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Civil War (2024)
Interesting topic
Interesting topic but not the movie the topic deserves. What could have been a dramatic, gripping piece is reduced to a personal interest story.
None of the crucial data points of "How we got to this place," are covered. None of the mechanics of exactly how this could even take place are examined. No.
The singular narrative is about bringing up a young journalist in the rough and tumble business of wartime journalism. "Showing her the ropes," which is the least interesting narrative for the topic.
The created encounters in which the "up and comer" "cuts her teeth," are absurd and unrealistic.
The last 20 minutes are the only part worth watching...and just barely.
Not a good movie.
A Man in Full (2024)
Good entertainment.
A director, a script, and decent actors. There you go.
I see some people in here whining about how it isn't factually accurate. ? This isn't a documentary, it's entertainment. Clearly it departed from the book too and that's ok.
Entertain me.
Some might find the use of interweaved storylines confusing. Personally, I appreciated that approach.
Were the court scenes far from what would have happened? Sure. So were the banker's meetings, but the barbs thrown in those banker's meetings were effing hilarious.
Jeff Daniels does his usual work. I'm not a fan of Lucy Lui, but I liked her in this movie. Diane Lane was ok, not terrific.
Direction just pushed the story along, fine. Script was tight. Lots of laughs. The "serious stuff" was a little off but made for an interesting counterpoint.
The only thing I'd complain about was the easy-way-out ending, but that's fine.
Looking for entertainment? This fits the bill. Want to relive your life's experiences in Atlanta, or watch a documentary about real estate development, this isn't for you.
Lola (2024)
Pretty Eyes
Very pretty eyes. Nicola has pretty eyes. We can all agree on that. Can she act? I have no idea. There was no real dialog to work with, just countless closeups of Nicola's pretty eyes.
The sad attempt at pulling on heartstrings was so juvenile and offensive. Positioning a trans kid in the story then taking the easiest way out of even having them in the story was repulsive and lazy as F.
Drug-addict story was sloppy, not at all believable for a second. The "stripper" angle also lazy lazy lazy. CUT TO SHOT OF NICOLA'S PRETTY EYES.
I'd call the rushed, suddenly "getting her life together" scene's anti-climatic had there been any climatic scenes.
Really just floating from sparse, poorly written dialog to shots of Nicola's oh-so-pretty eyes.
Can't recommend. No.
Keishichô sôsaikka rûshî burakku man jiken (2023)
Absolute garbage
Half hour in and I can't watch anymore. There are no facts. No one knows anything. Nothing of substance about whatever happened is discussed.
Japanese police must have been morons. They think one guy might be a suspect for no given reason. The find the guy, ask him if he did it...no, he had an alibi. So the Japanese police have to start over again. Start over again from what??? Absolutely nothing about the case is mentioned.
WTF is this.
Lots of spine-tingling music and opinions about the police or the father of the girl...but not a single fact. How am I supposed to be interested when nothing is related about the case?
Whoever made this, stahp. Stay away from documentaries, movies, anything cinema, books, magazine articles, or even trying to relate an interesting anecdote.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
Could have been good
How much money was spent on this? Only to cast 2 dreadful actors in lead roles. They are pretty to look at but can't pull off more than teenage sarcasm. Zero chemistry between them. Guy is literally Jim Breuer from SNL or Keanu Reeves from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Effing dreadful. Irritating as F. She is very pretty but can't act at all.
Impressive visuals. Some interesting worlds and futuristic effects but all lost on these two profoundly miscast knuckleheads that don't belong in a highschool play.
Some talented supporting cast without much of a script to work from. I don't get it...at all.
Smile (2022)
Same dynamic, different vehicle
Yet another, "don't believe the crazy lady" movie. OMFG when are these movies finally going to be buried???? WHEN.
You need therapy.
You need to see someone.
You need a doctor.
DO you hear what you're saying? It's crazy.
Why don't you believe me?
Why won't anyone believe me???
Yeah, it may be effing crazy, but haven't you seen enough of these movies to know how it goes?
How about this, how about SOMEONE write a script in which EVERYONE believes the crazy lady in the beginning? How about that? Not because it would automatically be a better movie, but because THIS CRAP IS SOOOOOOOO TIRED.
For the love of god, STAHP.
El silencio de la ciudad blanca (2019)
What a mess
The cinematography and soundtrack are pretty good, and are for a different movie than the one the script and director had in mind. Neither match the story.
And what a story. Total mess, makes no sense. The character relationships are underdeveloped and spring from nothing. Two people are suddenly in love because....because what? They spent 2 mins and spoke like 5 sentences to each other. The plot is a convoluted disaster. Antagonist haphazardly introduced way too early.
Something totally hilarious, is our main protagonist is constantly jogging for exercise throughout the story and every other scene his is chasing someone on foot and can never catch them. This guy should be an Olympic long distance runner by now.
Hot mess.
Cunk on Earth (2022)
Acting like an idiot gets high praise
It isn't "satire," it's laziness parading as something clever. Acting stupid gets old real fast and seeing it over and over and over doesn't make it any more engaging.
Satire is meant to expose the ignorance of others, this show highlights dreadful comedic instincts and lowest-common-denominator stupid.
Definitely will be a hit with the anti-intellectual, anti-fact, anti-reality, knuckle draggers whose answer to everything is "just punch it in the face."
If you find 30 second tiktok vids challenging, this is the show for you. If you have the attention span of a housefly, this is the show for you.
Santo (2022)
Probably could have been good...
If I had any idea what it's about. Maybe at some point, the director and writers thought they were being clever and then just got really drunk and said F it, let's just through all the footage on the floor and edit it back together in pieces.
The moving back and forth through time, something I've rarely appreciated, is taken to ridiculously extreme level where I just don't even care anymore. I don't care what happens to any of the character or at what time it happened. I just want to slap everyone involved with this project.
If you invested in this production, I hope you get to slap everyone involved on my behalf.
I don't recommend this to anyone except people that like to be irritated. You will be irritated.
Kingdom (2019)
Decent Series
Has some palace intrigue, no particular depth to it. Acting is ok, Direction is very good.
Series could be 50% shorter by eliminating all of the pregnant pauses where someone thinks long and hard about the entirely obvious, or stares into space for an ungodly length of time. Happens over and over and over.
100's of bloody zombies quickly closing in on you? Stare at them long and hard and contemplate what will happen when they arrive, eventually coming to the conclusion that it is probably a good idea to start effing running.
Main antagonist is particularly irritating in his overly long, expressionless stare whenever anyone says anything to him. DUDE. TALK. You're not menacing, you appear to be an imbecile.
The main subplot is like, " No matter how hard I try, I can't make 2 + 2 add up. Is it 3? Is it 5? Nothing works. Somewhere I heard 4, and also I heard repeatedly, to try to add 2+2. It's just impossible! What will we do!!???!!"
Dialog, or the translation thereof, leaves a lot to be desired. Stating the obvious is a common theme in the script.
"I just beheaded him!"
"Yeah, I know, I was standing right in front of you when you did it."
Worth watching when there's nothing else on. Don't compare it to GOT. Don't. Do. That.
Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi (2022)
It's ok, not great
I'm fine with a mystery with no answer, if that is in fact what this is. However, I dislike all the time wasted in this series on goofing around.
Could have easily shortened it by twenty percent simply by STOPPING with the endlessly repeated cut scenes...over and over and over. That got to be nauseating. I suspect they went down a couple rabbit holes just to add more length to the series. Slight-of-hand theatrics completely unnecessary.
Some retelling of the story just didn't make sense, and I want a narrator there, to ask interviewees to clarify, or clarify the facts themselves.
The story itself is quite interesting. The producers would have done well to just focus on that and knock off the nonsense.
Blonde (2022)
I can't take it
I don't know what this is. I've never seen a director make choices like this before. I'm only 40 minutes in and I can't stand it.
It doesn't even matter that it is Marilyn Monroe. It's a character study, like *Monster* but instead of horror, it's a slow, creeping malaise.
Flat, bleak. Unnerving. Maddening. It's so beautiful and I can't take it.
Who is this director. I hope he/she received lots of monies and accolades to let him or her know he is on the right path. Who is the woman playing Monroe. I don't see her as Monroe, because she isn't much like her. I see her as this character going understandably insane in an insane world. Her expressions must be exactly what the director wanted. She is perfect.
I have to stop it and I'll watch the rest tomorrow. It's too much.
Absentia (2017)
Meh, it's ok
Just about done with first season. I wish someone could make a crime drama that was moored to reality.
This whole omnipotent bad guy thing is just overplayed and stupid. Bad guy is all-knowing and all-seeing. Getting tired of "cop with dramatic family life that needs to be included throughout every episode." Fast forward through all those parts in this series and it cuts viewing time down by 1/3 and you miss literally nothing you haven't already assumed is going to happen.
Also, for crying out loud, I don't care how pure one's motives are, if you shoot all kinds of people and break a million laws on the way to proving you are innocent, you aren't innocent any longer because you just broke like every law in the book to prove it.
Just stahp. Write something that isn't stupid for once.
The Sandman (2022)
So much going for it
Really feels like it needs a much bigger budget. Reaching out into a lot of thematic territory and epic characters that deserve time and finances to develop. Look who that is as Lucifer. Interesting.
I feel it might become a little too silly at times, or relying on unnecessary love-story-drama, when there is absolutely no need for it at all. Can see that is coming. It has so much to cover in introducing these types of themes and characters: avoid the unnecessary, please.
All these people crying about "Woke," cry the same thing in every series. Stop watching tv and go set up camp in a cave. For crying out loud. Shaddup.
I recommend this series. I also wish they had MORE money to slow down and spend time with the world they are creating.
Bom Dia, Verônica (2020)
Interesting start.
...and then the plot really goes sideways into second season. Really just bizarre, doesn't make sense, totally implausible. It's not as if everything in the first season is at all believable either, but you can scoff and ignore the occasional silliness.
We get the whole "corrupt cops" angle as we've seen it a thousand times, but honestly this one just goes to weird, inexplicable places with writing that you just can't justify no matter how hard you try. I'm not going to spoil the plot, but I don't see how I can make it past episode 4 of second season. Just so dumb.
Do yourself a favor and stop after first season unless you like throwing things at the tv.
Can't recommend this.
Last Night in Soho (2021)
The payoff is decent
But the trip getting there isn't worth it. The horror elements are silly. Too much layered visuals and layered sound. A simple, clean story would have sufficed...and all this talent left to waste. Tsk.
A shame.
The Rehearsal (2022)
I just...wut, no.
Really? Okay.
Dude sounds as awkward as the guy from "How to," and the show is pretty much just as wacky. But it's not him.
I was taken by surprise, but I can see getting tired of this pretty fast. Perhaps it will be like the "How to" series, in that I'm not sure if I like it or it is really irritating the crap out of me.
I recommend one episode, after that, you're own your own buddy.
Parfum (2018)
It is an interesting take
...but the main characters are so detestable, it is hard to get into it. None of them are someone I can identify with or care about. The segues between violence and friendship are nonsensical.
That being said, the story is unique. The direction is very good. I could only begrudgingly recommend it.
The Haunting of Hill House (2018)
Very good, but...
I would have appreciated this more as a straight "ghost story," I think. I'm halfway through episode 5, and it is clear where this is going. I don't mind...I do like it.
I am already reconstructing the story in my mind, the way this is going to be intended, when I reach the end. I'm very fond of American short stories and this reads like Chrysanthemums. All manner of literary devices pushing us to the "real story" which lies underneath the top level story.
The downfall with this, is this was once a screen play to be made into a movie, and in that, the characters are sometimes moved ridiculously about the stage. Sometimes, it does feel like a silly stageplay, in which I feel sorry for the necessary, yet haphazard placement of the characters.
The top layer of the "ghost story" becomes unmanageable.
Still, it is a very lovely movie. And this music, is so very appropriate. The yearning and disaster promised in the opening theme.
I would really appreciate *any* ghost story to please please please stop using the incredibly overplayed "don't believe the woman (kids)." OMG stop it. This trope has been playing since the 40s in movies and books. She's cray-cray! She needs therapy and drugs! STAHP. I don't care how awesomely plot-serving it is, just stop.
I recommend this movie.
The Man Who Fell to Earth (2022)
Hey, it's good
There's so many ways this could go wrong, but so far, so good. It gets a little hokey and that's ok. The tongue-in-cheek humor is light and done well.
When I saw it was a Showtime series, I was like...meh, they'll find a way to mess it up, and they still could : P
Chiwetel Ejiofor does some amazing things. The dude is awesome.
I hope this series stays on an even keel, because sic-fi, alien-comes -to-Earth is so overdone and almost always irretrievably bad. For sure, there's going to be a mess of reviews that complain WOKE...because it has a non-whites in it...and he's an alien. It's impossible for people to help themselves. : D.
Collateral (2018)
Another Decent British Whodunit
The British are so good at this.
Decent script, very good acting, excellent direction and cinematography. Well worth binging on.
Solid offering. Recommended.
Yakamoz S-245 (2022)
Disaster disaster movie
Ridiculous characters, bad acting, comical script, bad direction. Couldn't be any worse. So bad, it's almost a comedy.
A hunk of garbage. Not recommended.
Anatomy of a Scandal (2022)
Worth Watching
The British always make reliably good mystery/detective movies, this is one of them. It isn't a masterpiece, but it is decent drama.
All of the main characters are excellent actors and I would like to see more of them. I always thought Robert Friend had good prospects of a standout career after having seen him in Homeland and he did get a shot at starring in one movie, didn't he? Can't recall what it was. When I saw him in this, I was like...is that him? Yes it is. He is totally different from the role I associate him with.
The plot twist in this, you can see it coming, and if you're like me, you're thinking, please don't do that. It's way to contrived. But they do. Oh well.
The use of alternate reality/flashback is a really nice touch, if overdone at some points.
Overall, worth watching and I recommend it.
Las niñas de cristal (2022)
An excellent story
This is the kind of thing I'm always searching for: a story. An ultimate expression of story-telling to me, would be something like "The Queens Gambit." This movie is in the same league, but not entirely comparable. QB is a great reference point because both movies toggle into alternate realities, but it's easy to pretend to play chess and another thing altogether to pretend to dance ballet.
These must be pro or semi-pro dancers...and who else would you have play the part. I prefer this to "actors" pretending to dance, however, we can only get shallow portrayal of emotions out of the pro dancers. I'd almost prefer if it was shot to resemble a documentary except for the beautiful way Aurora is handled. Loved this character and loved the very light touch; the way she was delicately portrayed.
It is an excellent story, but I can't see how this would ever be perfectly cast.
At any rate, this production succeeded in story-telling and I appreciate that. I was there, with our characters even if they weren't up to film acting.
The Invisible Pilot (2022)
Dramatic....
Like a Bigfoot or Ancient Aliens "documentary." All the hallmarks of a really bad documentary.
1. Dramatic music. Check.
2. Inexplicable jumping back and forth through time. Check.
3. Cut scenes every five seconds. Check.
4. In depth description of "feelings" on topics that aren't even clarified. Check.
What is totally clear is that something really, really dramatic happened. The spine-tingling music proves it and something that could be narrated in 30 minutes, will be teased out over multiple episodes in the most annoying fashion possible.