Reviews
Meltdown: Three Mile Island (2022)
W warning all should heed
First...whoever posted this review..."Heavily biased and over-dramatised with a clear agenda" ... seems to have watched a different doc and re: "biased"... I have never read a more biased and untruthful review, anywhere. The reviewer clearly is a nuclear power advocate, employee or PER person. As a PR person myself, I instantly recognized the bias. The documentary was powerful, and I know because my family home is only a few miles from Three Mile Island and have some intel re: on the event. (As an aside, my father had taken the senior staff of Hershey Foods to Georgia and was on a retreat there, due to return home, in the morning of the event. I called him and told him to divert the two jets elsewhere; to not land at the airport very close to Three Mile Island. He pretty much blew me off...later I learned the two jets went to Philadelphia to avoid the radioactive cloud). The people interviewed were very credible; the ones who lied on camera are very, very obviously liars and to be blunt: evil. The degree to which this event was almost a Chrynoble is simply amazing. The evil and corruption of human humankind once again is made clear for all to see. Parks is a hero; there should be statues to the man's courage.
Il Principe (2023)
He killed the boy
Anyone with a shred of common sense knows this low life loser murdered that boy and lied about it. His son and wife join him in lying about the killing. The French and Italian justice system are as corrupt or more so than that of the USA's in this regard. They ignored witnesses, lied, clearly were biased in favor of the killer, who even after admitting on camera and on tape that he killed the boy, was never convicted. This is a very convincing judgment of a bad man with a bad family connected to evil people. At times is was difficult to watch the human scum that never would be king, who deserves to be in prison.
A Million Little Pieces (2018)
Hollywood junk
Just another standard Hollywood movie of the 2020s that is devoid of creativity and had ample of the seemingly must-include visuals in Hollwood today: multiple scenes of the man throwing up into toilets, on the floor, etc. Shot of his sitting naked on a toilet doing his business. Then the scenes of men naked with their Johnsons swinging around, which are not remotely necessary to the story...just scenery injected onto the movie by talentless writers and cinematographers who think that shocking people makes for good cinema. Save yourself a wasted two hours and go sit on your toilet for two hours because what you produce is what this movie is. (Or you could watch Tar and Everything Everywhere All at Once to get some more Hollywood junk under your belt). The garbage movie is another reason that movie viewing is dropping thru the floor. (Ditto for the Oscar viewing numbers, for similar reason, and for the literally insane, unnatural, mindless WOKE and DEI BS that everyone I know is sick of and finds literally sickening).
Triangle of Sadness (2022)
Could have been good. It wasn't
No clue why this is rated 7.4. The story line wandered after a strong start. As someone in the luxury boat business and familiar with the Christina O (the yacht in the movie) ...the portrayal of the management of the vessel was supremely inaccurate. As was the laughable portrayal of the yacht in a storm. There is a limit to creative license and when things get ridiculous, as they do in this flick, that is not admirable. Or enjoyable to watch, as certainly one too-long segment of this movie ...is. I did not like...as (reality check) most men do not like...the frequent sexist commentary slamming men. The ending was...blah. After much thought I think I understand what they were trying to convey. Maybe. Some important scenes were not filmed well (as in the viewer literally could barely even see the message they were trying to get across...did anyone edit this?). The overall message was not tied together/conveyed well at all...sadly.
Tár (2022)
WAY over-rated
The movie, for the first hour, which is when we walked out, is little more than vignettes of incredibly technical music terminology. There is almost no plot or storyline. Blanchett's acting is great but...the movie offered little beyond that. It was like watching someone with a video camera follow a conductor around. It was that inane. I asked some of the staff at the theater what the audience reactions had been and they said that people said "it was really slow at times but worth watching." Why? Slow is worth watching? Is that a great film? The entire first hour was simply.... boring! There you go....
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022)
Interesting dialog; nudity was not needed
Emma Thompson said the nude scene was the toughest thing she ever did...and it was unnecessary; standard Hollywood nonsense (like the toilet scenes that seem to be required in every La La Land movie, seconded by vomiting) intended to shock to gain attention. The dialog alone carried the movie, although it was a times uncomfortable to listen to. Leo's character was so refined one wonders if any sex workers are like that. Any movie shot in basically one room can be challenging re: keeping the viewers' attention, but the dialog and performances handled that challenge easily. A nice movie worth seeing.
Babylon (2022)
HOLLYWOOD JUNK
This was written by very poor scriptwriter's and shot seemingly with one goal: to gross out viewers. Why Hollywood thinks graphic defecation and sex adds anything to a movie mystifies me. (This really barbaric tendency applies to many contemporary movies, the majority of which today cannot be made, it seems, without a few shots of people urinating; defecating, having extremely graphic sex. It is simply disgusting. As is this truly train wreck of a movie). This trend towards extreme grossness is one reason that Hollywood is viewed more and more as a place where mentally sick people reside and "create"...add people who attack one another at award ceremonies, inject WOKE nonsense into all they do (that people are sick and tired of), blatant sexism (against men) and racism (against white people)...and, enough is enough. Shut the town down and start over. And don't see this gross movie.
The Intern (2015)
Touching and inspirational
An unusual and really enjoyable movie. De Niro and Hathaway were superb, especially as De Niro was so different than he is most of his movies. The story line is great and makes one wonder why more retired people are NOT brought in as interns, or, as (paraphrased) one person said, "who would you rather have as an intern...a seasoned retired executive or some kid who was recently playing beer pong in college?" The differences between the older and younger generations was subtle yet impactful. The references to the business world were quite accurate, vs many Hollywood moves wherein it is so clear that the writers are largely oblivious to the real business world. Just a joy to watch.
Blacklight (2022)
Junk
I stopped watching it, which is a rarity. I am usually forgiving. It was just too much work to watch anymore. Within minutes of starting to watch it I could probably predict the entire story line. Really bad dialog, just a ridiculous story line. It was not believable at all. The action scenes were just silly. The Mustang and its sliding from side to side...not just absurd, but the car was not even going fast. It did not flow well and after some scenes I would think: "why didn't he"...(ask a question; follow-up; take rational action that anyone else would take, and on and on and on). AVOID THIS MOVIE.
The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (2021)
Disappointing
Love Wes's work but this was less than hoped for. At times so disjointed that we/the two of us watching verbally asked ourselves..."what is the story line here?" The cinematography was also flawed...often the shots were so fast that we could not read any of the subtitles in French...we thought, "did anyone LOOK at this in the editing room?" (this from someone who has edited IN the editing room). BTW, the same fast/short shots were evident in the "behind the scenes" footage, as well. I sense that a lot of the favorable reviews were influenced by Wes's past excellent work. I hope his next film is better.
This Is Where I Leave You (2014)
Leave and watch another movie
Dialog was just ridiculous...no one talks as they do in the movie and few want to hear such nonsense. The story line is disjointed. Fonda's role is bizarre...like her character would be flaunting her fake breasts in front of her son? Offering details of her sex life to her children? This is simply more of the Hollywood nonsense that people are sick and tired of....
New York Prison Break: The Seduction of Joyce Mitchell (2017)
Low rating because not big stars
It is a good movie. Acting was very good. The low rating reflects reviewer's prejudice over there not being big name stars in it, IMHO. The humor was great, regardless of some snooty reviewers thinking it weakened the story.
The White Tiger (2021)
Great script, eye opening story
Very enjoyable if uncomfortable to see how evidently...assuming reality...the way servants are treated in India. Great acting all around. The racist commentary about white people was not needed and will anger many, but does not take much away from a very good movie.
Joe (2013)
Cinematography weakened a good movie
Dark scenes throughout were ridiculous. Did anyone LOOK at the movie while editing? Many scenes were so so dark that the characters could barely be seen. An insult to the actors.
Radium Girls (2018)
WOKE nonsense ruined it
The movie wanders. But WOKE-ism (racial matters mostly, but also about Mt. Rushmore being built on Native American land) ) that were not part of the actual story and are simply ridiculous to this story...seriously weakened the movie. Adding scenes about communist activities which, again, had nothing to do with the real story and were just filler for this story, were more craziness. Not a good movie.
The Private Life of a Modern Woman (2017)
How could anyone have green lighted this truly terrible film?
1. Did anyone read the script?
2. Did anyone watch the dailies?
3. Did anyone look at it while editing?
4, Did anyone watch the movie after editing?
Utter nonsense.
Los favoritos de Midas (2020)
Ultimately made no sense
We are left with no clue as to who the minions are, why the character changed, who he saw at the ending... which means this was largely a waste of time. The lead character also emoted in a way no "real men" emote, he did some just plain stupid and irrational-to-the-degree -unbelievable things few people would do/not do. Point: his behavior was not realistic.
Temple Grandin (2010)
Remarkable window into a serious handicap
I dated a woman with an autistic child and saw similar behavior. The handicap seriously impacted her life. I always felt badly for young Bill. His hailing from a wealthy family reminded me of Temple's having also been raised in a privileged environment. Sadly, though, young Bill has as yet not overcome much of his ailment regardless of the significant efforts of his mother to help. My son took and interest in Temple; we went to one of her speeches in about 2005 and met her afterwards; stood with her and other people for some time. She seemed relaxed/ calm but clearly "different, not less." She deserves a great deal of respect for her accomplishments, and is an inspiration to all of us who do not suffer from any serious handicap.
Bad Education (2019)
Excellent but depressing
The fact these scumbags are still getting huge pensions just reminds me of how horrible this nations government/s and laws are...
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)
And we wonder why our society is violent...
The first Wick film was good. The second not so good. This is literal nonsense. I wish I had not wasted the time watching almost non-stop, not-to-be-believed-for-a-second, fight sequences and killing. A ridiculous story line. Reeves had almost no dialog. While the effort put into the fight sequences was impressive, that is the sole thing admirable about about the film, other than some special effects which were, also, not-to-be-believed. That the film was rated 7.5 tells a lot about the extent the acceptance and enjoyment of continual killing/violent death is part of the human fabric, and the cultural emptiness of the viewing audience.
Uncorked (2020)
Underrated at 6.2
A lovely film. Without the standard Hollywood nonsense of an ending. Way underrated.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)
Emotional
I watched this almost on a lark yet found myself quite emotional at times. I still do not know why. A highly unusual film, and in a nice way.
You (2018)
Story line fails at times but entertaining
Some of the episodes simply make no sense...but it is entertaining. Oh...and the PC madness continues as Hollywood continues to weaken US culture by mandating that talent is based on gender alone: "The 10 episodes in Season One were split 50/50 between male and female directors." Tip: YOU CAN NOT LEGISLATE OR MANDATE TALENT.
Apollo 11 (2019)
Excellent but could have used some amazing historical info
Beautiful, amazing job. Wish some of the incredible incidents were noted as take-outs: the fact Armstrong gave the mission a 50/50 chance of success; Aldrin campaigned vigorously to be first to step on the moon; the command module smelled so bad that when the frogman opened the hatch he recoiled in disgust and later had to explain to the astronauts that it was not the sight of them that caused his revulsion...it was their smell; the engine failed to ignite when leaving the moon, and did so only after Aldrin used a pen to engage the circuit breaker after by sheer chance he spotted the problem; what they men did afterward. I realize that probably none of those making the film saw the event live, as I did, and thus knew little, perhaps, about it, and thus it was simply history to them...and therefore the event was amazing (as it was) simply to retell in macro. A great effort and beautiful to watch. If only the human species could address other challenges as well....
Lykke-Per (2018)
Excellent film
Unlike most American films (I can "write" the script within the first five minutes of watching most American movies, which have to be dumbed-down for their audience ) throughout the film I had no idea how this story would develop. It offered many glimpses into the inner workings of a troubled human, some of which I have felt. Beautifully acted. A memorable film.