Here's Mel to give the Brits an inaccurate historical thrashing, again... The Patriot is based around one Benjamin Martin, an ex-soldier, who now happily living as a family man finds himself thrust into conflict at the break of the American Revolution. He loves the Brits does Mel Gibson, "Gallipoli", "Braveheart" and here with "The Patriot", see the pattern anyone? As with the aforementioned "Gallipoli" and "Braveheart", certain liberties have also been taken with events in "The Patriot" so as to glossy up for the eager Hollywood contingent. It's not my want to scribble about the facts of Benjamin Martin (Re: Francis Marion), or William Wallace for that matter, information as such is but a mere click away on the world wide web. So casting aside the artistic licence factors, is "The Patriot" any good? Well nearly it is -- nearly. Gibson is fine, he shoulders the burden of the film with great gusto and no shortage of emotional depth. It's very easy to accept him as a staunch family man who transforms into a blood thirsty warrior. The problems, acting wise, lay away from Gibbo's central performance. Surrounded by caricature villains (though Jason Isaacs' Tavington is deliciously vile) and underwritten characters (Chris Cooper wasted and Joely Richardson is but a mere prop), Gibson has no choice but to hog the screen. So much so it ultimately turns into a one man star vehicle, which for a costume war epic isn't a great thing really. Roland Emmerich ("Independence Day" and "Godzilla") directs and handles the battle sequences very well, there's lashings of blood as men line up to shoot and dismember one and other. While cannonball's whizz, bang and tear off body parts, it's grim, yet oddly rousing stuff. Not even the overtly flag waving and sloganeering on show can off set the impact of the well constructed battles. There is of course lots of tragedy to be found in the film, and these are some what surprisingly, tenderly handled by Emmerich, but mostly it's via an on song Gibson, who remains one of the few modern day male actors capable of believable grief. All of this is given a John Williams score that suitably flits between rousing and ethereal, and things are further boosted by the sumptuous photography from Caleb Deschanel. There should have been more thought given to the racial (slaves) aspects in the conflict, and this coupled with the bad errors of under developed characters hurts "The Patriot" as a filmic exercise, not so as to stop it being entertaining, but more to stop it being a one man show. But as it is, thanks in the main to Gibson, and in spite of the overtly evident faults, it's an above average drama. 6/10
For Sandra, a woman in her late teens, life is wonderful. She has recently fallen in love with Daniel, a member of the group of young men she hangs around with frequently. Daniel is flattered by Sandra's affection for him and they begin to spend more time together, apart from the rest of the gang. Their relationship remains diffuse and directionless, provoking tension and threatening to cause a schism within the group.
Movie Star Rating : 0 Read More
Toramaru, lord of integrated martial arts Mugen-ga-ryu, ends his training journey and visits his master, Gensai. "You have to duel with every martial arts master and win, in order to obtain their esoteric books of martial secrets." Receiving such an order from Gensai, Toramaru makes a pilgrimage around Japan and spends a year fighting. Through his fights with genuine masters in every martial arts such as kung-fu, stick fighting, sword fighting, and nunchaku, this film passionately tells what "Budo" is and what Bushido is. Full of fierce and diverse action! The original fighting movie is finally born here!
Movie Star Rating : 5.6 Read More
In a small Arctic town struggling with the highest suicide rate in North America, a group of Inuit students' lives are transformed when they are introduced to the sport of lacrosse.
Movie Star Rating : 7.3 Read More
Two fathers' lives intersect when one of them is involved in a terrible and sudden hit-and-run car accident that leaves the other's son dead. In response, the two men react in unexpected ways as a reckoning looms in the near future.
Movie Star Rating : 6.5 Read More
FBI Agent Karl Helter and his partner Rebecca Lombardo are very close to busting a sex-trafficking ring. When they realize their investigation has crossed the path of a brutal serial killer, they team up with a FDLE agent to put an end to the infamous 'Truck Stop Killer'.
Movie Star Rating : 6 Read More
When a Spanish Jesuit goes into the South American wilderness to build a mission in the hope of converting the Indians of the region, a slave hunter is converted and joins his mission. When Spain sells the colony to Portugal, they are forced to defend all they have built against the Portuguese aggressors.
Movie Star Rating : 7.4 Read More
A young French Canadian, one of five boys in a conservative family in the 1960s and 1970s, struggles to reconcile his emerging identity with his father's values.
Movie Star Rating : 7.4 Read More
During the late 1980s, two detectives in a South Korean province attempt to solve the nation's first series of rape-and-murder cases.
Movie Star Rating : 8.1 Read More
Herbert Stempel's transformation into an unexpected television personality unfolds as he secures victory on the cherished American game show, 'Twenty-One.' However, when the show introduces the highly skilled contestant Charles Van Doren to replace Stempel, it compels Stempel to let out his frustrations and call out the show as rigged. Lawyer Richard Goodwin steps in and attempts to uncover the orchestrated deception behind the scenes.
Movie Star Rating : 7.3 Read More
In 1940, the Royal Air Force fights a desperate battle against the might of the Luftwaffe for control of the skies over Britain, thus preventing the Nazi invasion of Britain.
Movie Star Rating : 6.8 Read More
IF 2024 - Movies (May 20th)
Family Practice Mysteries Coming Home 2024 - Movies (May 20th)
Oppenheimer 2023 - Movies (May 19th)
Golden Kamuy 2024 - Movies (May 19th)
Silent impulses 2023 - Movies (May 19th)
Everything Puppies 2024 - Movies (May 19th)
Silence of the Prey 2024 - Movies (May 19th)
The Guardian of the Monarchs 2024 - Movies (May 18th)
Imaginary 2024 - Movies (May 18th)
One Life 2023 - Movies (May 18th)
Dont Tell Mom the Babysitters Dead 2024 - Movies (May 18th)
The Strangers Chapter 1 2024 - Movies (May 17th)
Pandemonium 2023 - Movies (May 17th)
Nightwatch Demons Are Forever 2023 - Movies (May 17th)
Bad Romance The Vicky White Story 2023 - Movies (May 17th)
Faceless After Dark 2023 - Movies (May 17th)
The American Friend 2023 - Movies (May 17th)
You Cant Run Forever 2024 - Movies (May 17th)
End of the Rope 2023 - Movies (May 17th)
Thelma the Unicorn 2024 - Movies (May 17th)
Power 2024 - Movies (May 17th)
Gemma and Gorka- Life Behind the Lens - (May 20th)
Six Is Not a Crowd - (May 20th)
When Calls the Heart - (May 20th)
The Real Housewives of New Jersey - (May 20th)
Snapped - (May 20th)
Sins of the South - (May 20th)
The Cook Up with Adam Liaw - (May 20th)
Tipping Point Australia - (May 20th)
Americas Funniest Home Videos - (May 20th)
Highway Cops - (May 20th)
The Simpsons - (May 20th)
Krapopolis - (May 20th)
Bobs Burgers - (May 20th)
CSI- Vegas - (May 19th)
The Brokenwood Mysteries - (May 20th)
Sullivans Crossing - (May 20th)
Tracker - (May 20th)
The Equalizer - (May 20th)
Paramedics on Scene - (May 20th)
999- On the Front Line - (May 20th)