Search

Search only in certain items:

40x40

Awix (3310 KP) rated Journey's End (2018) in Movies

Feb 7, 2018 (Updated Feb 9, 2018)  
Journey's End (2018)
Journey's End (2018)
2018 | Drama, War
Trench to Nowhere
Handsomely mounted and very well-performed war drama that does a good job of hiding its low budget. Made to mark the centenary of the (fictionalised) events it depicts, the focus is very much on the characters of the men in the front line of war, rather than action and adventure - when fighting takes place, it is confused and chaotic, and preceded by an almost palpable sense of dread.

There's a way in which this film adheres to the received narrative when it comes to the First World War, which is that it was a pointless slaughter in which a generation of young men were callously sacrificed by unfeeling senior staff, but this is not overplayed and the uniformly fine acting means that the focus is always on the individuals involved, rather than laboriously sending a message.

The fact that pretty much every speaking role goes to a white male means this is a film which is probably going to struggle to get traction with modern audiences and commentators, but it remains a sincere and powerful piece of drama.
  
Blood and Honour (Forest Kingdom #2)
Blood and Honour (Forest Kingdom #2)
Simon R Green | 1992 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is an old favourite of mine, set in the same world as Simon R Green's earlier Blue Moon Rising but just, well, seemingly missing something compared to that earlier novel.

I struggle to put my hand on what that something is, though.

In this, a down on his luck actor - 'The Great Jordan' - is hired to impersonate Price Victor, one of the three claimants to the throne of Redhart following the mysterious death of its former incumbent, and after the chaos of The Demon War, which is really only mentioned in passing, with a few cameos from characters from said war.

None of the three claimants, however, are particularly nice characters ...

Cue a mix of magic and mayhem, with an outsiders view of the politics played in the courts of those high in the land, a few twists and turns - some of which you can see coming a mile and a half off, but others of which you (or, at least, I) didn't the first time around.

Then again, I was in my early teens that first time around ...