Mr Man

I've got to be honest. This film shouldn't have been made. The franchise drifted further and further from what made the original so spooky all those years ago. The 4th installment just made no sense at all. I mean the characters reaction to each situation for starters! Who doesn't tell their wife a knife just dropped from the ceiling? What young teenage girl doesn't wake her parents up when something weird happens in the middle of the night? Who doesn't immediately check the recordings the next morning and show the entire family? It's no surprise there hasn't been a new one in 12 years and seems as if the franchise is long dead now. I honestly think I could have written a better 4th film.

I have no idea how this series was being mentioned in the same breath as Band of Brothers before it released. Tom Hanks and Spielberg dropped the ball here. We don't want or need unrealistic cheesy lines and characters that are too cool for school. The whole reason Band of Brothers was as successful as it was is because of how grounded and realistic it felt. No cheesy one liners from Dick Winters when adressing the men before D-Day... just a simple "goodluck" Unlike the first mission on Masters of the Air where Butler delievers some Elvis-esque line about "rack em up, knock em down". 4 episodes in and I can barely tell you a name of a character other than Buck and Bucky. Absolutely 0 emotional attachment to any of them. Unlike Band of Brothers where by episode 2 the men in Easy Company had engraved themselves in to my brain. Also i had always expected alot of CGI being used for this series due to the subject matter and I was ok with that. However, the overall quality of CGI isn't doing it for me. It's too glossy, to clean... it feels like this series is missing all of the grit and dirt which made Band of Brothers so epic. (Let's not even mention the plane hitting a cliff in Scotland then miraculously being more or less undamaged when coming to a halt) I was all ready for another brutal, realistic, blood and mud tale like Band of Brothers and The Pacific... sadly so far Masters of the Air falls well short of that.

Steve Coogan, once again is brilliant. He is truly haunting as Savile. I think shows like this being made are important first and foremost because the more victims who are given a platform to have their voices heard, the better. Secondly is the simple fact that this man should never be forgotten for the barbaric pedophile and rapist that he was, or the way he seemingly had everybody fooled. However I have given it 3 stars because I can't help but feel there was something slightly off about the series. For me (as a millennial) everything I have read and watched about Savile has shown he was a master manipulater who operated at a simpler and darker time in society, making it easier for him to commit heinous crimes. As i say, he seemingly had almost everybody fooled. In this series however, so many people seem to be giving him awkward, suspicious looks and always questioning his behaviour. I can't help but feel this simply wasn't happening at the time, atleast amongst the people with authority in the places he worked and visited. Also the BBC have seemingly done a remarkable job of distancing themselves from his actual criminality and the people at the very top who allowed it to happen and possibly even partook. It's a show that is worth watching but I feel the many documentaries about Savile serve better as to the real truth of what was happening at the time.

This film is pretty ridiculous. From the catching a spanner at the last second, to the sports car like manoeuvres in a nuclear sub marine. This film is off the scale of unrealistic. As far as action films go this is a good solid watch. As far as war movies go this is pretty shameful. If a good enticing war movie is what you are after please do not make the same mistake as me by watching Hunter Killer.

Firstly I'm not sure why this movie has such a bad rating. Definitely seems unfair. My first time watching in 2023 and this movie is almost 10 years old. Sure there is some acting and dialogue which is not A grade material but overall the cast, the storylines and the main plot was all very good. Also the special effects still easily hold up even 9 years later. Side note: I also loved the trailer trash storm chasers. "DUDE, YOUR HAIRS HAIR!" I'd give this film a solid four stars and definitely recommend it to anyone in need of an exciting 90 minutes. (Starts slow, ends epic) Plus it actually got me interested in the science of tornadoes!

I think anybody who has suffered with mental illness, bullying, depression or even just feeling dissolutioned with what the world has become today, will connect with this movie in way people who haven't never could. One of the most jarring lines in this entire movie for me comes right at the very start in Arthur's 'journal/joke diary'. -'I just hope my death makes more sense than my life' This movie is gritty, to-the-bone and looks at mental health in a way I've never seen in Hollywood before. I've written this review on my 3rd time watching this film and each viewing has been better than the last. This is a movie you have to watch more than once to truly appreciate what a masterpiece it is.