iain0511 Reviews

Road House (2024)

What were they thinking

[3/10 · 14 April 2024]

This movie should be held up as a shining example of the actors craft. Not because anyone was especially good, but just because Conor McGregor was so damn bad. Firstly he looks a little ridiculous waddling about in too tight trousers/pants - if he wears any pants at all ! But that may at least explain his weirdly high pitched voice - or maybe all the steroids who knows. What I do know is if there has ever been a less believable actor in a film, I can't think of it. It just proves to any viewer acting is more than remembering your lines.

But when the lines are this bad, the whole "plot" makes no sense and even Jake G gives up half way through it doesn't really matter any more.

Them (2021– )

When will we stop taking? Soon I hope

[9/10 · 6 June 2021]

I have to say that this programme has deeply effected me.

It is nuanced and layered programming that on the surface is a thriller but is actually so much more. As a white middle class man it speaks to a history of what we have done to all those we decided to keep under a heel of tyranny and injustice. I'm not American but my forbearers used slavery to line their pockets and make my country - England - powerful and rich. We did it in Africa, India, the Middle East and the Far East. Our European neighbours France, Holland, Germany, Italy amd Spain all did the same and then we exported this insidious belief in white supremacy to the new world. And wow did they run with it. That's the history that this series exposes in the harshest of lights. It made me feel sick to my soul that people I am genetically linked to thought and acted like this.

Massive respect to Little Marvin for writing such a powerful story, creating characters that embodied the hope, hate, prejudice, resilience, sadness, greed and misery of a past they could not escape and a future that could not be controlled. Congrats to all the cast who carry his vision through to such a brilliant outcome. Kudos too to Amazon for producing and financing such a powerful piece.

This series took the nightmare of what the American dream was and still is for so many and showed it to an audience who probably still has its head in the sand despite BLM and all that should change.

For the minuscule value that it may be, I was changed by this piece of art.

The Night Of (2016)

What HBO do best

[9/10 · 3 February 2021]

This is the classic HBO show. Take a simple, even slightly cliched, story and breath new life into it. Exc lent characters, brilliant script, great acting and direction, and the one thing money can't buy - TIME. The time to explore all of those things, to draw you in, to make you care and to explore what's underneath the story we've all seen a hundred times before. Class!

Fifty Dead Men Walking (2008)

Good tight thriller

[7/10 · 3 February 2021]

A good, gritty thriller about one mans struggles todo the right thing amongst the troubles of Northern Ireland in the late 80s. There have been a few good efforts to portray ordinary people caught in extraordinary situations but this must be one of the worst. Undercover in the IRA if you were a Brit would be scary, but as a young catholic native of Belfast the sense that you were betraying your own community must weigh heavy.good performances all round - never dipping into cliches - and a lovely ambiguity over who was good and who was bad. It reminded me of one of my favourite British TV dramas - Charlie's Game - dealing with a very similar subject and period. Watch this and then re watch the excellent '71 for a great double feature

Staged (2020–2023)

Perfect in every way

[9/10 · 24 January 2021]

This is the greatest find of lockdown part 4. Missed this first time round as two lovies chatting online didn't sound like my cup of tea. Was I wrong! Fabulous writing, great acting, simply hilarious at times but just plain funny and well observed all the time.

Wonder Woman (2017)

Oh dear - Blunder Woman

[2/10 · 23 January 2021]

I am seriously lost for words. But hey I'll try - dull, boring, contrived, lacklustre, pathetic, with slow motion! . And that's just what I thought after the first 25 mins. It's saying something when the best thing in the film was Chris pine! It doesn't get better the longer you hang in hoping that it's not just CaptainnAmerica in a skirt set in WW1 Also I have to say for a movie about a woman superhero directed by a woman it's a bit sexist.lots of boobs and panties to get the teenage boys excited and locked into the franchise maybe?! I'm not the target audience maybe, but I can enjoy marvel films as they are exciting and well directed. This is neither and if it's the best DC film then heaven help them!

1408 (2007)

Stephen kiing story set in a hotel - no it's not the shining

[7/10 · 18 January 2021]

Not The Shining - at least not Kubricks version of the King novel - but a haunted hotel (well a room!) that messes with a writer. Sounds a bit familiar but whilst never rewatching the heights of the afford mentioned classic, it's up there with the next best King adaptations. A single room single actor stage for most of the runtime - apart from a fine cameo from Samual Jackson - makes For an effective chiller. Worth watching

The Rover (2014)

Near perfect Western road movie post apocalyptic character study

[9/10 · 17 January 2021]

I love this film. In my top 25 films and so sad it's never reached a bigger audience. Guy Pearce, a much underrated actor, delivers a performance of a human who has lost everything and the sense that nothing will ever matter again seeps out of every pore in every frame. He is ably supported by every actor on screen, the pros and an ensemble of locals, but it's the extraordinary performance from Robert Pattinson - his first following the Twilight Films - that heralded what a great actor he was and would show to be in subsequent films. He is virtually unrecognisable here. His portrayal of a desperately sad, probably educationally delayed, man child is heart wrenching alongside the sheer brutality of Pearce's lost soul. The direction is perfect. The long opening shots tell you all you need to know about this place and this man. The landscape and photography do the rest. Mad Max this isn't, and all the better for it.

Breach (2007)

much has changed in 13 years

[6/10 · 17 January 2021]

Watching this for the first time in 2021 I'm not sure how to view this film. The greatest/worst spy in US history has since been superseded and the whole nature of leaks, government use of data and sense of who is in the right in such situations is scrambled. Taken in isolation it is a good film. Just that. A good performance from the always reliable Chris cooper which is let down by a script that only hints at motivation. Without that, there is a need for some tension in the hunt for him or a sense of jeopardy for the young wanna be agent Ryan Phillipe who is trying to gather evidence. Unfortunately it has neither. Bridge of spies has more tension in the opening moments than this manages in its entirety. I'm not sure I actually cared why Hanssen spied, or what he leaked, by the end. This film comes from an era when the simple fact he did was enough to make him the bad guy. I'm not sure that's anywhere near enough now.

Affliction (1997)

Almost a classic character study

[6/10 · 17 January 2021]

Almost a great character study of a man who never grew up to be better than the father he hates and still desperately wants to love him. I say almost as the story it's attached to is so disjointed and poorly paced that the pain outweigs the enjoyment. First James coburn is great. Nolte growls his way through the script in typical style and is great as he comes apart, unable to stop his decline into his father. My main problem began immediately - the terrible voiceover from Willem Dafoe. I can only assume it's lifted straight from the source novel but it's so wordy and unnecessarily pompous it made me cringe every time it started up. Overall, an interesting watch and worth it for two actors giving it their best - shame the plot, script, direction leave too many holes for them to fill.

Informer (2018)

The Brits can still do great TV

[9/10 · 20 November 2018]

After a number of really not good UK TV dramas I was fearful that modern engaging dramas on topics meaningful to today we're only do I get out of the US. But then came The Informer. This show is brilliant - well scripted, acted, directed and paced. The story held together well across the episodes and even the required twists were delivered believably. Highly recommended you invest 6 hours of your life - it will be rewarding!