video review : Bridge Of Spies

video review : Bridge Of Spies

Bridge Of Spies, based on the real-life incident of a US spy plane being shot down by Soviet Armed Forces during The Cold War in 1960, is a case of style over substance. It’s an elegant and polished production; expect no less from Steven Spielberg; plagued by tedious storytelling. There is tension at parts, but it’s mostly a middling affair as those of us who slept in Political History class wonder, but don’t care much one way or the other, if protagonist Rudolf Abel will be set free.

my rating : 3 of 5

2015

video review : Captain Phillips

video review : Captain Phillips

It’s Tom Hanks versus a gang of gun-toting Somalians in Captain Phillips, a movie based on the Maersk Alabama hijacking of 2009. The pirates are ugly and annoying, but director Paul Greengrass does a notable job of keeping his audience on its toes.

Suspense arises eighteen minutes in and doesn’t let up from there, though the plot takes a turn near the halfway point. Richard Phillips, portrayed here as a hero, wrote a book about the incident but the true story probably isn’t nearly as epic as this.

my rating : 4 of 5

2013

video review : Cast Away

video review : Cast Away

There’s a great movie in Cast Away. The time in which a Fed Ex worker named Chuck Noland is stranded on an island, most of the movie, is a triumph in movie-making. It puts a single actor on what appears to be a single set for a long time with no real dialogue, other characters to interact with or cuts back to the normal world, and manages to stay both captivating and believable the whole time.

Well, there’s one thing that isn’t very believable. It has to do with a Fed Ex package; one of the few man-made items Chuck Noland has at his disposal. There’s also a volleyball, ice skates and not much else. This is a tale of survival in the truest sense. What almost ruins the experience is the epilogue, which lasts for too long and seems irrelevant in comparison to everything that came before it.

my rating : 4 of 5

2000