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Mad Men (2007)
Style over substance
While watching Mad Men I wasn't sure if I was gonna die from boredom or from lung cancer. The art direction for this series is A+ the set design, the cars, the outfits, colors, just everything looks really really good but everything after that fails. Its obvious the producers thought it was important to accurately portray the social & cultural norms of the time so there is lots of smoking, drinking, sexual harassment, sexism, sex, antisemitism & racism. Not to mention kids riding in cars without seat belts and did I mention smoking? Smoking in meetings, pregnant women smoking, just cigarettes in every conceivable scene. We are bludgeoned with cigarette smoking, we get it, people smoked during these times!!! it's overkill. They seem to highlight alot of norms of the time that would be objectionable today, which, while interesting, are no substitute for plot or character development.
Showing these all of these things isn't the problem, in fact they could greatly enhance the story if the story wasnt so bland to begin with. It suffers from a lack of dramatic urgency, a lack of tension and a lack of meaningful things happening. This is made worse by characters who are one dimensional that you dont care about. Don Draper is hailed is a top ad exec, and if he struggles to win a new client it isn't portrayed with any tension. You never feel like there are any stakes. If he loses a client, fine, he'll probably get another one, he's Don Draper after all. The drama just isn't dramatic, the women all seem to be pretty easy and the guys are all horn dogs. Not that this isn't somewhat accurate but its played up and in lieu of an actual meaningful story developing it just rings hollow.
I couldnt make it past the 5th episode before I had to quit. I'm not invested in the lives of any of these characters and the story just seems to meander about, with this or that low stake incident happening. But iI will credit them this, they've made it look DAMN good while its all happening. A missed oppurtunity imho.
Operation Finale (2018)
Well shot & Acted, but its no "Munich"
Suspenseful & well-acted though a bit slow to get off the ground in the first half. I didn't love the makeup on Ben Kingsley, it was too fake in some parts and I don't understand why they did it at all. I felt the movie actuaslly does the opposite of what it intended in terms of humanizing Eichman and his Nazi collaborators. While I do think It could have been better, I did enjoy it.
The East (2013)
Provocative and good but could've been great
This movie starts off in a way that grabs you in. The movie is about a former FBI agent who takes a job as a corporate counter-espionage person. She is asked to infiltrate an anarchist group who plans attacks on corporate executives. Interesting premise and the corporate wrongdoing in the movie is based on real events.
I find that movies are at their best when they provide a window into a world that most are clueless of. I felt the movie did a good job of doing that in an at times fascinating, visually stunning way. The story was good and the main character played her role very well. SHe was tough, smart, willing to take risks, and you liked her and rooted for her.
I think they did a good job of showing her internal struggle and posed some interesting questions about what morality means for people on all sides of the issue. The ending was a little too cutesy for me and I think the final twist of the movie weren't wholly believable to me. That said, its thought provoking, well acted, with an original premise and its definitely worth seeing. This is the type of film that could've been great with a bigger budget. Hollywood should be trying to fund these kinds of films.
World's Greenest Homes (2008)
Great show, title is a little misleading
What is their to like about the show? They travel to places all over the world and walk around in cool and unusual homes that tap into the latest and greatest green technologies.
If the show were called World's Greenest Mansions that would be far more accurate. These are not the greenest homes in the world because these are mainly mansions or very large homes with few people inhabiting them. To be truly green, its far better to have a smaller home thats efficient than a humungous home thats efficient. If you are heating or cooling space that isn't used often, how efficient are you really being, even with your heating floors and an r-1000 rating on your floors.
Nevertheless, the homes were beautiful and the different approaches taken to be 'green' were interesting and informative.
I wish it were still on the air.
The Apartment (1960)
Another highly rated movie that left me unimpressed
Apparently this hasn't aged well, because many of the things that happen in the movie seem completely and totally unrealistic.
Why would a bunch of executives need to use an apartment as their landing point for extramarital affairs? Couldn't they go to a hotel like any self-respecting philanderer?
I did not laugh one time.
This movie's premise was good, but several things plagued the movie to me: 1. it was too long. this plot was pretty standard and didn't need run for 2 hours.
2, A sweet girl dates a married man who is the top executive in a company? Perhaps she isn't all that sweet to begin with. If you want us to believe you just love someone, try to have him not be the richest guy in the whole movie.
Brother-in-law scene did nothing to advance the plot.
Their 'love' didn't make much sense. I mean we knew he was crazy about her, but where did all of her love for him develop? And if thats the case how did she marry Sheldrake anyway? And how did her love for him develop so strongly that she just leaves Sheldrake at the drop of a hat, I though she loved Sheldrake?
If it were funnier and shorter, I suppose it would have been more enjoyable, but I definitely do not understand its appeal. Its a decent movie, but I wouldn't watch it again.
Fast Food Nation (2006)
Swing and a miss
This story was poorly told. It was logical, the pieces intertwined, and it did show a lot of what is wrong with the industry. The problem is, it did this in a very heavy handed, unimaginative way. There is not enough drama, comedy or action in this movie to make it compelling. Most of the information in this film is conveyed through dialogue, and not through circumstances in the actual story and that could make a decent documentary, but a bad drama-satire or whatever this was supposed to be.
Someone else said this but it bares repeating, Thank You For Smoking showed how to do a satire exposing an industry. It was funny, yet informative and enjoyable, and all of that is mainly because the main character is a guy who is interesting as hell and the story is told well. None of that happens here.
The Insider, again showed us how to tackle the Tobacco industry using a compelling true account, and telling the story in very dramatic fashion.
Fast Food Nation is like a mix between both of those movies, minus the drama, comedy, and lacking a well told story. The only character who seemed to be able to carry the screen was Bruce Willis' character and he got about 5 minutes of screen time.
Someone needs to tackle this subject matter again, I was very disappointed with this film.
Brotherhood of Death (1976)
Decent Blaxploitation film
Nothing really ground breaking here, but here are the pluses: Story is told decently, although it is not groundbreaking and the basic plot has been done before, there were enough original parts in this film to make it worth a view all the way through.
The acting wasn't bad, the klansmen, the sheriff, the bar owner were pretty good, but with the main characters (who I later found out were NFL stars) you did notice a dip in the quality a bit.
Soundtrack was hot, I've gotta get my hands on it.
This film needed more women in it, there are only 2 woman in the whole damn movie and they get very little screen time. That first one in the beginning was smoking!
I think of this movie as, the extra lite step child of "the spook who sat by the door". Not nearly as bad or exploitative as many of the blaxploitation films I've seen.
Katherine (1975)
Good plot, good acting, but something is missing
Strengths: The acting is good, the characters seem real and make sense and you get to see Katherine develop through her experiences. Very real plot, could easily be an autobiography of one of the weathermen members. They explain why she believes as she does, they don't gloss over her beliefs, she is hardcore, and much of the things that are said in the movie seem like thats how they really happened for many who lived in that era.
Weaknesses: The way the story was told made it bad to me. The talking to the camera interviews especially bothered me. Thats not how you tell a story, you show who she was, by showing her in action. The movie did a good job of showing you who she was by her dialogue and actions, but blew it by having various family members and herself tell you who she is, and why she is the way she is. That is bad story telling.
Overall i think it was worth watching, i think it captures that era pretty well, and shows enough about her politics to make it an interesting conversatoin piece. But the replay value is very low, imo, and the score is horrible.
Munich (2005)
Polished and nuanced film, which poses tough questions.
Political extremists don't like this film because, well, this film attempts to provide a nuanced view on terrorism, and violence. This is a film that is about characters and their psychological makeup, and how they respond to the missions they are asked to accomplish and what happens to them as they move closer towards their goal. The acting is superb, the characters are real, the dialogue is sharp and intelligent, and visually the film is stunning to look at (I watched it in high def, wow).
The attention to detail with 70's era cars, clothes and hairstyles was also excellent.
This movie is about assassinations, and it does get bloody (graphically bloody), so it isn't for the squeamish, but its a thoroughly enjoyable movie, even if it is a bit long at 2:40, nothing in the film seems rushed or thrown in. I'd give it an 8.5 out of 10, and its definitely something i'd like to have in my collection.
Catch a Fire (2006)
Good movie, worth seeing.
This film deals with an apolitical black man in apartheid South Africa, who is pulled into the fray against the gov't after he is falsely accuse of terrorism by the head of anti-terrorism in the South African govt.
This film is beautiful. The cinematography is excellent, the relationship between Patrick and his family is shown well, and we are made to see that Patrick is a good guy, with a good job, who just wants to be a father and husband and nothing more.
We also see Tim Robbins and his family and how he deals the omnipresent threat of violence from the people he is apart of oppressing. He is shown as a human character, he loves his wife and kids, he sings folk songs, and he runs a South African Guantanamo bay; hes a bad man.
I cried at one point in the movie, and was interested throughout, the pacing was good. There just seemed to be something missing from it. I mean it was a pretty good movie, I just felt like there was another 20 minutes that belonged in the movie. I didn't quite feel like it was enough.
Also the narration towards the end of the movie seemed a little stiff to me, as if Derek Luke wasn't comfortable reading it with an accent so he delivered it really choppy. Thats very minor.
Having said all of that its definitely worth seeing. People will say its a movie about terrorism and I guess in one sense it is. But Americans have such a distorted view of terrorism. Its like if you are a group of people in a country fighting and you don't have an official army with tanks and planes you are a terrorist. But if you have a real army with tanks and planes you aren't a terrorist and if you blow things up its not terrorism. Terrorist/terrorism is a political word and this movie proves it.
The Cooler (2003)
Stylish dark comedy/drama around the theme of luck.
Ever had a hot hand in a casino? Well the cooler, is about a guy who's job it is to rub some of his bad luck on you if you do end up with a hot hand. His overall loserness makes him great at his job but highly unsuccessful at love and happiness. Until he meets a woman who could be his lady luck. The plot follows a somewhat familiar path, with some minor twists, and an incredible performance by the evil casino boss Alec Baldwin. Baldwin plays the holy living hell out of this bad man, you really enjoy his performance.
I consider the premise of this movie to fall into science fiction, because obviously, gambling is a game of chance and terms like hot and cold are misnomers and do not change the probablity of winning or losing in a casino. But i enjoyed this movie because it is well-acted, well-directed and well written. This is a solid movie with some powerful acting, some great dialog, and that all means, its worth a look.
Boyz n the Hood (1991)
A powerful and tragic film about the black experience in an American ghetto.
You get a look at 3 kids growing up in South Central Los Angeles. This movie stands atop its genre because it develops all of its central characters, gives us background and depth into their lives, and weaves them into a coming of age story set in a poor and sometimes violent Urban setting. Few films could develop so many characters so astutely, and still tell a compelling story that involves all of them. Beyond the strength of the character development and plot, this film provides a more balanced view of the inner city than any film before it or after it. This is not a movie about clichés, stereotypes, or tired plot devices. This is a story involving a real place and real people. A powerful and tragic film about the black experience in an American ghetto. This is the best of the urban drama/urban crime genre.
King of New York (1990)
good but uneven gangster movie
The good: The story is a familiar gangstr story with a small twist. A gangster gets out of prison and wants to take over the city...but he wants to become a philanthropist at the same time and fix the slums and help the poor people in some way. This corrupted man is outraged by the corruption of the government that denies poor people basic needs. He and his henchmen proceed to take over the city.
Th acting of Christopher Walken and Larry Fishburn are captivating. They both deliver top-notch performances and they are what make this movie, without their characters and performances, this movie is nothing.
The mood of the city that is created with all of the dark blueish shots is done skillfully. The shot with Christopher Walken looking out of the window with the reflection of the NY skyline in the reflection is classic image.
The Bad. There are a lot of things that don't' make sense in this, are inconsistent with reality, or are nearly impossible. Without giving away much I will say, the King of New York is frequently riding the train? This is a man worth millions of dollars, and he rides the train quite often. Totally unrealistic. Notorious mobsters worth Millions of dollars do not ride the train, period.
But you should see this movie anyway, the performances of Walken and Fishburn are enough to watch this movie, and they keep it entertaining until the end. The characters portrayed are great characters, and are superbly acted, that alone makes it a must see.
Fort Apache the Bronx (1981)
Had some good elements but ultimately the story wasn't strong
I enjoyed it, looking at the Bronx that i remember as a kid. But the characters are all 1 dimensional. The criminals are stupid as hell, Pam Grier is a serial killer for absolutely no reason at all. The heroin dealers are bumbling idiots.
There are 2 characters with any depth at all, Newman and his partner. They are developed characters and you root for them, but the story leads you no where.
Why is Pam Grier killing cops and everyone else? Just because shes high? The dope dealers take the gun that she used to kill the cops but we never see the cops figure that out.
What is the point of the movie? We hear about police corruption but never see it? Why is there so much crime? How can the problem realistically be tackled?
I don't know, the movie just took me on a journey to nowhere. Murphy's girl is a dope fiend, but why? Where is her family? How do they react? The movie needed more than it gave me. but i was good enough for me to watch it to the end.
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
A long ride in a broken time machine
I have a rule, if a movie goes past that 2 hour range it has to be really good. 3 hours, it must be epic, and 4 hours, well...you get the picture. I have this rule because the only thing worse than a bad movie is a bad movie thats really long. This movie wasn't really bad, but was really just OK, and definitely not worth the 4 hour run time (directors cut).
The back story of how the characters grew up and was good and the plot, sets and costumes made up for the bad kid acting in the first section of the film, but things go way downhill from there.
First off, the movie is like a ride in a broken time machine. why does the director or editor think its appropriate to jump around from decade to decade? How does that help tell the story? It doesn't, it just makes a long and complicated story very difficult for the viewer to follow (and I had the subtitles on so i didn't miss a word). The dialogue gives the actors very little to work with as Deniro has a blank stare throughout the film. Then there is the timing of the delivery, its like: who is it? [10 seconds later] its me. And I'm left thinking, wtf? Is that extra 10 seconds supposed to be 'dramatic'? Well its not its annoying and in a film this long, you'd think you'd want to keep the action moving.
There are a few scenes where Max (james woods) is able to show us his ability to act but it happens in a way that makes the story seem unbelievable. I am left thinking, good acting but why would this character behave like that? This guy goes from never robbing a bank, to wanting to rob the federal reserve? its just too stupid, and Max isn't that stupid.
The love story that develops makes absolutely no sense and is interrupted with other scenes of random and quite disturbing bizarreness. I could go on, but unlike Sergio Leone, I know when to stop. The movie had a good start and a good premise, but the plot went everywhere, too many people did too many things that didn't make sense, none of the characters are electrifying, and the film is just waaay too long to be enjoyable in spite of all of that.
La scorta (1993)
the definitiion dictionary definition of anticlimax
Anticlimax an event, period, or outcome that is strikingly less important or dramatic than expected.
I watched the movie and enjoyed it up until the credits began to roll. I cannot believe I was setup with all of this drama, these characters that you care about and root for, and a cause that is worthy, all to have the end be without action, without drama, without tragedy or emotion. The acting was good throughout, the plot was good, the premise was good, but it didn't deliver one lick of action. All of the murders were shown after they already happened, and these guys run around with these machine guns and never use them. This movie really could have been special, instead its just solid.
Gordon's War (1973)
One of my favorites
OK, so this isn't one of the best movies ever made, but it is one of the better Blaxploitation films and is still not very well known.
A Vietnam vet returns home to Harlem, to find out his lady died from an overdose. This Heroin problem is not only a problem for him, but dope and pimps are taking over the whole neighborhood. He wants justice, not just for his woman but for his neighborhood and for his people.
He gets a group of his buddies from the Nam, and they form a a 4 man task force to push the dealers out of Harlem.
This movie is creative and fun, if you don't try to take it too seriously. Fans of the genre will recognize many of the actors in the movie.
This team not only tackles the dealers, the attack the infrastructure, and keep on fighting until they get all the way to the top until they get all the way to the top.
Paul Winfield presence is strong.
This is really more of an crime-action movie than a crime-drama. Car chases, fighting, comedy, and a few slick quotables in it as well.
If you like Blaxploitation flicks, you'll want to see this.
Hit! (1973)
good acting, good premise, bad plot/screenplay.
This si the blaxploitation version of the French Connection.
A gov't agent's is devastated when his niece dies at age 15 of heroin overdose. As he pummels the dealer who sold it, (accompanied by the boyfriend who gave it to her whom he does nothing to), the dealer blabbers something about him being the low man on the totem pole, etc. Billy Dee agrees, doesn't kill him and decides to set his sights higher up the chain of command, in fact he sets the all the way at the top.
Not a bad premise, but the execution and plot in general is poor. This movie is 2 hours long and it is literally over an hour before this story begins to develop. He gathers a team of people who have had drugs affect their lives and he pulls some kind of bribe on all of them to have them participate in his scheme (a scheme which is left extremely vague until the end).
They travel to France where their plan is pulled off without a hitch, all of France's Heroin kingpins are murdered in various fashions. the good guys win, and we assume the US heroin trade has taken a major major hit.
This could have been a good movie, were it not for so much wasted time between the plan and the execution. With some reworking this could have been really good. The acting of all of the major players was really good even when their behavior seemed unrealistic, the actors did well. A movie like Gordon's War has a better plot, and better execution, and although Hit! is the more serious film with better acting, I'd say Gordon's War has much more replay value. Partly because Hit! is a more drama than action film, I expected it to be more realistic and it certainly was not. And there is no reason why 30 minutes could not have been cut out of this film, there are so many extra scenes in this movie that are redundant or don't push the story forward.
Angel Rodriguez (2005)
A movie that takes you on a ride to nowhere
This had the potential to be something. Its the cliché about the white teacher/social worker who saves the troubled inner-city teen/s. There have been enough films made with this theme for it to be its own genre. Having said that, this film captures you. The acting is superb and you watch the film trying to figure out the back story behind angel.
Angels friend is a transsexual or transvestite or something, who seems like a love interest at one point, and then at another point you aren't sure if Angel just hangs out with him because he is also a social outcast.
Angel doesn't seem like a bad kid, but he does bad things. He steals from a social worker who lets him stay in her house, he almost strangles his step mother to death, and yet you still like the kid and root for him. he put a human face on a troubled inner-city kid, it is difficult not to like him.
Having this great setup and these developed characters, and a plot with so much potential, nothing happens. Its like getting in your car on a trip towards a destination and then veering off the road into nowhere, after you are 3/4ths of the way there.
There are millions of unanswered questions in this? Does the social worker find out Angel Stole from her and how does she react, does she still support him, does it change her? Does his step mom call the police after he nearly kills her? Is Angel gay, and afraid to confront his sexuality or is he just hanging out with the only kids who will befriend him, even if they are gay?
I had no problem with the movie ending with him finding a job if the above questions are answered, but it is just bad to have a movie have this many HUGE loose ends.
Finding a job means nothing if the police are gonna lock you up for almost killing your step mother?
I still intensely watched the whole thing, I wanted it to develop but it just didn't.
One other annoying thing about the movie is the shots lasted too long. There was more than one occasion where we watch a scene and NOTHING is happening for like 30 seconds. that is an eternity in film, the director could have used that time to tie up some of the movie's loose ends.
I still give it a 6 because its good enough to make me watch it to the end.
Higher Learning (1995)
Good film. shows its all about perspective
First one has to take into account the time period this film was made in. 1995. Rappers were in it, and that added to the flair of it.
Remy was a socially awkward teen trying to find his way and couldn't, until he met and was befriended by Nazis. They took him in. Nazi's aren't all this awkward, but like most gangs, they fill a void that is missing be it economic, social, emotional, whatever. Michael Rappaport played the part perfectly.
Omar Epps was the hot shot track star, with a questionable work ethic and a chip on his shoulder. He kept trying to feel sorry for himself and his plight, and had his girlfriend and professor to straighten him out on it.
Kristen was a young white girl trying to find herself and trying to fit in, until she was date raped. She then found her self experiment with her sexuality, and getting involved politically.
This film deals with racism and like most things that deal with racism, people's own perspectives come into play.
I read so many comments about how there were no 'evil' black characters but there were evil white one (Nazis). So what? Remy wasn't portrayed as evil at all, he was trying to find his way, and kept failing until some skinheads accepted him. He was scared, it was sad to see him devolve how he did. He even says right before he kills himself, I didn't mean it, I wanted to be an engineer.
Ice Cube and Busta Rhymes were angry black men, Ice Cube was somewhat of an intellectual, and Busta Rhymes was just portrayed as a dumb thug. They both showed no consideration at all for their roommates, and generally appear to not like white people very much. They were angry like the Nazis but not on the level of Nazis in terms of overall badness. Sorry if this makes it seem unfair, but are there really black groups like the Nazis? No.
People say it shows white=-bad black=good. Not true, the only bad white characters were the Nazis and the police, which is more or less true in real life. Kristen was a good girl, her boyfriend (omar epps roommate) was a good guy, and even Remy was a good guy, he was just misguided.
Omar Epps, Ice Cube and Busta were seriously flawed characters, angry and inconsiderate. Although their constant harassment by police seemed to justify some of their anger. Remy's inability to fit in seemed to justify his anger as well.
Good movie, well done. Like all movies that deal with racism, its a great piece to get a discussion going.
I don't think Cube and Busta coulda beat those Nazis though.
The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)
An all-time favorite of mine.
This film is what it is because of its story (which it owes to the novel) and overall good acting, especially by the main character. In addition, there are some great lines in he movie that display and respond to the racism of the times. In so many ways this film is still relevant today. The plot, more than anything else makes this movie a classic. Few films of that era, or any other, captured any meaningful part of the essence of a black revolutionary struggle. Most were full of 'getting the man' or 'paying back whitey' and that really isn't much a political agenda. One of my favorite parts is when the main character says:
"this ain't about hating white folks, because its gonna take way more than hating to sustain you. This is about wanting to be free..." and I can't remember the rest, but it was an important thing to put inside the movie.
Lastly, one of my favorite things about the movie is the ignorance of the white mayor, which is mirrored in real life today. They are so absorbed in their upper-class, ultra-white view of the world, they can never see an alternative view of things especially as it relates to how people of color see themselves, their lives and their respective governments.
Regardless of your political stance on things, you'd have to admit: Iraqi's did not greet us as liberators. The Vietnamese largely did not want American politics or interference. Cubans have not largely rebelled against Fidel Castro in spite of all of the pr4ssures placed on them by the US. Part of it is, that the US gov't is oblivious to what people really want and the other part is that they really don't care what people want, they care about their own interests.
This was shown throughout the film when the CIA director and the mayor made any number of condescending and overtly racist remarks about and directly to black people.
lots of great sound-bites in this. I love this film, its one for the collection.
And I was told when I viewed it in college, that it was played to all CIA recruits, I guess as a deterrent.