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brin-t-murray
Reviews
Physical: 100 (2023)
Challenges need more variety - sandbag heavy lifters bias
Lots of fabulously fit people with refreshingly courteous manners and a genuine appreciation of one another's strengths make for a very decent watch, but the concept has some flaws. Although ostensibly unbiased - all can compete regardless of gender etc - that effectively means that the women rarely shine and are perceived as deadweights by their teams. I don't know what the solution is but...
Related to that - I'm only up to the mine challenge but the last three events have all been heavily weighted in favour of strength contestants. The maze was carting heavy sandbags; the pole-guarding favoured hefty guys; the mine challenge has lifting heavy sandbags, pushing heavy sandbags, kicking heavy giant bags along in the air. Apart from anything else, it's a bit boring to have such similar challenges. What about balance, agility, flexibility, speed, stamina? More variety would be fairer and more interesting, rather than slightly different scenarios where people move heavy bags around, which favours one specific type of physical. Plus favouring hefty strongmen immediately sidelines the women, of course, as well as guys with different strengths.
Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver (2024)
Seven Samurai In Space
Seven Samurai In Space, what's not to like? - spectacular visuals, sliding fight sequence as giant spaceship crashes in slow motion, super-evil resurrected bad guy seems pretty indestructible until he isn't, acting great, music so so. Enough main characters make the ultimate sacrifice to give the story heart and impact. There's a break from the action that involves a whole lot of slo mo harvesting in golden summer light - man those villagers do some good scything and reaping - all very gorgeous. I'd give it a 7 but rounding up cos of the haters. Don't know why half these people watch movies, maybe they should just stick their heads in a paper bag and swear at the moon or something, get their spite therapy without boring the world to death. Great fun, looking forward to number three and the princess is back! Hope it gets made.
Fate: The Winx Saga (2021)
Make Bloom Better
I actually really enjoyed this show (never saw the cartoon) but towards the end it went downhill. The priorities of the characters and the pacing were just completely out of whack. You get a text that a burned one has entered the school and a friend is dying? Oh, but here comes hunky Sky so you have to ask him how come he is awake, and then amble around with him with no sense of urgency or communication about the situation. You're told Beatrix is a scheming cold-blooded murderer? But then she might know something about your past, so you shelve that and help her escape and believe everything she tells you. And then let the most evil and dangerous fairy of all loose so you can glean a tiny bit more information - no worries that people get killed because of it.
Bloom is just about the most sociopathically egocentric, deeply stupid MC I'v ever seen - not the actor's fault, but she ruined it for me. Aisha was the only one with any brains or judgement, and she ended up apologising for not being a true friend - for not helping Bloom commit a criminally, moronically selfish act that directly led to Farah's death.
Come on, people - I will watch the next one, the series has huge potential and I enjoyed it - but the characters have to prioritise when it's a life and death situation or it's just not plausible. Make Bloom better. All that soulful music and drooping when she's miserable about her unknown origins - who cares when she's so selfish her actions are killing people? She's utterly unlikeable.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
Charlie Hunnam has fire in his belly – OWNS this role
Charlie Hunnam has fire in his belly and brings real passion to this Arthur: add to that terrific natural physical presence, and the ability to convey a softer side of confusion and sensitivity, and he OWNS this role. Best Arthur ever. If you like Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings, you will LOVE this movie – with the slight caveat that the English accents are ordinary not posh, and the humour's sharp, dry and irreverent. King Arthur is a total thrill ride: breakneck action, terrific acting – Jude Law outstanding as conflicted evil uncle, Eric Bana solid as always, the Mage perfect – not textbook Hollywood bland-into-the-crowd, but quirky and intense. The sound track works, from heart-poundingly tense to lyrical and moving. And the cinematography – the sense of this broken world, Londinium after the Romans left and living amongst the ruins – is amazing. Even the weird beasts – and no fan here of fantastical creatures – are breathtaking, their impact maximized by being used sparingly: only available to bad guy after extreme dark magic. There's a satisfying build of tension as Arthur learns how to use the sword, and grows into his new role. His self-doubt and character development are relatable; we really like this Arthur. Plus there are some serious battles. The critic reviews – what are they on? Some complained about a confused narrative buried under too much action: we were surprised to find the narrative is clear, coherent and internally consistent. Not traditional? Get over it: it's a legend, not history. Too much fast cutting? Maybe, for the slow of mind– eg quick cuts when Arthur refuses to meet the Barons – he tells Bedivere how this meeting would go down. It doesn't happen (and is hilarious, BTW, tho suspect would go over the head of non-Brits not tuned in to the total classism of English society, or Guy Ritchie humour). The cuts show Arthur's rationale. None are unnecessary, all are entertaining - and fast. Don't believe the critic reviews – this is a brilliant action fantasy adventure we'll go and see again, soon. Edit: Saw it again, second time round even better!!
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
Star Wars VII: The Magic Reawakens
Didn't quite ever claim Jedi as a religion on census form, but could have - until the three forgettable, interchangeable, poorly scripted and cast prequels soured the Star Wars experience.
Just saw the masses of ridiculously negative reviews on IMDb - one star? Seriously? The only real negative might be that VII is a rehash of old plot lines - Death Star, interrelationships of individuals in whom the force is strong, a shield on the planet that needs to be brought down, a key hologrammatic message inside a cute droid - but, you know, only seven plots out there anyway, it's the treatment that counts.
Lost garnered the kind of praise that is simply unbelievable given its ludicrous, drawn out, dismally resolved plotting - the guy obviously had a great idea but never had a resolution in mind when he started and so just piled on unlikely twist after unlikely twist in the hope it would somehow sort itself out. It didn't. So no, not a JJ Abrams fan. But here he uses the tried and tested - probably already had an outline with that all-important ending handed to him on a plate - and it comes together perfectly.
Daisy Ridley as Rey is simply brilliant: what a relief to have a female protagonist who looks coordinated and fast and strong, totally believable in the action, rather than a spindly drip teetering round in six inch heels, hard to believe she could walk up a flight of stairs without a handrail and yet she supposedly outruns athletic men and knocks down professional warriors with a feebly placed slap.
Both the new young actors are great and as thoroughly engaging as the originals - unlike either Anakin, pretty boys with no charisma, memorability or strength about them whatsoever, the last three movies failed before they'd even begun with the casting. The pacing is great, and there is thankfully no over-reliance on CGI as in the last three duffers. If I have one caveat it's one I feel a bit guilty about, because I loved him in Attack the Block and I hate this kind of carping when it's directed at females (which it usually is) but I think John Boyega could do with losing a few pounds. He was lean and mean, scary yet sensitive in Attack the Block but is hardly recognisable as the same guy. His face has changed, his jawline's chubbed up and it's not a good look on him. Plus his thighs are very large. He's young enough that he can still run pretty fast but I bet he'd be a lot faster if he shed some weight.
Two other minor carps - Kylo Ren looks the part but his voice isn't powerful enough; voices are important in projecting power/charisma/depth. And they could have used the music more; great track, underused. Apart from that - don't listen to the idiotic negativity, Star Wars is back.
Zhauzhürek myng bala (2012)
Myn Bala: ride and ride hard
Myn Bala the Kazakh movie Well, first movie I've ever seen on IMDb with only one review (three now, since I wrote this). It's the supposedly uplifting legend, based on a true story, of a set of young rebels early in eighteenth Century Kazakhstan who rose up against their oppressors. The country at that time was being overrun by a cruel and violent militaristic set of people called the Djongars, who were descendants of Genghis Khan and his Mongols. There are two main young male protagonists, Sertai and Taimas, who inevitably fall out as Sertai becomes more admired and takes over leadership; their kind-of-sister and lifelong friend Korlan, who is a scar-faced female warrior and very convincing she is too; and then Sertai falls for the beautiful young daughter, Zere, of a chief whom he offends, as being too conciliatory with their conquerors and not bold enough. The story is well told, though the flow is sometimes lost in translation. Mainly because the subtitles are out of synch, or use peculiar modern slang idioms, or during three long character farewell speeches leave just one (non-English) word up on screen for five minutes. Still, you get the gist. The story isn't new: Braveheart and all that - but this one has three things that make it standout (even apart from the fact that know nothing whatsoever about Kazakhstan's history so is always good to see a different part of the world through fresh eyes). The three things are:
The steppe. Every so often the main characters wander down from the hills where they're hiding and say something like: oh, our steppe is so beautiful, we must get rid of the invaders. They almost literally swoon over the beauty of the steppe. Really extraordinary: rarely have I seen a place which gives the western city-born person such a sense of otherness - great empty wild bare barren looking place - kind of makes me feel the opposite. The clothes. Presume they are all true to time for the place and period. Great fur hats cascading down backs, women's hats like pagodas, intricate tooled soft leather jerkins and belts, Tartar-ish military uniforms look rather like samurai - completely unlike anything have seen before. The horse-riding. Never seen anything like it in the movies: these people ride like they were born in the saddle. And why walk when you can trot? And why trot when you can gallop hell for leather across endless miles of steppe? So gallop they do. A lot. So very enjoyable. Only downside: the end. And being told that it was another three hundred years before Kazakhstan finally got its freedom. Which would be .... hm, sometime in the 1990s.
Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)
Lacked the final spark for greatness
As other reviewers have said - great CGI and visuals, terrific world building, and a fine leading actor despite the carping that he didn't look Jewish enough. The way the story was taken, treading a fine line between biblical magic and realism - every event could theoretically have been explained by natural events, almost, except for the death of the first born sons - was creative and for me worked better than a magical miracle approach. Moses and Exodus is a great story, taken simply as a story: it spoke to the slaves of the American South and became symbolic of their predicament many centuries later. So why did it fail to completely grab the heart and appeal to the emotions, in say the way Gladiator did? Two simple reasons. First, poor secondary characterization - we never get to know any of the oppressed Hebrews. Ben Kingsley is woefully underused, he makes a brief introduction and then disappears. Moses' mother and sister have a brief reunion with him and then disappear. Aaron is introduced to Moses as his brother and then virtually disappears. You can't care about freeing people if all you know of them is cities and hillsides of ant-like multitudes swarming, with the occasional close-up of corpses burning or bloody floggings. You need to know them as people. The Hebrews are essentially faceless, invisible victims. This is no reflection on the actors; it's poor screen writing. Second, the music. Flat, boring, without power or affect. Every really powerful movie has music that moves: the soundtrack is pedestrian.
American Sniper (2014)
American Sniper: not for those who can't join the dots....
Very quick review: not that interested in seeing, but on long haul flight and had to fill up lots of hours....
Actually much better than expected, a quiet thoughtful movie, telling the story of how Chris Kyle the sniper was made - his background, his life - in an understated but powerful manner. Turned to IMDb and was astonished to find the number or reviewers giving one star on the basis this was undiluted pro-American propaganda. As one example: a reviewer complained that Kyle killed women and children without comment.
No, the movie did not tell you this was wrong. It showed you: though Kyle's hesitation, through his delay, his expression (great acting from Bradley Cooper); through his inability to adjust to normal life, through his desperately heartfelt relief when the child carrying the anti-tank missile dropped it and ran, through his post-traumatic stress disorder. What do such reviewers want, someone jumping on a soap box to make a speech telling the viewer war is wrong?
Actually, American Sniper shows that even the simplest, most black-and-white patriot, convinced of his duty, can be torn apart by the horrors of what he had to do. And was far more powerful for that than any overt address for the simple-minded.
Insurgent (2015)
Insurgent: waiting for no. 3 working title Detergent
Well this is what I wrote last year re Divergent (it's actually a response to some more annoying banalities in the book):
So yeah I'm rooting for Molly. What is the solution to her being soundly thrashed by tiny Tris and then cut altogether from the Dauntless programme? - the sequel, Molly's revenge. She comes back and force-feeds Tris growth hormone and liquidized mars bars until she's two hundred pounds. Or she turns the book into a much better movie, with a spectacular cityscape, which disappears some of the more irritating stupidities of the book. Such as, Tris is normal-sized not a micro- tiny 00 annoyingly trying to manipulate the reader/viewer into spurious sympathy. And the factionless really are down-and-outs not blue collar workers (still begs the question of who does all the grunt work to keep the city running, but at least blue collar is no longer defined as a drain on society.)
And now we have Insurgent. I didn't read the book and neither will I: life is short and book one not good enough. I also have to say that I find the premise that some reviewers find intriguing - that of factions, with everybody being designated into a faction at the age of 18 according to their propensities - thoroughly ridiculous, unless the human genome has gone steeply downhill in 200 years and is producing simplistic versions of people, which doesn't seem to be the case, and would make for very dull viewing if it were. Also it's unoriginal - Aldous Huxley's Brave New World had a similar idea a very long time ago. But no harm recycling old ideas for new audiences. So why is it still well worth watching despite daft premise - and some pretty gigantic plot holes?
Such as, Dauntless are the security guys - the police and army combined - and yet they are now on the run from Erudite - whose military strength comes from... where exactly??? Well we don't know. Only that they now have a lot of grunty trucks and mean-faced soldiers. By magic.
This is why it's worth watching: fabulous cityscapes and a brilliantly-realized physical world. Despite the holes, a story that holds together more than well enough to suspend disbelief and maintain interest. Ongoing moderately violent, gripping, fast and furious action sequences. Great performances - especially from Shailene Woodley - the viewer does invest in the characters and Tris is real up there on screen. Though it's true you can't quite buy her tossing around these bullocky guys twice her size. Two things re ending - can't quite see where they're going to go now. The story could quite easily just finish here very satisfactorily. And... the new baddie woman (Four's Mum)? just looks way too pretty standard issue Hollywood. No evil, no force of personality, a shallow realization. Can't believe the Factionless wouldn't just have trampled her underfoot in passing and not even noticed.
Bachelorette (2012)
Get off the fence
This film suffers from the fact that the three main characters are selfish, cruel, mean- spirited, self-pitying, shallow and hateful, plus they have nothing even remotely funny to say. They're so obnoxious, it kind of raises the question: is it even remotely likely that the bride, who appears to be relatively decent and wholly sane, would invite them to be bridesmaids at her wedding?
It's not enough to say that people are like that in the real world. In the real world I would never choose to spend time with people this dull, humourless and unkind. Even the key insult that sets in motion events - pig face - is totally witless. Symptomatic of entire movie: witless, pointless, lacking in intelligence, humour or likability. Save your money and time. I wouldn't spend five minutes in the same room as these obnoxious creeps, so why should I pay to watch them wallow in spite and stupidity at the movies? Didn't raise a single smile let alone a laugh. More like revulsion - and peeve that I'd paid good money to see it.
Unwatchably boring, couldn't even get to the end. Zero stars if they'd let me. As it is will have to give it one.