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marty8
Reviews
Dunkirk (2017)
Horrible movie
I was surprised from the start from the lack of any plot or character development. Yes, we know the "plot" is that the Germans had surrounded the allied forces, but there were no scenes that conveyed the fighting, retreating, or the sense of desperation. Just a huge empty beach with lines of men close to the water. This is hardly any more dramatic than lines of men at a soup kitchen.
A soldier (who didn't bother staying with his unit) clung to the rafters of a pier while listening to senior officers talking. So what? There is a French "infiltrator" among British troops. The British clearly got the first tickets out, and resented the fact that a poor French bastard didn't want to stay in Dunkirk. Big whoopee. There was a soldier who suffered from PTSD. *Yawn* A rescue boat was in an oil slick that could have caught on fire, but (of course) got out of it in time. *shrug* There was a plane that somehow never ran out of gas until the very end of the movie. *woot*
Early on, a troop-carrying ship passed one rescue ship. Nobody said a word. Later in the movie, a troop-carrying ship passed a lot of rescue ships. Everyone went crazy and whooped. Didn't the single ship deserve some attention too?
There was absolutely nothing exciting in this movie. The director did nothing to engage our attention. He made a somewhat interesting subject as boring as it could possibly be. The reviewers who gave this movie positive ratings don't know what they're talking about.
This movie almost made me wish the Germans had invaded Dunkirk because it sure as hell would have made for a better movie than this. Total waste of time.
The Summit (2012)
Horrible scripting
This could have been a great story, but they butchered it. They jump from one time period, group, and place to another, then back to an entirely different setting from the first two. Nothing is in the proper sequence.
Directors shouldn't be awarded with more than one star when they botch a story up as badly as this. Someone needs to take the same film and put it together in a more chronological and logical order. Then we just might have a good story.
In the end, you don't really know what the movie is about. Is it about K2, the 1954 expedition, the 2008 expedition, or is it making some larger point? The movie is allegedly about the 2008 expedition, but again, they fail to simply tell us the story.
This movie shows a lot of great scenery, and shots of people climbing the mountain. If that's what you want to see, you will get that.
Nine Miles Down (2009)
Nothing worth seeing
This doesn't even live up to the promise of the picture on the DVD cover. There's nothing about "9 miles down", except some fumes coming out of the drill hole. There's practically nothing about Hell. There isn't even a drilling rig crew. Conveniently, they went missing in the desert, thus saving the cost of hiring actors. We mainly see only the same man and woman throughout most of the movie. We also see the desert. The man requested backup, and I was desperately hoping someone else would come to add a little variety. Unfortunately, nobody else came until the end of the movie. This is a "psychological thriller," only because both the man and woman are completely irrational. There's so little to this movie that I have no idea what they spent the millions of dollars on.
The Ramen Girl (2008)
Waste of time
I agree with silentcheesedude about how the movie inappropriately makes the language barrier a major theme of the movie. It makes me wonder if the writer and producers ever lived in a foreign country, or if they are just guessing what it is like. Unless you are a complete moron, you don't just talk in your native language to foreigners and expect them to understand, as Abby and the ramen shop owner did day after day. I wanted them to use hand signals which in some cases could have easily communicated the message, or for Abby to try to learn a little Japanese, which she only began to do near the end of the movie. The movie was not true to life because people do not just talk at each other like that - except in the same language where people talk to each other all the time without listening, but that of course is different.
Another problem I had with this movie is that it seems to assume that any bossy Japanese guy working in a trade is like some kind of zen master. I mean seriously, the ramen shop owner was an overweight drunk, yet we are expected to believe he was some kind of master sensei (teacher) like Pat Morita ("Miyagi") in The Karate Kid movies. Seriously, what kind of "tamashi" (spirit) does a drunk chef supposedly put into his ramen? Finally, as others have pointed out, the British guy and the southern girl added nothing to the movie.
So, what was good in the movie? I guess it would be the moral lesson that people likes Abby can't just drift through life expecting great things to happen, but must commit to something, which will in most cases bear fruit (or, in this case, tasty bowls of ramen) in the end.