Rob Roy

Rob Roy

I just watched “Rob Roy” a truly classic film, which I somehow missed when it came out back in 1995.  This is something!  I can’t remember the film which would have been so packed with moral, and which would be as engaging to watch.  Really.

The film has it all – honour, love, friendship, and more.  It shows how hard simple things can be sometimes.  And how place, time, age, gender and social status have nothing to do with who you really are, how much of a human being you are.  It also touches upon marriage, and the places of both husband and wife in the family.  Compared to this film, most of the other modern film seem to be quite empty.  Yes, there is plenty of action and special effects these days, but so little of what people are made of and how they are supposed to be.  I think that we need more films like this, and this film in particular should be a part of formal education and character development.  If it influence me so much, I suspect it’ll have a quite an effect (and a positive one at that) on the teenagers’ understanding of the world.  However, it’s been a while since I was a teenager, so I might be wrong there…

There is plenty of good in this film beside moral.  The story itself is quite interesting, even if not new.  There is lots of good acting by talented cast.  The directing and the visuals are also nice.  I also remember positively noticing the music score a few times during the film.

One thing I wanted to mention separately are the sword fights.  There are a few and they are awesome.  The final fight deserves a film on its own.  It’s original, dynamic, and powerful.  One of the best ones I’ve seen ever.

Overall rating – 5 stars.  Highly recommended.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I’ve heard a few negative reviews of the “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull“, so I wasn’t particularly rushing to see it.  I have the box set DVD collection of all previous Indy films and I’ve seen them a few times by now – they are good, but the age shows.  I like them, but you can’t call me a fan yet.  With that, I went to the movies today.

I have to say that I really enjoyed the film.  It was in exactly the same style as previous ones, but a bit refreshed.  I think it feels exactly like the other ones felt back when they were just released.  However if this film was shown 20 years ago, it would have blown the minds of a much wider audience.

In short, the film has everything it should have had – Spielberg’s directing, Ford’s acting, tonnes of action, a quest for something cool, much greater scale than anybody can imagine, and a few jokes here and there.  Good value for money and not a time waster.

One thing that I particularly liked, how it was done for the PG-13 rating.  There is a lot of action and a lot of people get killed in a lot of different ways, but there is no focus on that.  There is not much blood or suffering.  The scariest of the dead bodies are in bones, all over catacombs full of treasure – something you can’t take away from an adventure movie.  Family-friendly and kids-recommended.

Overall, quality entertainment.  8 out of 10.

V for Vendetta

I just watched “V for Vendetta“. Back when it came out in 2006, I was a busy parent, and used any excuse I had to hate the movie.  Just so that I didn’t feel very bad about not going to the cinema to see it.  I saw a brief trailer of this film on TV and thought that it was yet another comics-based movie about another superhero or somebody like that.  Definitely, not something I wanted to see, especially back then.  So I passed.

I have to say that I am really glad that I rented it yesterday.  I picked it up just by chance.  I already had two other movies in my hand, and when I saw this “V” thing, I thought maybe I’ll grab three movies today, since the weekend is upon me.

Brilliant movie!  It has all the easy parts – the photography, acting, directing, special effects, etc.  Many films do these days.  But, this one goes beyond that.  It has a really good story.  An interesting one.  And the one that needs more attention. I’d go as far as call it a political movie.  It is about the role of government and mass media in our lives, how it used to be, and how things are changing, and how they aren’t changing for the better right now.  It’s a brave story too – not that many films are willing to risk the ensured profits of the entertainment industry by bringing in strong political discussion into a film.  But, as it has been proven many times, Wachovski brothers aren’t afraid of risks.

I really enjoyed how this political story was prepared and told.  It’s interesting, and it’s very human.  If I had to describe it in terms of other movies, I’d say that “V for Vendetta” is a very good mix of “Brazil” (think George Orwell’s “1984” ), “The mask of Zorro“, and “Invisible Man” (any version you like).  Yes, something like that.

This is also a film that can be watched over and over again.  The photography is beautiful, the soundtrack is great.  There are plenty of small details all around.  And there is this sense of style and class to it.

10 out of 10 (I know I’ve been giving away too many of high ratings recently, but it appears so that I missed a lot of really good movies)