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Nomadland (2020)
Quiet moving with an enigmatic protagonist
Agree with other reviewers that what I was really missing her was character.
At the end of the movie, I still did not feel like I knew who the main character was or what her motivations were. As another reviewer said, it led to a lot of ambivalence during the watch because I did not really know this woman. At times I felt sad for her given how hard her life seems, but at many times she seems to actively choose her lifestyle and push others who want to change her away and so then you feel less empathy, but still discomfort as again, the whole movie is bleak.
I felt like I got to know some of the peripheral characters more than the main character. I think we could have learned more backstory and/or motivation and/or just general personality through "quiet" moments (since the movie was slight on dialogue.) Those moments were unfortunately just not there. As others said, again, probably would have worked better as a documentary - let us see the depth and personality of the people featured.
Fyre Fraud (2019)
Adds some additional context, but Netflix's is superior
I was very interested in the Fire festival fiasco when it broke in the spring of 2017. I watched the Netflix documentary first, and then Hulu's Verizon. Overall, I think the Netflix version has a more linear story progression and I like how it focused on the victim impact more so than the Hulu version. This Hulu doc also simply seems more amateur than the Netflix doc. I'm surprised no other reviews have mentioned it, but in this documentary when they want to relay informtaion from a court filing or statement, they have it read by one of those awful computer reading services which just sounds incredibly hokey and is frankly distracting. I've never seen that "artistic" choice in a film before. However, it you are very interested in all the details of this scandal, I would recommend both documentaries as they both contain distinct information. If you're trying to choose between them, then I would recommend the Netflix one over this.
Apostle (2018)
I wish I had those 2 hours of my life back
In contrast to some reviewers' thoughts that those who gave the movie a low rating simply did not understand the themes of this film, I would like to say that I saw the themes and yet still, this is a horrendous film. I've seen Lifetime movies with better character development, acting, and most importantly- sensible plot developments. These people built this island from nothing, yet where did this elaborate underground tunnel come from? There's no way the three original founders built that themselves and if other members helped, wouldn't they wonder why it was connecting to a large barn in the woods? As other reviewers have mentioned, changing of the entire town into black and hoods was a miraculous and unexplained feat. And the two characters with a vested interest in stopping the torture just *happen* to arrive seconds too late. The violence was gratuitous, but honestly I was so emotionally disconnected from the characters that it didn't even seem that palpable.
I so wish I could regain the hours I lost on this nonsense.