Films

I'm not much of a cinema-goer or film-buff. I can watch things, but I don't feel the need simply to go out and see the latest release, and most of the films I do watch are on DVD.

Here are my comments on some of the ones I've seen.

• Apollo 13
• Avatar featuring Sigourney Weaver and directed by James Cameron
• Blade Runner based on the story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick
• Capricorn One
• Ender's Game based on the book by Orson Scott Card
• The Italian job - the original version (not that I'm saying the remake is no good - I haven't seen it)
• The Martian based on the book by Andy Weir
• M*A*S*H - the link is not just to the film, but also to the entire TV series, but both are excellent
• Ready Player One based on the book by Ernest Cline
• Top Gun

• Dark Star starring Dan O'Bannon and directed by John Carpenter
  • An excellent science-fiction comedy, with a nice philosophical theme for the storyline
• Silent Running starring Bruce Dern and directed by Douglas Trumbull
  • A science fiction film with a difference - no Star Wars-type action, not much in the way of special effect, but a very nice storyline
• You've got mail starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, written and directed by Nora Ephron
  • A pretty typical Nora Ephron romantic comedy, with a quaint reminder of the days of Compuserve, AOL, Fidonet and Bulletin Board Systems in general (all incompatible with each other, of course), and when people looked forward to a special notification on their computer when they received an email

• Sphere - I like the film, and the story, but:
  1. why would someone design, or build, an underwater habitat which depends on the internal air pressure to keep the external water out?
  2. why would anyone build such a thing in such a way that if water does get inside, it sprays all over the place (ie: over all the electronics) instead of flowing safely down between the outer and an inner skin, so that it can cause the least amount of damage possible?
  3. why would there be so much in/flammable gas in such an environment?

• Cloud Atlas, based on the equally obscure and totally devoid of meaning book by David Mitchell

• Locke starring Tom Hardy and almost nobody else
  • Two to three hours in the life of a man who knows a lot about concrete driving his car from Birmingham to London whilst being on the (hands-free) telephone. Fortunately the film lasts only 85 minutes.
  • The most boring "thriller" I think I've ever come across.
  • As far as I can remember, he doesn't even arrive.
    • I only bought the DVD because the title was the name of my dog. It's clearly not a good basis on which to decide to watch a film.
• Sunshine has an excellent example of an audio-descriptive soundtrack, but that is the only worthwhile thing to say about this film.

• Falling down starring Michael Douglas in probably the worst film of his I've ever seen
  • I can't actually remember whether I got to the end of this film, but I have no inclination to start again at the beginning and find out
• Shaun of the dead is a total waste of time, no matter how soon you stop watching it.

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