Angry Movie Lurker Honest Review 57: Drive 2011 (3 STARS)

A Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a wheelman discovers that his life is in danger when a heist goes wrong.

"I drive for you, you get your money. That's a guarantee. Tell me where we start, where we're going and where we're going afterwards, I give you five minutes when we get there. Anything happens in that 5 minutes and I'm yours, no matter what. Anything a minute either side of that and you're on your own. I don't sit in while you're running it down. I don't carry a gun. I drive."

What to say about this movie, I didn't know what to expect and even now I don't know what I really feel about this movie. Nearly the first half is a slow stroll through neon lights, moody looks, his (Ryan Gosling) day and night job but done with real detail on lighting, scenery and affection with a next door neighbour and her kid (nicely done but out of character?).

The second half is another movie with his employer (Bryan Cranston, good and sleazy) at a garage who dreams of a race team with our hero getting involved with the wrong people again you'll understand when you see him (Albert Brooks who is brilliant and Ron Perlman who for once is lost in his role), our hero agrees to help his neighbours husband who is just out of prison and owes the wrong people money so right out of character he gets involved in a heist which is already been screwed up by others (his employers old friends) and then the second half of the movie is a violent road crash that heads to an ending which nobody wants but you know is coming.

It's still a watchable movie, very well shot, the action (the movie was mentioned for the violence being very graphic and it is but that's what really happens to the human body) what there is good (Albert Brooks and his love of blades is shocking and disturbing especially in one scene) and for once because the pace is quite slow at times the music and lyrics made sense and were well chosen and that worried me.

20mm Painted WW2 Zeltbahn German Tents.

These metal beauties are from TQD and are supposed to be painted in the 1931 Splittermuster pattern (well my attempt at it anyway), the zeltbahn (tent quarter) was developed in 1931 and could be used as a rain cape, a means of personal camouflage, as a means to construct multi person shelters. In emergencies, it was even prescribed as the basis for a jury rigged flotation device.

There were standard designs for creating four, eight and sixteen man tents from the tent quarter.

Some pictures of painted zeltbahn's for scale and size purpose and some actual ones in use.

Zeltbahn tent.

Rain cape.

  

WW2 Painted Soviet Airborne Infantry Squad.

A squad of soviet airborne infantry from TQD Models, difficult to find much painting information (well for me anyway) on the airborne but lovely figures and will probably mix them with my partisan forces, this apparently happened in 1943 after a drop went wrong around the Dneiper river as part of a major offensive. Really nice figures.

The Soviets mounted only one large-scale airborne operation in World War Two, despite their early leadership in the field in the 1930s. The Axis air superiority early in the conflict limited the ability of the Soviets to mount such operations, whilst later in the conflict ongoing shortages of materiel, including silk for parachutes, reduced the ability of the Soviet airborne to operate. Nonetheless, the Soviets maintained their doctrinal belief in the effectiveness of airborne forces, as part of their concept of “deep battle”, throughout the war. The largest drop during the war was corp-sized, and was not successful (the Vyaz'ma Operation, the 4th Airborne Corps). Airborne formations were used as elite infantry units, however and played a critical role in several battles. For example, at the Battle of Kursk the defence of the eastern 'shoulder' of the southern penetration by Guards Airborne units was critical to holding back the German penetration. The Soviet military sent at least one team of observers to witness British and American airborne planning for D-Day but took pains not to reciprocate the liaison.

Russia pioneered the development of combat gliders, but used them only for cargo during the war.