glennwalsh44 Reviews

Black Mirror: Metalhead (2017) Season 4, Episode 5

Prescient And Disturbing

[10/10 · 3 January 2024]

'Metalhead' is by far the best of the Black Mirror series, but I understand why many people didn't get it when it was first released. I'm watching the BBC 2023 Christmas Lectures on the subject of AI and have just been assured that the manufacturer of a robot dog have strict regulations around their product being weaponised. I don't doubt that, but there are a lot of bad actors in the world so it won't be long until someone does it and the world of 'Metalhead' could be a reality.

In terms of production, the Dartmoor location (why is it supposed to be Scotland?), stark black and white film, and tight editing make for a minor science fiction classic.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Oscar must have eaten the bagel

[2/10 · 19 March 2023]

If you want an intelligent film about the 'what ifs' of life, watch Krzysztof Kieslowski's excellent 'Przypadek' or Tom Tykwer's 'Lola Rennt', but whatever you do stay well clear of this nonsense. At 140 minutes it is at least an hour overlong and suffers from the worst crime in cinema of being boring. Puerile humour, action pieces straight out of the Marvel playbook and inane dialogue all contributed to making this a very poor effort.

Many reviewers have stated that the central premise is original, which just shows how little science fiction writing they are familiar with. Even 'Family Guy' did a much funnier job with Stewie and Brian's interdimensional antics.

How this mess was worthy of 7 Oscars is beyond me. I'm off to watch 'Lawrence of Arabia', 'The Godfather' and 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' to remind myself that there was a time the Academy recognised craft and talent.

One last thing, this film needs a warning for people with photosensitivity, which was not on Amazon. There are several almost subliminal sequences which could easily trigger a seizure.

Rogue Heroes (2022–2024)

Good action, but woefully inaccurate.

[7/10 · 5 November 2022]

To me this is in a similar space to 'Titanic'. It's a Hollywood ripping yarn, but if you want a historically-accurate account watch 'A Night To Remember'.

My uncle was under-manager of the huge Ritz cinema in Belfast in the 1950s and met Paddy Mayne on several occasions. My uncle had a brilliant story to tell involving Belfast's hardest man and street fighter 'Silver' McKee, but that's a pub story and you haven't bought me a pint.

So what's my point?

Jack O'Donnell's portrayal of Mayne is just ridiculous to the point that no research can have gone into the character. He's playing Mayne like a street fighter from Belfast's Sandy Row, while the real Mayne came from a wealthy family and was privately-educated. Mayne played rugby for Ireland at a time when that was the preserve of the upper-middle class and above, I ought to know because my grandfather was capped for Ireland in the early part of the 20th century.

O'Donnell's accent is all over the place, Belfast for a few seconds, then County Kerry and then a bit of South Dublin, but at no time a well-educated chap from Newtownards.

If you aren't going to cast a local, at least find someone prepared to do some research and work with a voice coach who understands the complexities of the various Ulster accents.

Rampage (2009)

Has aged well

[8/10 · 11 September 2022]

I've stayed away from Uwe Bohl's films on the basis of reviews on IMDB, but when 'Rampage' appeared on Amazon Prime and I happened to have a free Sunday morning I gave it a go.

'Rampage' is much, much better than I expected, in fact a, surprisingly intelligent film with flashes of black humour as well as a decent insight into the mind of a the protagonist.

When the film was released in 2009 it probably seemed extreme, but since then we have had real-life incidents in Miami, Las Vegas, Norway and New Zealand on a similar scale.

There are nods to 'Elephant' and 'Arlington Road' although the director's style is frenetic, but not overly so. I would have no hesitation recommending 'Rampage' definitely worth 90 minutes of your time.

Tin Star (2017–2020)

Watch Series One. Then Stop!

[5/10 · 30 July 2022]

The first series was good and held my attention so much that I binged it, which is unusual for me. I didn't get to watch the second series until more than two years later and was left wondering if it was the same show.

The problem is that the writers couldn't decide if this was a realistic revengers drama, some sort of extreme black comedy or something else and what we were left with was a bit of a mess.

By series 3 it had descended into ultra violent farce and I only watched it for the locations because I'd recently been on a lad's weekend to Liverpool. We also arrived from Belfast on the boat and Birkenhead is more exciting than Liverpool to be honest, some mad pubs there.

Tim Roth is just, well, Tim Roth. I recently got hold of 'Made In Britain' on DVD and Jack is just skinhead Trevor who has somehow got into the Met and become a spycop. Quite believable come to think of it.

If you want a quality crime drama set in Liverpool, where the line for black comedy is understood, watch the exceptional 'The Responder' from the BBC instead.

Series 3 of Tin Star is just not Worth the effort.

Repo Man (1984)

I read Diuretics and it changed my life.

[10/10 · 17 April 2022]

Back in 1985 I went to stay with some student mates in Scotland for a week of R&R and these guys introduced me to the genius of 'Repo Man'. They had rented the video from the local store so many times that the owner gave them the tape and it was put on most nights after returning to their pad after an evening's substance abuse and associated mayhem. It had become their 'Rocky Horror' joining in with the movie and singing along to the great punk songs.

A few years later I taped the film off the BBC2 Alex Cox Videodrome strand and it was the bonkers 'melon farmer' version. I lost the tape years ago (I think my ex-wife threw it in the bin) so imagine my delight when the latest Blu Ray was released with this version included, which as others have said only adds to the surrealism of the film.

I'm not even going to try and describe the film, it defies that, just watch and enjoy.

A Belfast Story (2013)

Could have been quite good.

[2/10 · 12 April 2022]

The central premise of the story isn't bad, but the film is so full of factual errors it's just laughable.

Since 'Ma & Da' from local comedy troupe The Hole In The Wall Gang appear, maybe that was deliberate.

HERE BE SPOILERS

Reserve RUC/PSNI officers would never be assigned to assist a senior investigator, that would be a job for a detective sergeant.

Then I noticed all the police uniforms seemed to have Rs on them, so I guess someone got a load of old reserve uniforms cheap. There also seemed to be a shortage of background performers so all the extras must have been working on Game of Thrones that day.

I could go on, but I won't. Avoid.

Elephant (1989 TV Movie)

The banality of murder.

[10/10 · 23 March 2022]

I grew up in Northern Ireland and this is still the most realistic depiction of sectarian murder put on film. It is the very banality that makes this so shocking, but that's how it was.

Watch as a companion piece to 'Contact'.

Birth of a Nation (1983 TV Movie)

Still relevant 40 years later.

[10/10 · 26 December 2021]

I just watched 'Birth of a Nation' again for the first time in over 30 years after buying the DVD set. This is the film that led me into becoming a teacher along with Leila Berg's book 'Risinghill - Death of a Comprehensive School'. In fact, the sex education scene in BOAN was almost certainly inspired by an identical real-life lesson described in Berg's book. There was a time, many years ago, when the likes of Loach, Clarke, Watkins, Jackson & Hines and of course Leland used television as a medium to try and change society for the better, and amazingly the BBC and ITV (and C4) backed them. Now we are fed a diet of repetitive thrillers and unreaity shows so that the 1% can maintain their dominance and keep the rest of us in perpetual serfdom. Television has truly become the opiate of the people, just as well we have DVDs and the BFI.

So You Think You've Got Troubles (1991)

There's a reason this has never been repeated.

[3/10 · 27 June 2020]

There's an old Belfast joke involving a Hindu looking for a job which I won't repeat, but basically this woeful series is that joke expanded and with Jews replacing Hindus. It's hard to believe it was made to be honest it is so bad. I'm only giving it three stars because people I know including my own brother turned up in the series as extras. "Foreign Bodies" from the BBC was much better and deserves a repeat showing sometimesometime, this is best forgotten.

Q.E.D.: A Guide to Armageddon (1982) Season 1, Episode 8

Should Be Shown Again

[10/10 · 14 June 2020]

The power of this short documentary both then and now lies in the matter-of-fact approach to nuclear Armageddon. Fact being the key word. The facts of a 1-megaton airburst are detailed in three sections backed by very sound scientific advice. Only in the last few minutes is any appeal made to the viewer's emotions, but by then the viewer is shell-shocked by what they have just seen. I agree with earlier commentators that this would have made an excellent (almost essential) companion piece to Threads on a Blu-Ray release perhaps with a 'Casualties' from the Protect and Survive series of never-shown public information films or the Paxman Panorama special 'If The Bomb Drops'. Chilling.

Tales from the Loop (2020)

Feature, not a series

[3/10 · 17 May 2020]

If you have insomnia, this just might cure it!

Beautifully shot and some good acting talent, but there are just about enough ideas to fill a feature film, not an 8 episode series. It is a classic example of style over content and that wears thin very quickly. I saw a review comparing this to 'Stranger Things', but apart from the 80s setting that's it. 'Stranger Things' has characterisation, atmosphere and above all excellent storytelling, unfortunately 'Tales From The Loop' doesn't. Buy a copy of 'Generation Zero' for your games console, much more entertaining!

Under the Skin (I) (2013)

Interesting, but not Under the Skin

[8/10 · 16 February 2020]

Like so many film adaptations, this is not the book it is based on. Leaving most of the important character development and plot points from the novel behind, Glazer replaces them with a faux-guerrilla filmmaking approach. As a standalone film this works up to a point, but as an adaptation of an excellent science-fiction novel it fails. That said, the bit with that lad runnning bare-arsed through the fields is unintentionally hilarious.

Dead Man's Shoes (2004)

Chaine Stoking

[10/10 · 19 January 2020]

Probably the best British film of the 2000s and shot on a tiny budget. It's hard to know where to start in reviewing 'Dead Man's Shoes', but from the opening credits with that haunting track by Smog you'll be hooked.

Antichrist (2009)

Genuinely Disturbing

[10/10 · 12 October 2019]

Antichrist is the only film I've ever seen that made be sit up in shock and believe me I have seen a lot of films. This is Von Trier at his disruptive, challenging best.

Wings of Desire (1987)

Gentle

[10/10 · 4 October 2019]

Beautifully shot, gentle film where Berlin is as much a part of the cast as the actors. There is so much to recommend the film, just make sure and see it yourself.

Culloden (1964 TV Movie)

Brings the battle to life.

[10/10 · 13 August 2018]

I took my son to Culloden a few years ago and we took in the visitors' centre and walked the battlefield. All very interesting, but it wasn't until we watched Watkins's 'Culloden' that the full story of the Jacobite uprising, the battle and atrocities afterwards came to life. My son thought it was excellent and he doesn't generally enjoy anything in black and white! We were back in Scotland this year at Glenfinnan and again ended up talking about the film 'Culloden', it's that good.

Love (I) (2011)

Shows what can be done with a minimal budget

[10/10 · 10 March 2017]

I read online that the budget for Love was $500,000. At a personal level this would be a nice lottery win, but in the film industry just a catering budget. The result is impressive to say the least, especially the Civil War scenes, which are incredible, a bravura piece of inventive film-making and editing that looks like it cost millions. The story isn't entirely original, but it is handled in an interesting way that maintains interest to the last frame. A good companion piece to Solaris (the Soviet version) for a sci-fi double bill.

Sunshine (2007)

Short on ideas

[2/10 · 3 May 2010]

There have been a lot of positive reviews for this film, but I suspect that these are from people who aren't that familiar with classic sci-fi. My impression of 'Sunshine' was that it is devoid of new ideas and just cherry picks from other much superior films from the past 40 years. Take a pinch of '2001,' chuck in a bit of 'Alien' and a drop of 'Event Horizon' and then simmer with assorted bits and pieces from a dozen other films and you get this mess. It would be bearable if the film knew its place. but it has pretensions way beyond what it delivers. Boyle did pretty much the same thing with '28 Days Later' and (sort of) got away with it because that film was low-budget and low-pretension and quite fun, whereas 'Sunshine' strives for an epic quality that ends up as meaningless drivel. The switch from sci-fi adventure to 'horror-in-space' two-thirds of the way through is particularly jarring and seemed to be pandering to the popcorn brigade.

Two marks for special effects, but sfx do not a great film make. Overall a disappointment, but not a surprise.

The Road (I) (2009)

Better than I could have wished for

[9/10 · 22 January 2010]

I've read 'The Road' about five times and consider it a modern classic and well-deserving of its Pulitzer Prize. When I heard that it was to be adapted into a film I had mixed feelings, but when I saw the cast and heard about the time being spent on the production I was prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt.

My wife and I went to see the film last week and I'm not embarrassed to say we both came out of the cinema in tears. It has been many years since I have watched something so emotionally engaging and at the same time draining on screen and although it is hard to say it, in some respects the film is actually better than the book. Kodi Smit-McPhee's performance is incredible and all through the film I kept thinking of my own son and how I would acquit myself in the same situation. My wife said that she would not have behaved the way Charlize's character did (she's a country girl and a bit of a survivor), but she fully understood why the mother did what she felt she had to do and in its own way it was part of the survival story.

The characters were rounded and more realistic when brought to life on screen, a little less inward-looking and I felt I was travelling the road with them. My only criticism of the film was that I felt it had been cut for length reasons and perhaps certification and hope that somewhere out there exists a full-length cut that might make its way to a DVD some day.

There are some scenes that will live with me for a long time and one in particular that moved me possibly more than anything I have seen on screen in years. This is finely-crafted story-telling of a sort that Hollywood seemed to have all but forgotten about.

For those looking for a post-apocalyptic sci-fi yarn, stay at home. This film is not 'The Road Warrior' or even 'A Boy And His Dog,' but only uses the setting to tell a deeper tale of the love between a father and son, loss, humanity and redemption. The setting is an extreme version of the western world (the US), but this is a story that could have realistically come from Bosnia, Iraq, Rwanda or anywhere else where people have been forced to flee for their very lives. For something comparable, but less accessible, consider 'The Time Of The Wolf' by Michael Haneke, set in a post-apocalyptic France.

Children of Men (2006)

A great film, but not 'The Children of Men'

[10/10 · 21 September 2006]

This is a very difficult review to write, because I am torn in two very opposite directions over this film, its relationship to P. D. James' book and the political statements it makes.

As a film, it is probably the best piece of British cinema made in years. It is extremely well shot, obviously had a decent budget and the attention to future detail has you scouring the screen to make sure you miss nothing. There are two long single takes that are technical tours de force and one in particular will probably go down in cinema history. These takes, filmed with hand-held cameras had me thinking of Stanley Kubrick and that perhaps he at last has a worthy successor.

Clive Owen gives a career-defining performance and is the ultimate reluctant hero and Michael Caine is just wonderful and obviously enjoying himself immensely. The supporting cast, especially Ferris and Mullan are excellent and inject the film with a useful dose of humour and colour.

Unfortunately, great cinematograpghy and even great acting does not a great film make. That has to lie in the story.

In the opening credits it reads 'Based on the book by P. D. James' and therein lies the problem. The additional words 'very loosely' should probably have been included. James' story is one of great beauty and is concerned primarily with the cycle of life, of death and re-birth and there is an overt spiritual element to the book. The screenplay abandons most of this and instead becomes a polemic statement about the treatment of illegal immigrants. The issue of universal infertility, the centrepoint to the book, is buried under these political statements to the point where it is barely relevant.

Whether or not you will be emotionally engaged by this film will ultimately depend on your views on immigration and can accept that at any point in the future the UK, with the most liberal attitude to immigration in the western world, would ever start to close its shores.

Perhaps the director's nationality has something to do with this, I could understand that and empathise with it, but why not give the film a different name, a slightly different scenario and make a better film for it.

As someone with personal experience of infertility, I expected to have my heart strings tugged by this one, but it didn't happen because the film isn't about infertility or the effect it would have on our society. James' story goes into lots of detail on how people cope with having no children and it is this that shapes their attitudes. The film has none of this except the odd nod and even the Quietus, a key element in the book, is reduced to almost nothing and not even properly explained.

Finally far too many points of plot are left unresolved. Maybe this is an attempt to highlight the confusion of the times, but I found it frustrating and a destraction. A few important things appeared to happen for no particular reason except perhaps as the set-up to a piece of action.

Definitely worth seeing, but read the book if you really want to explore the concept.

8/10 for technical achievement and acting. 5/10 for writing.

Devil's Rock (1938)

Nonsense, but I like it!

[7/10 · 5 January 2006]

"The Devil's Rock" is a really strange two-reeler from the late 1930s and not really of much interest to anyone not from Northern Ireland, but as my family lived where it was made I have an affection for the film.

It is a typical Richard Hayward affair with a mixture of songs and blarney tied together by the most contrived 'plot' ever to reach celluloid Hayward allegedly secured finance for the film by agreeing to include various elements in a sort of 'product placement' deal, so the plot meanders to include these. Hence you have the Tonic cinema, at the time the largest in Northern Ireland, standing in as the Craigadown village hall! There are several scenes filmed around Bangor and both Pickie Pool and the Crawfordsburn Inn make an appearance, but most of the action was filmed around Cushendun, which looks little different today as it did in 1938. The cast are much the same players that appeared in "The Early Bird," but here struggling with the amateurish script and confused plot.

"Motorboat Ahoy!!"

The War Game (1966)

Essential viewing

[10/10 · 3 September 2004]

I saw The War Game thanks to my local branch of CND in 1979 when they showed it in a hall in our town. My mum was vehemently anti-communist so I had to sneak out to see it. The local paper kicked up at 14-year olds being encouraged to see an 'X' film. Was it worth the fuss? Yes, without a doubt. I had already seen Watkin's definitive 'Culloden' earlier that year and was bowled over by the documentary style applied to a drama, but The War Game surpassed even that. I will never forget the scenes of the helmeted English bobbies shooting people in the head to put them out of their misery, or the bucket full of wedding rings or most of all, the line of kids being asked what they wanted to be when they grew up and the replies of 'nuffink.'

For me, that summed up the futility of war, nuclear or otherwise.

'Threads' is good, but 'The War Game' is still the best portrayal of a nuclear attack on Britain ever made. It should be shown more often.

The Early Bird (1936)

A wee gem

[10/10 · 19 September 2003]

Although probably not of much interest to anyone outside of County Antrim, this is a little gem of a film all the same. Very undemanding, but genuinely quite funny in places, 'The Early Bird' proves that there was an Ulster film industry at one time. My favourite character has to be the slow-witted Archie Macready ('your not sorry you're for the soiree, Shusan?') with the drunken vet a close second.

The Final Option (1982)

Good honest hokum!

[8/10 · 22 August 2003]

I read the book that inspired this film, 'The Tiptoe Boys,' and to be honest, I prefer the film to the book, which is unusual. The movie is a bit over-long, but the characters are quite well developed and the action sequences are among the best in any UK production and highly realistic. The legendary Roy 'Get Carter' Budd provides the score and we have a minor 80s action classic. Without doubt the assault at The Mews is outstanding and I will never forget the rush the first time I saw it. 'You don't muck (sic) about with the SAS...'