Change Your Image
PurgeClerk
Reviews
Gettysburg (1993)
Isn't this the best damn ground you've ever seen sir?
What I really like about this movie is the way it demonstrates how warfare was in those days..the importance of the grounds, the formation of troops, and the general strategies. In particular how communications and intelligence played a role. No radar, no phones, no re-con planes. How would you handle a 80 000 man army grouped together for a single battle?
One of the longest movies ever made with 261 minutes, don't expect it to be all out action and entertaining. There are a few scenes that are way too long with dialog that stresses the point that many of the soldiers on both sides felt the war was wrong since they all were Americans, and many knew each others. I don't mind that the movie is true to the figure of speech of the time, but sometimes the dialog and acting is just too theatrical, though most of the actors are credible.
I got bored on a few occasions, but altogether I think this may be the movie that shows the strategical aspects of the civil war best, as well as how the conflicting parts felt about the war.
Prisoner of Honor (1991)
Intelligent film, hidden gem for the right people.
First of all this movie is not for people who expect lots of graphical action and are into effects. However if you like an intelligent plot which works on many different levels and with good acting this is a hidden gem indeed.
Based on the true story of the Dreyfuss-affair which took place late 19th century when a french Captain is sentenced to life-imprisonment on Devil's Island.
I noticed in an earlier comment that someone posted that basically the movie is about getting the Jew..however that is a mistake..it is far more complicated than that. This movie is about the spirit of the army as well as the community in the era which this movie represents.
I found the movie to be one of the most intelligent and true which I have ever seen with a very credible cast who deliver their lines in a very realistic and profound manner. It is a semi-court drama to underline that this is not a movie with a lot of graphical action, and yes, it helps if you are into politics and morals.
You will see Richard Dreyfuss lay down some of his best work in this underrated movie.
If you do go see it, there is unfortunately a very easy to spot continuity error very early in the film. However, don't be intimidated by this, it is the only flaw I have noticed, the rest of the movie is error free.
Although this is not a masterpiece it is very well crafted, and somehow I found it to be out of the ordinary despite that it has a ordinary look to it. It woke up something inside of me, and in a way I found this movie even more emotional arousing than movies like ie. Schindler's List. A very nice touch to the the ending, and the movie will probably leave you with a few things to think about.
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Cultadventure, Not for everyone
This is a movie of great value and meaning for teenagers and young adults who grew up in it's time.
The main problem for me when I watched this the first time is that the storytelling is so liberal when it comes to boundaries of the genre that you don't really know what type of movie you're watching. At first you have the impression of adventure action, then comedy action, then hardcore action..furthermore it goes on to horror sci-fi and then back to comedy action again in a haze of genre confusion and settles down at something like adventure-horror-action-comedy.
That said, of course that type of storytelling is original in a sense, and all those unusual elements to it made it stand out as a cult film, and obviously a few people liked that, but to me it was always a downside. I was not satisfied with the story being so loosely hinged and unsecured that you have no idea what "scheme" to use when watching the movie. It was like the mixing of genres destroyed each others credibility.
I think the movie would be a lot better if they either cut out the comedy and based it as a horror action(i.e The Thing) movie or cut out the horror and base it as action adventure(i.e Escape from New York).
In addition the movie is a victim of evolution as the visual effects have been outdated years ago, which really isn't a bad FX gig, it's just that Big Trouble was made to rely heavily on special effects, and that at the time of release, the special effects were so new in style and cool that they never took the time to detail it on screen so that it would seem realistic in the future. A more conservative approach would definitely have payed off in my opinion.
Not timeless, still the movie holds some value with a few funny scenes as well as good martial arts scenes.