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Reviews
The Wild Geese (1978)
Never too old
This film appears to give ale-filled viewers the hysterics when they watch it after a Saturday night binge. My suggestion, try it sober.
To some, the Wild Geese reminds them of Captain Mainwaring leading his Warmington-on-Sea Home Guard on one disaster after another. One of the themes of the film examines how veteran soldiers never seem to be satisfied on civvy street because that is where they don't belong. Take Sandy Young the RSM, he prunes roses all day. Does a garden provide the same excitement and fulfilment as a firefight? Rafer Janders the planner is now a father of a young boy, but you can tell he is not 100 percent happy. He is needed for the job because he is the best. He is the best because he has the experience. Sean Flynn is the best pilot there is and he has ended up as a two bit courier for the mob.
My thoughts, you are never too old.
Babe: Pig in the City (1998)
Rose coloured spectacles.
The general opinion of this film cannot be determined wholly one way or the other, but as a love it or hate it.
The premise could not be different. With the first film we viewed the innocence and simplicity of rural life. Every living thing knew its place, from the sheep grazing on the fields, to the border collies rounding them up. There were no food shortages. There was no homelessness, the sun shined perpetually and life was good. In the city, this almost routine, comfortable way of life is upended and turned inside out. Babe was magical, Babe 2 is reality.
People go hungry, people are homeless, they commit crimes, they break laws and live on the edge. Where better to illustrate this reality than in a huge, dark, looming city? To have an inhabitant of the magical rural world flung into the city with no preparation and no prior knowledge of what to expect is explored in this film, although urban residents may find it an unfair portrayal. A similar theme was explored in Crocodile Dundee, although some would admit the city at night is a far more inviting prospect than the Australian outback.
One thing I didn't like was the use of the noble, courageous and loyal breed of dog the English Bull Terrier as a "bully-boy" pit bull. Some may find the pit bull to be the media created stereotypical vicious killer, although I think the director set out to show how the pit bull has become a victim of cliché in being adopted by the tattooed, skin headed type to be the four legged version of themselves.
No matter how pleasant the world may seem, the opposite is just as real.
Spiders (2000)
Never to be taken seriously
The film Spiders does not intend to be mentioned in the same breath as films like Jaws and the Alien series. It has its tongue planted firmly in its cheek and as a result is hoping for the chance to rub shoulders with gems such as Piranha and Lake Placid. Whilst viewing the film you may tut and groan at some of the scenes with tacky dialogue and acting, it is only near the end when you realise that the producers have attempted to have as much fun as possible, at the expense of all those X-files/Dark Skies/Millennium style conspiracy shows, with a bit of monster movie digs in for good measure.