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stevenharker
Reviews
Troll Bridge (2019)
I think that sir Terry would have been proud
Saw this at the weekend and, as a long time Pratchett fan i was extremely impressed. There have been quite a few Pratchett adaptations, some with his blessing and some clearly without . Catching the spirit of the Discworld books does not automatically follow but it does here.
- "What is it that a man may call the greatest things in life?"
- "Hot water, good dentishtry and shoft lavatory paper."
to which we can add "Troll Bridge".
Eye in the Sky (2015)
Exploring the consequences of modern warfare
This film explores the morality of drone warfare and basically lets you, the audience, decide. I doubt if I'll see a more gripping and thought provoking film this year. The director has managed to create an film that has many edge of the seat /fingernail biting moments about people located in different rooms around the world talking to each other on telephones and looking at computer screens. The bad guys are the bad guys, no question but everything else is shades of grey. Helen Mirren disproves any notion that women are the weaker sex. Alan Rickman, in his last role, brilliantly shows his talent with a collection of dry one liners that add a satirical layer to the film. He also gets the chance to deliver possibly the best put-down speech to politician. Basically, you've got the Brit, American and Kenyan military plus the terrorists. Then you've got the local Kenyan people just trying to survive. You could argue that the American politicians are shown as being gung-ho whilst their Brit counterparts come across as not having a pair of balls/ backbone between them but both the Brit and American military are shown as real three dimensional people, especially the drone pilots. One of whom has only just qualified. They are all aware of the consequences of their actions. For the drone pilots this isn't simply a more elaborate video game and, although physically remote, through technology they are arguably closer to the the target than many other soldiers in a war zone. Go watch it and make up your own mind about the rights and wrongs of drone warfare.