Reading Behind The Lines

"Behind Enemy Lines".  I know what you're thinking.  In the name of hell why are you reviewing an off the wall action flick.  Well here's my answer.

I recently re introduced myself to the common action film only to find myself again in the shoes of a twelve year old boy shouting at the screen "WOW!" and "Did you see that!".  It's amazing how simple something has to be to bring out the child in you and the deeper and deeper i look into the reason the more and more i find myself in a hole trying to dig upwards.  There may be no reason at all for this funny feeling i get when i watch a film like this, those little outbursts that make us all human when we're watching a film like this, and ones like it, such as Die Hard and Hard Rain.  From other aspects i may see this film as a landmark for Owen Wilson's peak as an actual actor rather than some bonehead he has played in his recent films.  I'll admit i'm being a bit harsh, i find his films funny, but i see so much more potential for this man, he may have been kicked in the stomach and portrayed as a suicidal maniac in later years but i still believe he has potential as a fantastic actor in both the action and the drama scene.  But when watching the film that point becomes mute.

Here's a little exercise for you - Watch the film and you will come to a scene where Burnett (Wilson) is made out to be dead (KIA) by the "enemy", then you will be emerced in slow motion following a strange man wearing a black balaclava who even waves and the leading enemy soldier.  He walks further and further from the war and finally passes a rumbling tank sitting warming the air.  Cue dramatic choir music, driving drum kit and inspiring orchestral backing - The man turns to face the war zone behind him, pulling off the balaclava, the screen is filled with golden hair and a face fit for sore eyes, blackened by smoke.  He turns back and begins to run, still in slow motion as we watch him, run away from his captors.  He made it, he got out alive.  

I challange you to watch that one scene and not feel like a little kid again because that, my good friend, will bring a smile to my face any day!  

You've Just Been "Scrooged"

Well what can i say about this film.  "Scrooged" was sticking out like a soar thumb in tesco the other day, bringing back old memories of laughter and that little x-mas spirit.  Now i refer to x-mas spirit opposed to the original christmas spirit for a reason.  This film may be a christmas film but certainly is aimed at a more adult audience considering the swearing, guns and crazed taxi driver ghosts, but it still has that little something which seems to spark the little kid inside of me, bringing a smile to my face in that final moment when Bill Murray calls out to the audience to sing.  The story is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin (Bill Murray gets Scrooged), a scornful, heartless tv exec is visited by 3 ghosts (however crazy and moronic they may seem) and is shown the errors of his heartless ways which results in a fantastic happy ending (in a sort of warped way).  We see that this is an up to date version of Charles Dickens classic and it is very well done, but yet in a comedic fashion, it is entirely built up on the comic aspect, and that is why i have chosen to catagorise this as a x-mas film, but not as a pure christmas film, which films such as It's a Wonderful Life and the original Scrooge lie.  

If your looking for a good film to get you into the spirit, with laughs and that occasional moment of Bill Murray craziness (refer to the final ten minutes), definitely give this one a good watching.  Ba Humbug !!

Diving In

A fantastic take on the real life situation of boy meets girl.  "River Child" sees two young girls travel to the river, walking through a course of beautiful fields and forests with the sun always at a perfect angle at a side view such as sunrise would show or even a sunset but the film is set during the daytime assuming its the afternoon that the event takes place.  The title "River Child" makes me believe that the younger of the two girls feels that the river is her home and possibly where she belongs in the world around her.  She doesn't seem to fit in out of the water.  We are shown this from the younger boys reaction to seeing the younger girl and not being as attracted to each other as the two older people are.  The world that the girl enters when under the water seems almost a perfect image for her, a place of tranquility and peace that the girl can show her true maturity and belonging.  Speaking of maturity, this brings to mind the event that the film basis around, the little drowning boy who lies unconscience in the river, and has to be revived by the younger of the two girls, and when her job is done she returns to the river, her natural habitat.  The mere fact that she showed how responsible she is when confronted with a problem thrown in front of her showing the confines of a human life in someone else hands is enough to show the sheer beauty of someone who belongs in a natural place, for this little girl it was the river she so found at home in.  The end of the film is the girl returning to the river, returning to her natural home.  The screen pauses on a shot of the girl underwater with a smile on her face.  This one scene managed to make me smile, and that effect that i would usually have after doing a kind deed, or completing  a test kicked in, that butterfly effect when something so beautiful appears in front of you and all you can do is smile.  That is exactly what this film is; beautiful.  So i suppose, this whole experience is like diving into a wonderful snapshot of how some people find their true meaning in life.