neatodd@hotmail.com's Reviews

For All Mankind (2019– )

5/10

Great premise but Season 2 is disappointing

18 April 2021

I enjoyed Season 1 for the most part. Some of it pushed credulity but OK...

I was looking forward to Season 2 and seeing humanity push out into the solar system but what we've got is a soap opera. It feels like the writers have run out of ideas and are padding the real story.

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Arrival (II) (2016)

2/10

Eh

4 February 2017

I think the makers of this film set out to make a different sort of science fiction. In that they succeeded but unfortunately they forgot to make it entertaining. The story was half-baked and the direction made it difficult to follow. The actors did a good job with what they were given but that wasn't enough to save an otherwise dull 2 hours. All in all, disappointing. That's all I have to say but since I'm being forced to write 10 lines of text let me remark that the lake front home of Amy Adams's character (honestly I can't remember her character's name or be bothered to look it up) was pretty nice. I'd like to live there. There, 10 lines.

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The Singularity Is Near (2010)

1/10

Possibly the most disappointed I've been about a film

29 September 2013

Having read Kurzweil's book I was really looking forward to seeing this film. Now that I have I feel really, really let down. The film is absolute rubbish.

The mishmash of documentary and drama just doesn't work. The 'drama' is cringe-worthy and the documentary inaudible due to A CONSTANT AND ANNOYING SOUNDTRACK ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE FILM. I'm really surprised that Kurzweil let his name be associated with this film.

To paraphrase Dorothy Parker, this is not a film to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.

Really, really bad. Read the book and avoid this film

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Quatermass and the Pit (1967)

Great film - but one scene needs work

1 March 2009

Warning: Spoilers

*** Spoiler below *** I love this film a Hammer classic. I saw it as a child and was terrified by it - in a good way.

Now, I'm not, generally, in favour of messing around with classic films (can't someone stop George Lucas from making Star Wars?) but there's one scene in this film that really spoils the rest of it for me. The special effects are not bad for a film of the period and (knowing Hammer) probably made to a tight budget, but there's a problem. I'm talking about the bit where we see the 'memory' of the Martian creatures on Mars. The special effects are laughable. If ever there were a case for dropping in a bit of CG into an old film this would be it.

Nick

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The Illusionist (2006)

8/10

Great film

12 September 2007

I thoroughly enjoyed 'The Illusionist' and thought it superior to 'The Prestige' a better story and better told.

While neither film really gave a believable sense of the Victorian era (see 'The Elephant Man' for how it should be done) 'The Illusionist' made a better job of it. I think the choice of the Czech Republic for location shooting really helped give 'The Illusionist' the edge.

For the acting, Jackman, Bale and Caine are all fine actors but in this example not in the same league as Norton, Giamatti and Sewell.

Philip Glass's music was wonderful and matched the film really well.

Recommended.

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