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jaffray
Reviews
Ring of Bright Water (1969)
Good, but...
It's all about the otter. The film is dated, and I didn't care much about the human characters, but any time Mij was on screen, this film was pure delight. Watching an otter play is a wonderful thing. But...
-------- SPOILER! -------- In the end Mij is killed. A stupid, senseless, awful death. This comes as a huge emotional shock, especially when the film up to that point was so cheerful, carefree, and escapist.
I'm desensitized to most on-screen violence, but I felt sick at the end of this movie. My companion, who's rather more sensitive, was sobbing. The G rating is crazy - there's no way I would show this to a young child, and even with older kids, I'd expect to have a long discussion with them afterwards.
Does the ending make it a better or worse film? Tough to say. The intent of the story may have been fulfilled by it, I suppose; but I wasn't nearly as interested in the story as in the otter, and if you're watching the movie to see an hour and a half of otter antics, killing the otter is BAD BAD BAD.
I rated it a 7/10 anyway, but if you want a positive uplifting cheerful movie, watch until Graham goes back to London and leaves Mij with Mary, and stop there.
The War Room (1993)
Fascinating and hilarious
I first saw this at Doc Films at the University of Chicago. I was expecting it to be interesting, but dry. Wow, was I wrong. The entire audience was enthralled and frequently laughing their heads off. You couldn't make up comedic characters like these if you tried. James and George are just amazing. (Of course, there would be times where HALF the audience was laughing, split along party lines. :-) )
The filmmakers also liven up the proceedings with good choices of music and little bits of Americana tossed in here and there. Invite over all your political junkie friends, get a few beers, rent this movie, and enjoy.
The Mask of Zorro (1998)
Generic Hollywood fodder
Even if you don't watch many movies, you've still seen this one many times before. The characters have no depth, the plot stumbles along unconvincingly from one cliched device to another, there's just nothing which made me care about what was happening on screen.
Parts of it were very pretty, in a glossy kind of way, which was why I gave it a 4 instead of a 2. But when it comes down to it, I wanted to shut it off after 45 minutes, and an hour and a half later I wished I had.