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Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Dream Horse (2021) in Movies
Jun 12, 2021
Ensemble cast (1 more)
Cinematography of racing scenes
My lovely lovely horse fails to fully engage
An extraordinary story of ambition against all the odds - based on a true story - will Dream Alliance fulfil the town's dreams, or will it all end in tears?
Positives:
- Toni Collette! Without her powerful acting presence at the heart of the piece, I think the movie would have died in a ditch. As for her Welsh accent I (as an Englishman) thought it was pretty good: on my 'Welshometer', using the scale of Richard Burton as a 10 to RDW's "Doctor Dolittle" as a 1, I'd give Ms Collette about an 8. The illustrious Mrs Movie Man (as a Welsh lady) was less impressed, but found her "tolerable" when mixed with the other Welsh-born actors!
- And what a wonderful supporting cast of well know names from all our yesterdays. Just so great to see the great Siân Phillips ("I, Claudius"), Lynda Baron ('Nurse Gladys' from "Open all Hours"), Peter Davison ("Doctor Who") and Nicholas Farrell ("Chariots of Fire") in the cast. It was also (as is traditional in these "true stories") for the actual people to appear alongside their acting counterparts in the end titles: Howard Davies in particular seemed to be chuffed to bits to be singing alongside Damien Lewis!
- Hats off to cinematographer Erik Wilson and Chris Bates (the "drone operator"), for some impressive shots. The camera angles from the turf-pumping racing scenes are very impressive.
Negatives:
- How did it make me feel? Very little at all. Which is a problem. The movie is so utterly predictable that I saw every element of the story play out way before it did. Did this happen in real life? In which case, that's annoying that life was so unrealistically predictable in its ups and downs!
- Elements of the story also felt formulaic: from the token comedy cranky old bloke (Karl Johnson) to Jan's brooding father-with-a-grudge. This latter element seems unnecessarily bolted onto the plot: poorly worked through and pretty superfluous.
Summary Thoughts on "Dream Horse": This is a feature debut for welsh-born Euros Lyn, most familiar (as a peculiar name) for popping up in the end credits of TV shows such as "Doctor Who", "Torchwood" and "His Dark Materials". And, as a great supporter of UK films, I really wanted to like this one. But it just didn't do it for me. It's also unfortunate that some of the subject material makes it unsuitable for the 6-to-8 year old horse fanatics... this is no "International Velvet".
I've seen some social media comments from people who adore the movie. And, to be clear, it's NOT a bad movie. I just personally didn't connect with me. Just goes to show that cinema really is 'horses for courses' sometimes!
(For the full graphical review, please check out the One Mann's Movies review here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2021/06/11/dream-horse-%e2%99%abi-want-to-shower-you-in-sugar-lumps-and-ride-you-over-fences%e2%99%ab/ . Thanks).
Positives:
- Toni Collette! Without her powerful acting presence at the heart of the piece, I think the movie would have died in a ditch. As for her Welsh accent I (as an Englishman) thought it was pretty good: on my 'Welshometer', using the scale of Richard Burton as a 10 to RDW's "Doctor Dolittle" as a 1, I'd give Ms Collette about an 8. The illustrious Mrs Movie Man (as a Welsh lady) was less impressed, but found her "tolerable" when mixed with the other Welsh-born actors!
- And what a wonderful supporting cast of well know names from all our yesterdays. Just so great to see the great Siân Phillips ("I, Claudius"), Lynda Baron ('Nurse Gladys' from "Open all Hours"), Peter Davison ("Doctor Who") and Nicholas Farrell ("Chariots of Fire") in the cast. It was also (as is traditional in these "true stories") for the actual people to appear alongside their acting counterparts in the end titles: Howard Davies in particular seemed to be chuffed to bits to be singing alongside Damien Lewis!
- Hats off to cinematographer Erik Wilson and Chris Bates (the "drone operator"), for some impressive shots. The camera angles from the turf-pumping racing scenes are very impressive.
Negatives:
- How did it make me feel? Very little at all. Which is a problem. The movie is so utterly predictable that I saw every element of the story play out way before it did. Did this happen in real life? In which case, that's annoying that life was so unrealistically predictable in its ups and downs!
- Elements of the story also felt formulaic: from the token comedy cranky old bloke (Karl Johnson) to Jan's brooding father-with-a-grudge. This latter element seems unnecessarily bolted onto the plot: poorly worked through and pretty superfluous.
Summary Thoughts on "Dream Horse": This is a feature debut for welsh-born Euros Lyn, most familiar (as a peculiar name) for popping up in the end credits of TV shows such as "Doctor Who", "Torchwood" and "His Dark Materials". And, as a great supporter of UK films, I really wanted to like this one. But it just didn't do it for me. It's also unfortunate that some of the subject material makes it unsuitable for the 6-to-8 year old horse fanatics... this is no "International Velvet".
I've seen some social media comments from people who adore the movie. And, to be clear, it's NOT a bad movie. I just personally didn't connect with me. Just goes to show that cinema really is 'horses for courses' sometimes!
(For the full graphical review, please check out the One Mann's Movies review here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2021/06/11/dream-horse-%e2%99%abi-want-to-shower-you-in-sugar-lumps-and-ride-you-over-fences%e2%99%ab/ . Thanks).
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Louise (64 KP) rated I'll Be Home for Christmas in Books
Jul 2, 2018
I specifically left this book till December to get me into the Christmas spirit.
I love reading short story collections, it’s a great way to find new YA authors and sample their writing.
‘I’ll be home for Christmas’ is a collaboration of UKYA authors and their stories of young adults and what ‘HOME’ means to them. I loved that this book has several genres including science fiction, Horror and Contemporary with such diverse characters. We have refugees, race and sexuality being explored and there was something for everyone to enjoy. I obviously had my favourites in this book and it was surprising that it was the horror, it was so intense and atmospheric and definitely got my pulse racing and that was Claws by Thomas Becker. There was not one story that I disliked in this book and after each story was finished I was left wanting more. I will definitely be purchasing my own copy of this book. There are 15 short stories/poems in this book including a competition winner.
This book is heartwarming and heart wrenching at the same time and definitely recommend reading.
Stripes teamed up with the charity Crises for this book to raise awareness of the hardships young people are facing today. This book is definitely impactful and made me think of the people who are less fortunate and homeless, £1 from every sale is donated to the charity.
*I received a E-copy of this book from Netgalley and Stripes in exchange for an honest opinion.*
I love reading short story collections, it’s a great way to find new YA authors and sample their writing.
‘I’ll be home for Christmas’ is a collaboration of UKYA authors and their stories of young adults and what ‘HOME’ means to them. I loved that this book has several genres including science fiction, Horror and Contemporary with such diverse characters. We have refugees, race and sexuality being explored and there was something for everyone to enjoy. I obviously had my favourites in this book and it was surprising that it was the horror, it was so intense and atmospheric and definitely got my pulse racing and that was Claws by Thomas Becker. There was not one story that I disliked in this book and after each story was finished I was left wanting more. I will definitely be purchasing my own copy of this book. There are 15 short stories/poems in this book including a competition winner.
This book is heartwarming and heart wrenching at the same time and definitely recommend reading.
Stripes teamed up with the charity Crises for this book to raise awareness of the hardships young people are facing today. This book is definitely impactful and made me think of the people who are less fortunate and homeless, £1 from every sale is donated to the charity.
*I received a E-copy of this book from Netgalley and Stripes in exchange for an honest opinion.*
JT (287 KP) rated Arctic (2019) in Movies
Mar 10, 2020
Survival films have the ability to give us a sense of false hope by dragging us through a gut wrenching narrative that will ultimately end in heartache. Even right up until the final moments we still cling to the hope that a recuse will come.
Arctic takes us to a desolate and frozen landscape where there is no signs of life – that is until we meet Overgård (Mads Mikkelsen) whose plane has crashed in an environment that offers no chance of escape. We don’t know how long he has been there, but can deduce it must be some time given his efficient method for catching and storing fish and that the crashed shell of his plane almost seems homely.
He understands more than enough to survive showcasing map reading and technical skills to battle the elements. Through driving snow he has the determination to manually crank a radio system in the hope of catching a signal. I’m a massive fan of Mikkelsen whose calm facial expressions still give me nightmares after watching the hit series Hannibal in which he was fantastic.
Here those expressions are more pained than sinister as Overgård has to make a decision as to whether to stay put, or make the perilous journey to find rescue. The introduction of a second character makes that decision for him and armed with whatever he can carry and pull on a sled, he sets out into the bleak and unforgiving wilderness. With limited dialogue this minimalist survival thriller will set pulses racing to the end.
Arctic takes us to a desolate and frozen landscape where there is no signs of life – that is until we meet Overgård (Mads Mikkelsen) whose plane has crashed in an environment that offers no chance of escape. We don’t know how long he has been there, but can deduce it must be some time given his efficient method for catching and storing fish and that the crashed shell of his plane almost seems homely.
He understands more than enough to survive showcasing map reading and technical skills to battle the elements. Through driving snow he has the determination to manually crank a radio system in the hope of catching a signal. I’m a massive fan of Mikkelsen whose calm facial expressions still give me nightmares after watching the hit series Hannibal in which he was fantastic.
Here those expressions are more pained than sinister as Overgård has to make a decision as to whether to stay put, or make the perilous journey to find rescue. The introduction of a second character makes that decision for him and armed with whatever he can carry and pull on a sled, he sets out into the bleak and unforgiving wilderness. With limited dialogue this minimalist survival thriller will set pulses racing to the end.
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