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Reviews
Sex Education (2019)
Emphasis on Homosexuality Lowers Impact of Smart Concept
Sex Education is a light comedy coming-of-age drama following the interpersonal relationships of a group of British teenagers in high school.
It is usually entertaining, but its overemphasis on lgbt+ relationships is unrealistic and detrimental to the overall watchability.
The show seems to promote a misconception that half of society is gay or secretly gay.
About half the plot lines seem to focus on lgbt relationships. The script doubles down in season 2.
When surveyed only about 5% of people self-identify as lgbt. In the UK the fraction is just over 4%.
The gratuitous gay scenes and subplots are not especially fun or interesting to anyone who is not gay.
After watching season 2, I wonder if the show would be more aptly titled Gay Sex Education. Then the audience would know what they are in for.
Season 1: 8/10
Season 2: 6/10
The Turning (2020)
Fun to Watch, but Nonending Fails to Satisfy
The Turning is a supernatural horror film about a young governess hired by a wealthy family to look after two children.
It is adapted from an 1898 horror novella "The Turn of the Screw".
The Turning is convincingly acted and technically well executed. It nails the proven formula of anticipation and jump scares.
The main disappointment is the ending that leaves only questions.
After more than an hour of buildup, the director does not offer resolution for the characters or an explanation of what has been transpiring.
The intentionally cryptic ending is the director's unapologetic take on the source material. Unfortunately, the extreme level of ambiguity is not an audience pleaser.
The story would have been better served if the conclusion offered more subtle feelings of unease or doubt.
Half the theater was talking after the credits trying to figure out what had happened in the last 20 minutes.
It was entertaining enough to watch, but The Turning is a middling horror movie.
6/10
A Hidden Life (2019)
Interesting, Not Entertaining
During World War II a military aged German farmer, not necessarily opposed to serving in the German army but skeptical of Hitler, refuses to swear the compulsory loyalty oath upon his conscription.
What ensues is entirely predictable.
The movie is nearly 3 hours long and the most interesting parts of the film are front-loaded in the first hour. The pacing of the film is already slow, then gets slower.
Although the film has some historical interest, it is simply not fun to watch because the story drags and the protagonist is entirely passive during the entirety of the film.
The audience is left to guess his motivations because he hardly says anything. It is hinted that the protagonist might feel his passive resistance is part of a quasi-religious duty to fight evil.
Multiple groups left the theater during my screening. The same story could have been told in half the time.
If there is one key message I took away from the film, it is one man's passive resistance is another man's passive aggression.
Profound? - not really.
The reaction of the moviegoer seated next to me sums up the general audience experience, "I am sure we watched it for some reason."
Educational value 7/10. Entertainment value 4/10.
Uncut Gems (2019)
Suspenseful Thrilling Ride
Uncut Gems follows a hustling New York jeweler struggling to hold his life together.
Among other problems, he is a compulsive gambler who owes money to organized criminals.
With his latest gem investment and sports bets he knows a big score is coming.
If only the people in his life would give him another chance!
Well written and acted. The characters aren't one dimensional and the ending is surprising and smart.
The film was fun beginning to end and never slowed down.
Kevin Garnett fits perfectly into the story. The Weeknd is very minor to the plot.
One of my favorite movies this year.
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
The ending to the wrong trilogy
The Rise of Skywalker drops a narrative bombshell in the opening that was not built up to at all in the previous two films.
The plot is one of the more confused of the Star Wars series and tries to tell too much story in one film. The writers and producers could have done much better with pacing the trilogy.
It felt like there is a movie missing between the previous film (The Last Jedi) and this one (The Rise of Skywalker).
The final outcome of the movie (and saga?) is not unexpected and disappoints by its lack of originality.
The large CGI budget kept me in my seat despite rolling my eyes a few times at the plot.
Black Christmas (2019)
Should have left the theater
Inconsistent pacing, unlikable characters and fringe social commentary woven into the rambling plot aren't helped by bad camerawork and sound design.
Numerous poorly executed attempts at "jump scares" were never startling and I usually jump easily.
Although probably not what the director had in mind, the most satisfying moments are when characters die so we don't have to hear from them again.
I struggled to stay awake and contemplated leaving many times.
Beginning to end, script was unintelligent and unsatisfying. The movie just ends.
Not scary, not thrilling, but very mysterious. The mystery is what would possess the director to make this movie and why is it in the theater?
Felt like an amateur student project given a few million dollar budget.
In the Shadow of the Moon (2019)
If Minority Report was remade by the Communist Chinese or North Koreans
Imagine a world where killing people for crimes they might accidentally inspire someone else to commit in the future is morally justified.
In the confused socialist revolutionary fantasy of In the Shadow of the Moon, innocent casualties are acceptable (for the greater good), the butterfly effect only sometimes applies to time travel and killing people who say things you disagree with is ethical.
The premise is interesting and the first half of the film is thrilling, before the political objectives of the antagonists are revealed. The audience is from then on burdened with the director's expectation for us to sympathize with self-righteous murderers.
The "bad guys" the antagonist is killing are an unnatural and ignorant progression of neo-nazis, conspiracy theorists, constitutionalists and everyday white people. The further back in time the antagonist travels, the more normal and unassuming the "bad guys" are.
The anti-hero's racially diverse team will stop at nothing to kill any white person who might possibly inspire ideas in the future that "cause" the "the civil war".
Until the last moments of the film I held out hope the lead actor would "stick to his guns" and maintain the moral high ground that killing innocent people is wrong to achieve a political goal.
Instead of a rewarding conclusion the film fizzles out as the pathetic hero is converted by the anti-hero.
By the conclusion of the film, the "science" remains under-explained and there is no hint at any negative future consequence from the killings of both pre-crime victims and innocent casualties.
Marxist inspired moralism ruins what would otherwise be a passable sci-fi movie.