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Reviews
47 Ronin (2013)
Entertaining, action packed fantasy epic
47 Ronin is an action packed fantasy epic with fantastical elements set in Feudal Japan. The main character and main hero of this film contrary to the misleading studio advertising is Oishi played by Hiroyuki Sanada. Keanu's character Kai is more of a Guardian type character than a main protagonist.
A the very heart of this film is honour and avenging a wrong. The film looks amazing, the costumes were gorgeous. The score fit really well. This is the best film in the world but it certainly isn't the worst and despite the very dark and somewhat alien to a western viewer concepts covered in the film I didn't find this to be a dark or depressing film. I could understand why the characters did what they did and I was entertained from start to finish.
If you're looking for historically accurate samurai film this probably isn't the one for you.
Covert Affairs: Pilot (2010)
It looked good
I found the main character - heroine to be seriously annoying. She was just too perfect - speaks a million languages, aces all her tests etc. She has all the hallmarks of what they call in fan fiction a Mary Sue aka author insert. They spend the entire episode telling you how perfect she is then they have her rescued by her ex at the end of the end of the episode which is obviously the big story arc of the show.
Auggie has got to be the most unconvincing blind guy alive. I love Chris Gorham but did he actually research any blind folks before he started playing this role? There are several times that you see him looking straight at other actors or he picks up things that have just come into the scene, that he wouldn't know were there if he was actually blind.
I'll keep watching but I doubt it will get any better.
Eorin shinbu (2004)
A really funny innocent romantic comedy
Boeun (Geun-yeong Mun)a fifteen year old school girl is sent to collect Sangmin(Rae-won Kim), a university aged guy that she has known all her life from the airport. There we notice that Sangmin has somewhat of an eye for the ladies. Sangmin had been studying abroad for a year. When they reach home we discover that the Grandfather has called Sangmin back because he wants Sangmin & Boeum to marry before he dies, now. During the Korean War Sangmin's & Boeum's grandfathers promised that they would become in-laws, that wasn't possible with their children as they both had boys. Both parties aren't enthusiastic but Boeum's wily old grandfather manages to coerce them into marriage by pretending he was dying in hospital. The problem is neither Boeun nor Sangmin are mature enough to be married. Which is proved when Boeun ends up running away at the airport instead of going on her honeymoon.
We follow Boeun & Sangmin as they settle into marriage and living together (but in separate rooms) while at the same time trying to keep their marriage a secret. While it is legal to get married at fifteen in Korea it isn't exactly standard practise. When Sangmin ends up becoming a teaching intern at Boeun's school he attracts the romantic attentions of a female teacher - Miss Kim. When Miss Kim discovers that he is married to Boeun she punishes Boeun by making her paint a wall for the school festival on her own. It is this or rather the help that Sangmin gives Boeun (without her knowledge) every night that leads her to realise that she is in love with him.
I suppose if you come from somewhere like American you'll recoil screaming 15 year old girl, college aged man - Statutory Rape. However both of the characters aren't American. They don't have the hard edge or the worldly wises that someone in the West would have. Take for instance Sangmin - wannabe pervert / playboy - all he does is look or talk about beautiful girls. You don't actually see him talking to them. There is a scene where he is standing with his shirt off in front of his male friends and his female (a couple of years older)Supervisor comes into the room. He all but screamed and pulled a sheet up to cover himself. You've never seen a guy move so fast. It was hilarious. You wouldn't see a guy of that age doing that in the West.
This movie has a charming naiveté and is very funny with well drawn out characters. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for something different from the regular run of the mill Hollywood fare.
Inside Man (2006)
What was the point?
I didn't go to see this film with any expectations. I got to one of the free preview screenings, no idea what the film was about. On the whole I found the film quite enjoyable. It was very well acted.
The only probably I found was that the plot does not stand up to scrutiny. If you allow yourself to be swept away by the slick production and big name actors then you almost miss that the plot is convoluted and doesn't actually make sense in places and is wholly unbelievable in others.
As the film progressed I found myself not liking or caring about any of the characters. Denzel's character seemed like an idiot to start off with. I'm not sure that the character wasn't an idiot. Heck I didn't remember any of the character's names five seconds after I stepped out of the cinema.
The film did appear to pay homage to other films but it could not decide what it wanted to be - crime thriller, political thriller, comedy, action adventure, 1940's detective story. Its all well and good to be genre breaking if you actually are doing something original. This wasn't particularly. It's just the same old thing we have seen hundreds of times before. The only thing that makes this stand out above those is the director and big name cast.
Moving on to the plot - it really became confusing when I started to think about it. Firstly - How did Clive Owen's character know that Plummer's character dealt with the Nazi's and kept evidence of this in an unmarked safety deposit box? Why didn't the police find them when the hostages where released? I don't see how they couldn't have found him, they would have gone over that place with a fine tooth comb.
How did he manage to walk out from the basement of the bank with no one stopping him? Surely there would have been security and the video cameras would have been working by this point.
Why didn't Plummer's character empty his safety deposit box after the robbery? The more I think about it the more annoyed I get that this film made it to the big screen but is so riddled with plot hole. If this was a boat it would have sunk by now because of all the holes.
The film looks good and has very good performances but do not attempt to delve below it's glossy exterior. If you have two hours ten minutes to waste by all means go and see it but do not whatever you do start thinking about the plot.
Sabrina (1995)
Could have been better
I liked this film I found it quite enjoyable to watch. It could have been much better though. A lot of it was a straight remake of the 1950's original. The things that they updated were a bit strange to say the least. Sabrina goes to Paris to become a photographer? Why exactly? Chef's make a heck of a lot of money these days there is no shame in being a cook. I wasn't that interested on her finding herself in Paris. Nor did I like her haircut when she came back. It was very severe and made her look rather old. The Handsome younger brother - I'm sorry but if I had a choice between Greg Kinnear and Harrison Ford. I would pick Harrison Ford every time, and twice on Sundays! If you are going to have a handsome younger brother then for goodness sake cast someone that is better looking than Harrison Ford.
Linus' clothing left a lot to be desired. The bow tied suits and the huge glasses. If they wanted to convey that he was old then it would have been better to have had him dressed in three piece suits (waistcoat as well as jacket) with a tie, not that stupid bow tie business. That was far too old for the character. He also could have been wearing bi-focal glasses which would have made him older. I don't know why they killed off the father, perhaps because they couldn't find someone who would intimidate Ford.
I did think that the film shouldn't have ended where it did, you should have been given a glimpse of the life that Linus and Sabrina had in Europe. I felt that this film needed that, it felt rather unfinished. I didn't feel this way about the original, perhaps because it was set in a different time period.