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andrewjmarr
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Reviews
White Gold (2017)
Funny and captured a moment in time
I adore the Inbetweeners (which I think is really about growing up in the 80s as did the writers, rather than the present) so gave this a go. It is more than just a sitcom. It's sweary and crude but so was that time in history. I made a living in sales at the back end of that decade and met these characters. The characters are flawed but are far more than stereotypes and are fleshed out. Darker at times than I thought it would be but funny and engaging.
Moon Dogs (2016)
Would have been so much better without manic pixie dream girl
I love a coming of age road movie but this one was let down by too many clichés. The locations were lovely and the premise had potential, even if it did feel slightly contrived having a Scottish, Welsh and Irish character to keep the film boards from those three countries who put up the money happy. The real problems started with the arrival of manic pixie dream girl, an admittedly lazy trope, who was of course, smart, cool, gorgeous, sexy and sexually experienced, brave, resourceful, deep and meaningful, enigmatic and of course very keen on sleeping with nerdy, socially awkward and sexually inexperienced teenage boys. If the film had had a better written female character it would have been so much better. Even some back story for her would have helped. In fact no one's back story was really satisfactorily fleshed out. The whole film felt like some brainstormed ideas that didn't really gel but with better writing could have done. The actors did their best with what they were given but it was not enough.
Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things (2015)
I wanted to like it but...
This film features some pretty annoying people. Incredibly middle class and patronising. Pretty much all the contributors seemed to be making a living with websites, books, blogs etc. About minimalism. Most of them just weren't that likeable. Rich people telling you how dissatisfying it is to be rich. I wear pretty much the same clothes to work everyday because it's all I can afford, not because I need to declutter. The other thing most contributors didn't have much of was friends or families (OK, for tragic reasons for some). I would hazard a guess that for most people, if not the people featured in this film, happiness and fulfilment in life comes from relationships with people, not possessions. There is nothing new here, people have been rejecting consumerism since hermits went to live in caves and millennia later when hippies tuned in, turned on and dropped out, a fact seemingly lost on the resident economics expert featured, despite a a clip of Jimmy Carter in the 70s summarising the whole film 30 years earlier. She also appeared to suggest gendered and violent toys were a new thing. I will hazard the second guess of this short review, and say it won't be long before most of the film's contributors, unless writing, blogging etc. About minimalism proves lucrative, end up on another search for meaning in their lives.
The Cat in the Hat (2003)
Life changing cinema
Rarely does a a cinematic experience have such a profound affect. Life had ceased to have much meaning, drink had become my only friend, my life was disintegrating around me...just as I had reached my lowest ebb I stumbled across this masterpiece of film making. It was a quasi religious experience. I think it was at the point the cat introduced the dirty hoe, I cannot be sure, but I became filled with joy and renewed purpose. You can be too. So don't listen to the nay sayers, let that counter cultural cat in the hat into your life.
Sucker Punch (2011)
Surprising and surprisingly great.
It's Friday night, had a hard week, to avoid endless scrolling through Netflix and Prime, my girlfriend and I, not in the mood for Citizen Kane, settled on this. Never heard of it, but we both like hot girls, guns explosions. We got all that, but so much more. This film starts off in stylised noirish way, then WTF! It goes in all sorts of unexpected directions. I won't spoil it, just watch. It is engaging, interesting, surprising, visually stunning in places, moving, exciting, thought provoking and has hot girls, guns and explosions. As others have pointed out, there was no need for the last 5 minutes tying up loose ends, but hey, it was great.
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
It was OK
It was OK, not terrible, just not great. Perhaps I was expecting too much after all the hype and great reviews. It is a very traditional rock biopic which, for me, gave it an old fashioned feel and not in a good way. If you are going to tell a pretty stock story, at least do it with cinematic panache. The actor playing Mercury was great as were those playing his wife and lawyer but the rest of the band were a bit flat. I was 20 when Live Aid happened. I had no interest in any of the bands that day, Queen were the sort of band your parents liked, and most of the others were pop acts or past it (that's how I felt at 20, I love a few queen tracks now) I am still gutted I didn't go though for the spectacle. My GF at the time had a ticket, I dropped her off a mile from Wembley to avoid traffic, and only found out when I picked her up, touts were selling tickets outside for face value. Maybe that colours my opinion of this film, or maybe it's bang average. I didn't feel I knew Freddy Mercury any better after 2 hours plus of watching. I did feel the film makers didn't approve of his excesses. Surely they could have showed him taking some pleasure from meaningless sex with good looking men whilst high, rather than just miserable aftermath. I couldn't name one Motley Crue song, but I would take The Dirt over this film any day.
Godless (2017)
Great but lasted 10 minute too long.
I think of (some) box sets as literary novels compared with (some) films being more like airport novels. Godless, certainly has a feel of a literary novel; in the main, letting the story unfold slowly in long lingering shots rather than dialogue. In true western tradition we know that conflict is coming, but there is enough originality to keep the audience guessing as to how we will reach the final conflagration. The main characters' back stories are revealed slowly to flesh them out and they are generally believable. The characters are well drawn, though do stray slightly to the stock in the case of some. For example, the whore with a heart of gold. Even with her though, there was enough to keep her from being a cliche.
Overall I loved this series with one or two minor objections. I felt they could have done more with the story of the people of Blackton. The other one is the ending. It was a good ending, badly done. If it had ended with the smoke clearing after the battle, with Frank dead (or let Roy kill him in battle if you must) and the loose ends cleared up (if necessary) with text on the screen as the closing music begins I would have switched off thinking, wow, that was awesome. As it was, we had to endure the inevitable gun fight between the two protagonists and then an anti climactic 10 minutes of clearing up loose ends. The battle scene was brilliantly scripted and shot. As a viewer I was enthralled, emotionally engaged and fighting along with them, full of adrenaline. They should have left me feeling like that and wanting more, ready to rave at work about the brilliant western I had just finished watching. They didn't and I didn't. Shame really.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
Bonkers, funny, life affirming, thought provoking, moving.
I loved this film. I really loved this film. In fact it is in my top 5 and I don't even like musicals. Somehow I resisted the urge in Blockbusters to rent it on its original release but something about the cover and blurb intrigued me. Fast forward 18 years and I righted that wrong. It is a compelling watch from start to finish. The songs actually help tell the story as do the short animated sequences. This film is so many things. It is genuinely moving, I actually cried at the end, something I never do at films. It explores interesting themes of identity, sexuality, self awareness and love with such a light touch that you don't feel it is a vehicle for a polemic. I have listened to the songs on Spotify since and they are much stronger than I originally thought on first listen via our oldish TV. This film feels incredibly fresh and original. It is also beautifully acted and shot.
Spy (2015)
Verey funny spoof
I loved this film. I didn't have high hopes when I chose it on Netflix but laughed more than I have done for ages. It's not Citizen Kane, OK, but it has more laughs. It is sweary, and a bit crude but it all works. Statham is superb, sending himself up and I even liked Jude Law. Miranda Hart does her usual thing, but again it works. My partner told me to say how nice it was to see an older, none thin women, in a leading role!