chriskooter

Well my girlfriend got this off my folks for Christmas on reputation alone and it exceeded its promise, tenfold! We actually sat down to watch one episode, six hours later we decided we really must go to bed! The acting is outstanding (the whole cast), the humour is great, the characters well drawn and the drama fresh and original (and as a Limey c##ksucker I have NO problem with the language, we love our swearing here in the north!!). I'm so pleased Ian Mc Shane has been given a chance to show his class, as he's someone whose career started so promisingly then trailed off in to mid afternoon guest spots on banal/safe TV dramas. Check out Freelance, Villain or Sitting Target for some early appearances in gritty British crime films, they're all good! This isn't a partisan review though, the American cast is just as strong, Brad Douriff is incredible and I think Timothy Olyphant is excellent too (come on it's harder to play a convincing good guy than a meaty villain). All the female characters are especially well played to (Robin Weigert's Calamity Jane is Emmy worth!!), and I expect their influence will develop with the show. Credit to HBO again, I really didn't think they could top The Sopranos or Band of Brothers, I hope they have a slate of this kind of drama lined up!!!

I really wanted to like this film, the premise was pretty good, decent cast, and very early on it was earthy and believable. As it progressed it really started to become so painfully self-conscious and cliché ridden I breathed out heavily with disappointment. I even liked the early songs (they were at least kind of believable, 'All Over The World' was actually pretty good), but the rose tinted view of rock'n'roll maaan, the lazy stereotypes, left a bitter taste in my mouth. Then, about half way through, everyone became so earnest and noble and pretty much any hope of this film expressing any genuine emotion disintegrated (It became the visual equivalent of listening to a Bono speech). These are also the qualities which I've always found the least attractive in real music. It became an obvious ego-trip for certain parties (JImmy Nail?, you bet) and the fabulous talents of Stephen Rea and Bill Nighy were all but wasted. The comedy became pretty thin too, the writers (who have been brilliant in the past) just refused to stretch themselves, resorting to every cliché in the book... Worst of all tho'? THE song, 'Flame Still Burns'!! It's about the worst song I've ever heard (how I'm supposed to be pleased a group of 60's trailblazers turn out a hideous AOR power-ballad song like this I really don't know?)... It's even worse than 'Wind of Change' by Scorpions.... Horrible, middle of the road 'power ballad with meaning' rock, eight!!... I guess if you love music like that your gonna love this, so that's fair enough... Personally this dreadful song just made me wish these fictitious fruits had died in a plane crash in '73........

Really enjoyed this little movie. It's a moving film about struggle, sacrifice and especially the bonds of friendship between different peoples (the child actor who plays Miki is especially good). There's so many large scale impersonal films set around WW2, that this convincingly told little story is a real break from the norm, and an original one at that. I'll also add that this film is far from boring, very far!! Of course the Horses are wonderful and the scenery breathtaking. To anyone who really treats their animal as part of the family (I do), you'll find this film especially rewarding. Recommended to movie fans who look for something a little different.