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Clive_barons
Reviews
The Judge (2014)
A judge's egg - very good in parts
The two Roberts are great and the core plot -- the father/son relationship and trial -- are intense and taut. However, Robert Downey's character building (as a self centered, egotistical and win-by-any-means lawyer) is over cooked; it was obvious very early and other examples are somewhat redundant. The other characters don't add a lot of value and why is it necessary to feature a mentally handicapped person in the plot, as in the recent Jane Fonda film? Also, too many forced coincidences (Vera F is amazingly still "hot" after twenty years running a bar/diner and her very cute, but "easy", daughter's immediate engagement with Downey). Nice extended cameo by Billy Bob Thornton.
Good movie worth the money for Downey and Duval but extended to 2 hours 15 minutes by extraneous sub-plots. Surprised and pleased that the ending was not too trite.
Calvary (2014)
Solo genius undermined by cartoon characters
Gleeson is brilliant but his performance and the plot are undermined by the excessive use of clichéd characters, and their dire personal problems, who give cartoon-like performances. Aside from Gleeson, whose character is fine crafted, the other characterizations are unsubtle and too animated.
Certainly not a comedy as listed, not even a pitch black comedy, but with a surprising twist in the tail/tale!
Beautiful Irish scenery and some biting dialogue.
The thought provoking moral dilemmas are ruined by repetition and redundancy. Very disappointed.
The Trip to Italy (2014)
Tedious ego-trip
I was so disappointed as I have liked Steve Cougan's previous work. The movie tried to give the impression that the dialogue between Cougan and Brydon was spontaneous but came over as completely premeditated and precisely scripted so it lost all credibility. The dialogue -- especially the very good impressions by Brydon -- we so overdone and self serving they became tedious and we both were looking at our watches after 40 minutes. I hardly laughed at this comedy; the shots of the food and scenery were stunning but were too fleeting to add value to the plot.
Too many in-jokes and poetry/movie-aficionado references only heightened the impression that the movie is a self- serving Ego-trip.
Walking with Dinosaurs 3D (2013)
Much better if you wear earplugs if you are older than 7
The storyline has many similarities with other more famous and better family films (such as Lion King, Bambi, Fox and the hound) and is not a problem at all, although the underlying and, supposedly, subliminal messages and end are very predictable. The special effects of the dinosaurs in every form of action is marvelous, very realistic body movements, expressions and fight sequences. They are far more realistic than any animated movies I have seen.
I took my two and four year old grandsons and neither of them were scared or uncomfortable with the story or fight sequences. This is a kids movie and rated as such would score about a 7.
Unlike other reviewers I did not have any problems when the movie froze when a new dinosaur came into the plot and a young child's voice interjected to give a brief description of the dinosaur's basic characteristics. What irritated me was the slang-riddled voices of the characters -- especially Alex with silly and overly accented comments -- which became more wearing as the movie progressed, for which I docked 2 points from the overall experience.
Enjoy it as a good movie for young children.
Passion (2012)
Worst movie I have seen in years
I hate to be a sourpuss and give this a 1rating, but feel a warning is warranted.
Everything about this movie was awful. The plot was inane and eventually turned to the absurd. The acting was so lame -- for which you must blame the director. How can such an accomplished and seasoned director get it so wrong? The music was absurd . . . Reminiscent of a bad 50's B movie where heavy, overpowering music was used to try to raise the level of suspense.
Whatever where they all thinking?
Fortunately I saw it on Redbox so it only cost me a dollar. I am surprised that it appears that it even went to theaters or is actually still being shown
I advise on giving this a miss -- even on Redbox.
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
A big Waste of time and money for backers and customers
How can a film this bad costing $100M get past any adult review process. It seemed like Scorcese and DiCaprio made it for their own egos -- big budget/Gatsby-level theatrics and face-time respectively. DiCaprio does a good job in the role but we all (age range 25 to 65) kept waiting for the movie to come to the point. Hours of redundancy of plot and gratuitous over use of swearing and sex scenes the message and context could have been delivered with about sixty percent less: we kept waiting for a fatal drug overdose to change the direction of the plot and give it some purpose . . We almost walked out a couple of times but did not and waited for the plot to come to a point. We didn't and suffered the full three hours.