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Reviews
Rumor Has It... (2005)
Gross
This film could've been really good, but instead it was just gross. Within minutes Jennifer Aniston's character went from thinking some guy was her dad, to sleeping with him. I was so grossed out I thought about turning it off, and I should have. I guessed what the ending would be, I didn't need to stick it out.
So many of the female characters acted like overgrown children. The phone call scene wasn't funny, just awkward.
I'm so tired of glorified affairs in movies. I was rooting for Mark Ruffalo's character to tell her to get lost in the end.
Garbage, utter garbage. Like a really bad fan fiction sequel to The Graduate.
Black Swan (2010)
Portrait of a breakdown
I put off watching this movie for years, for personal reasons. Finally gave it a spin today, and all I can say is wow. This deserved all the accolades it got.
I love how it is filmed and directed, it feels so much like a lot of the classic horror movies of the 70s (The Exorcist, Omen, etc). I don't know if they shot on actual film or if they just consciously tried to emulate it, but it has a look to it that harkens back to a different era. The sets, pace, and character development are reflective of older eras of film making.
I must admit I never thought Natalie Portman was a great actress until now. She felt very wooden (Star Wars) or put into pigeon holed roles that weren't very challenging (manic pixie dream girls). But holy crap, her work in this movie proved me wrong. She is pitch perfect as the mentally fragile perfectionist Nina. When she becomes the Black Swan, you can see the transition in her body language and dancing. She just nailed it. I can only imagine how physically grueling this part must have been for her, between the weight loss and all the dance training.
The Wind (2018)
Psychological horror on the prairie
I really like this movie. The prairie atmosphere is unique and makes it stand out from other horror films.
The narrator, Lizzy, of the film is an unreliable one. Is she mad? Or do demons really plague her? You never get a direct answer to those questions. And, personally, I love stories with unreliable narrators.
As others have mentioned, the timeline hops around. You can figure out where things are in the story if you pay close attention, but you don't have to. You can opt to just enjoy the ride instead - the confusion the viewer feels is representative of how Lizzy feels.
Pirate Gold of Adak Island (2022)
Awesome
I don't understand all the nasty reviews on here. Finally a treasure show where they actually find something! The history is also really interesting. Eagerly hoping for a season 2.
Inventing Anna (2022)
Good until the end
Unlike so many other reviewers, I didn't think the acting in this was horrible. I was completely engaged with this show... up until the end. The last episode was so confusing and disappointing. The whole series showed how Anna was a con artist and narcissist. It showed how she conned and gaslit people. It showed why Rachel felt pressure to turn over her credit card. So in the end, why did everyone suddenly love and side with Anna? Why were they rooting for her to be found not guilty when she so clearly was? Why was Rachel made into a villain? So bizarre. I wanted to think they were showing how the lawyer and Vivian got sucked in by the con, but that doesn't make total sense either, because the journalists in scriberia (who had never met Anna) were rooting for not guilty pleas, too. It just made no sense.
Neff was a fun character, I liked her. Only thing I couldn't get past was her 100% "ride or die" thing. Girl, Anna used you like everyone else. Maybe not for money, but in other ways. I looked up the real Neff and I can understand why the real Neff is still friends with Anna (because the real Neff knows how to set and hold boundaries). The fictional Neff was fun, but a little too much of a caricature to be believable.
Ghost Adventures (2008)
So fake
This show is so obviously faked. They tried to claim that a guy from the 1600s attacked them and then said "I just slapped you bitches." Yes, because men from the 1600s obviously talked like a modern day frat boy. Suuuure. Oh, and there was also the time they tried to claim that they caught ghosts having sex. Ghosts. Having sex.
They also claim to get multiple EVPs and other evidence of the paranormal per hunt. Most ghost hunters never get anything when they go hunting.
Watch this for the entertainment factor ("Dude!", "Dude?", "Dude."), but don't bother taking it seriously.
The Order of Myths (2008)
Fascinating and insightful
This was a great film and quite illuminating. Technically, it was very well made. The editors of the film deserve a lot of praise - being able to pull out so many nuanced details, from real life nonetheless!, and piece them together into an overarching story that coalesced so well is no small feat. For that alone they deserve much praise.
The storyline itself is fascinating - an in-depth analysis of Mobile, Alabama's segregated Mardi Gras celebrations. I agree with another reviewer who said that the class aspects deserved more analysis (but perhaps that would have bogged down the message?).
I can't help but walk away from this movie (and the Q&A) feeling like the black people of this town are pleading (screaming if they could), to have the white people just TALK to them about the need for better integration. But the whites just keep turning a deaf ear to them. During the Q&A, almost every black person who stood up to talk into the mic (on stage and in the audience), brought up this need to TALK about the issue. And almost every white person who spoke up ignored these requests. The whites in the audience asked about the technical aspects of the film, congratulated the filmmaker - one man clearly tried to start a conversation by asking the filmmaker's intent, but even he fell flat because he wasn't pointed enough. Even the self-described liberal woman of the high-society group didn't acknowledge these requests to talk. Instead she rambled on and on about superficial things that were important to *her* (like how it felt to have a camera stuck in her face). The filmmaker herself also wouldn't talk a firm stand on where she stood. And that's a damn shame, because let's face it - the white people of this town are the ones who have the power. They are the ones who need to step it up. Over and over in the film, we heard the black people saying they WANT to integrate. Any statements opposing this were all hearsay - never once a black person say on camera that they didn't want to.
So as it stands, it is up to the white people of this town to respond. And I hope they do.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
Not impressed
There are two big critiques I have of this movie: 1) Davey Jones boat and crew looked like one big green and gray blob. It was virtually impossible to distinguish crew members from one another and from the background when they were aboard the ship. Yes, the ocean is full of kelp and barnacles, but not everything is dark green and gray - not even in the depths. Give it some color and make things distinguishable! I rue the day this gets released on DVD...things will be even less distinct.
2) I hope all movie studios read this comment: If you're going to make an action movie - let the audience be able to see the action! I get so irritated by movies that cram fifty different action shots into 5 seconds, but you can't tell what happened in ANY of the shots. Slow it down, people! Give the movie some depth. I can't even tell you what happened in half of this movie because all I saw were flickers of things flying across the screen. What was flying or what happened to it, I couldn't tell you.
One last wish I have is that modern movies would stop showing people vomit. It's just disgusting, uncalled for, and I don't understand the modern fascination with showing it. You never saw it in old movies, and nowadays you can't escape it. It's ridiculous.