Author Archives: Ben Gould
Nobody (2021). AWESOME.
Loved this. Think John Wick/The Equalizer/Death Wish rolled into a can and Saul Goodman peeking in for a whirl. It’s frankly ludicrous in bits but just so entertaining. This is action done right – it stems from the real-life scenarios we see daily in the tabloids and hope such things never happen to us (sometimes they do).
I recall the Travis Bickle’s tragic line, “Here is a man who would not take it anymore.”
But talk about fight scenes. This film demonstrates what it’s like to be punched in the face. It really hurts. Personally, I’ve always preferred a whack in the chin than the nose; with the former, you’re done. The latter, you bleed and show the wounds of battle.
This movie is hilarious and believable at the same time. It’s a 5/5. Well done, Bob Odenkirk. Top lad.
Get it seen!
Pitch Black (2000).
Another first viewing – I’m on a quest to get my money’s worth from Netflix.
I wasn’t expecting anything from this but I was quite disturbingly surprised by how much I liked it. I’ve never had much time for Vin Diesel, his silly fast car flicks and muscle flaunting, the daft yarns with their terrible scripts. But here I found an interesting, thoroughly likeable and complex character I wished to share the journey with. It’s a glimpse at a career that never was, and I won’t watch another film he’s in because the lad can’t possibly top Riddick.
The movie was as generic as it comes and I won’t revisit it, but the 90 mins were killed and I chuckled a wee bit.
It’s an intriguing accidental portrait of an actor at a crossroads.
Back to basics with Game of Thrones.
It’s time to pay a visit to Westeros again, but on this occasion I’ll be ending my stay after season six. Those last two installments were frankly shite, so I won’t be bothering with them.
Now, let’s get shocked when Ned Stark loses his head.
Against the Ice (2022).
1909 and it’s Denmark’s, or more accurately Ejnar Mikkelsen’s, harrowing quest to prove that Greenland isn’t split into two. The reviews are mixed but I was really impressed with this.
It goes through all the survival movie tropes but it’s never boring. It takes you right into the action with little need for long exposition, a crime of so many of these films. I wouldn’t say there’s a single memorable shot, but it’s as captivating as anything in the genre I’ve seen since The Grey (2011).
It can make one dream of adopting a husky. And I didn’t once think of Jaime Lannister.
Wanderings and ... wonderings. 