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Reviews
Last Chance Harvey (2008)
Extremely boring in a well played way
This is a movie that keeps on going nowhere, and is in no rush about it. Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson plays well, their characters are credible, yet there's scant reason for anyone to be interested in their credibly boring lives. Might as well watch CCTV of people in a lunch-area - in fact, that might be more interesting. Sorry I watched this, on the presumption that Hoffman would chose an interesting script only.
The film gets off to a slow start, Hoffman getting off a plane in London. Then he goes through customs and does all the mundane things of passing through an airport. Emma Thompson is introduced, and she's an as credibly dried up spinster as always, here working in the airport in a boring job. As the film ends, it feels like a good point for it to start. But the intro was the film, and that's it, folks.
This is romance for geriatrics. Enjoy.
Shadowheart (2009)
Well made movie with stupid story and impossible plot
Well made movie with stupid story and impossible plot. Too bad movie-making skills were wasted on this. The holes in the plot are baaad. But in order to make the movie last almost two hours, all the logical chances to kill the killer bad guy must be ignored. It's a phenomenon to make a movie about such a contrived, nothing story.
Unbelievable actors - though some of them quite good - with bad make-up to make them look tough. Why this story should interest anyone is beyond me. The villain is so villainous his mere presence supposedly make people obey him. The sheriff doesn't even try to flee when he's attacked. No one uses any opportunity to fight back. Except at the very end - and then the hero has to be fatally wounded to get his mojo up, the wimp (sorry, for the plot-spoiler, but there's not much plot to spoil).
Not sure what the morals here are supposed to be, in spite of the ref.s to the "King James bible". (Protagonist is called James - supposedly very meaningful - but meaning what? - Not much). Maybe it's: "Turn the other cheek until you're mortally wounded."
Awful. 2 stars only because there might be even worse movies out there. The mind hurts at the thought.
Lost Stallions: The Journey Home (2008)
Incredibly bad movie
Here's a family movie where the height of drama is when a whitish dog playing wolf barks at three youngsters in the wood. Pretty empty script. Bad acting all around - including the dog's performance.
Absolutely nothing credible in the whole film. Like the culprit boy being caught breaking a window (without any motivation, of course, except his father died some time before - sob). He breaks down and cries and his mother cuddles him and comforts him when he's caught. No thought of punishment. This is a family film, can't have unsavory realities like punishment impinging on the good mood.
When the 3 kids at "Harmony Ranch" "change", we're left wondering what the change is, what caused it and why it's presented as dramatic. Oh, that's right: one kid changed his helmet for a hat. Big change.