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Awix (3310 KP) rated Robin Hood (2018) in Movies

Nov 26, 2018 (Updated Nov 28, 2018)

Robin Hood (2018)

2018 | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

6.8

(66 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Bog-standard looks-like-a-computer-game action movie populated by a mixture of blandly good-looking non-actors and people who should probably know better; would have been forgettable tosh but for the fact that the Robin Hood name has inexplicably been plastered onto something bearing virtually zero resemblance to the legend.

Corrupt establishment has embarked upon a series of foreign wars for its own shady purposes, ordinary people are being screwed to pay for it all, plus their young men are being sent off to die. Good-hearted young chap gets his draft letter in the post and is sent off to Afghanistan, or so it seems, he gets sent home on the grounds of excess heroism only to find that someone has moved Nottingham sixty miles and it is now on the coast and has its own harbour. Needless to say he resolves to become a superhero with a secret identity and sort everything out.

The thing that will kill this movie for anyone who actually cares about the Robin Hood legend is that it seems to have no appreciation of the fact that Things Were Different In The Past, and is fairly up front about it: 'we're not going to bore you with history,' the script announces in so many words right at the start. Well, if you really think history is boring, possibly you shouldn't have tried to make a film with a historical setting, then, but thank-you for making your low opinion of your audience's intelligence obvious from the start.

All the things the legend is actually about, and most of the things you would automatically associate with it (sword-fights, the band of Merry Men, Sherwood Forest, King Richard's ransom) are chucked out in favour of a glib and opportunistic one-size-fits-all form of anti-capitalist and anti-establishment agitprop. You may argue that we've seen the classic version of the story so many times before, and this is about doing something new, but if you get rid of the Robin Hood element of the Robin Hood story, you're left with something pointless and stupid, which is really what we have here. The Disney version with the talking fox is much more entertaining, not to mention historically accurate.

Kudos

The Divine Comedy

Dante

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Robin Kirkpatrick's masterful verse translation of The Divine Comedy, tracing Dante's journey from...

Debbiereadsbook (1741 KP) rated Cabbages & Kings in Books

Feb 3, 2022

Cabbages & Kings

Morgan Sheppard | 2022 | Fiction & Poetry

9.0

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

wonderful retelling of a local legend

Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

As a Nottingham girl, I grew with tales of Robin Hood and his Merry Men. So, finding this tale having tipped those tales on their heads was a delight!

The story tells of Alana Dale, and her new husband, Will Scathlock and how they came to suffer at the hands of Robin and Guy, and just how, after all that, THEY came to be the bad guys!

This is a delightful tale, set in places in and around Nottinghamshire, so I know these places, and I love reading books about places I really know.

It's wonderfully written, with detailed descriptions of the things needed to get by, with Alana having ideas wise beyond her years, especially when it comes to health matters.

Alana is a strong-minded young lady (only 16 here!) and she will stand up for herself in a time when it wasn't the done thing. I loved Alana, and her teasing of Will, but to be fair, he gave as good as he got. Alana's deepest fears come to life here, and how she manages to hold it together to keep Will safe BEFORE she loses it, I have no idea.

There is some violence, Alana and Will's village is destroyed in the beginning of the book and the attack's aftermath is described in some detail. Because of this, I would class it as upper young adult, maybe 14+.

Tipping the Robin Hood legend on its head, Ms Sheppard made new heroes, and new bad guys. She tells of everyday life in Medieval England, and just how the common folk survived.

4 very good stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere

Kudos

Tim McGuire (301 KP) rated American Assassin (2017) in Movies

Apr 20, 2020

American Assassin (2017)

2017 | Action, Thriller

6.4

(35 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Superhero spy movie?

415. American Assassin. It was pretty brutal, I dug it. Once Michael Keaton enters the scene, I couldn't help but think it was 89' Bruce Wayne training Robin to be the next Batman! Anyways, on the day that Mitch decides to propose to his special lady friend, a terrorist organization decides to strike, opening fire in a crowded resort killing anyone that crosses their path. You may have guessed that Mitch's girl gets killed, Mitch himself is hit several times himself but survives. And now he wants revenge. Starts some intense training and some pretty decent covert ops stuff all by his lonesome, and this gets the attention of the CIA, and gets himself recruited by Sanaa Lathan, she knows a few things about warfare, she did fight side by side with a Predator against some Xenomorphs! She see's something special in Mitch and she sends him to Michael Keaton's character Batman and he trains Mitch to be an unstoppable killing machine. And when an old foe surfaces it's Batman and Robin to the rescue! Pretty action packed, fun to watch Mitch enjoying his new job to the fullest!! Do it!! Filmbufftim on FB!