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Jamesb_2
Reviews
Rollin' with the Nines (2006)
A Very good Brti-flick, let down by silly little details
I watched this film last night and although i enjoyed it, i was left feeling a little disappointed as well. There is no need for me to explain the plot again, as this has been covered by other users. OK, so it isn't the most original story line, but it was carried off rather well. Naomi Taylor as 'Hope' was particularly good, as were most of the actors (with the exception of the wooden Police officers, especially Dominic Alan-Smith with his mono-tone voice).
The well commented on rape scene was disturbing and uncomfortable to watch and the night club assassination and Yardie crack den shoot outs were fantastically done and electrifying to watch.
What disappointed me were the little details. An undercover cop driving around a predominately black council estate, in a top of the range Range rover with a private number plate? Not very undercover really is it? I also got the feeling that the film had made compromises to suit the American market (a Captain in the British Police? and misdemeanour offences??). Some of the Police station scenes felt more 'Midsomer murders' than Yardie gangsta. Inexcusable really....
Call me picky, but little details can make or break a film and i was left feeling slightly disappointed that such obvious compromises to the overseas market had tainted what, in all other respects, was a very good film.
Das Boot (1981)
The best depiction of fighting men....ever!
I first saw this film on the BBC when it was aired in it's mini series format. I was 13 at the time and was totally blown away by it. Up until then, the only war films i had seen were gung-ho movies, with GI's firing tommy guns from the hip at hoardes of evil Nazis.
To see a film that showed 'the enemy' as human beings, with hopes, fears and dreams was something else to a 13 yr old kid. As i grew up i began to understand more about the second world war and was able to make up my own mind as to whether the 'evil Nazis' were all that the cinema portrayed them to be, but 'Das Boot' always stuck at the back of my mind as an outstanding example of how to show fighting men, from what ever side, in the best possible way.
Lots of people rave about 'Saving Private Ryan' being the ultimate WW2 film. Although good, it isn't a patch on Das Boot. The Boat has everything; Fine actors, an excellent script (which doesn't deviate from the Novel at all) and excellent hand-held camera work, supported by brilliant lighting, and 20 years before 'Private Ryan' too!
Das Boot is an excellent example of how to depict the horrors of war without resorting to a blood and gore fest and it remains a film that everyone should see it it's entirity at least once.