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Reviews
Elvis (2022)
Oscar Nomination, really?
This movie had potential, especially given the subject matter and some of the actors in it. Unfortunately, it falls flat. It's like watching a trailer for 2 1/2 hours. Unwatchable really. The score is irritating and the short tiktok-like clips make it hard to appreciate any quality acting or character building in a good film. Tom Hanks' character is bewilderingly and cartoonishly unpleasant to watch. There is also rarely a scene where there isn't some music/din going on in the background. The constant soundtrack takes the viewer out of the scene and is way too distracting and obviously Luhrman's attempt at pandering to a younger audience, who probably don't really care who Elvis was. The caricature-like representation of black people in the film is painful to watch, and sadly, pretty typical of Luhrmann (unsurprising this tripe was made by an Aussie.) Overall I'd say don't waste your time, but I'm sure many would like to see what the hubbub is now that it's been nominated for Best Picture (which is completely laughable.) Save your money and stream it online somewhere for free like I did. This film is made for people with very low attention spans and who don't want a nice meaty story about the life of Elvis. Utterly dreadful.
The Serpent (2021)
I would have given it a higher rating if they chose a French actress...
To play the murderess. Surely they could have found someone similar to the woman who played the lead, who's mother tongue is French? This actor is good, but her accent is atrocious when she speaks English as a French person. It's distracting and strangely, it's the scenes where she speaks very little or doesn't speak at all that she does the best in.
Over all though it's a good watch. All other actors were great and the story (along with the added drama) are riveting. Good job on the writers. It's haunting that this is based on a real story.
Maggie's Plan (2015)
The only thing redeeming about this film is...
The little girl Lily.
Pretentious twaddle. Trying to hard to be a Woody Allen flick and failing miserably.
Julian Moore is surprisingly terrible in this film.
Ethan Hawke is pretty typical.
Plot line was good but the execution was terrible.
Aos Teus Olhos (2017)
Really good film...
But where is the ending? It was riveting until the very end where it leaves us hanging. No conclusion felt lazy or trendy. If you're looking for a complete film, I wouldn't watch this one.
5 Flights Up (2014)
Overall a Nice Film but...
The "young ruth" was a terrible actor. She seemed to yell most of her lines.
Other than having to listen to that, the film is interesting and quite sweet.
American Son (2019)
Terrible acting and full of tired old tropes
What a disappointment this film was. Given the theme and the actors, I had way higher hopes for this film. It disappointed so much within the first 30 minutes that I watched it by skipping every five minutes. That didn't make it any better.
Heal (2017)
Meh...
This film is just below OK (however, it feels too long and tries to cram too many "healers" into the run time - I know that sounds strange but you'll know what I mean once you've watched it. If felt like 3 hours long without really getting to a conclusion.) If you're not familiar with eastern or indigenous spiritual practices outside of western culture, you'll likely find this interesting. Hopefully it will get you to investigate further and not take everything, said in the film, at face value. It doesn't address how ancient spiritual practices have developed these healing methods over centuries (it touches on it but never goes deep.) The sense one gets watching this is, the director just "discovered" this type of healing and decided to make a film about it.
I'm generally not a fan of directors putting themselves in front of the camera, and this film is no exception. The amount of times the camera is on the director makes it feel like this is just one looong show reel. We get to see her range in emotions from silly (eating the wheat) to sadness (crying when the "divine conduit" is healing the man with a tumour) to introspective (when she's "reading" the books in the cafe taking notes.) It all feels a little hokey and insincere. The parts where she's speaking into a laptop don't make sense as there's no explanation as to why she'd be doing this (is it a skype call? who is she meant to be speaking with on the other end?) There's no context given for this element of the film and it feels a little amateurish and really distracting from the content of the film.
Overall if you're interested in eastern healing methods, you're better off watching a bunch of youtube videos of some of the people featured in the film, to get a deeper sense of what they're doing with the mind. This film skims the surface and I suppose could be a good start for newbies. I wouldn't recommend seeing it in a theatre (if it has a theatrical run outside of California.)