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toytrainbob
Reviews
Manchester by the Sea (2016)
Too Slow Paced and Banal Dialogue
My expectations were not met by this movie. Although a tragic story, it was not that interesting a plot. The pacing was incredibly slow and the acting at best fair. I found there was little in the dialogue that was gripping or compelling, but rather dull and banal. Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) is a despondent figure who is obviously in distress but there is no depth to his character. Although there are moments of released pent up anger, most times Afflect just sleep walks through the scene. Most of the action centers around the released anger, but these scenes seemed forced with too much inappropriate vulgarity. It felt like over the top caricatures of how Hollywood views blue collar America. The best scenes were the interaction between Lee and his nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges). But it was not enough to save this picture. I cannot recommend it.
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Nothing in this film met my expectations!
I am amazed anyone could give this film a positive review. I didn't like very much about this movie and cannot recommend it.
Even taking into consideration that this is a comic book story, it makes very little sense and has so many holes in logic that it should make your head throb. To fully explain all the problems with the plot would require four paragraphs of spoilers! Also, there is a completely uneven sense of time. While often time drags for what seems an eternity, months pass in an instant leaving you wondering what's going on.
With the exception of the opening scene, I was disappointed in the special effects. The film is too dark to see anything clearly, the Bat Cycle is dreadful and the copter only fair. Give me a good old Batmobile any day. The military vehicles given to Bane's mercenaries looked like modified shoe boxes.
The film is too long and here would be something nice, actually have Batman in the movie. It felt like Batman appeared for only ten minutes in the first two hours. Christian Bale mumbles in his role of Batman that half the dialog is lost. Bane too, is unintelligible, speaking through his mask.
The highlight of the film is Anne Hathaway as Selina (Catwoman). She gave the screen such energy every time see made an appearance. But her performance is not enough to save this film. If you are a Batman - comic book fan, see this movie. But if you like a well made movie, this isn't it and I recommend you skip it.
Super 8 (2011)
Disappointing Film that Fades Into Melodramatic Mush
Warning: There are a lot of spoilers in this review, but it was necessary to make the point.
I am somewhat amazed that the reviews are so positive for this film. It was at best mediocre. It starts off in rather spectacular fashion with a train wreck that would make Final Destination proud, but it seriously stretched believability. Forget the obvious questions of the speed of the train and the lack of security. There were flying freight cars, explosions everywhere, demolished train station, complete and utter destruction. Yet not one of the kids was injured, let alone killed and even the driver of the truck that causes the accident survives!!! Of course, the car the kids drove to the station, parked right next to the wreck, didn't' have a scratch on it. My head starting to spin a little. This starts a film that had gaping holes in the storyline or just things that made little sense. The Air Force should sue the film makers for making them look so evil and incompetent. There are questions in the plot galore. My favorite is why, when they finally closed the town down, would the military bring back the trucks holding the secret contents wanted by the alien to rebuild his ship. Ugh, that material would have been safely tucked away in a high security location, but then there would have been no melodramatic ending. I could mention the military's use of tanks, the fire, and other silliness, but I will leave that to the viewer.
Even the premise of the kids making a super 8 movie was never really central to anything in the film more than a late in the movie glimpse of the alien being escaping the train wreck. Maybe this was the director's slight of hand making us think the Air Force would track down the film makers, since the movie made it clear the commanding colonel knew the super 8 film existed. More confusing than diverting. I had difficulty figuring out what year the film represented; my guess is mid 1970's. But that would make the communist angle seem out of date and it was inconceivable that the town folk failed to link the heavy handed Air Force actions with the events happening to them. And of course where is the news media? This was industrial Ohio, not a rural backwater somewhere unknown. It became a poorly done Twilight Zone episode.
There are parts of the film I liked. The subplots for the most part worked and the acting is passable. The kids are entertaining and the super 8 film making was wonderful fun. The adolescent love story and the jealousy it created was well done. Their exploits had a charm that unfortunately was lost later in the film.
This movie is worth seeing, just leave your brain behind. I read one review that saw this as a successful merger of ET and the Goonies. Unfortunately, I see it as an unsuccessful merger of ET and Final Destination.
Avatar (2009)
The High Tech Noble Savage--I Prefer Klingons
Visually stunning so kudos to James Cameron. I liked this film but didn't love it. It is top notch Sci-Fi but mired with a clichéd, weak story with implausible two dimensional villains. The final battle scene to me is really downright silly with an ending too predictable and therefore anti-climatic. Do we not tire of the portrayal of the earth as controlled by corporate greed without any concern for sentient life or the environment? And of course, the military is always an incompetent group of fanatics. As stories go, I much preferred Starship Troopers.
The digitized effects are the most impressive thing about this film. They are often breath-taking. Perhaps the best ever. I love the role of the noble warrior and the Na'Vi are a compelling people. I still prefer Klingons because they are more complicated--nobility with flaws; neither good or bad.
This film is very much worth seeing and you can easily get so caught up with the special effects that you ignore the weakness of the story. I look forward to the sequel because with a better screen play it could be a complete cinematic masterpiece.
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Powerful Nonsense - Well Crafted Stupidity--spoiler
A Tarantino effort equates to a movie of extreme violence but usually with a purpose. This time he tried too hard and creates a mess. It starts off well; the opening scenes are well crafted and gripping. But with such a poorly written screen play, the film can do nothing more than free fall into a near slap stick farce. Brad Pitt is likable but his acting is at best average. He seems to be allowed to do whatever he pleases. Use any accent you want because this film is not a serious work of art anyway.
Now understand this is a work of fiction. However, let's not be so open minded that our brains fall out! Sorry that I must spoil the movie a bit to make the point that fiction does not give you license to ignore all plausibility. A poor teenage Jewish girl who lived under a dairy farmer's house escapes to own and operate a valuable theater in Nazi controlled France in less than 3 years! She has a black boyfriend. Hitler, Goring and Gommels are coming to a premier at her theater with hardly any armed guards and little security. A black man can pile a mountain of flammable film on stage behind the screen and not one German check it out even though the most important men in the German government are coming. The black man can just walk around and lock all the doors without anyone caring. American men who can barely speak understandable English pretend to speak Italian and can walk right in with 20 pounds of dynamite strapped to their legs. Incredible war-ending-deals can be made by short wave radio in mere minutes. Hitler and his most trusted advisor's are all killed and the deal is honored. Why bother just shoot the German, Pitt could do no wrong in the movie. Ugh. No rules, no plausibility, no story, not even a good revenge angle for the Jewsih girl that was dying to be told. Instead a lame death for her and a poorly crafted ending with the Scarlet Letter theme.
Yet like all Quentin Tarantino movies, many scenes are artfully done and can be very entertaining. Still powerful because it generated so much after viewing debate. The effort here just seems wasted.
Halloween (2007)
A Utter Failure of a Remake
Take a classic film with a simple theme of a purely evil "boogie man" and turn it into psycho babble where every change to the original story greatly weakens the film. Why I like the original is the idea of a man born purely evil and one who cannot be destroyed. The fear that you can raise your children well, come from a middle class small town American community, do everything right and still create a monster. Now change the story--make the child older, put a family in the town of Haddonfield where they were complete misfits, give us a left wing explanation of how to create a psychopath, develop no characters, make me indifferent to the towns plight, change the film into a slasher movie but add a new dimension--pure sadism and you still haven't got a complete picture of why this film fails.
I don't want an explanation of why Michael Myers is evil, it only hurts the horror dimension of this genre. The fact that the explanation is so out of place with the idea of middle America that I get the impression that the director just never understood the original movie. Carpenter's psycho-thriller tribute to Hitchcock is completely lost in the remake and what we get is a stilted story of brutality. I rarely ever recommend this but please skip this film.
As I left the theater, I was not only bewildered about the poor effort of the director but how one could remake Halloween without the view through the eyes of the mask or the shower scene yet keep the worthless idea of the sister angle that followed after the original. I liked the idea of a remake of Halloween. If done with some creativity, thought and flair, it could be a real tribute to the original. This wasn't it. Although the "boogy man" never dies, let's hope in this film, he does.
Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007)
Surprisingly Good.and Consistently Funny!
Perhaps I come from another planet, but I didn't know much about Rowan Atchinson or "Mr. Bean" and wasn't anticipating much when attending this film. However, I was surprisingly entertained. This comedy was head and shoulders better than most and met the single requirement of this genre--it made me laugh out loud and often. Bravo Mr.Atchinson. The film holds your interest with charm and physical comedy. It has little dialog yet has little difficulty telling its story and the lack of meaningful conversation adds to the comic relief. The supporting cast is wonderful. Emma de Caunes and Max Baldry are just outright adorable in this film. Almost a throwback to the silent era, Atchinson is not afraid to share scenes with incredibly cute children or scene enhancing young beauties. W.C. Fields is grumbling in his grave. We laugh at his silliness and his slapstick--an art form which is seldom seen anymore. Yes, even a space alien could have watched this movie and laughed heartily (if he can laugh and if if he has a heart). Really a must see for the entire family...............
Shooter (2007)
What Happened? It started out so well......................
I knew nothing of this film in advance other than it starred Mark Wahlberg. I was surprised how good it started out and set in Philadelphia, too!!! Although the action was violent and graphic, it had an energy and flow that was mesmerizing. This was going to be a good night. This film would be special and as good as the Bourne movies. The characters were developed well, Wahlberg's unique style and quirkiness was coming through, perhaps the next Bruce Willis. I cared about these characters. The quality of the filming was top notch, the angles excellent, often the film was vivid. The story was humming along, an assassination conspiracy slowly developing and unraveling. Then just beyond the half way point the movie crashed. BANG. The plot line made little sense, a tiresome anti-American film. Ho Hum. Over acting and over reaching by Ned Beatty and Danny Glover. Beatty a cartoon character, and Glover so over the top and implausible in any position of authority my head started to throb. What did they do? They ruined a film with such promise and destroyed it with a half baked story line that just appeared to take shots at the government. Where was the press? Want country are we in? The FBI is the Keystone Kops? Death to any intrigue. All believability gone.......a night ruined. A shame too, and almost criminal, because it had such a strong start, such a solid feel to it. To be reduced to the keystone cops with evil men so shallow no one could take them seriously. Oh, there may indeed be evil men in our government, but Glover's character would not have lasted one week. I love Ned Beatty, I hate his performance. If he wants to do a caricature of a powerful clandestine operative, then do a sequel to Hopscotch and make it a comedy. And the final scene was so dreadful, so implausible, that is was the perfect ending to this miserable failure of a film.
300 (2006)
Although flawed, a most powerful and totally entertaining film
This film takes the epic film to a new level. The best battle scenes since Braveheart. The power of the film is its simple theme of duty, loyalty and honor. But it takes it further, it defines the essence of being the male of the species. The male bonding and sacrifice that makes men men, Yes violent but with a certain honor uniquely male. This is not to lessen the role of women for Queen Gorgo is a complete and compelling character that complements her husband near perfectly. Certainly not a politically correct film because the film clearly defines the basic differences between the sexes. One is not better than the other, just different. And there were obvious political overtones to today's world that should make every democrat cringe just a bit.
It has a few flaws in the dialogue and the heavy use of digitized filming, although artsy, does get tiresome. Still a must see movie!!!
Children of Men (2006)
An Inane Story that Survives Only through its Gratuitous Violence
At times slow and plodding, this movie comes to life during scenes of extreme and gratuitous violence. And admittedly, the violence has such a realistic feel, leaving nothing to the imagination, that the film can be gripping. But you need more than misery and bloodshed to make a good film. Story is important and this film gives the impression they were making it all up as they went along. Some scenes are so incredibly inane and clearly set up for one purpose only, to allow the audience to observe more unrelenting and meaningless violence. Yes, I get it; the world has collapsed, and, yes, there is a strong sense of finality. There are no children, and, therefore, no future for man. And a pregnant girl represents hope and power to those who would exploit her. However, rather than getting caught up in the story, I continuously found myself asking the question "why". There is almost no scene I found even plausible, not for the action in front of me which could be mesmerizing, but for the purpose that scene had to the storyline. And that is ashame because the film does have an eerie quality about it. But in the end, it fails to deliver. Yet, I predict this film will have a cult following like "Dusk to Dawn" because of its graphic and gratuitous violence.