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Reviews
Snapphanar (2006)
Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Why? Well, where do we start? - The people known as "snapphanar" called themselves "Friskyttar", meaning Free Shooters - snapphane was the degrading expression used by The Swedish.
- The Costune designer should be put in jail, or at least in historical style education, for using typical 18th century clothing, which is a mistake often seen by role playing amateurs with no money and little knowledge of history, but this was supposed to be SVT's huge expensive great big mega Xmas project...? Hello??!
- The script is a disaster, the plot is ridiculously easily foreseen and the dialog is embarrassingly bad.
- There are so many historical errors and anachronisms that lining them all up here would probably crash the IMDb's disc space. artistically I 'm OK with anachronism, but the production team should always be aware of what they do and why. Seems like Snapphanar was made by a bunch of teenagers whose sole historical knowledge comes from many a late night playing dungeons and dragons... which is a wonderful way of starting an interest in history but it just won't do as full education.
- Dramatically there are also a lot of errors in continuity as well as in credibility. Example: The soldiers guarding the coach with the royal treasure chest seem to be totally unaware of the noise and flickering fire lights coming from the village where the rebels have started a riot.
- And Svart-Stina, what can you say...? Her outfit on the royal ball is not exactly what one would call discreet. *sigh*
- Snapphanar is of course to be regarded as a fantasy, a fictitious tale woven and embroidered upon the cloth of authentic history. But it has been done by people lacking too much knowledge.
- A non-Swede would probably not notice, but the use of Scanian accent in this project is unfortunately, and as many times before, a total disgrace to its audiences. The only actors who actually knows how to speak Scanian - Harald Leander, Per Lasson, to mention some - use accents from a totally different area, but at least they know how to speak it and unlike Jörgen Persson they also know acting. The leading actors, however, André Sjöberg and Malin Morgan (former Larsson), well educated and all, doesn't seem to have had very much time to learn their character's way of talking, there are loads of mal-functious pronunciations that really hurt the ear and is very hard to understand also for a Scanian. Those Scanians living in the Göinge area must feel totally lost and quite embarrassed - I don't think they recognize much. For once it's easy to understand those otherwise pompous Stockholmers who claim that they possibly just cannot understand Scanian Sw3edish. I think not even Scanians understand the gibberish urging from the mouths of Svart-Stina and Nils Getting. Sad.
- According to SVT ( Swedish Television)'s homepage the shooting of the entire miniseries took 47 days. That's quite fast for such a prestigious project. Especially considering the fact that the directors have worked 2 and a half years on creating the series. Seems like 90% of the time and financial resources have been spent on special effects. They're quite nice. But nothing that we haven't already seen in films like LOTR, Gladiator, Braveheart a.s.o.
- The same thing could be said about the music that, stuffed like a plum pudding with movie score clichés and with some small exceptions sounds like a total ripoff from anything produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Very Where Eagles Dare, very U.S. Marine Corps, very Hollywood, very full of sound and fury signifying nothing.
Pity.
Uncovered (1994)
outrageous
I totally agree with Keith - the Beckinsale version is a total rape of one of my favorite books and I would much rather have seen a carefully made version where the actors speak Spanish and fit with the characters in the book. Hey, Almodovar, Amenabar and friends - where were you when the decision to make the film was set????
When Jean Jacques Annaud made films as for example The name of the Rose or Enemy at the Gates he did a perfect job in carefully creating the moods and atmospheres and directing characters, so in those cases I could actually stand the fact that most of the characters spoke English. But this film really sucks - I am really disappointed.
Copycat (1995)
A most(ly) great thriller...
A brilliant idea, but unfortunately the end gets a little too much of the usual Hollywood spectacular over (a)do... still:
The opportunity to experience the interaction between two of the worlds most awesome actresses of our time, namely Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter, is worth it all!
That is why I never fail a chance to watch this movie whenever it's on TV.
Interesting ending, aswell... ;)
ENJOY!!! ( But maybe not alone...?)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
A masterpiece
Being a true cineatic since my early childhood I have discovered that most films generally either move you AND end up tragically or make you laugh though not move you very much. Therefore I have sort of begun to "collect" comedies that really have depth and ability to reach my innermost feelings... yes, I collect these movies as somewhat rare treasures, and believe me: THIS MOVIE IS REALLY ONE OF THOSE TREASURES!!! Maybe even the crown-jewel of my shrine.
Just taste the essential idea of it: A travesty of Homer's Ulysses located in the hot south of the United States, that takes place at the beginning of the 20th century - surely this must stimulate your curiosity, mustn't it? Three prisoners escape their captivity, together (they have to, as they happen to be linked together by their balls and chains) aiming to find the golden loot from a robbery . They bump in to the most wonderful version of the Greek Antique predicter of future, Tereisias, that I've ever come across: A blind, black man travelling on a rail dressin.
After thousands of ups and downs, coping with prosperity as well as adversity, the trio reaches a well-earned success - how this is done I won't reveal here, but I will certainly buy the soundtrack! One can't but surrender. After have watched the movie on early night show I seriously contemplated to stay and watch the late night show as well. This film is an irresistible adventure from start to end. Favourite quote? Hmmm... o yes, that'll have to be: "Of course it's Pete - look at him!". Definetely.