Change Your Image
owamibuy
Reviews
Miracles from Heaven (2016)
Heartwarming but weak acting
Great message and true to what many parents and families have experienced. The producer pulled in a coupe of big actress names. A heart-tug feel good story, yes. But the emotion was never real. The best acting was from Dr. Nurko.
Unlike other reviewers, I have no qualms with the message. My rating of the movie isn't based on an issue of faith. It's based on the acting and dialogue. Sad faces, concerned looks, sighs, soft voices. But not real heartache, suffering, questioning. I think the acting makes it feel like many other Christian movies-perhaps rated overly high by the faithful who support the message and cause but inflate the quality of storytelling.
Jack Ryan: Old Haunts (2022)
Casting and believability-hit and miss
The more of this series I see, the more I find that John Kraskinski isn't the best actor for Jack Ryan. He was fantastic for 13 Hours. But not this. Lacks the intensity and emotion of Harrison Ford or even Alec Baldwin. He's calm, collected sand unfazed nearly all the time. There are characters who are well cast and believable - Tony, Mike November, Greer, Luka. It they're mixed with others who aren't. Elizabeth Wright has absolutely no depth of character. She belongs on Law and Order as a district attorney or something.
The screen action seems to do all it can to make Ryan standout. If you're trying to ghost in a major city, a CIA officer isn't going to look like a clean-shaved American tourist with a pompadour and drive a pickup truck. How about a disguise? A vehicle that doesn't shout American. Blend in. Duck if you're 6'4 and trying to hide in a crowd of people who are 5'8. Get out of the city. Gunfire, torture, mortal combat-leaves Ryan with a forehead graze and some scrapes that heal by the next day.
Shows like SEAL Team and Terminal List have gone to great lengths to consult with SEALs to make the shows as accurate as possible. This uses CIA acronyms and lingo but lacks realism for any kind of clandestine activity. Three people acting solo topple the world's biggest threats...one after another.
Jack Ryan: Orinoco (2019)
Jack of all trades-master of none
There are a some critical flaws in planning and portrayal of a recon operation - 1) Never wear tan khakis when doing a jungle infiltration by night, 2) Don't let a CIA analyst/agent ignore an experienced operator on an op, 3) Take comms equipment on operations 4) have contingency plans, 5) three men with rifles and two with pistols is insufficient fire power if anything goes wrong...especially if man is 48 or older and couldn't complete a PT, 6) Use locals not a 6'2 white American for reconnaissance in an armed camp of 50 people-less conspicuous, 7) someone needs to have your six if you don't come out. There are teams better suited to this than an untrained agent.
Pearl Harbor (2001)
Love story interrupted by some history
This was a really fantastic love-triangle story between best friends since boyhood. Unfortunately about 1.5 hours into the movie, they interrupted it with some historical action from a bombing in Pearl Harbor in WWII. Thankfully about 20 mins later, they returned to the love-twist story and the necessary but heroic death of one best friend so the woman did not have to choose a lover. They just named the baby after him so they could always remember her husband wasn't the father. She got both men in a way. I think fans wished they would've focused on the plot and not try to make it touch on the war distraction.
For All Mankind: Rupture (2019)
Hold it together
Karen is a train wreck of a character! She feels like she has to hold it together all the time with a "I'm fine" front and can't ever just say what's inside. It's seriously painful to watch.
I appreciate the complexities each individual is facing and the writers trying to illustrate the struggles of humanity. It's just draining. Makes you wanna crack just watching her!
Inception (2010)
Mind boggling
It's hard to comprehend how complex and multi-layered this is. Inducing someone to have a dream about dreaming they are dreaming. Four stories layered within each other with completely different time frames, environments, battles and altered physics. It's great action. Almost better to watch without trying to fully understand.
The bad guys have Storm Trooper firing accuracy. Can't take anyone out with scores of guys firing automatic weapons.
Out of Liberty (2019)
A little slow
We found it a bit slow and hard to stay interested in. It felt the scenes were going in circles. Boring to only look at the small jail set most is the time. It might've been better if they showed some of the events that got them to Liberty jail and help people appreciate the injustices the Saints suffered. Sam Tillery was cast better than them all.
La La Land (2016)
Disappointing "meal"
Watching La La Land is like going to a restaurant that everyone raves about. We had high expectations. The meal starts with rainbow shaved ice. The food takes a while to come, but once it does is good. And just when you like it and are ready for dessert, they bring out a bowl of hot and sour soup to finish off. The movie took about 20 minutes to get into, started to have good chemistry and like-ability, stalled with some twists, and just when you're ready for the payoff, ripped the carpet out at the end. A story of love and hope that turns into My Best Friend's Wedding.