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Reviews
Polite Society (2023)
Amazing story goes haywire in 3rd act
This Comedy-Drama has plenty of action, whirlwinds of drama, and bucket loads of comedy! In fact if it were not for the story line going completely off the rails, and making me wonder if this was some kind of weird Hollywood script altering subterfuge, I would probably have given the movie a 9+.
As it is, the story, the movie, becomes so bonkers I really can not recommend it! Which is just plain sad, because most of the film is really a quite original, and engaging piece of work!
If the movie had started out as some sort of weird sci-fi trope, maybe the last part of the film might not have been so bizarre and weirdly jarring! I really can not say more, without giving the whole thing away, but i found the finely constructed "Suspension Of Disbelief" superstructure to come crashing to the ground, in less than 2 minutes of film time!
This was hugely disappointing to me, because the film had such great potential!
Knives Out (2019)
Very attractive start
I was very attracted to this movie! Great acting, great story, great dialog! It had a few moments that I thought were a bit thin, but over all I found it engaging enough!
The second act is a very big surprise, and caught me a bit of guard, but not really too much such that I could not deal with it. The dialog gets a bit cheesy in places, but not really all that awful
Then the third act starts, with a big surprise, then the whole thing becomes preposterous and silly! No spoilers here, but the story becomes insane and very unlikely!!!
I just could not keep watching, it was so very disappointing!
The Dig (2021)
This is a film that makes me glad I am still alive
I can not praise this film enough! It is for this type of film, that I am still interested in seeing moves! And It certainly has NOTHING in common with all the clap-trap boring and insipid Cartoon Movies, everyone seems to always be talking about!
In fact, one of the main reasons for this film is to show a time between times... before the war started, but after everyone realized it was very soon coming to Britain!
This is a truly romantic film, but not in any typical hollywood fashion! It simply shows us what it means to be alive, in trying times.
I especially like the heartbreaking story of Peggy Piggot... What a wonderful job Lily James does, portraying such a wonderful and totally romantic character!
All in all, I just simply can not give this film enough praises! It is in every way just as perfect as any film can be!
The Orville (2017)
Sometimes even reality does not compute
So I was about half way through the first show, which I found pretty boring, and more than a little dumb and silly, and then the captain and first officer ask the alien invader about their marital problems! This is the lamest dumb ass show I have ever seen!
At least Galaxy Quest had the good fortune to not take itself too seriously, but this thing sucks dirty rotten Alien Yellow Snow Melt!
Why in the world was this idiot show allowed on the air? It is stupid, and so obnoxious I really can't stand to think about it any more! :)
It gets 2 stars because the ship design is vaguely cool! - But really it is as empty and meaningless as its Walk through game, which i found really stupid!
AND good god, what idiot stupid suits! I really really hate this show!
this review may contain spoilers, I don't know, as I can not stand to watch any more of it!!!!
I Met a Girl (2020)
Romantic Comedy With a Few Twists
Spoiler Alert! This is a Rom Com, so all the typical sit-norms of a rom com are in play, including the ending, but that is ok, 'cause I really like these people, and I am rooting for them, from start to end!
It is not easy being normal, in these crazy times. And Being Schizophrenic makes it even harder! But love can help! :)
If you think the world has passed you by, leaving you in a state of repetitive dread, this movie may just give you a little bit of hope, and a whole lot of great scenery, on the way!
So what you waiting for? Watch it mate! Cheers :)
Aquaman (2018)
The way their hair moved was cool! :)
I am no fan of all these endlessly boring, trite, repetitive, tedious, predictable, and really snooze worthy "cartoon movies" I absolutely despised comic books as a kid, and I equally despise how all this second grade bs has been moved, like a 100 ton cargo ship of dead snails, to the movie screen.
This particular outing, has very little going for it, and isn't even helped all that much by the likes of Nicole Kidman!
It is a stupid story, told stupidly, and that is just about all there is too it!
Nothing much to see here! :)
Alpha (2018)
I simply loved this movie
I am not really sure if people in europe 20,000 years ago were light skinned, but I would not be the least bit surprised if they were! But that is not the point, as this story is mostly about a boy having to grow up very fast, and a dog who befriends the boy, so that they can both get home!
I thought the story was great, the scenery was great, the actors were great, and the directing was great! I had no problem with this movie, and I would recommend it to anyone!
I don't have any major spoilers here, but just in case!! :)
Broken Poet (2020)
Broken movie - Broken poet
I am really not sure which is worse - The writing, or the acting! It is really not much of a film... and it certainly isn't very engaging! I didn't really like it! I thought it was pretty boring actually
In the Cut (2003)
You know what kind of film this is
The kind where you know from the first five minutes that this is going to be boring tripe, but you watch anyway, because there is supposed to be some hot sex scene! I wish!
There is NO hot sex scene, there is no great writing... or even adequate writing - there is nothing but really bad story telling, with really bad acting, and a really bad script!
I do not know what happened, and I guess I really do not care... but in comparison to "The Piano" this is about a -5!
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
The Wait Is Over
I have waited, and waited, and waited for Avatar II! Well I am not waiting any more, as I have seen everything I wanted, In Valerian, And the City of a Thousand Planets! And Then Some! This film is a masterpiece! I know, I know, I used the M word, but i can not figure out how else to describe it! And I am not some Film Neophyte... I have seen more films in my lifetime, than most people might see in a dozen lives.
Some people complain that this film is just too much... way to much action, movement, pace, information, etc., but to be honest, I have been waiting for a long time for a film that can keep up with me - So bring it on Luc Besson - the More Input Kid is keeping up with you just fine! :)
This film covers some of the same ground as Avatar did, but in a totally new and different way.. and I like both of them for their honesty and appreciation of Indigenous Cultures, and the respect they seem to show for the natural world around them!
I would also just say,that unlike many movies I see these days, this film's story has me,from beginning to end... No distractions, or wishing the film would move along a bit faster... The pacing was just about perfect.
I don't really think there are any spoilers in here, but you decide!
Inferno (2016)
Ron Howard - You Hack! Time to find a New JOB
If Sony pictures was trying to create a backwards crescendo, with the best at the start, and the worst at the end, then they succeeded perfectly! However I do not think that was their intention! So then what went wrong?
Well first of all, the story line in the film was not only entirely unfathomable, and quite disorientating, but if you had already read the book, the story would not only be confusing, but down right stupid and impossible to follow, and ambiguous enough to anger even the most faithful fan!
Frankly i have always found Ron Howard's directing abilities to be kind of lacking, but in this movie, i think his Opie character took over...and maybe we just should have all gone fishing!
Or maybe Sony should have found a new director for this franchise way before the end of production for Inferno! I do not know who is to blame for the entirely new, and quite frankly STUPID retelling of the end of the story, but I found the last chapter to be a total and complete let down, and really quite idiotic! A person would either have to be a total money grubbing whore to think they could re-write Dan Brown, and believe you me they failed miserably.
Perhaps i might have given this piece of junk a higher score, (still finding the thing entirely confusing,) if i hadn't already read the book first... but the cat is out of the bag, and i did read the book first, so what can i do? Do not see this movie!!!
Apocalypto (2006)
A man of the jungle learns that his home is right where he was born
This film is an amazing and quite enjoyable surprise! After the fiasco of a Religious Snuff Film that is his "The Passion," Apocalypto is a very captivating and unavoidable seriously glorious film! From beginning to end the film is really quite watchable and never even once lets up on its relentless and quite emotional pace! There were a few scenes that i found a bit predictable, but on the whole it brings a fresh and vibrant, if pretty violent, tone to this story of passion and redemption! There are many parallel lines to be drawn between the modern morally and emotionally bankrupt society that we all find ourselves in, and the single minded and ruthless theocracy of the Mayan age, but this movie doesn't spend any time preaching... just showing! I personally was always rooting for the lead character of the story, and and as far as i am concerned, quite rightly so! He is young, but not fool-hardy. Emotional, but not irrational, Down to earth, but quite willing to change with the circumstances! And let there be no doubt, the world around him, and the society in which he lives is changing... in many big ways! But luckily throughout it all the lead is very much aware of his home in the jungle... its importance and his need to be a part of it!
Wild (2014)
when you step into the wilderness...
when you step into the wilderness totally unprepared do not be the least bit surprised at how simply unmoved an uncaring the natural world is about your plight! This movie gets this point perfectly! But then again mistakes you make in the wilderness, where you have no one but yourself to depend on, are not usually made more than once.
I have never thrown perfectly good boots off of the side of a mountain, but i have hiked back to a trail-head, wearing boots that were cobbled back together with duct tape and string.
I thought that this film presented its story elegantly and with enough poetry that i found it quite fascinating.
If you found this movie boring you would most definitely find backpacking boring - and more than likely i would find you very boring! :)
The Newsroom (2012)
This Was It - While it Lasted!
In the nature of entertainment on television, In that it must somehow appeal to the masses and also must inexorably fail to put those people with half a brain asleep, this show failed miserably.
I can safely say that it was the only HBO show that I ever watched that didn't feel it had to sling boobs and ass at the screen, in a vainglorious attempt to keep people watching. The fact that it was also engaging enough that I could spend any time watching, without feeling that the entire planet was populated by brainless alien robots, was also quite attractive to me! Needless to say, all of the above was more than enough to make sure that the program would fail, as indeed it did!
I do not agree with some that this was Sorken's last ditch effort to try and tell America just how f'ng stupid and isolated from reality it is... I think even he has given up on that failed plan of attack.
What I do think he was trying to say is that the best and brightest of the brains and the brawn of America has been outsourced to roof jumpers in China, and that something should be done about it, before this country falls in on itself like an acid etched house of cards!
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
great film
OK - so I haven't actually seen the film yet..
I am here simply to complain about the abysmal quality of the grammar used in the reviews! People seem unable to complete a real sentence without falling into false stops and stuttering's along the way
Can you please learn the basics of sentence structure and grammar before you start writing film reviews, as I have nothing but contempt for people who can't write worth a damn, and thereby I will likely ignore or have complete contempt for your comments! thank you very much!
PS -
I will actually write a real review once I have seen the movie! Have a nice day! :)
Oh and the rest of this is just fill so I can get this damn thing in!
Transcendence (2014)
Such great potential - such a disappointment
i heard about the fake quote that appears in the trailer for this movie... but i didn't realize just how desperate the studio was for people to go see this thing, until i saw it myself.
This is not to say that the movie didn't have great points, because it did... the problem(s) is that those great points are inserted infrequently between a whole lot of disappointing minutes.
I very rarely do spoilers in reviews but this movie has such a lame ending that i can't help but mentioning it: In a scene that reminds one more of a lame arnold the swarz-neger movie, replete with a bomb launcher-- that just happens to lob several bombs right where the two main characters are standing... Johnny Dep's character says that either he can save himself or he can save his wife... then they both end up dying!!! How frign' lame is that? :) Well anyway - not much more to say, except whatever potential this movie may have had (tons of potential) it was spoiled on a messed up, mixed up mish-mosh-mash of clap-trap-hype and nonsense... and whole scenes making no sense what so ever...
the thing is a travesty and a very expensive joke!
Gravity (2013)
An excellent, well written, designed and executed movie
Many other fine people have used many words to say why they loved this film, and I pretty much agree with all of these reviewers, so rather than recover old ground, let me just say a few words about why I disagree completely with so many of the very low reviews this movie received, and leave it at that.
I think i can best sum up my feelings towards these negative reviewers, all of whom I can count on for getting almost every film that i like completely wrong, (and who are all males,) by relating a question one such person asked, at the beginning of his review, "What am I missing here?" The movie, is my least stinging response to that question :) - Also one of the main complaints about the Physics of this film, IE why would the safety line between the two main characters be tight, is easy enough to answer... it has to do with viewpoint... IE, if the camera is moving in the same way that the objects around it are rotating, nothing appears to be moving... or as Einstein said, all objects are relative to all other objects.
- I would also like to note that the members of the Academy are really a bunch of tight-assed little wimps... such that when they can see that a particular movie is going to win a bunch of Oscars they will yank the Oscar for the leading lady in the film... This never seems to happen to leading men. A good example of the same exact thing happened to "The Piano", the last film that I really agreed with the academy on their choice of best film-director etc., except here again they yanked the obvious choice for best leading female role solely so as not to appear too partial to one particular film!
Stupid choice then, stupid choice now!
Inception (2010)
A great wind signifying absolutely nothing
This film has everything that you would want for in a film this complex and mind bending... everything except an ending that makes sense of it all! After spending over 2 hours falling through levels, and bending my mind around levels within levels withing levels, and still not knowing what the hell any of this is about, i simply concluded that the film was one big piece of slightly boring eye candy that made, and was supposed to make, absolutely no sense what so ever! And as a giant piece of eye fluff it does pretty well... but it could have been so much more! You might ask what more? but to be honest i can really say... and really it doesn't matter any way - because it's not my film! I am so tired of telling other people how to fix their films... after they are already in the can! Figure it out yourself!
Hereafter (2010)
Hereafter
I saw this movie in a theatre and loved it!... I recently saw it on HBO, without realizing what it was, and was hooked withing about 30 seconds, before i ever remembered what i was watching! Some people compare this to french art-house films, etc., and i am not too sure about that, but i am sure that this film is fantastic! The main thing that this film shares with most European films is its unwillingness to present easy pat answers to the most complicated and confusing questions that anyone faces in their life: What happens after I die? Why am I here? Why did this happen to me? I do think that there are a few scenes that should have been shot again... but that is only because the rest of them are so fantastic! The film is best thing that Eastwood has ever done, by a long shot... and will far outlast any of his other films! I experienced the loss of a very close friend, first hand, at a very young age... but met this disaster in exactly the opposite way of the child in the film... I didn't even remember the incident for 30+ years... but i felt very connected to his experiences.
For anyone who still isn't sure about watching this film, and has been diswayed by the nay-say reviewers.... they are an interchangeable bunch of people who never understand films that make you think, and that are not paced like an impending train wreck! So ignore them, and watch this film! You will love it!
Black Swan (2010)
Decidedly the most excellent film of 2010
This film is about an artist's quest for perfection and the glass caged hell she creates, while striving for the impossible goal of that fleeting perfection. It would be far better, this film says, for the artist(dancer) to find some piece of imperfection which she can hold on to, and claim as her own personal and unique stamp on the world.
As Winonna's character says, "I am not perfect" This acknowledgment is perhaps her key, her path to her own redemption. Sorry to say Nina never finds her own path!
Also this film pays major tribute to the 1948 hit "The Red Shoes" which sent generations of ballerinas back to the dance floor... I can only imagine that this film will do much the same! They are both equally spectacular.
This film is very modern, and asks a lot of its viewers, but if you are willing and able, it will pay you handsomely for your suspension of disbelief!
BRAVO!
The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
This Film, at its heart is NOT faithful to the intent of the book!
I think that it is interesting how many people have written in their favorable reviews of the film, how much they hated the book! I Should think that that would be no surprise to anyone who loved the book, since the film does no real justice to the heart of the novel! What do I mean? Well, that is both somewhat complicated and simple. But in short the screenplay writers and indeed the director have taken a novel which was about a man who was a poet, a visionary and a shaman, (Who was almost completely out of, and beyond time,) and basically turned him into a two bit prick with pants! And if that wasn't bad enough they have also turned the lead female character into a midlife dissatisfied housewife who needs some action, when in the original she was a real, European woman, found as if by surprise in the UnDead Midwestern state of OHiO-IoWa, simply in awe of a man who faced the world completely on his own terms, and who was quite unwilling to try to "civilize" him! I knew, when I saw an interview with Meryl, about the upcoming film, that this adaptation was going to be a total hack job! In the interview she stated that she was given assurances, from Mr. Eastwood, that "all that wordy, poetic stuff" that was in the novel, would NOT be on display in the film.
That was also when I knew that the woman I fell madly in love with, who made such an amazing character as Sarah Woodrough, in the incredible film "The French Lieutenant's Woman," was not the same as the characters she has played {big surprise.}
I would then conclude that Ms. Streep is far more likely to be like the character she plays in films like "The Devil Wears Prada," than any character she played, when she was a younger actress!
Step Up (2006)
Kicks way higher than Flash DAnce & I like that movie!
Yeah yeah... we have seen it before.... bla bla bla...
Well I got a clue for ya! Try to write a GREAT dance-movie script, and when I see it on the screen, and if I think you did a much better job than the folk that wrote this one... I will Shake your hand... until then, stuff it, with your low review comments! This was a very credible movie, with some great story to it... and the acting was actually not fantastic, but pretty good! I liked it!!! And the part where the car gets stolen, etc... and finally the brother actually starts to question what he has been doing with his life!!! that went right to my heart!!! so, maybe a 9.5, but I gave it a 10 just to make up for all you winning low lifers!
Lucía y el sexo (2001)
This Ain't your mother's favorite movie, OK!
It's dense, it's demanding, it's convoluted, it has multiple contextual nuances, and 15+ story lines,and it just plain erotic...
The Polaroids sequence alone would make Hollywood censors go ape-dingle-berries, and they wouldn't even get it.
Why do you always tear down things that you don't understand... Spend the time to understand the language of this movie, and you will feel blessed by the angels of cinema! OK, so I admit it, it took me 9 times, watching Mulholland Drive, before I finally figured it out, so I have unusual staying power, when it comes to movies, but still, if you want something of substance, you have to pay for with a certain amount of concentration and comprehension... Other wise everything will become as milk-toast as this summer's ENTIRE line-up.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Why I can never erase any of my memories
look I rated this movie a ten, and deservedly, but it does bother me just a little that the main characters would be quite so willing to trust someone fairly unknown with erasing their brains...
I don't get enough info in the film, as to why this organization is so trustworthy in the eyes of the main characters.... and after you get into the film... well things seem even more... you know
i don't want to give the story away, so I can't say more...
but watch it, don't you agree?
other than that, I really enjoyed the film, and would recommend it to anyone who has an open mind and a romantic heart... some things harder to find nowadays!