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Dan Volatile · 09-06-2020 21:12

Never Cry Wolf
Carroll Ballard - 1983

"Research scientist Tyler (Charles Martin Smith) is sent to the desolate Canadian tundra to find out whether the local wolf population is responsible for decimating Canada's caribou herds. Helped by Ootek (Zachary Ittimangnaq), a local Inuit native, Farley manages to establish an observation post and, while braving the harsh climate, begins to study a family of wolves, as well as the caribou. He eventually determines that the greatest danger to the caribou doesn't move on four legs." (from Google)

The film is loosely based on a memoir of the same name which itself is generally regarded as more a work of fiction than fact. The political prejudices of Hollywood are reflected in the depiction of white men as bad and natives as good with the wolves as budding little ecologists themselves. The film seems to imply that the the wolves prey on weak animals to help the caribou beacuse they slow the migrating herd. The reality is that they pick out the ones which are easiest to kill.

On the plus side the Canadian scenery is stunning and although some people complained about the synthesised music I thought it suited the eerie landscape very well.

Goodfella3041 · 09-06-2020 21:45

Richard Jewell

Directed by Clint Eastwood.

True story of the security guard who discovered the bomb in Atlanta's centennial park during the 1996 Olympics. He raised the alarm and helped to clear the area. One person died and over 100 injured, but it would have been much, much worse had he not raised the alarm. He was treated as a hero for a day or two, but was then named in the press as the prime suspect.

The movie is about how his life is turned upside down, as he tries to clear his name.

Superb acting and it skips along at a brisk pace.

Good movie.

*M-L-L* · 10-06-2020 22:14

Stargate

I seem to watch this every few years thinking it was better than it turns out to be.
Not sure why, the design looks quite good, there's a decent cast and the premise of aliens being revered by ancient Egyptians has a long pedigree (hello Dr Who & the Pyramids of Mars) but somehow as a whole it feels quite slow, takes ages for the bad guy to turn up and then he/she doesn't actually do terribly much just sits in the pyramid spaceship and sends his ineffectual humans-in-Anubis-helmets-stormtroopers out to do the dirty work; and then the whole slaves uprising climactic showdown stuff seems a bit predictable (and not credible, rifles against lasers ?).

And this is probably just me now, but there were quite a lot of places this time around where I struggled to hear what James Spader was mumbling and kept having to turn the volume up.

Still, it passed the time.

**skully** · 10-06-2020 22:28

The tv show shits all over the movie, and you're spot on about Spader.

Dan Volatile · 15-06-2020 14:24

Assembly
Feng Xiaogang - 2007

"With a bold opening salvo, Chinese director Feng Xiaogang hurls us straight into the gritty midst of a chaotic urban battle in the winter of 1948, during the civil war in China between the Nationalists and Communists. Shot in jerky, desaturated Private Ryan-style and brazenly plunging us in before we even know who we're supposed to be rooting for, it's arresting stuff.
It's a shame, then, that Xiaogang's big-budget war pic so quickly loses its impetus as it ultimately follows Gu Zidi (Zhang Hanyu), captain of the Communist PLA's 9th company in his quest to correctly honour the 47 men who valiantly perish under his command during the second, and last, big battle scene at the film's midpoint.
What starts as a thrilling sprint gradually decelerates to a tedious trudge during the second half as we suffer scene after scene of the bitter, semi-blinded Gu raging for justice. And given that this was a movie made with the Chinese regime's full approval, the outcome is hardly a surprise." (from Empire)

The opening battle scenes are well done but the film drags a bit later . I found it hard to follow in places and I had to fill in some of the gaps on the internet afterwards. The entire film hangs on the fact that the authorities have no record that the protagonist's army unit even existed which I found incredible.

There's not much in the way of overt Communist party propaganda with the apparatchiks sometimes being depicted as "computer says no" beureaucrats although you can'r help thinking that any soldier captured wearing an enemy uniform and claiming to be the commander of a friendly unit of which there is no record and has no other survivors, might have been treated more harshly than having a smaller pension allocation.

Zhang Hanyu puts in a good shift as the wronged Colonel Gu and he won several awards for his performance.

southsidestu · 15-06-2020 20:17

Da 5 Bloods, Netflix - Spike Lee picture about 4 Black former Vietnam Vets returning to the country to retreat the body of the fifth member of their unit played in flashbacks by Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman. In classic Lee tradition the movie is intertwined with civil rights issues making it's release extremely poignant. Well acted film, enjoyable

lancealot790 · 18-06-2020 17:43

Bloodshot 5/10 - decent story and some good action sequences but disappointing overall.

**Charlemagne** · 27-06-2020 11:04

Eurovision Movie (Netflix) A great film if your a Eurovision fan, which I'm not.

Weird that they had Edinburgh host the contest, which would mean that the UK had won the previous year, and as the rest of Europe hate us it will never happen. It was even mentioned in the film.

And they had two European compares when in fact they would have picked a couple of local international stars like Gordon Ramsay or Susan Boyle Wink

*M-L-L* · 28-06-2020 18:34

Gemini Man

Surely a textbook case for showing that just because CGI can now allow you to show something previously impossible (a 50 year old fighting his 20 year old self) doesn't actually mean it's a good idea.

The action sequences are frankly unbelievable, no human body would survive a 100th of the punishment shown meted out here.
Throwing motorbikes at each other ? FFS.

**skully** · 28-06-2020 19:55

^
I agree. That film had so much potential, but the cgi was a bit wank in parts. You're right about the action sequences too.
I think I would have preferred it if they had used his dna to make children identical to each other, but not him. If they had gone that way, with Bourne style action, I think it would have been a real success. It's mediocre at best, which is a shame.

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