Reviews

My wife and I looked at each other as the end credits rolled for this film we had just watched and asked each other, "what the hell was that?". Neither of us had an answer. I have to agree with others that the 9 and 10 ratings for this film are highly suspect.

What was the Jeremy Renner character's purpose? The big reveal about him at the end was totally nonsensical, much less clarifying. Plot points were treated like the mother's breast cancer in The Room (which was, in my opinion, much more entertaining than Arrival). All this film was missing was terrified teenagers and local cops who dismiss them as pranksters.

In hindsight, I should have given this a 1 rating, but I felt sorry for those who made this movie thinking it was going to be good. Major waste of time.

I'm just about finished with this fascinating documentary after finding it on YouTube. I've been a big fan of the western film since the fifties. Rich Hall's How the West Was Lost begins its history and analysis of The Western with early John Ford and spends nearly ninety minutes progressing through some 50 years of classic films, great directors and iconic stars. The nearly non-stop film clips alone make this worth watching.

Mr. Hall also does an excellent job of identifying and comparing the various themes of these Westerns and how they have evolved as America has evolved.

Side note: Is anyone else curious why someone would review a film they admit they have not watched? And base that negative review solely on a negative opinion given by another reviewer. Deep stuff.

Worse than The Room. I can recommend Fateful Findings to anyone who is studying self-delusion as a mental illness.

Producer/Writer/Star, Neil Breen's presence on the screen projects the polar opposite of charisma. His love scenes made me want to hurl.

I can't describe the story because there is no story to describe. The whole thing is disturbing and cringe.

The movie begins with some weird scene in the woods involving pine-straw between ten-year-old Breen and his like-aged friend, Leah. Fast-forward to a hospital where the now 50-something Breen is being treated for being hit by a Rolls-Royce.

Believe it or not, Leah drops by his room because she just happens to be a doctor in this hospital. Most of Breen's face is covered in bandages so she doesn't recognize him. Once Leah later sees him sans bandages at a barbeque pool party they do recognize one another but neither seems to notice that Breen has aged at about twice the speed as Leah.

A lot of other stuff happens, none of which is worth recounting or reviewing.

ALL of the actors in this embarrassing mess are bad, but Breen is the absolute worst. And to make matters even more painful, he repeats nearly everything he says.

Less than 0 out of 10.

I love the Baskets family, and Martha, and Ken, and Eddie. What a crazy journey, from the first episode to the last. BTW, the last act of the final episode was perfect. Did you notice that through the entire run of the series, no one ever asked Martha what happened to her arm? My wife accused me of saying, "poor Martha" at least once an episode.

I came to feel like I knew these characters and wanted to see how they continued to evolve. It is a show with heart, that's for sure. I agree with the other positive insights I have read here and plan to watch the series a second time. I'm sure I'll pick up a lot that I missed the first go round. It's a show that is both funny and deep ... and yet it works fantastically.

As I watched Peter Bogdanovich's film, Saint Jack (waiting for something to happen), three words came to mind: pretentious, tedious and dumb. Not once did I find myself caring a bit for the main character, Jack Flowers. I didn't really like him or dislike him. There was no detectable plot. The female characters were powerless cliches whose acting (?) was painful to experience. Ben Gazzara couldn't have been more impassive. I suppose that's how PB directed him to act, though. On the positive side, the shot framing and scenes of old Singapore were very good. I feel like an outlier her, after reading all the glowing reviews. I guess it's like any other work of art - you either get it or you don't. I like other auteur directors: Fellini, David Lynch. I just don't get Bogdanovich. I don't normally post reviews, but I decided that all of the positive reviews needed some balancing. I did enjoy Ben Gazzara in his Run For Your Life TV series ... even though it was a thinly-veiled rip-off of The Fugitive. But I guess if you're going to copy a show it might as well be one of the best dramas in TV history. For Peter Bogdanovich fans, TCM is about to begin a Bogdanovich podcast featuring him interviewing notable living and dead directors, as well as commentary by and interviews with Bogdanovich.

This movie is perfect for 8-12 yr.-old boys. It reminded me of the Saturday morning shows from the 50's, Like Ramar of the Jungle and Tarzan ... only with way better special effects. The acting and story line are just as terrible, though. If you enjoy this genre, it might be worth watching just for the stampeding mastodons at the end.

I didn't discover Queen and Freddie Mercury until I was in my sixties. One rainy day I happened upon the 2-hour BBC Queen documentary. I was an instant fanatic: I bought all the albums and all the concert DVD's and all the music video compilations and watched all the youtube videos, I read all the biographies. Freddie Mercury had become my hero. I admired Roger and Brian's ambition to capture Queen's story in a movie, but I thought there's no way anybody can play Freddie Mercury. Well, I saw the movie today and I'm here to tell you, Remi Malek did it! The smallest gestures, the vulnerableness and the bravado, the stage movements ... he WAS Freddie Mercury come to life. Like many others have said, I felt like I was watching the actual band at many points. Thank you to everyone involved for making this astonishing movie.

I can absolutely not understand how many very negative reviews there are here. I don't know what more you could want from a spy thriller. The acting was very good ... especially Jennifer Lawrence. The story was very well constructed, believable and had me guessing from start to finish. I feel I got my money's worth and more. Congratulations on a movie well done to all involved.

I have not seen Taken 1 or 2, but I thought Taken 3 stands on its own as engrossing, exciting thriller. Neeson's fighting and get-out-of-trouble skills are what you would expect ... and more. The movie is well-cast and direction and pace keep the tension high. I recommend to fans of action thrillers.

Just saw Dirty Grandpa with a theater full of 60- and 70-somethings (myself included). Appropriately, it was a 10:50 a.m. showing. I can tell you that everyone - my wife and 86-yr-old father-in-law included - were howling at this thing. Sure it was over-the-top gross, but it was also very, very funny. The final scene between Aubrey Plaza and DeNiro had me laughing so hard I had tears running down my cheeks. I can't believe all of the god-awful reviews I'm reading for this movie. I have to admit that I love Aubrey Plaza, so watching her interact with DeNiro was a real treat (and consistently funny). Zac Efron was solid as the grandson ... and had to have been an incredibly good sport to put up with all he had to in his role. I say, if you're over 60 and not offended by raunchy humor, give this movie a chance. I thought it was great!