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koolstilez
Reviews
Return to the Hiding Place (2013)
Not Bad, But Not Great Either
irstly, the story follows the lives of students and their involvement with the Dutch resistance. For me, I felt mixed emotions from the film. The storyline appeared to have great potential for a big blockbuster that could have sat nicely next to Defiance and Winter In Wartime on the movie shelf and while I enjoyed the film, sadly, there was much left to be desired. The German Colonel (Stass Klassen), by far led the film in the acting department. His performance was solid and at times comparable to Christoph Waltz's performance in Inglourious Basterds, but sadly, he was alone in this department. John Rhys Davis held his own but really too brief a role to help the film. David Thomas Jenkins, Craig Robert Young and the beautiful Rachel Spencer Hewitt made their presence felt, but I felt their characters lacked depth and consistency needed for them to truly grow on you and take you into their world which I put mostly down to the next part. The directing and screenplay seemed to prove the greatest inconsistency and biggest let down with the film. Maybe due to low budget. At times characters were not clearly introduced or very briefly which left me as a viewer putting 2 and 2 together a lot throughout the movie. Also the story pace was up and down like a roller-coaster sometimes dragging slowly but then moving so fast that the scene changed to hours/days ahead and left me wondering where it was at until once again putting 2 and 2 together. For me this is what hurt the story/movie the most.
There was a strong element of religious notion in the film. Religious values were incredibly important during those times and quite often determined where ones stance lied with regards to helping the Jews.
But having said all this, and it will really depend on the individual, I think overall wanting to watch for the storyline itself and to see the evil Colonel Stass in action kept me glued enough. But you will leave the seat having watched this, with the feeling it could have been so much more, in paying homage to those brave souls portrayed in the film.
Animorphs (1998)
Animorphs What happened???
Well Animorphs really did kick but in novel form. I never read the entire series but I remember the general story well and watched all episodes that aired to TV. It hit T.V and realistically followed suit with most children's books that get turned into T.V shows...In other words it sucked. Low budgeting, bad scripting, unconvincing stunts, special effect techniques of the 80s and a cast full of noobs not to mention the differences in personalities between the characters in the book and that of the show. Give credit to those brave young actors as they're the only reason the show made it through to 12 episodes. Good thing it did otherwise 2 great upcoming young actors in Shawn Ashmore may never have wound up in X-Men as the Iceman, and, Paul Costanzo who we all loved as Rubin in Road trip. Brooke Nevin's beauty was her saving grace cause I really didn't think she could act at the time as Rachel. But she's managed to hang on with small roles until her minor part as Nikki in the 4400 that has boosted her creditability. Apart from that it's no surprise to see Cassie, Marco and Tobias ended their careers. At least with good writing, bad actors can be made to look better. They only have the show creators to blame. This show had soo much potential to be soo much more but not in the hands of those who created it. Animorphs was sorta of a Heroes crossed with Stargate SG1 in theme, and look how successful those two have done and still do today. Big budgets, great writers, effects, characters and recognizable actors who CAN act. It's does wonders for a show...
FreakyLinks (2000)
Why?
What a Brilliant show! Too bad it was axed. I wondered what had happened to it! Just like every other brilliant series that comes out. It is joined by the likes of Dark Angel, Tru Calling, Firefly and many others that share the fate of T.V networks relying on ratings to continue a series! Now all I see on T.V these days is Law & Order this and CSI that and the 50other Law,Legal and Terrorism related shows that cover every aspect of these topics. New shows continuing to flood every T.V station on the planet. Wtf has happened to the good old Sci-Fi/Paranormal shows that we all loved. I think I need to tune into another planet!