe we could have seen the aftermath (it did seem to stop a bit abruptly), but I enjoyed this so much that it's made me want to check out other stuff that the director, Jamie Patterson, has done.
The Final (2010)
Not Too Shabby, Not Too Shabby at all...
A very satisfying little film, nothing new, a nerds-get-revenge-on-jocks flick, but done with a lot of style. From the first scene (a flash-forward) I thought that this would have a little bit more up its sleeve, and it did: first, they really set up the jocks for a fall: they are the nastiest, most entitled pricks you'll ever come across. The costume design for the nerds at the party was very effective, very creepy and unsettling. I noticed a few shout-outs to torture-porn classics: 'Deliverance' and 'Audition' (I'm sure people with a better knowledge of film history than me will spot some more). Maybe a little overlong, as some have noted and I think a bit more could have been made of them using their 'nerd' knowledge (i.e. biology and chemistry) to inflict the horrors on the jocks (like the first season of 'Breaking Bad' did, before the writers gave in to the focus groups). But a very nice - and welcome - little surprise.
Parallels (2015)
Please, put us out of our misery...
I was really enjoying this: interesting premise (hopping between alternate Earths through the portal of 'The Building') interesting characters (lovelorn Harold, siblings Beatrix and Ronan, who are partially estranged and the knowing minx Polly, the outsider to the other three). OK, there were a few 'with one bound our hero was free' moments, but the idea of alternate realities had so much scope, it was maddening that it all ended up in the air. As it states on IMDb, this was a pilot for a series, but they didn't even try to make it work as a standalone film... Tinker's warning as he comes out of the lift and the reveal that Polly is... Well I won't tell you what she is... Just left me feeling so frustrated that there is no resolution... I really hope that someone will pick this up and give this intriguing idea the treatment it deserves.
Monsters: Dark Continent (2014)
Very Pleasant Surprise...
Wasn't expecting much from this, To be honest, I just went to kill a few hours on a slow Friday afternoon. However, the film was much, much better than some of the reviews on here would lead you to believe. No, it isn't another Battle: Los Angeles – Nor is it meant to be. It actually stays true to the original Monsters film in that it's about relationships. The first was a love story, this is more about relationships under strain in the pressure cooker of a war zone. While the film was a little overlong (it got a bit navel-gazey in places, especially toward the end), it mostly had me gripped for its entire running time: the action was visceral (the dogfight, for example), there was an almost-constant feeling of tension and the special effects were breathtaking: the monsters have had some serious creature design done on them, introducing the young and some (I think) subspecies. Every time they appeared on screen I was captivated by their depiction: of course, their appearance at the Bedouin camp was the highlight of the film along, I suppose, with the tantalising half-reveal at the end.
The performances from a not well-known troupe of actors were excellent, especially from Sam Keeley as Parkes, Nicholas Pinnock as Forrest (even if his character was a bit Underused) and Johnny Harris as Frater. And the message is still there: what, exactly are we fighting, and why? The 'monsters' are never shown destroying anything (other than minor damage caused by what seems to be natural curiosity) and the scenes with the smaller monsters galloping along side the jeeps shows them to be rather beautiful, exuberant creatures.
All in all, an extremely enjoyable and, at times, thought-provoking film. Very, very pleasantly surprised.