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thefloyd1
Reviews
The Office: Niagara: Part 2 (2009)
Good, but then Silly!
The entire series waited for this moment for 5 seasons. The creators didn't blow it...well....yeah they did! To see that mega contemporary pop culture "Youtube" dance montage (that was merely a repeat of something else from Youtube) seemed like a deliberate sabotage of the series legacy. The entire series had classical qualities, and then they went all out tacky montage to ruin it all. Weird! Why would the creators do that? To betray their loyal followers? If you make a series successful on XYZ then stick to it, and tweak it here and there. Don't change it to ABC at the most important moment. Silly! That aisle dance simply has not stood the test of time. Got too excited in your creation, and got it wrong.
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Seamless Story Telling
You must watch the full 4hr 11min version to fully appreciate the substance & intent of this film, and the smooth story telling. Like any epic, why wouldn't you invest your full effort into exploring & enjoying this form of film/art? It's not created to be 3hr 30min if the story is not told as effectively, so it's naive to consider these (shorter) versions to be true representatives of Leone's artistic liberty on this project. There's a lot of layers of writing to this film, and a lot of this mystery is well represented in the final beautiful scene between Noodles and "Baily" (Max). Max insists Noodles kill him to compensate for Max's fear of himself (i.e. His father's death in an insane asylum) and being assassinated by Teamsters; he hopes to leverage Noodle's presumed revenge for him. After referring to Max as "Baily" throughout the entire scene, the moment when Noodles refused Max's request to kill an "old friend" by stating that he had an "old friend" (Max) whom died in the fire 30yrs ago, was a very revealing moment. Max was a friend that Noodles loved, and still loved...as an IDEA. But for Max to fake his own death in collaboration with police, while having his 2 "friends" killed, stealing Noodle's love of his life, stealing the gangs money, and leaving Noodles in the dark for 30yrs, was perfect justification to leave 'the idea of Max' in the past 30yrs prior. Fundamental to this finale was Max being 'prone to the throne' (he was very ambitious), he was never one of the original childhood friends, and Noodles never shared Max's ambition for sophisticated high-risk crime. In my humble view I see this film being about the complexity of friendship (in bed with business), life-long regret, and that final closure Noodle's experiences when leaving Max's office refusing his request.
Fall (2022)
Pop Culture neo-Feminist Idiocracy on Adrenaline
Highly predictable plot with several minor surprises, superhuman female strength, modern pop culture Liberal stereotypes, plenty of stupid decisions being made...and well placed sex appeal. The film is a fun, exhilarating, dumb watch that doesn't try to be anything than what it knows itself to be...that's worthy of respect. My favorite part was when one set of cleavage was magically replaced with another at the appropriate time. It's a reminder that all junkies have a high tendency towards narcissistic behaviour, especially when irrational about their addiction; adrenaline & neo-feminism are an interesting combination of hyper-neuroticism. I thought the ending was a 4/10. Shorten the film by 10-15min and insert a climatic ending including rescue.
Don't Look Up (2021)
Ambiguous Political Satire
Adam McKay does a masterclass in manipulating partisan bias, weaving both sides, while keeping it truthful via an objective lens. In terms of political reality there is nothing to fault here...and both partisan sides would love to claim it for their own agenda, which is entertaining in itself. Genius!!! The film is very politically literate. I particularly liked the satire of Di Caprio as 'Fauci Sexy Corrupted Scientist' (Fauci was regarded as very "sexy" 40yrs ago), Lawrence as hysterical climate alarmist, Jonah Hill as Kamala, the creepy unhappy algorithm human-hacking loving scientist doing his best impersonation of Di Caprio's buddies at WEF (I wonder if Di Caprio knew this, or didn't see past his paycheck?), the Supreme Rulers at the end always had their unknown colonialist agenda (but it backfired, because they're not "exceptional"); perhaps, most of all, I enjoyed the concept of "Don't Look Up" as meaning 'ignore the truth'. Whereas, many partisans would view it as "just ignore Climate disaster". The rest are obvious cliche stereotypes, such as the behaviour of the media. Entertaining, but not overly funny. I preferred 'Vice', because it was straight to the point.
A Man Called Otto (2022)
Great story for our times
Normally when a film continually reaches those sappy sentimental notes like this film does I call it cheap Hollywood trash rewritten for the millionth time. But, I think this one seems too higher quality to dismiss. We're not talking innovative original genius here, but the quality of the acting and timing of the plot kept my full attention the entire 2hrs, which is rare nowadays. It also had shades of unpredictability to it, which was a pleasant surprise given how worn out the old formulas feel...like Otto, I tend to assume the worst in things. Most relevant to me was the relevance of faith & love to our current Western societal decline. Many people are increasingly angry & bitter in recent years, and this film serves as a useful reminder that hard times will always come and go, and we shouldn't allow them to destroy us from within.
Empire Records (1995)
Deserves to be preserved for its cultural relevance
To say this film brilliantly captures the vibe of the mid 90s is an understatement. It's also a very relevant and fond farewell to independent music, and all things independent, or at least relatively independent. It's easy to get lured into thinking about the plot regarding saving a specific physical music store, but it's an obvious metaphor towards saving something so much greater than that. The death of independent music and culture was well underway, crushed by corporate monopolization. But, for this film to be made 1yr prior to Clinton's 1996 Telecommunications Act is remarkable and only adds to it's legacy and cultural relevance. I particularly liked the final scene when the two guys are talking critically about a band, and the artistic motivation for pursuing a solo career...that's how it was back then. The rich & popular artists were still very connected to their writing...and that sophisticated spirit flowed down to the streets where common citizens would talk about art. I'm estimating American Pie would not have been made if this film didn't exist?
A Few Good Men (1992)
Unrealistic Hollywood BS
Quite a disappointing first viewing for me, after decades of hype and pop culture references. A somewhat entertaining film from such a genre, but massively unrealistic. I think a genre like this relies on being accurate. All Jessep had to do upon being questioned was say "that sometimes men take it upon themselves, and I was only referring to my direct reports strict conformance to taking orders". Also, Dawson and Downey would still be guilty of 3rd degree or manslaughter because they killed someone. I appreciate the film is focused on the relationship between military standards vs civilian perspective, but at least do so with greater research and accuracy, like My Cousin Vinny. Goofy!
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014)
Indoctrination over Critical Thought
I watched a number of episodes, including episode 3's reference to "pattern recognition". As exemplified by the style of the entire series, ironically, the pattern I recognized was this is more an exercise in telling you what to think and know about science and history trivia, rather than introducing important concepts and asking questions for you to ponder. A real education influences how you think, whereas this is a high production display of knowledge trivia. It is what it is, but in a more civilized society our docos would replace some of this production value with demands on critical thought.
Outrageous Fortune: Tis So Concluded (2010)
Average end to a great series
As the ratings here suggest, I have to wonder why OF caved in the last 4 or 5 episodes, in which the trough was felt in the finale. Disappointing, given I enjoy the series in the same esteem as Lost, The Wire, and The Sopranos. It's a great series which deserves international popularity! Firstly, the romantic Elena arc was too cheap (a Christchurch lass attempting to be Russian was a bit cringey & inauthentic...makeup job well done...acting & directing terrible). As much as I like Van West, to have this as a finale for his highly dramatized romantic life is an insult on the memory of Aurora (which was very well written and acted) and the great character of Van. Secondly, the sudden release of Cheryl from the previous episode set the finale up as a "homage to Cheryl West"...while cramming in loads of other stuff....was annoying. Cheryl was the most important character in the series...prior to the Gregans and Tama's death. OF moved on from her, as exemplified by her being mostly written out of season 6. She was the same ol' train wreck in the finale as she was in episode 1 season 1...but she had no reason to keep it together this time 'round, being the control freak she always was, because her family grew up on their own individual journeys without her overbearing direction. This is great acting and writing, but why would you write this in as a finale? Surely you would downplay her influence given the events of season 6, and end the series on a high instead of a low?
Jackass Forever (2022)
Jackass with less wit & charm...but more masks! Like Disney's Star Wars.
Watching this contemporary downgrade made me realize where the greatness and magic of the previous installments (incl 2.5 and 3.5) came from. This version lacked most of the charm coming from....witty camaraderie, well written stunts where comedy was more important than the fear/dare factor, a theatrical intro/buildup to the stunts, and the general commitment and energy.
The addition of new personalities didn't gel...the old personalities were stale and there for a paycheck.
When you consider how many acts attempted to compete against the original Jackass, and failed, I appreciate there was nothing dumb about that creation. However, this is a new age version that is cheap and quickly forgotten.