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danielf-crawford
Reviews
Captain Fantastic (2016)
Awful
One of the worst movies I've seen, and had it been intellectually and humanly honest, I would have appreciated it. Its ending is appalling. Flushing the ashes of a mother who committed suicide down a toilet suggests that a countercultural, emotionally and physically abusive father is the feverish wet dream of a 60s radical who never grew up.
The Contender (2000)
One of the worst and most manipulative political movies one will ever see
I looked forward to seeing this movie because I admire the work of Jeff Bridges, Sam Elliott, Gary Oldman and Joan Allen. After seeing this film, I hoped they had been paid well. It certainly did not showcase their talent.
The Contender has no characters, just caricatures - no script, but cliché piled on top of cliché - no plot, just a two-hour harangue filled with every bumper-sticker political slogan imaginable. If it was meant to be an intelligent criticism of the state of American politics, it actually fell below the actual state of American politics (if such a thought is even conceivable).
Contemporary screenplays provide more than ample evidence of the general poverty of writing in Hollywood, but The Contender has to rank as one of the worst political screenplays ever. Every politician is a cynical and amoral SOB and though I may tend to agree with the characterization, it would have been useful to have someone show some small degree of integrity. Of course, Ms. Allen is Ms. Integrity through and through - she seems consistently honest, though one marvels at the superficiality of her political philosophy and the motivation for her behavior.
At the conclusion of the film, the director informs us that he made the movie "for our daughters". If I wanted my daughter to enter politics, live a life of personal integrity, and actually do something positive for this country, this would be the last film I would recommend to her.
The Perfect Family (2011)
Intellectually dishonest.
One of the worst, most intellectually dishonest and ignorant movies I've ever wasted time on. The "characters" are caricatures, the plot relies on clichés from beginning to end, the ignorance about the Catholic Church borders on bigotry, the ending is so contrived, yet so predictable, and the talents of some very good actors are wasted in this miserable "comedy".
"Enlightened" religion apparently condones adultery, abortion and homosexual relationships. A "Catholic" priest presides at a gay wedding, the Archbishop of Dublin travels to California to present the Catholic mother of the year award and give the winner "absolution" forever - ah come on. What makes this movie especially reprehensible is the portrayal of the mother as morally obtuse, rigid and hypocritical because she herself had an abortion and can't deal with her own guilt. I have known many parents concerned about their children who do not deal with them the way this "Catholic" mother does. But the movie is not concerned with real people: it's interested in a message communicated in stereotypes.
It could have been so much better, had it been much more true-to-life and honest. It's propaganda masquerading as "entertainment".