fustbariclation Reviews

Liar (2017–2020)

Films primarily ought to entertain

[5/10 · 3 December 2023]

It's fine for a film to raise interesting moral questions. It's fun even.

What isn't fun is having a simplistic, popularist sermon rammed down your throat.

It's tough for the actors too. Instead of playing a role, they each have to play two completely different characters - while pretending this is all normal.

Obviously the chap in the first episode behaved perfectly well, and her reaction was extreme, unwarranted, and, indeed, confused - she changed her mind to certainty much later.

Just as obviously, by the fourth episode, he was a nasty piece of work and she, despite being underhand in many ways, was hugely self-righteous, and we are supposed to believe there was continuity of character.

It's a pity, a good series could have been made from the material - it just needed a much better, less opinionated, more subtle writer.

Boat Story (2023)

Lots of fun, as a good, old-fashioned farce.

[7/10 · 26 November 2023]

The acting is excellent, and the film really works as an old-fashioned farce, that doesn't take itself too seriously.

I think the American voice-over is supposed to be some sort of joke, but, for me, it failed to be funny, and was simply an annoying intrusion into a very English farce.

Once you have the genre, the plot makes sense - you're not supposed to take the plot holes seriously - they are supposed to be there.

Like any good farce, there is both the pantomime aspect, and some genuine tragedy.

It would be nice if there really was a film 'Les Enfants'?

It'd have been nice to know who the deluded Frenchman actually was, but, of course, that wouldn't make sense in the film.

Dark Cycle (2021)

Tedious, badly acted - puffed here

[1/10 · 18 October 2023]

Notice there are no external reviews.

There are only manufactured puff reviews.

The acting is stiff and bad.

The plot is trite and obvious.

The cinematography is flat and boring.

There's no sign of any flair or imagination.

It is annoying to see the, obviously artificial puff reviews - IMDB should do something about them, so as not to be discredited as a source of useful reviews.

Please remove the silly, untruthful reviews.

The costumes, too, are lacking any flair or imagination. Why would anyone fund such an obviously terrible idea, and use such bad actors? Was it, perhaps just a money-laundering exercise?

The Responder (2022– )

An interesting moral tale

[9/10 · 28 January 2022]

I enjoyed the acting very much, and the writing is convincing and the pace exciting.

Superficially, the plot is highly derivative, with the standard McGuffin being hauled about by different characters for greedy motives.

I felt, though, that the moral exploration was considerably more nuanced and interesting than usual. It helped flesh out more of the characters, so there were very few cardboard cutouts.

It's not new to have a police film portraying real people, interacting in a human way, without unconvincing 'good' and 'bad' caricatures, but it is still rare, and rarer to see it done well.

It's a surprisingly intelligent and engaging tale.

Don't Look Up (2021)

Where was the satire, what was funny?

[2/10 · 2 January 2022]

It was probably invisible to me because it was 'humor' rather than 'humour'.

It simply seemed a fairly straightforward examination of how the US corporate plutocracy makes the world an unpleasant place to live in for humanity.

Satire is supposed to have some element of exaggeration - apart from the usual lack of grasp of simple science, like how near-earth objects are discovered and tracked, it seemed to be simply describing how the dysfunctional place shambles along, like a blind elephant.

Can't Get You Out of My Head (2021)

An interesting historical perspective of how we got here.

[9/10 · 13 February 2021]

This is an enjoyable personal view of how we got to where we are, and how paranoia and a loss of value became so pervasive.

He mentions the collapse of so much psychological research, but still uses quite a lot of it, including Skinner's behaviourism, which is a bit of a disappointment, but the broader arc makes sense.

I've marked this as containing a 'spoiler', to avoid disappointing anybody who is looking for suspense, but what struck me forcibly throughout, and is, pretty much his conclusion is that the ætiology of much of what is depressing about the way we are is corruption. Not just pure corruption, but things like the corruption of google's high ideals into feeding advertising and consumerism.

Everything tried so far has failed, foundering mainly on the rock of corruption.

So there's a job here, for a philosopher, or a new Marx, Bakunin, Adam Smith, or Plato to use complexity theory, orsomething else, to eliminate corruption.

Wake in Fright (1971)

What we spend our lives avoiding seeing, beautifully and amusingly, exposed.

[10/10 · 18 January 2021]

Called either 'Outback' or 'Wake in fright', this turned out to be an extremely good film - I think the 7.7 it gets on IMDB is rather low.

It's certainly not a pleasant film. It's a sort of opposite of 'Picnic at Hanging Rock', in terms of presentation, strangely, it creates the same sort of atmosphere - a sort of hallucinatory state, in sympathy with the protagonists.

It does have plenty to amuse, if you don't mind the low-life aspect. It even has the occasional sensible profundity, like 'Discontent is the luxury of the well-to-do. If you've got to live here, you might as well like it' - an early version of Kabat Zinn's 'wherever you go, there you are'.

There's even a quote from Omar Khayyam.

Reading the reviews is quite amusing. Those who don't like it are quite cross with the film. For good reason, really, the film is all about the sort of reality that most of us spend our lives trying not to see. It could have been set absolutely anywhere, it's just that the points are all somewhat more obvious in the Outback.

It's considerably superior to 'Wating for Godot' which, allegedly, tries to make similar points, borrowing heavily from Kafka. Both of those, give the mistaken impression that somebody actually is in charge, somewhere, who knows what's going on - this film leaves you with no illusions of that sort.

My Octopus Teacher (2020)

A deeply engaging, fascinating film

[10/10 · 11 September 2020]

I really enjoyed this deeply engaging film.

I've been fascinated by octopuses for a long time, but it was a revelation to see one in such intimate detail - it's a biography, really, of the life of one octopus.

Craig, the creator of the film, is engagingly open about his experience and brings the year to life as a sort of human / octopus symbiosis.

It's so sad that they live such a shot time, they are so amazingly clever that it'd be wonderful to learn what they could be like if they lived several years.

Away (2020)

Mawkish tosh

[2/10 · 4 September 2020]

The film is supposed to be about a joint trip to Mars, by a few countries.

Obviously it is just about the Yank.

It tries for every mawkish sentimentality it can.

I'd strongly recommend avoiding it.

Midsommar (2019)

Good in parts, but, overall, too predictable

[6/10 · 21 March 2020]

This remake of 'Wickerman' - the real 1973 one, not the silly 2006 one -is quite fun.

I'm pleased, though, not to have gone to a cinema to see it. I kept hoping there'd be some interesting deviation from the obvious plot being laid out before us, so I watched it all the way through, but, sadly, it was all entirely predictable.

It probably works better for those who feel some sympathy for the oafish North Americans, apparently stumbling into and being insensitive to, the Swedish ritual.

The pissing on the sacred tree should have been excised, it was even sillier than the rest, added nothing, and was very poorly executed.

It'd be nice, if somebody is impelled re-make Wickerman yet again some day, if they do it as pukka Swedish noir - maybe under Dogma rules. I would enjoy that.

The early mushroom scene was extremely well done - the highlight of the film. If they'd kept that level of innovation going, it would have been a brilliant film.

Hard Sun (2018)

An enjoyable romp - but what's it got to do with epistemology?

[8/10 · 16 December 2019]

I've been enjoying the enjoyable series 'Hard Sun' - it might even get more people interested in the real phenomenon, happening at the moment, the Grand Solar Minimum.

I did find one thing rather odd. The film shows a student looking for a book in the philosophy section - epistemology specifically. She then says she has to write a paper on the Milgram Experiment. The MI5 woman shows she knows about it by saying 'oh, the social obedience experiment'. Neither appear to be aware that the study has been entirely debunked - Milgram distorted (to be kind) the results hugely, many students refused to give shocks to people, those that did 'give shocks' actually believed, correctly, that it was a set-up, and that nobody was, in fact, hurt.

You'd not expect to find this sort of thing in the epistemology section anyway. Is this just a mistake, or is it some sort of joke about Milgram demonstrating that experiment cannot be relied upon to deliver justified true belief?

I've not watched three episodes, and I'm still not sure if the author is wanting to suggest Milgram's studies have any validity - there are scenes involving torture, and characters wonder if it's the right thing to do, it certainly isn't clear that the author knows they have been debunked.

The King (I) (2019)

A 21st century drama in mediæval clothes

[6/10 · 3 November 2019]

As a thing-in-itself, it is an enjoyable film.

I with they'd cut it adrift from any historical or Shakespearean hints.

If only they'd set it as a time travel epic, with the King travelling back in time to force 2019 BBC sensibilities and language onto the mediæval idiots who'd got it all wrong.

To begin with, I tried looking up dialogue that sounded vaguely familiar, thinking I'd probably misremembered it, but I gave up after a while.

I should have realised, with the first 'meet with' that it was 100% opposed to anything historical.

I wouldn't want to put anybody off watching it, it is a brilliantly acted costume drama, with the plot and dialogue set in modern times.

Another Life (2019–2021)

Horribly Yank

[1/10 · 8 October 2019]

The film is boring, mainly, because it fails to generate anyinterest in the characters, or what they are up to.

The implausibility of an idiot taking control of an important mission because he is a bully who was, nevertheless, despite that, allowed to go on another mission under more sensible management is too extreme to be credible.

I'd avoid it at all costs.

Patrick Melrose (2018)

Far too much chewing up the scenery

[6/10 · 4 August 2019]

There really is far, far too much chewing up the scenery.

I'm looking forward to later episodes where Cumberbatch gets and opportunity to do some proper acting.

The first episode is, apparently, based on the second book. I think they'd have been wise to start at the first book. Undoubtably the description of all the excess is necessary, but it goes on far too long and becomes, frankly, a bore.

In a film, the whole episode would have been well dealt with in fifteen minutes, and I felt that, without losing much at all, the first episode could have been cut to that, and improved.

Outlander: Freedom & Whisky (2017) Season 3, Episode 5

The worst episode so far - by far - mawkish beyond belief

[1/10 · 2 May 2019]

Most of the episode consists of people looking mawkish as they exchange presents.

I'd have given a lot for a food fire, earthquake or murder to relieve the boredom.

If the flautist is paid extra for emotional twiddling he was very well paid this time.

Save yourself the bother and boredom and just skip to the next episode.

Dire.

Love, Death & Robots (2019– )

Trying for Black Mirror - failing

[1/10 · 15 March 2019]

Rather a sad collection of highly derivative stories.

It has strongly fascistic, pro-war, pro-US imperialism themes.

It seems, in many of the stories, to be propping up US exceptionalism.

It is basically badly made, very obvious, immoral propaganda.

Salvation (2017–2018)

They fired their technical advisors much too early

[1/10 · 22 August 2018]

They fired their technical advisors much too early. They have got some of the science right, but most of it is rubbish.

The acting is poor, and the plot screamingly obvious. It is also highly parochial and xenophobic.

I'd recommend avoiding it.

Intelligence (2005–2007)

Curiously entertaining

[8/10 · 22 June 2018]

It is a curiously entertaining series.

The characters are strangely well-drawn. The henchmen are not simply cardboard foils to the baddie, as is usually the case, in fact the baddie is realistically drawn as a manager, and the headaches he gets from his henchmen tend to be because they are too enthusiastic and keen to achieve, without the necessary skills to pull it off.

There is genuine humour, as well, which is virtually unknown in the genre.

The women are well drawn, rounded characters, with believable strategies to deal with the dreadful men, and believable inconsistencies.

Mostly, especially with the policemen, it is a working out of the Dunning-Kruger effect. An enhanced sexist version, where the chaps keep being surprised to find themselves out-witted, because they don't really believe women capable of doing it.

... and they really do drink Canada Dry in Canada.

Oldboy (2003)

Funny, refreshing and original, if a bit gory.

[9/10 · 12 June 2018]

I am saving the second half of this for another day.

It is marvellously funny, and not a little peculiar, even for a Korean film.

Eating an octopus alive isn't the most obvious way to remedy a vitamin deficiency, and relying on your ability to distinguish one particular dumpling from hundreds to get your revenge is uncommonly optimistic.

I'd have gone for kimchi soup myself, even though it has fewer tentacles.

Having a remote control to your pacemaker so you can stop your heart when you feel like it might be quite a popular option. I think my father would have liked such a remote, near the end of his life.

Then there's the case of the third chopstick.. and the homage to 'Marathon Man".

...and to Kafka, though seeing an empty carriage on the Seoul underground is probably the bigger surprise.

Annihilation (I) (2018)

The level of ignorance of the world is profound.

[1/10 · 25 March 2018]

I know that one should avoid this sort of rubbish, but optimism does prevail from time to time.

It's curious to see just how unformed the notions in some heads really are. We know that people spend money on expensive enemas, called 'colonic cleansing', because they have no notion at all of what goes on in their digestive system. This film makes it clear that a profound ignorance of almost everything discovered about the natural world in the past couple of centuries is far from rare.

The film can't decide whether it's a guns 'n girls violence-porn film (though it tries for that), or an alien invasion, or a wow-what-clever scientists there are. It fails at all three. When it introduces one as a physicist, with the remark that she's very clever, you know that they've given up all hope of showing, not telling, and, indeed, so it proves. If the physicist, or any of them, is particularly bright, they conceal this magnificently.

They go for mystery amnesia, having the group realise they've been in the place for several days, but not remembered anything - and then, next night, they sleep and wake up with no disturbance at all. The amnesia trope is not returned to, and, clearly, was only there to fill in some minutes.

The actresses, writer, and director don't even know what diffraction is, so it isn't that surprising that genetics is quite beyond them. They've been told about the HOX genes, but, in having them inherited by plants, have no notion whatsoever of embryology, and thus, of its implications. They're must be of the view that we start of as homunculi.

I suppose it's the Dunning-Kruger effect, really, that has writers produce something that reveals such utter ignorance, far too deep for any sort of suspension of disbelief to work.

They didn't know what to do with it, but the bear was a nice prop.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2798920/

Anne with an E (2017–2019)

A magnificent series, with Amybeth McNulty as an amazing young actress

[10/10 · 15 May 2017]

I am very deeply impressed by the actress Amybeth McNulty (and the director, who must have quite a job!).

Her performance in 'Anne with an E' is quite startlingly impressive. The young actors and actresses in 'Harry Potter' are brilliant, without doubt, but the emotional range they have to master is less demanding.

In 'Anne with an E', Amybeth carries the production, the rest of the cast are excellent, but in her shadow.

It is a delight, and an amazement, to me to see such polished talent in one so young. She doesn't carry it off by over-acting, apart from when required, and though her diction has perfect clarity, her emotional range is her strength.

I imagine that she will always, like Tilda Swinton, and Quentin Crisp, play redheads; few, who have known redheads, can doubt their emotional range.

It will be fascinating to see how she develops as an actress. I don't think I've had such a desire to see more performances by an actor since Anthony Hopkins first burst on my horizon.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amybeth_McNulty

The Library Suicides (2016)

An entertaining library evening.

[9/10 · 4 November 2016]

I'm pretty sure it's the first entirely Welsh film I've seen. I rather enjoyed it. Being quite cheerful, in parts, it wasn't quite as Welsh as it could have been.

A library is an excellent setting for a film with a low budget -- yet another good reason for libraries to continue to exist.

Twins lend themselves to interesting films, often for quite surprising reasons.

I guessed, correctly, that the library was in Aberystwyth - clearly being bitten by a donkey somewhere helps fix the place in one's memory.

I hope there'll be more from this director.

Maigret: Maigret Sets a Trap (2016) Season 1, Episode 1

A masterpiece of French noir, in English

[10/10 · 30 March 2016]

A masterpiece! French noir in English.

The atmosphere is absolutely right, and the acting, particularly Rowan Atkinson's, is quite brilliant.

I enjoyed it all the way through. The plot is of the right vintage for the period.

Margret's discomfort with his inability to solve the case, and his dogged determination to succeed against the odds is perfectly signaled. His great risk brings palpable suspense.

I've no idea why I guessed, and said, the occupation of his father a second before it was revealed - not quite deja vu, but something like that.

The Hateful Eight (2015)

There won't be many coming home...

[7/10 · 21 December 2015]

Naming a film, 'The Hateful Eight', in order to remind anybody watching that this is your eight film, isn't the act of a modest man, but, if anybody were concerned that Mr Tarantino had been replaced by a doppelganger, this, along with the extreme, and, somewhat, gratuitous violence in the film, ought to put his mind at rest.

Though Mr Tarantino doesn't credit Laurence Sterne for the smashing of the fourth wall as an art form, he does do it as well as Mr Sterne does in 'Tristam Shandy'. I think he'd call it 'post modern', as, too, no doubt, he'd also label the other devices found in 'Tristam Shandy', like telling the story in a peculiar order, and adding lots of clever self-reference. Odd, really, that such, albeit unconscious, homage should be given to a book published in 1759, by a chap so keen to be hip and 21st Century as Mr. Tarantino, but there it is.

It is a sound point that the animosities of wars, particularly of civil wars, continue for a considerable time after the mass killing has been stopped. He might be right, but I'm not sure if the possible implication this film intends is really accurate. Do so many current American problems really have their ætiology in the Civil War? He certainly does make a good stab, if you excuse the term in this context, at making that point.

The ghastly characters in the film are nicely drawn, and the dialogue between them is often funny. Their perspectives are sharply drawn, and it's interesting to see what things they appear to hold in common. As far as I can see they hold these views in common:

• Guns are a really good thing - The Civil War was a really bad thing, but certainly the other side's fault - Lying is a bad thing, particularly when practiced by somebody else - Lying is, however, not only inevitable, but ubiquitous, so only actions can be believed - The pecking order is: White male -> White female -> Black Male -> Black Female -> dog -> Mexican - Capital punishment, in particular, public execution by hanging, is a good thing. Not for everybody, but essential for some. - Might is right

The film is evidently, at least at some level, intended to be satirical, so, clearly Mr Tarantino believes some, probably most, of these are not only wrong, but currently ubiquitous enough to require satirical treatment.

The well worn device of having the unlikely collection of characters isolated, in this case by a blizzard, works well. I'm not sure that the indulgence of such a long running time is justified. Certain aspects of the plot, signalled with crystal clarity in the first quarter of the film, are only revealed, as if an amazing surprise, a couple of hours later. I think the film could be much improved by reducing it to normal length.

Roy Orbison's song seems apt as a description of the Civil War, Tarantino films generally, and the problems that he highlights, quite well, all in all:

Now the old folks will remember On that dark and dismal day How their hearts were choked with pride As their children marched away Now the glory is all gone

They are left alone And there won't be many coming home No, there won't be many coming home oh, there won't be many Maybe five out of twenty but there won't be many coming home

x

Foodies: The Culinary Jet Set (2014)

Fun, if you like that sort of thin, otherwise, avoid it.

[5/10 · 14 September 2015]

A film best avoided if you're irritated by pretentious people, or not that keen on food.

I quite enjoyed it. It was often amusing - I'm not sure that always was the intent.

It was a pity that the 'foodies' weren't that articulate - but, had they been, they'd probably have not ended up that way.

What was saddest, to me, was how they all seemed, mainly, to eat at these expensive restaurants on their own. One essential component to a good meal is the company, and the discussion - without that, it can be the best place on the planet, but only second rate.

I was amused by one of the chaps who wants, rather as Curnonski did, all those years ago, to establish an eater's hierarchy of taste, not a chef's - but, despite this, he, and the others, accepted the Michelin star rating without question. It'd have been much more interesting if they'd thought that one had been graded to high, or too low.