Change Your Image
revotstover
Reviews
February (2015)
many hallways lead to a good ending
I had no idea what i was getting into here. I know who emma roberts was (along with remar and holly).
There certainly have been enough films of this genre to make anyone want to turn it off quickly, but it keeps moving forward--girls walk down many hallways, too. There are enough strange scenes early that you can't quite figure out what is going to happen.
In the end, it's your basic possession movie with some violence here and there.
What saves it is the very end. I know people don't know what it's like to be possessed, but many have felt the way the emma roberts character feels at the end.
So there.
Climax (2018)
a kept waiting for a climax
There is no climax here, unless you count the very end where the title appears on the screen.
10 minutes of talkking heads interviews of the actors/dancers and what they would do for dance.
10 minute dance sequence.
Dudes talking about the size of their genitalia and to lube or not to lube.
Then there were some drugs, or so we heard, some more dancing, a kid that screamed a lot, many people that screamed a lot, and more dancing and characters we have known for 5 minutes doing some things that we were supposed to care about.
I give it credit for creating a vibe with the music and dancing, but this is not a world that exists, it's not a metaphor for something universal, and it's 2 million box office shows that there wasn't a lot of positive buzz.
Homeroom (2021)
Out of Focus
Oh, it looks like a documentary. There's Oakland and some shots of the city and Oakland High. But there is nothing holding all of it together.
It's called Homeroom. We barely see kids in school and, when we do, the classes are super small and/or students are on their phones. Students don't seem very engaged, but we've seen that narrative before.
The movie mostly follows council kids, the ones that represent the school and district. Usually, council kids aren't that representative of students--they're the kids that hold office, run assemblies, make posters--and Homeroom only follows a handful of them.
The director has claimed this movie was an attempt to better understand young people. The viewer doesn't see young people for more than a minute or two at a time. We don't see them in class, at home, having fun, doing work, or anything for long.
About the only focus is defunding the police. The students speak at a board meeting and claim this a good idea. Why? We see one scene at school feature police officers--they are in the auditorium, speaking to a limited number of students, and are willing to answer any question.
Do we wee the SRO (school cop) in action? Nope. Do we ever see kids interract with police? We do not. We don't know anything specific that has happened between police and these students to make the students feel the way they do. The students don't have dialogue about it, but we do get to see them watching stories on their phones.
Once again, this was an opportunity to get a close look into student's/people's lives during school and a pandemic. And, maybe Covid kept the crew socially distant after March, but that doesn't excuse the months leading up to it.
Too bad. The general pubflic has no idea what happens in public schools these days and Homeroom does little to shed a light.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
the assassination of my eyelids
no matter what people write about this movie, it is not bad. but it really can't be considered something of merit either. the performances are so flat and wooden--i realize that some "critics" would claim them subtle--that none of the characters really shines as someone you want to root for or be too interested in.
the good--it's nice looking. the soundtrack fits, too. plus, i liked seeing nick cave late in the movie as a bar singer. plus, the actors look like they could have been from that time period.
the bad--it's not malick. i read that the original version was four hours long. oh my goodness!!! this version came in at a sloooooooow two hours forty. not a lot of action and not much reason for us to feel reverence for jesse james. if he's a big deal, make him a big deal.
there's a reason movies like this don't do well in theaters. i know that many a good movie is overlooked and misunderstood, but i have no idea what audience would appreciate this. teens? no. women? not many bathing scenes for pitt here. men? not this man.
i'm disappointed to see that this director, who has now made two movies that no one has seen, has signed on to do cormac mccarthy's cities of the plain. i wish him, and his audience, better luck.
Death Proof (2007)
an homage to crap is still crap
grindhouse is not a good movie. i grew up in the 70's and there were plenty of b-movies that i remember. they were not good movies either. BUT, they weren't talkies. and they weren't almost 2 hours. i remember all the critics greasing Tarantino--as if no one else in Hollywood can write dialog--saying this was good times. it's not. that's why the buzz was horrible and the box office was worse.the scene of climax is so bad. the bad car offers no badness. conflicts are no good if the conflict is easily resolved. this one would be.i realize quentin t did some good movies. i get that. but saying this is an homage to crap means that it's crap. he's one movie away from being out of Hollywood. hey, maybe he could get nicole kidman to star in his next one--i hear she's huge at the box office.
stay away. you've been warned by many here.
The Squid and the Whale (2005)
short and sweet
this movie comes in so short in length that i think that's why i have to ding it a point. i was looking at some of the other movies i've rated on here and most of them aren't very good. i get mad when i see a bad film and go on here and rant a little.
the squid and whale has nothing bad to it. there are a couple of scenes that keep me from showing it to my high school students, but i can understand why they are in the film.
the characters are real (and depressing), the story is real (and depressing), and the actors are really good. i had a smile on my face throughout because i know all these people--not personally, but there are so many people in my life like this.
check it out, be surprised. enjoy.
The New World (2005)
did the job for me
i know it's cool to hate a film that colin farrell stars in, but i had to like the new world. for one, it's malick, and you can hate all you want, but he makes his owns movies and, if you don't like them, then you're just not patient enough. the bottom line is that movies need to do a couple of things for an audience. they need to entertain--i thought the storyline was fine here. they need to take you to another place--it did. never did it talk down to me, never did it look pitiful, never did it insult my intelligence. history buffs, puh-leeze, it's a movie with some peruvian fifteen-year-old playing pocahontas. deal with it. i hope my four-year old son will appreciate the storytelling of malick, who, despite people on the message boards, peaked with days of heaven, but still has some tricks up his sleeve. this movie did poorly at the box office, but i think it deserves a chance.
Factotum (2005)
just because you've read a book . . .
doesn't mean this movie is good. i was really frustrated by it on many levels. it's kind of the tip of the hat to bukowski. hey, i've read that guy in college--let's see what matt dillon does with him. and i like matt dillon. i thought he came close to looking a little like hank, but mostly just the ruddy cheeks. i have to care about a character, though, and there just wasn't much here to care about. i think time might be cruel to bukowski, and that bothers me a lot, because the writing was solid in a sort of post counter culture time. hard to sit through, scenes that went nowhere, and a soundtrack that made me want to vomit. i ask for very little, got less.
28 Days Later... (2002)
seemed like 28 decades later
oh, i was so completely bored beyond repair. like all danny boyle films, this one has a decent premise, and even starts out okay. the release of the virus is a statement about human nature, which also turns out to be pretty nasty. <br> but it's not very nasty. the infected are no big deal. they don't really pose much threat if you find a few guns and go out to the country. i realize city living is pretty fun, and all, but not when infected people want to kill you. and the black tough girl role was done in "the omega man," which, for its time, is about 5 times better than this one. <br> the acting was credible, the look was fine, but the story just didn't interest me. there were scenes where i was just angry at the characters and their actions. look, if infected people are about, why oh why oh why do you feel the need to go "look around." <br> dumb, not thought out, relying only on visuals, and boring is no way to go through life, son. danny boyle has done this in "the beach," too. he started off with a good premise, then it turned into a video game. in "trainspotting," he had all these interesting things happening early in the film--the dirtiest toilet in the world, the guy who spoke like james bond--but then he dropped the ball and didn't keep doing that throughout the film. <br> never will he get my money again, no matter how good the premise. maybe he should try commercials or music videos.
The Wild Dogs (2002)
my wife cried for hours
last summer, i saw this film with the abovementioned wife in montreal. since we live in southern california, and we had never heard of such a film, we went. i highly recommend this feature. it is not the best looking film, the characters are not as drawn out as they could be, and some of the images are very hard to watch, but it seems like it's an honest film. the ending is a little cliche, but up until that point, i was very interested in the happenings. very few movies have stayed with me, but this one still has pieces of it floating around. plus, the wife cried for hours afterwards. it makes you think about humanity, the way we treat other people, and the ability of charity to change people's lives. if you watch this movie and aren't affected in some way, you should probably wonder why.
Frailty (2001)
i see demons!!!
it's a small film, to be sure. everything in here is pretty ordinary, and it's not very gory. but is it entertaining? i guess. i stuck around until the end of it, but wasn't too surprised.
the good--the acting was fine. i love to see powers booth and his snarl. the kids did a good job, too.
the bad--the repetition. yeah, yeah, yeah--there are demons among us. we get it already!
the ugly--there was nothing too ugly, which could be a bad thing here.
i like films that build to an ending, and this one does. even though it repeats itself a bit much, it still sets itself up for a climax. i also like that we weren't shown everything. it's the characters' points of view, and we have to trust them as much as we want to. do you believe bill paxton's character? maybe. he seems like a pretty ordinary guy otherwise.
give it a break. it tells a story, offers a little surprise, and doesn't whiff of 100 million dollar budgets. if it's on cable, watch it and look for otis.
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart (2002)
a whole lot of wilco
i like wilco. i like jeff tweedy. if you're in the same boat, what are you waiting for? go see this movie. "i am trying to break your heart" features a ton of wilco music--both in studio and in concert--along with a long look into the band's workings. that's the plus on the film--it's a film about wilco. you get to see them in almost every scene, working as a band. there are no fantasy sequences (think "song remains the same") and things come off looking as if they really happened that way. my only complaint with the film is that they didn't offer a look outside of wilco. if warner brothers is the big bad record label portrayed here, then i want to see what their major acts are. who do they bank on to make money for the wb label? also, i wanted the film to look at radio, and why a band like wilco is not played in, say, southern california, where i live.
all in all, it's a good film. it's a microcosmic look into the band, which is enough to keep any fan happy. the makers, though, could have made a much bigger statement about the record industry and the business of music, but i guess that wasn't their focus. i am happy to have spent 9 bucks and driven 45 minutes each way to see the film. go, watch, and listen while it, and wilco, are still around.
Insomnia (2002)
poor christoper nolan
i feel bad for christopher nolan, the director. he comes off the heels of mememto, which people may not have seen in the theater, but have gotten around to watching on dvd. he not only gets good previous material here, but a budget and 3 oscar winners in the actor and actress categories. i won't give anything away. there is only one thing a viewer of this film should do--rent the original (or watch it on ifc). someone stepped in on nolan's film and made it too polite, without much risk.
al pacino's character, dormer, is the one we must follow throughout the film. in EVERY case in this film, i felt his character was justified in his actions. unfortunately, his actions are a source of suspense and plot revelation in the film, but with little conflict (we know who did it from the COMMERCIALS) the story needs some internal conflict or character flaw to make it more interesting. should he have done this? should he have done that? well, yes. move along. i don't understand why everything has to be tidy at the end. there is no thought process going on in a viewer's mind once the credits roll--that is all taken care of for us. any question you might ask is moot by the finale. and that's sad. anything that was sexual, mildly perverse, or disturbing was taken out of the original and sanitized to make a cleaner, more "psychological" film. nolan does nothing wrong here. he adds clever flashbacks to make an old storyline juxtapose a newer one. you'll see--it's something similar to what he did in memento, and it works again here. the guy is 31 years old, has done three films. i look forward to his next one, especially if it doesn't have major stars in it. perhaps this is merely a case of him paying his dues in a bigger film so he can make better ones in the future with his vision. rating--6 out of 10. it's not terrible, especially as a character study of pacino's dormer. it just doesn't leave you with much to think or talk about.