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Reviews
Company Man (2000)
There's some reality behind the gags... having to do with the real Men in Black
As an author on abuse of power issues, including crimes of the Intelligence community, this film is revealing things as comedic plot elements which point to some real-world black (censored) ops. Some of the best clues are found in the very closing scene, if you listen carefully and know your history... and that every name mentioned in the scene was involved in CIA in the 60s'. The film is so funny that even my Wife, completely oblivious and apathetic to the real world in which my books toiled, found it funny enough to track down a copy on tape (hard to do). To me, it was even funnier than that, and allowed me to release a lot of resentment pent up about certain people through the guffaws.
Algorithm (2014)
Worth a watch, but not for entertainment
As one with experience in working with the film industry, I can give few marks for any of the basic metrics of movie making quality. The last six minutes left me wondering what recreational drug the writer and production team was taking when working those scenes. Most unsatisfactory ending.
As an expert/author in the area of privacy/security/abuse of power issues, the film is an important and useful glimpse into the perils of our electronic society, and how insecure you really are, especially from hackers, and more so from government agencies who exceed their charter.
I especially recommend the film to targeted individuals, activists, non PC types, anyone involved in a large law suit, working for a military contractor, holding a sensitive position within any firm or agency involving secrets, proprietary information, etc. YOU are far more likely to benefit from this movie than the average Joe Citizen. But Joe has much at stake, too.
This film will give you much to think about, with little worry that the technical information presented is inaccurate or invalid for the sake of story telling, as is common with most such works, especially on TV. Heed and take care.
Sleepless (2017)
Sleepless fatal flaw (spoiler for me)
As an author and script writer, I get a little annoyed when the plot twists are so obvious you can pick out the bad guys presented as good guys in their first on screen appearance, when it won't be revealed until three fourths of the way through the film. Ditto for figuring out the main bad guy is actually a good guy well before intended.
Worse is when two cops are ambushed, one of them shot, the other (Foxx) completely ignores the shooter's presence to encourage his fallen buddy not to die, despite the shooter's position immediately before them and making him an ongoing dire threat. Not so, it seems: the killer simply vanishes with the discharge of his weapon and cut-away to the bullet's landing, without any further explanation of any kind — he apparently no longer even exists by the way the hero responds, and the next scene simply leaves you wondering.
"Cut! Print it."
I don't know if it's bad Directing, somebody lost a shooting script page, the Continuity girl took the day off, the Editor's snip was a few hundred frames off the mark, or the Writer got drunk before completing the scene. Not since Ed Wood have we seen these kinds of mistakes... but at least Ed's quirky results somehow added to the experience, rather than destroying it.
I stopped watching the film at that point. I call that a spoiler alert of another kind.