 With ace Director Ridley Scott behind the camera, here we go swashbuckling thru Merry Olde England. Since the 1200’s, English troubadours sang ballads of Robin Hood, and the Medieval legend was born. This movie takes the approach that Robin (played by Russel Crowe) was a high-minded yeoman and fierce patriot skillful with longbow and sword (same as the last dozen movies that Hollywood has churned out about Robin). So in order to add some originality and freshness, the writers toss in a fictitious French invasion; complete with oar powered WWII Higgins boat landing craft. WTF? The revisionist history is not worth going on about, but the good cast, setting and plenty of action makes this a good popcorn flick. Warning – avoid the needless 2018 remake. It is a horrible PC wreck.
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This underrated, documentary style film by three college students, majoring in Journalism, begins by covering a bear poaching story in Norway. As they dig into the story they find enough clues to find a mysterious hunter named Hans living in a trailer at a campground, deep in the Norwegian woodlands. They think Hans is the poacher, and decide to follow him. They are in for the surprise of their young lives. With persistence and some dangerous clandestine work in the dead of night they uncover the Euro-news scope of the decade. Hans is an employee of the secretive Norwegian TSS (Troll Security Service), and he is the only licensed trolljegeren (troll hunter) in Norway. After several attempts for an interview, the film crew finally gets him to open up about his job. It is a pleasure to listen to a man who really knows his craft, and Hans is a master Troll hunter. He shares valuable information with the film crew. For instance:
Trolls only prowl about at night. How to track a pack of trolls. Why a troll may have more than one head. How to ID the various types of trolls (Ringlefinches, Tosserlads, Jotnars, Ragnars, and Mountain Kings). A map showing the secret Norwegian Troll Reservations. How to outwit and sneak up on a troll. Most important - How to kill a troll. And finally - Troll disposal techniques and methods used by the TSS to confuse the general public about trolls. Trolls are a very touchy subject in Norway, but ask any Norwegian – they know that trolls are NO fairy tale. 
In her prime, Tonya Harding was a formidable figure skater winning the US Nationals in 1991 and going on to skate in the Olympics. Don’t take my word for it, see her skate here. She was also the very first female figure skater to land the insanely difficult triple axel jump. And then everything came crashing down with the mother of all skating scandals. No spoilers (anyway, the story is too well known to bother with a recap). This movie is the story of Tonya’s life with the ups and downs played to perfection by Margot Robbie, in a career best performance that lights up the big screen. In fact this film has more acting talent than two or three typical Hollywood flicks.
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AuthorWritten by Ben Clark. Copyright 2016-2023. All rights reserved. Archives
August 2023
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