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Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated The Innocence Files in TV

Apr 8, 2021

The Innocence Files

2020 | Crime, Documentary

7.0

(2 Ratings)

TV Show Rating

A very interesting concept of highlighting criminal cases that an actual organisation called The Innocence Project is trying to overturn by exposing them on TV in documentary form. 3 sets of 3 episodes that focus on the evidence, the witnesses and the prosecution. Watching it in entirety will set you back a full 10 hours, so I recommend taking it in one at a time or in the sets of 3 it makes logical sense to group together. There is no through line exactly, only that they all share the distinct possibility of a huge injustice based on dodgy evidence, unreliable witnesses or a corrupt prosecution.

It is perhaps a little dry taken as a whole, but several of the individual stories are so obviously miscarriages of justice that it is worth observing just how easy it is for the system to get it grossly wrong, resulting in an innocent person serving a long sentence behind bars. As with a lot of these shows, the faith we should have in law and order is shaken to the core by what we can plainly see has happened. It is as terrifying as any crime in itself that if in the wrong place at the wrong time anyone could find themselves in the position of being accused and losing a large portion of their lives to the misery of pursuing freedom.

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) in Movies

Aug 26, 2019 (Updated Aug 26, 2019)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

1981 | Action, Adventure

8.9

(95 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Spielberg and Lucas' wonderful adventure shows you can ignore most of the accepted rules of screenwriting (the script here has some iffy plot devices, peculiar character moments, and the most literal deus ex machina ending in cinema history) and still end up with a virtually perfect movie. You can see how it appeals to the same desire for good-vs-evil escapism as Lucas' most famous creation, but there is an obvious love for the glamour and romance of Golden Age Hollywood here too, and a mysticism that in many way makes it the culmination of all the movies about faith Lucas and Spielberg made in the late 1970s (outside of horror films and biblical epics, this is one of the few mainstream movies predicated on the existence of God).

On one level this is essentially a succession of one set-piece after another, but what set-pieces they are - most movies would be happy to have one sequence like the one in the snake pit, or the plane fight, or the truck chase, and Spielberg cheerfully rattles them off without really pausing for breath. The film is also careful to take its time to establish character and humour, too. This is one of those movies where you can't help feeling that any changes would only end up spoiling it.