rickyvee Reviews

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)

ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

[10/10 · 25 November 2021]

The writing The music The special effects The cinematography The directing The acting All 100 thousand percent awesome!!!

I've seen it on Netflix more ttimes than I can coint. Still Love it!!!

Venom (2018)

Absolute fun!

[10/10 · 6 October 2018]

Lots of fun Wild ride Great FX Perfect Hardy vehicle!

Wallander: Mörkret (2005) Season 1, Episode 4

best so far

[8/10 · 25 June 2015]

I've been watching them in order. This is the best so far. I thought maybe I'm just getting hooked on the characters, but no. It's good writing. The actors seem to be more in touch with and more relaxed and natural in their roles. Maybe just a very good episode. Maybe the series is just hitting its stride. Either way, great work. The nature of the relationship between Kurt and Linda is getting more fleshed out. And there's real tenderness between Stephan and Linda. And even Kurt is getting into a relationship. Cold Swedes are warming up. Stereotypes are breaking down. It has a warmer feeling, less Nordic, more European. Broader in its appeal. Enjoyable overall.

Prisoners (2013)

Harrowing Gripping Disturbing Excellent, in the vein of Se7en and the Lambs

[10/10 · 22 September 2013]

An amazing descent into annihilated and compromised morality. Abounding with complex characters, and hidden plot levels.

It takes the dare of repeatedly skipping forward briefly in time, making us catch up and fill in pieces, pieces that we do fill in. But the result is an acceleration of time that allows the makers to focus on the unfolding and deepening horror.

It deeply explores how trauma redirects the moral compass. It's also a great murder mystery. A great detective story. It's rich and complex. Intensely emotional. In many ways almost as powerful as Silence of the Lambs, but more of an ensemble piece. We see the evil in supposed heroes and the innocence in supposed villains. We see unredeemed evil incarnate and total heroism.

All in all, quite a ride.

Lore (2012)

You have to be patient with this movie

[9/10 · 15 April 2013]

It's a punchline movie.

The ending ties it up well and puts it in proper perspective. Human perspective.

The movie, for me, is largely symbolic, archetypical. Lore is not really a person she IS the immediate post-war Germany.

Everything that she experiences, all her opinions, all the opinions she is exposed to and indoctrinated with, are the points of view of millions of the German populace.

How she deals with it, or denies it is how Germany dealt with and denied it. The 'it' being the entire ethos that permitted/enabled WWII.

In a sense all cultures are a form of mass hysteria, mass hypnotism. Societies indoctrinate as part of their nature, actually part of their definition is the values with which they indoctrinate their populace.

If the values are extreme and violent, the populace often follows. It the society fails at its aims and is physically destroyed, then the population becomes valueless and must die or reinvent itself.

Post WWI German society didn't die, so this is a movie about the pressures, the pressure cooker, in which gave birth to its reinvention.

So, as a piece of symbolic representation, it's magnificent.

There are no plot holes, every bit of dialog, every image, in necessary for understanding.

And patience is required. The viewer assembles all the images, all of Lore's perceptions.

And the pressure cooker cooks.

Teddy Bear (2012)

This is a gentle and elegant movie, not a plot movie, not a story movie

[9/10 · 29 August 2012]

It's a "feeling" movie. It's about a mood, a feeling. Inside one person, searching for it in another person. The feeling is gentleness. And the pervasive powerful, insistent sense of it coming out of such a person, is just... amazing.

It's totally a visual movie. The content and plot are nothing to be concerned with, they are Normal.

Watch how Abnormal this guy is. Watch how he persistently avoids the Normal and finds another person like himself. (She's actually quite a bit more normal than he is)

He is a Mountain, a Monument of abnormality, dedicated to being gentle in a world that is almost completely unable to let me (or any of us, for the matter) be gentle.

And it's Not just his nature, it's also a dedication. And somehow he Uses that bodybuilding to reinforce his gentleness. He Moves gently.

It's quite a performance. I have no idea who he is, or what he actually is like, nor do I care. But here, he and the director have built... and elephant of a person. Huge, powerful, and gentle.

Joy to watch.

War Horse (2011)

Bring a hay bucket filled with tissues and hankies!

[10/10 · 3 December 2011]

Okay, so I do have a thing for Noble Animal movies.

And I did choke up a bit every time I saw the preview.

And I did cry at appropriate times during Babe.

BUT I was Not prepared for this!

Either something has gotten to me over time and I've become more susceptible to this type of tear-jerker OR

This is the mother of all animal lover tear-jerkers! (I suspect the latter)

I honestly Never in my life have spent so many minutes in tears watching a movie and I watch a Lot of movies. (Luckily I was alone!)

It's hard to say anything specific about the movie without spoiling some of it, but suffice it to say that even the horse cannot be classified as the only hero of the movie. There are many heroes, and villains, and misguided and inspired characters coming and going in the film. The horse does remain the binding factor between the people. But the effect on me, the effect of the photography and the score and the story line, was this normal visceral effect that beloved brave noble beast stories always have on certain people. And for such people I believe this will have the most powerful such effect they have ever experienced in a movie theater.

Obviously the scope is massive, but it's all used to story-effect here. Every production penny was well spent. I predict this film will leap up high and fast. It's no secret that there's a war in here (WWI), an up- front and bloody mess of a war. It's no surprise that the man has a Way of making armed conflict movies get up inside you.

But the horse, the horse. If you've ever loved an animal - tissues!

A Prophet (2009)

A Gem about the conquest of a soul over insurmountable obstacles

[10/10 · 27 June 2011]

It's a real gem. A saga. Just over two and a half hours, worth it. A story of determination and conquest over insurmountable obstacles And the flouring of a soul. The transition this guys makes in this film is gradual and powerful. By the end you see that it was in him all the time, it was like watching a bud unfold into a flower. He does the unexpected. He never ever gives up, he never surrenders to the inescapable insanity of his life. He escapes the inescapable. And with his soul intact. It's really a story about a miracle. I was roped in by the intensity of the photography and of the depiction. You are forced to root for this guy even though you don't see where he's going. His game becomes too deep to unravel, you're just dragged along by both the impossibility of his situation and yet the sense that he might just escape it all. The characterizations are strong and simple. There is beauty mixed in with the madness and brutality. It's a masterpiece.

Stone (2010)

WAYyyy Underrated and Misunderstood. It's a movie 100% about religion!

[10/10 · 2 June 2011]

This is a RELIGIOUS movie! Not a drama. Not a crime thriller. It's all about religion. It's like Crash but not about emotions and feelings. All about religion. I am so so sad that so many people missed what this movie is about. (to a large degree I fault marketing, reviewers, studio, for a wrong pitch, an attempt to broaden the market) Each character represents a religion: >Materialism/Atheism. >Mainstream Christianity. >Non-Traditional Non-Denominational Non-Western Reincarnational Personal Revelation. >And finally - a man in confusion. The Lost Hero, The Lost Man. The Agonized Agnostic. The four main characters and the director and the writer all get it. Even the name of the movie/character is straight religion. This movie is not genre-confused. It's not about aging, adultery, crime, punishment, or even morality. It's not about right and wrong. It's about reality belief systems and their structuring into religion. The storyline is just a vehicle for an in-depth display of variation in belief systems and how they affect the way we live our daily lives. This movie Needed these real pro actors to pull off this stunt, and they did. I loved it. We watch Norton go through a classic Heroic transformation. Even the ending was perfect, it's the second DeNiro starts to hear his sound. (Conroy re-hears her's) Jovovich as The Goddess Maya, all flesh, is part of, and at one with the material creation so hears no sound. She IS the Earth. I never had so much fun in my Comparative Religion course! I hope it gets its cult over time. It deserves it!

The Crossing Guard (1995)

I watch it every couple of years, I cry every couple of years...

[10/10 · 6 January 2011]

I really don't understand why this movie didn't go further. I'm really missing the point of view of the negative voters and commenters. They all seem so harsh and cold. This movie should be FLOODED with emotional viewers and reviewers! Penn proved his chops as both writer and director here. You don't get these actors doing such a great job without great writing and directing, no matter who they are. You have to get the movie as a vehicle for the last minute of the film. You have to give the movie enough time-rope and attention-rope to let it hang you at the end. This is a punchline movie and you have to be the kind of person who is willing to be punched. You have to not get captured in Freddy's negativity. It's part of the setup. His lifestyle, part of the setup. Booth's flatness of affect, part of the setup. Just sit back, register it, allow yourself to be set up by it. Give it the time the movie deserves And let yourself get sweetly punched and redeemed at the end.

I once had a friend who said they Hated Pulp Fiction. Near the end of the pawnshop scene she was cheering "get him, kill him" After, she said she hated it. She got SO involved with the movie and the characterizations that the hated to be so manipulated. She loved the movie, but she didn't know it.

Billy Bathgate (1991)

Again Magnificent, so sadly almost invisible

[10/10 · 26 October 2010]

My third viewing since it came out. The thing is stirring, romantic. The score and its timing are magnificent. Every frame is part of this masterpiece. Why it never won an academy award, I don't know (I haven't checked what it was up against that year) It's a little small But as I get holder that means less and less when great craft is present, as it is here. All the talent was used and used well. You can see that everyone gave everything they had to their roles. Great cast. The understated (Berman) the overstated (Schultz) The oblivious fearless magnificent love object The kid All great performances Even the smaller parts, the loyal Schultz hit men, Luck Luciano All great and in the team pulling in just the right directions at the right times The photography, perfect. The score, that majestic theme coming in and lifting you up, pulling you along at the right time. Not a gangster movie, more an allegory and morality play. Everyone was an archetype, a representative of basic forces Right, Wrong, Evil, Goodness, Selflessness, Betrayal, Compassion, Desire, Tenderness, Madness, Destiny (played by Luck) It's a mesmerizing movie for anyone prepared to watch a timeless drama. Forget about the gangsters, it's mythic. And it does it by paying insanely close attention to characterization. But thematically (via the writer) and theatrically (via the director) I can't want to forget enough about it to cry again the next time.

The Band's Visit (2007)

This Magnificent Gem Will Last Forever

[10/10 · 27 July 2010]

Understate, elegant. Reminds me in a way of You Can Count on Me in the sense that it is small, but oh so powerful. It is way beyond politics or even culture. It's about how such a small amount of quiet openings between people can create bridges spanning all gaps and differences. It's an elegant vehicle running an all cylinders: acting, direction, photography, and music, but not music all over the place, rather music placed, in just he right places. It's an unrushed film finding enormous beauty in the small spaces of a place in the middle of nowhere. It's about how little language is really needed by patient people ready to communicate the most important things. It's about persistence, tenderness, loss, loneliness. It's about people reaching out for no reason other than to bridge a distance. It's about the best parts of being a human being.

Jonah Hex (2010)

A plethora of under-ratings and over expectations!

[7/10 · 23 June 2010]

Analysis Paralysis!

It was fun. Everyone did a competent job. It's not a movie for intellectuals, just for people who enjoy flicks. As more people see it, its rating will go up. It's now 4.3/10 with 1,266 votes. Watch.

I really enjoyed that the special F/X were not overdone.

It's a comic book fer cryin' out loud!, it's not supposed to be No Country for Old Men!

I was never bored, it was well paced.

That whole business with the dead people was fun and nice plot enhancer.

I really don't know what all the negative fuss it about.

It's not a summer blockbuster, it's a summer popcorn and soda, better-than-T.V. techno western flick.

Actually, my expectations were so diminished by all the bad press that I enjoyed it More that I expected I would.

As I read all the detailed bad press and saw what over analysis was in the comments, and discounted all that, that's what put me over the edge to go and see it.

And I'm glad I did.

It was fun.

No one's careers were ruined. Just briskly moving summer fun.

Brick (2005)

Best foreign language film i've seen in a Long Time ! ! !

[10/10 · 26 February 2010]

I had to watch it with the subtitles on so's I could decipher and translate - from English to English. It was like visiting another world, or maybe a parallel universe. So wonderfully story and performance driven! like one of those Shakespeare thingies translated into a modern idiom, maybe like westside story. everyone was great, which meant the direction was great. how they stuffed a whole universe into san clemente high is a piece of magic miracality. great music, beautiful shooting. really artful. this was a blockbuster recommendation by the kid that worked there. i was dubious, but once again i saw that a great piece of work transcends time space coast age language - transcends and transforms everything into a place to live for a while. another place.

Sauna (2008)

This thing is an unmitigated GEM ! ! !

[10/10 · 3 February 2010]

when you watch Sauna you have no sensation of watching a movie, rather the screen becomes a window and you are observing reality. this is an engine running on all strong cylinders: the score matches the mood, it accents and reinforces the dialog and action. the acting is superb, by everyone. there is no sense of acting. the older Spore is a dynamo of revealing restraint. the cinematography is flawless, there's not a weak shot from start to 'finnish'. every shot is lit like a work of art. the editing is sharp and crisp. the pacing is deliberate and inexorable, though slow, you cannot drift because of the quality of the work. now, obviously, all this could not have been done without one Hell of a director! i've watched it three times so that i can internalize the subtitles and concentrate on the rest of the movie. i could watch this thing at 1/2 speed and still love it!

Rob Roy (1995)

It's the saddest comment on mediocrity that Braveheart rates higher than this.

[10/10 · 15 February 2009]

This thing is a timeless masterpiece. When Braveheart is long forgotten, and 35MM is a term known only in dim antiquity, there will still be fans of Rob Roy. It is SO incredibly well balanced and finely tuned. The stars are STELLAR!!! A true Star Ensemble. The writing, deft. The sets, costumes, cinematography, score.. All top top notch. The direction, the best he's done, and why not? Just look what he had to work with! You can see the power and versatility of every single actor by looking at the rich and impressive careers of Every One of Them!, the casting was the luckiest confluence I've ever seen (more likely that script pulled all these bright actors together. They knew that not many of that quality come along) The Braveheart - Rob Roy thing used to bewilder me, but now it merely saddens me. It just means that those of us who really love and CAN DETECT a great piece of work have to be activists for the work, over time. But really, no worries: This movie may not be for Everybody, but it is for Ever.

Pride and Glory (2008)

It can't be rated like other cop drama thriller films. here's why...

[10/10 · 4 February 2009]

I'm reading that it's ineffective as a cop drama action thriller. Of course it is! Anyone writing that is missing and not appreciating Stone's work. It's a mood piece. Of course it's loosely structured, fuzzy in focus. Its point and its storytelling get lost in the mood set scenes. But that's how it's designed. That's what Stone Does! There was a scene, all of which I couldn't watch. The Christmas dinner scene where Voight gets lost over praising Norton. The seeds of the destruction of the family are there. But the performers are so strong, so much in tune with the point of the scene, that it was painful to watch. It's a Stone kinda thing. It's his gift. It's intimate, and unsmooth, unfinished looking. Not unfinished, just unfinished looking. It's not a tight crime thriller. It's a mood painting, it's a 10 of a mood painting, not a 6.9 of a Crime | Drama | Thriller, so I give it a ten for what it is, not a 6.9 as an attempt to make what it isn't. You don't rate Oliver Stone on the same scale as Jerry Bruckheimer. It's apples and oranges, fer cryin' out loud! Stone made what he attempted to make, and it's beautiful and perfect at what it does.

The Backwoods (2006)

Okay, here's why it gets a ten

[10/10 · 24 January 2009]

First, what's wrong with it. Aside from Cohen's wonderful song, the sound and music were poor and didn't add anything. The cinematography was not particularly inventive or inspiring.

But still a 10.

Why?

Okay you have to catch what this excellent writing is up to.

The twist at the end is pure and righteous symmetry.

It's about justice and revenge, an atypical and furious interpretation of right and wrong. It's got a piece of The Unforgiven about it.

It posits that some things just can't be fixed, and that the penalty does often indeed involve even more suffering of the innocent.

All the acting is excellent. The direction is excellent.

The writing is difficult, twisted, demanding, and wonderful, hard to grasp at first, hard to at first grasp, even at the end. But within it's own pained logic of warfare, just.

The heroic transformation is really spectacularly fierce in that the delivery of justice and punishment requires such a high price to be paid by the destroyed innocent, and the hero, that it at first doesn't even seem like justice.... but it sinks in, that it is.

Sure, it has deliberate echos of Deliverance, but it's actually much more sinister and indirectly more disturbing, not just to personal safety, but to our perception of right and wrong, and justice, punishment, and revenge.

It reminds me in some ways of Death and the Maiden.

It could have almost been a stage piece.

If it wasn't low budget and foreign, with non-U.S.-well-known writing and directing, and with higher "production values", it would have made big stink here.

Or maybe not. Us Americans are often so dull about clear winning and losing, that they get lost in movies like this. Our loss.

Oh, and I want to thank Gary Oldman for taking a shot at this. I wouldn't have known about it or seen it with him, and I thank him for roping me in!

God only knows what great stuff I miss from not having the time to watch everything! I wish I could clone myself and have them watch it so, I would have reviews I could trust! ;)

The Wrestler (2008)

An Intensely Romantic Film (not about romance between a man and a woman)

[10/10 · 15 January 2009]

It's about an exclusive romance, an ultimately destructive one, inescapable.

Between a person and their obsession.

In this case between a man and his wrestling.

I don't care how much is autobiographical.

Rourke's characterization is no less magnificent, other worldly, transporting, and complete. He doesn't leave it for a millisecond that I could see.

Actually, both the character and the role seemed consumed by the very act of witnessing the depth of the actor's characterization.

The only aspect of the movie that was unbelievable was the idea that he could let go and make a 'better' life for himself. At least a healthier one. But that was intended to be unbelievable, to seem unachievable for him, even in the midst of the attempt.

Any person who deliberately (on inescapably) puts something they do ahead of Everything else because it simply seems to be the only thing they're fit to do here, is dragged along with the magnificent inevitable surrender, the being completely lost in what they are doing, that Rourke shows.

To watch his eyes and hear his voice inside that face and body, it's chilling. And exhilarating. Almost a testament to the survival of the soul.

To watch him here is to see echos of him in Angel Heart.

It is 100% fitting and proper that such characters (or people) should die while doing the only thing they really feel fit to do here.

Whether or not we live this way, we all dream of living (and dying) this way.

Whether or not we admit it, we still all dream it.

Whether or not we remember the dreams, we all have them.

In the Valley of Elah (2007)

Mostly, this movie is Important

[10/10 · 11 January 2009]

It's eloquent, but that's almost an afterthought. It's moving, but only as a byproduct. It's no Crash, I cried at Crash, in several spots. This movie is about something that's true but alien to the civilian public. Much harder to relate to. More difficult to watch. Not so much uplifting as Magnificently Instructional. The story is universal in content, not nationalistic. It's about war. Any war. War is so big and terrible that somewhere in it, these things Always happen, and those in the midst of them Always don't want them to come out.

So the movie is not just moving, excellent, well written, well acted, excellently directed, well scored.

But also Important.

More than moving, it's instructive.

It speaks a painful truth about a terrible price paid.

About a way of people interacting that should always be the Last Resort, the Dead Last Resort.

Never simply strategically advisable.

Crash was magnificent and excellent This is magnificently instructional, And as such... Important.

The Mexican (2001)

325+ comments 30,000+ votes, does it tell us anything?

[10/10 · 4 January 2009]

it's a movie for movie lovers, not for discriminating cinema critics i own it and have just enjoyed for yet another time after a year or two interval. you have to be someone who like Pitt showing his goofy side. look at him in 12 monkeys, watch the zany moves. it appeals or not. to many of us, it's quite enjoyable. it's not supposed to be deep. it's only supposed to be incidentally moving. it's a Comedy! Of course Pitt is inept and on point from scene to scene, that's how the character is obviously drawn. of course Roberts is lost and wacky. ditto. okay they're stars. can't they still do a 'small' movie without being lambasted for not turning in a movie worth an Oscar!?!?!?! it has sweet twists. it moves with a symmetrically crafted exaggerated sentimentality, it's intentionally Designed that way. if you love, say, The Big Lebowski, how can you not put this on your love list as well. If you loved Snatch, you'll love this. Don't let there over analyzers get to you. You can see from all the comments and voting how this type of film puts people in two camps. These are really talented actors who get what they're up to and a really talented director doing great work. Just love it.

The Brothers Grimm (2005)

don't expect the world, and you'll find entertainment here

[7/10 · 27 August 2005]

Okay, it's not another Gilliam masterpiece, but it's still fun. You see his stamp in the work. It's a Gilliam good job, which is a cut above most other directors' good jobs. It's got tender gore, funny jokes and pratfalls. some wit and sidebar Popeye-esquire commentary that charms. it's got a lot of Three Stooges slapstick.

It often ratchets up something amusing into something outlandish, with some tender ghoulish charm.

Okay, it's very Hollywoodish. High end graphics, Hollywood ending. Hollywood visual feel, but if you like Gilliam's work and you're not so much of a purist as to be offended by it being a bit commercialized, you'll have fun with it.

The Cider House Rules (1999)

bring the hankies !

[12 January 2000]

you girls and guys who can express their feelings. it's a good cry, and I mean good! A cry for the connectedness of it all. Not one of sorrow. This cry is brought on by magnificent cinematography, excellent direction, a great score, wonderful acting and a very very sweet story that hooks up at all the right points.

the last good cry I got like this was from The Crossing Guard.

If you loved that you'll love this.

The Third Miracle (1999)

excellent piece of work, don't expect what it isn't

[4 January 2000]

it's not a adventure, it's a drama. it's not a thriller, it's moving. it's less action, and more dialog.

but

it is beautiful drama, tender dialog, and nice character transitions and depth.

ed is like a rock, as usual, and it's great to see him get this quality air time.

anne does very very good work, a nice vehicle to show off character dynamics

Armin Mueller-Stahl is his normal power self.

a great ensemble.

things are left open, not everything is resolved.

effects are minimal

but it's a beautiful piece of work, uplifting without being over-sentimental.

Ma vie en rose (1997)

this thing moves, it flows, it soars

[4 January 2000]

colors dazzle, images dance. you are forced, if you have the guts, to see this kid as just fine, and the world as having to deal with the simple fact of his OK-ness.

you can, if you let yourself, get drawn into his view of the world, his gentle determination to be himself.

the world adjusts.

we root for him.

and the IMAGES, beautiful flights of fancy and dreams in flying colors.

a great job.