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Awix (3310 KP) rated Mrs Lowry & Son (2019) in Movies
Sep 10, 2019 (Updated Sep 10, 2019)
It's Grim Up North
Biographical drama about the artist Lowry (he of matchstalk this-and-that fame); based on a stage play and it really does show. Middle-aged clerk Lowry works by day, tends to his clinging, unsympathetic mother in the evenings, and paints at night. Not entirely unlike a variation on Steptoe and Son, only without any jokes.
Well-played, naturally, and well-staged, naturally, but the scenes of the two of them in a small room together, with her crushing his dreams and obsessed with petty social concerns, quickly become repetitive: the brief sequences with Lowry articulating his thoughts on his art, occasionally recreating his paintings, are much more interesting. Watchable but a bit dull; doesn't really do Lowry's art justice.
Well-played, naturally, and well-staged, naturally, but the scenes of the two of them in a small room together, with her crushing his dreams and obsessed with petty social concerns, quickly become repetitive: the brief sequences with Lowry articulating his thoughts on his art, occasionally recreating his paintings, are much more interesting. Watchable but a bit dull; doesn't really do Lowry's art justice.
Carl & Jinger
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Carl & Jinger is an DIY HOW To Create Party Games and Lifestyle vlog Focused channel with skits,...
The Financial Crisis Reconsidered: The Mercantilist Origin of Secular Stagnation and Boom-Bust Cycles: 2016
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In The Financial Crisis Reconsidered, Aronoff challenges the conventional view that reckless credit...
Staging France Between the World Wars: Performance, Politics, and the Transformation of the Theatrical Canon
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Staging France between the World Wars analyzes the rise of the modernist aesthetic in French...
Awix (3310 KP) rated A Hill in Korea (Hell in Korea) (1956) in Movies
Feb 8, 2019
Gritty, old-school British war film, where keeping a stiff upper lip is at least as important as seeing off the enemy. During the Korean War, a patrol runs into trouble and must take shelter on a hill-top with no way down; the enemy close in. Sort of a bit like Zulu, I suppose, it certainly has the same sort of cast (many well-known faces on the way up) and feeling of sweaty heroism in extremis.
Good performances and well-staged, authentic-feeling action; Portugal stands in for Korea, not especially convincingly. Most likely a bit problematic by modern standards: cast consists entirely of white dudes, one of whom is unconvincingly made up to be the patrol's Korean guide. But it was the 1950s, after all.
Good performances and well-staged, authentic-feeling action; Portugal stands in for Korea, not especially convincingly. Most likely a bit problematic by modern standards: cast consists entirely of white dudes, one of whom is unconvincingly made up to be the patrol's Korean guide. But it was the 1950s, after all.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Troy (2004) in Movies
Mar 26, 2019
Hollywood retelling of the tale of Troy is just a bit better than you might expect in pretty much every department. Trojan prince Paris steals Greek queen Helen, leading to... does no-one read the Iliad any more? There's a lot of bother, let's put it that way.
Whole thing is handled in broad strokes and there are quite a few divergences from the traditional legend (the Trojan war lasts about a fortnight, not ten years, and you can forget any notion of Brad Pitt's Achilles being into, er, Greek-style romance, if you know what I mean), but overall this is fun, rousing stuff. Looking back on it now the various bits of political subtext not-so-subtly inserted into the film seem amusingly quaint more than anything else. A well-staged, classy blockbuster.
Whole thing is handled in broad strokes and there are quite a few divergences from the traditional legend (the Trojan war lasts about a fortnight, not ten years, and you can forget any notion of Brad Pitt's Achilles being into, er, Greek-style romance, if you know what I mean), but overall this is fun, rousing stuff. Looking back on it now the various bits of political subtext not-so-subtly inserted into the film seem amusingly quaint more than anything else. A well-staged, classy blockbuster.
Movie Metropolis (309 KP) rated X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) in Movies
Jun 10, 2019
Then it all came crashing down with 2006’s The Last Stand. All the fan favourites returned and the cast remains a highlight of this film, but everything else was such a mess. It didn’t help that Bryan Singer left the franchise and Fox brought in Brett Ratner, hardly renowned for his understated filming style. The Jean Grey side-plot was muddled, the special effects were poor and this was such a disservice to the fans who had stayed with the franchise for six years. To its credit however, the action was staged well and there were some very exciting set pieces that saved it from total oblivion. Unfortunately, Vinnie Jones as the Juggernaut was the final nail in this film’s coffin.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2019/06/01/the-entire-x-men-franchise-ranked/
https://moviemetropolis.net/2019/06/01/the-entire-x-men-franchise-ranked/
Awix (3310 KP) rated Flash Gordon (1980) in Movies
Feb 12, 2018
Post-Star Wars high-camp reimagining of the famous Alex Raymond sci-fi comic strip. Ming the Merciless, Emperor of the planet Mongo, terrorises the Earth; a mad scientist, a football player and a travel agent rocket themselves into space in an attempt to make him knock it off.
One of those movies where the ostensible leads are the least well-known people in it - everyone else has a great time overacting: the gold medal goes to Brian Blessed, who steals the entire movie as Vultan, Prince of the Hawk People. Visually lavish, with a strong script, lots of well-staged action for younger viewers, and tongue-in-cheek jokes aplenty for older people who ought to know better. Point knocked off for some inappropriately nasty violence; put straight back on again for Queen's soundtrack.
One of those movies where the ostensible leads are the least well-known people in it - everyone else has a great time overacting: the gold medal goes to Brian Blessed, who steals the entire movie as Vultan, Prince of the Hawk People. Visually lavish, with a strong script, lots of well-staged action for younger viewers, and tongue-in-cheek jokes aplenty for older people who ought to know better. Point knocked off for some inappropriately nasty violence; put straight back on again for Queen's soundtrack.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Dog Soldiers (2002) in Movies
Feb 12, 2018
Raucous and highly derivative low-budget werewolf movie. Director Neil Marshall went on to bigger and somewhat better movies, but this is a decent calling card.
A group of British squaddies on a training exercise run into a pack of werewolves in the Scottish highlands (as happens all the time, I expect); they take refuge in a remote farmhouse. What follows is largely composed of bits lifted from Evil Dead and Assault on Precinct 13, done with a great deal of enthusiasm by all concerned. Part of the fun of this kind of movie is being able to guess what's going to happen next; you may well be able to do so even if you haven't seen the same films that Marshall has. Well-staged gory action; rather impressive werewolf suits considering the low budget.
A group of British squaddies on a training exercise run into a pack of werewolves in the Scottish highlands (as happens all the time, I expect); they take refuge in a remote farmhouse. What follows is largely composed of bits lifted from Evil Dead and Assault on Precinct 13, done with a great deal of enthusiasm by all concerned. Part of the fun of this kind of movie is being able to guess what's going to happen next; you may well be able to do so even if you haven't seen the same films that Marshall has. Well-staged gory action; rather impressive werewolf suits considering the low budget.
King Henry V
Book
First staged in 1599, Shakespeare's history of Henry V's remarkable victory over the French at...