Search
Search results
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Eagle Has Landed (1976) in Movies
May 22, 2018 (Updated May 22, 2018)
Pretty reasonable, slightly silly all-star war movie; the Germans attempt to bring the Allies to the negotiating table by kidnapping Churchill. Sent on this improbable mission is Michael Caine's decent paratrooper officer and his men, and ridiculously Irish IRA man Donald Sutherland. Spoiler alert: Germany still loses the war.
Good performances, mostly, and some well-staged action in the closing sections of the film; what's curious about it is the way that the Germans are mostly presented sympathetically, at least as much as the British and American characters. It's a war movie without bad guys, but without much sense of moral or emotional investment either - as a result it's enjoyable as a piece of action cinema, but rather shallow. (It doesn't feel like the moral ambiguity is a deliberate creative choice: Caine thought the director was more interested in going fishing than in overseeing the final edit.) Fun in a disposable sort of way; you could be forgiven for expecting more, given the talent involved.
Good performances, mostly, and some well-staged action in the closing sections of the film; what's curious about it is the way that the Germans are mostly presented sympathetically, at least as much as the British and American characters. It's a war movie without bad guys, but without much sense of moral or emotional investment either - as a result it's enjoyable as a piece of action cinema, but rather shallow. (It doesn't feel like the moral ambiguity is a deliberate creative choice: Caine thought the director was more interested in going fishing than in overseeing the final edit.) Fun in a disposable sort of way; you could be forgiven for expecting more, given the talent involved.
Elli H Burton (1288 KP) rated Snatch (2001) in Movies
Jun 14, 2019
Do ya like dags?
The direction is fantastic, Guy Richie is such an amazing Director! The introduction scene with the diamond is awesome, the music is perfect and the story is brilliant.
Brad Pitt was rumoured to have approached Guy Richie after Lock Stock, but he couldn't get the cockney accent right so he was cast as Mickey. When someone told me (before I had seen it) that an American was playing an Irish Traveller I was seriously sceptical. No need to be, he did it perfectly.
The story flows so well and the way everyone links together works so well, that kind of storyline can fall apart but it goes smoothly and keeps you interested right until the end.
An awesome film everyone should atleast try and watch - it might not be everyones cup of tea but it should be tried.
Brad Pitt was rumoured to have approached Guy Richie after Lock Stock, but he couldn't get the cockney accent right so he was cast as Mickey. When someone told me (before I had seen it) that an American was playing an Irish Traveller I was seriously sceptical. No need to be, he did it perfectly.
The story flows so well and the way everyone links together works so well, that kind of storyline can fall apart but it goes smoothly and keeps you interested right until the end.
An awesome film everyone should atleast try and watch - it might not be everyones cup of tea but it should be tried.
Andy K (10823 KP) rated Hanna (2011) in Movies
Feb 2, 2018
Did you know that "Lady Bird" star Saoirse Ronan and "Darkest Hour" director, Joe Wright, teamed up for this fantastic action/thriller in 2011?
Within the wilderness of Finland, A teenage girl is raised by her CIA father to be the perfect assassin. She is then sent on a killing spree across Europe while pursued by other agents and Cate Blanchett.
The intensity of the action scenes and the cat-and-mouse aspects of the chases are really top notch. As I get to know the work of Saoirse Ronan, I love her more and more. Especially her ability with foreign accents (she is really very Irish)
I have to also mention the camera work and structure of much of the film is unique. You do not feel like you have seen this type of film before.
Give it a chance. You will not be disappointed!
Within the wilderness of Finland, A teenage girl is raised by her CIA father to be the perfect assassin. She is then sent on a killing spree across Europe while pursued by other agents and Cate Blanchett.
The intensity of the action scenes and the cat-and-mouse aspects of the chases are really top notch. As I get to know the work of Saoirse Ronan, I love her more and more. Especially her ability with foreign accents (she is really very Irish)
I have to also mention the camera work and structure of much of the film is unique. You do not feel like you have seen this type of film before.
Give it a chance. You will not be disappointed!
Awix (3310 KP) rated Barry Lyndon (1975) in Movies
Jun 27, 2018
Famously demanding costume drama/endurance challenge from Stanley Kubrick. Handsome but dimwitted Irish lad does his thinking with the wrong body parts, becomes fugitive from justice, soldier, duellist, deserter, gambler, and spy before marrying into money; his attempts to climb further up society's tree go badly wrong.
Sounds like a rollicking tale, but many will probably find the, erm, stately pace at which events unfold to be rather punishing; there's also the problem that Ryan O'Neal is basically just an absence of hiatus in the middle of the film - you never really care about Barry Lyndon himself. On the other hand, the film is stuffed with wonderful character cameos and subtly magical moments, and the appearance of the thing is utterly gorgeous. If you're prepared to treat the film essentially as a visual feast peppered with incidental pleasures such as Leonard Rossiter's dancing or the climactic duel, then you will probably find it rather mesmerising - as a conventional piece of entertainment, probably less so.
Sounds like a rollicking tale, but many will probably find the, erm, stately pace at which events unfold to be rather punishing; there's also the problem that Ryan O'Neal is basically just an absence of hiatus in the middle of the film - you never really care about Barry Lyndon himself. On the other hand, the film is stuffed with wonderful character cameos and subtly magical moments, and the appearance of the thing is utterly gorgeous. If you're prepared to treat the film essentially as a visual feast peppered with incidental pleasures such as Leonard Rossiter's dancing or the climactic duel, then you will probably find it rather mesmerising - as a conventional piece of entertainment, probably less so.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Stan & Ollie (2018) in Movies
Jan 21, 2019
Surely-long-overdue Laurel and Hardy bio-pic focuses on their tour of British and Irish music halls in the early 50s, presumably because this is a low-ish budget British film. A sixty-something Stan and Ollie have to try and persuade the world they haven't died or retired just yet while waiting for the finance on a new movie to come together and coping with some long-standing tensions in their relationship.
Movie does a pretty good job of balancing what you'd expect from a L&H movie (timeless slapstick, perfectly performed) with less obvious and more dramatic material (some of the boys' personal foibles, amongst other things). The thing it does better than any other movie I can think of is capture the feeling of what it's like to be in a successful double act, and all the positives and negatives that go with it. Very good performances from Reilly and Coogan, clearly made with affection and skill; well worth watching.
Movie does a pretty good job of balancing what you'd expect from a L&H movie (timeless slapstick, perfectly performed) with less obvious and more dramatic material (some of the boys' personal foibles, amongst other things). The thing it does better than any other movie I can think of is capture the feeling of what it's like to be in a successful double act, and all the positives and negatives that go with it. Very good performances from Reilly and Coogan, clearly made with affection and skill; well worth watching.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Star Trek: Picard in TV
Apr 27, 2020
The latest big-budget generic sci-fi series to have the Star Trek brand on it in an attempt to secure an audience. Ex-Admiral Picard meets the hot young daughter of his dead android mate and goes off to help save her twin sister with a bunch of young actors who are cheaper to employ than the ones playing his actual friends.
Not quite as mad as Discovery, and seeing the old characters again (mostly in cameos) is undeniably affecting for those of us who were there thirty years ago. But the plotting is laborious and lazy, and we seem to have lost the idea that the whole point of Star Trek is that things will improve and be different in the future: regardless of the odd ways in which this setting doesn't really match canon, this lot just act like 21st century folks in fancy dress. I'm not even going to get started on the F-bombing Starfleet Admiral or the Irish and Australian Romulans.
Not quite as mad as Discovery, and seeing the old characters again (mostly in cameos) is undeniably affecting for those of us who were there thirty years ago. But the plotting is laborious and lazy, and we seem to have lost the idea that the whole point of Star Trek is that things will improve and be different in the future: regardless of the odd ways in which this setting doesn't really match canon, this lot just act like 21st century folks in fancy dress. I'm not even going to get started on the F-bombing Starfleet Admiral or the Irish and Australian Romulans.
Glosbe Dictionary
Education and Reference
App
Glosbe is a multilingual dictionary. It covers ALL languages and is developed by the community, just...
The Queen's Agent: Francis Walsingham at the Court of Elizabeth I
8.0
Rate It
Book
Elizabeth I came to the throne at a time of insecurity and unrest. Rivals threatened her reign;...
The Crying of the Wind: Ireland
Stewart Lee and Ithell Colquhoun
Book
The British surrealist painter and writer Ithell Colquhoun recalls episodes from her travels in...
TE
The Encryption of Finnegans Wake Resolved: W. T. Stead
Book
At risk of life and reputation, the reform journalist W. T. Stead (1849-1912) exposed child vice and...