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Reviews
Malbatt: Misi Bakara (2023)
Ok but not without flaws
I agree with others that the CGI was terrible and whoever cast the American soldiers must have gotten all the rejects from LMN and the Soaps. As often occurs when a movie centers around its countrymen, they are the heroes & the others (in this case, Americans) are portrayed here as either arrogant, fearful, or stupid. My first complaint lies with the story line, in particular, the part where the Somali, Abdalle, opened his home, putting his family in grave danger, in order to hide his Malaysian friend & the men who were about to be overrun by rebels. Question: why did the soldier open fire on the rebels when he saw them from a window coming down the street? Couldn't they have stayed hidden in the house until the rebels passed by or were the Somalis searching door to door for the soldiers? Unclear.
But, the absolute worst scene in my opinion was when the wife & son of the Abdalle, the Somali who hid them, were killed & left lying in the dirt street. The soldiers suffered many casualties to bring back their own dead but wouldn't take these 2 bodies with them who had died as a direct result of saving many of their own lives. Instead Lt. Dahari practically pulls Abdalle off his wife and they all leave her & the son lying in the dirt in the middle of the street when they could have easily taken them out of respect for the man who hid them. Disgraceful! It seems that all too often, we recruit local natives who help our military at great risk to themselves & their families only to be abandoned when things get tough and we pull back.
So, overall not the best war movie I have seen but certainly not the worst either & it was good to see a well known military operation from another point of view. I don't think our allies get enough credit for what they do. Definitely worth watching.
Morden i Sandhamn: Max (Del 2) (2023)
The worst ending possible!
I have thoroughly enjoyed every season of The Sandhamn Murders right up until the very end of Season 9. When Alexander came to his senses near the beginning of the Season 9 and ended his engagement in order to be with Nora, it was heartwarming and I thought, "Finally!"
Then when that final episode of Season 9 came to it's conclusion, it made my blood boil. What were the writers thinking when they had Alexander die? Poor Nora never gets any lasting happiness. Her first husband cheats. Thomas, our first likable detective, foolishly goes back to his wife. Jonas the airline pilot cheats. And finally she finds the love of her life in Alexander and they are together at last (for about five seconds)! This is a lighthearted type murder mystery show, not some gut wrenching heavy drama production. If we wanted to be left feeling empty, sad and drained of emotion we would watch something like "Bleak House"!
Screen One: A Foreign Field (1993)
Humor and heartbreak in a touching emotional post WW2 film
My father was a 19 year old combat engineer with the 1st wave on Omaha Beach and was awarded the French Legion of Honor for bravery. I accompanied him in 1999 to Normandy for the 55th D-Day anniversary. I saw many veterans touching the white crosses of lost comrades, my father touching the names of his 2 best friends on a memorial and men collecting small jars of sand from where they landed. This film captured those feelings & moments perfectly.
Alec Guinness should have won every award possible for his portrayal of Amos. As far as I am concerned, it was his best acting performance ever and doubly amazing in that it was all body language & facial expressions. The bond between Amos & Cyril was so touching it made my eyes water.
I left my father alone to talk privately with other veterans, just as only Cyril & Waldo could know what the invasion was really like. We who were not a part of it can never comprehend the emotions & lifelong imprint that day had on its participants.
We also visited a German Cemetery and my father sat next to a German ex soldier. I was not privy to their conversation as they talked quietly & shook hands when they parted. The visit to Lisa's brother's grave brought back those memories & was yet another very emotional scene well written & acted.
This film is one of the best (if not the best) post WW2 films ever made & also probably the least known of them. All the actors were fantastic, the script & direction superb and I defy anyone to watch this and not tear up at the ending. This is a film that will long remain in my memory and in my heart. My heartfelt thanks go out to those who made it possible.
Becoming the Enemy (2017)
Not very good
Paul Sorvino as the Shah...really? They couldn't find a Middle Eastern actor that even remotely resembled the Shah (and could act better)? I almost turned it off at that point but decided to suffer through the rest to see if it got better (it didn't). There are a lot of extremely talented Middle Eastern actors but unfortunately none of them are in this movie. The casting is poor, the acting is poor, the special effects are poor and the directing is poor. Its too bad because the plot would make for a great film with the right director & actors. This quality of this film is on a par with your average "Lifetime Movie Channel" production. Watching Paul Sorvino as the Shah is worth a laugh though!
The Ruth Rendell Mysteries: The Veiled One (1989)
Horrible directing & screenplay!
Who let the "Hitchcock wannabe" direct this episode? I thoroughly enjoy the Inspector Wexford series but this episode is so horribly written and directed as to make it almost unwatchable. The car explosion stands out as pure nonsense (and totally fake appearing) and the dream sequences are ridiculous. Weird camera angles, shouting matches and more combine to make this the worst episode ever!
Le temps est assassin (2019)
Mystery Science Theater candidate!
This farce really belongs on "Mystery Science Theater". It is riddled with ridiculous scenes and plot twists that are absolutely unbelievable. I did watch it all but only because my wife and I had too much fun laughing at the absurdities. We had to fast forward through the teenage musical scenes (if you can call it music) because the "music" was so painfully horrid! The producers, writers and director should be arrested for "Crimes Against Humanity"! There are plenty of high quality French mystery shows produced but this is not one of them. The guys from "Mystery Science Theater" would have a field day with this stinker!
Tata muta muntii (2021)
Worst movie I have seen in a long time!
The main character (the father) is an unreasonable unlikable person ignoring professional mountaineering advice, lacking common sense, abandoning his expectant wife, endangering others, and refusing to help another mother use their equipment to search for her missing daughter. Then the movie abruptly ends with him alone digging away futilely. A bad movie with an even worse ending!
The Silence (2010)
Terrible writing that just ends....thankfully!
I will just pick one of the many ridiculous scenes to rant about. In the final (and worst believable) episode, Amelia goes to the police in a neighboring town. After initially telling them part of her story she recants and says she made it up. The police leave while discussing charging her with false crime reporting. Then when her uncle comes to get her and the bad guys are chasing them, he tells her to go to the same police for a ride back to his house. Now why would they give a ride to someone who just wasted their time and money with a supposedly fake story? And then the officer who does give her a ride back drops her off at a boxing club at her request instead of at her uncles home where he was ordered to take her.
The entire story is so unbelievable and then it just stops...
Informer (2018)
The dark side of preventing terrorism.
Considine, Powley and Rizwan are superb. What goes on behind the public face of counter-terrorism is dark and ugly. We see ruined lives and damaged psyches as a result of being undercover or informant handling. The human cost of keeping us "safe" is horrendous and one wonders; are these methods justifiable? I am sure that this series will leave you with some deep and uneasy thoughts as it did I.