Movie reviews

[bill5]

Those Who Wish Me Dead - Angela Jolie stars in a by the numbers crime/thriller flick. Frankly not a fan of Jolie and this was a rather lame flick, although that's as much the screenplay's fault as hers. Not terrible, but that's about as far as I'd go.

[Anderton]

3 hours ago, Nowarezman said:

I recommend seeing the film, then read the book, then see the film again. 

 

It sounds like a movie that would work well for streaming so you could go back over parts that didn't make sense, or you missed something important. I might wait until it's streaming before seeing it.

[bill5]

Let Him Go - Drama/thriller with Kevin Costner and Diane Lane who are grandparents - their son dies (I don't think that's really a spoiler, it's early on and sets up the movie) and the daughter-in-law marries some trashy POS from a family who are the same and moves the daughter-in-law and their grandson out of town, unannounced. They try to save the two of them, basically, from the trashy family. IMO this sucked. Cliched, predictable, and one of the most poorly directed films I've seen in some time. Lane was the lone bright spot, Costner was OKish despite this stupid raspy voice he's into.

 

 

Seabiscuit - Story about the famous race horse of the 30s. Liked it, didn't love it, but a good movie, despite co-starring Toby McGuire, who I can't stand. Jeff Bridges did as much as he could with his role and was fine enough, but the real shining star here IMO was Chris Cooper as the trainer. Overall a nice "feel good" movie.

[Anderton]

"The Disciple" on Netflix gives some interesting insights into a musician who becomes seriously involved in Indian classical music. It's a drama about, well, mediocrity - someone with a dream, who's never quite good enough to hit the extremely difficult bar of becoming a stellar player of Indian classical music. But the process of getting to that realization, and what he does with it, will probably resonate with anyone who's had the uneasy realization that "there’s going to be someone – probably many someones – better than you at the thing you love doing the most." 

 

But that's not necesssarily a bad thing. My whole career has been predicated on the fact that although anything I do someone else can do better, there are few people who can do everything I do, and connect the dots among unrelated disciplines. There's always a niche if you know where to look for it.

 

There's a review I agree with 100%. If you read it, you'll find out whether you want to spend the time on this movie or not. 

[bill5]

Dang, no longer have Netflix. But speaking of Indian mediocrity....     

 

Yesterday - An unsuccessful aspiring Indian musician (living in the UK) suddenly finds success when some weird "alternate reality" thing happens and he finds himself in a world where The Beatles didn't exist, and pretends to have written their songs. I could nit-pick about how this could have been better, but a good movie overall, fun unique concept. If you're a Beatle fan and don't like this movie, something is wrong with you. 

[o0Ampy0o]

On 8/20/2023 at 8:03 PM, bill5 said:

Let Him Go - Drama/thriller with Kevin Costner and Diane Lane who are grandparents - their son dies (I don't think that's really a spoiler, it's early on and sets up the movie) and the daughter-in-law marries some trashy POS from a family who are the same and moves the daughter-in-law and their grandson out of town, unannounced. They try to save the two of them, basically, from the trashy family. IMO this sucked. Cliched, predictable, and one of the most poorly directed films I've seen in some time. Lane was the lone bright spot, Costner was OKish despite this stupid raspy voice he's into.

 

I gave it a shot a while ago. I could not watch more than 5-10 minutes (so it seemed as I didn't look at a clock). Just cannot take over-the-top acting and lack of substance everywhere. I am not going to go back and watch it in order to define why I saw things this way. My vague recollection was that Costner attempted to do the best he could with what little there was to work with but nothing was good enough to hold my interest.

[o0Ampy0o]

On 7/16/2023 at 8:38 PM, bill5 said:

Moneyball: Another disappointing baseball flick - true story starring Brad Pitt as the GM of the Oakland As some years back who after a playoff year, loses most of his big stars and tries to assemble a competitive team with little money to work with, so he uses a new stats-based approach to do so. It wasn't bad, but that's about as far as I'll go. Kinda flat with little to offer in the way of character development/interaction, esp between Pitt and his co-star (forget the name). Pitt was wasted here, as was almost every other actor. 

 

I think I'll go watch Field of Dreams.  

 

Brad Pitt deserves credit for depicting the pro baseball manager vibe. That wasn't Pitt. That was some baseball staffer, some Billy Martin, some Billy Beane. He can be a chameleon of an actor.  I liked Jonah Hill in that nerd bromance Superbad. I gave Moneyball a chance watching it to the end. Ironically, Jonah Hill was the worst thing about it and baseball bores me to death. Ultimately I did not enjoy the film I just appreciated Pitt's acting ability.  I think what I hated about Hill was that he now is taking himself too seriously as an actor. Same thing happened with Tom Hanks. I loved his early films. I find Tom Hanks the Serious Actor obnoxious.

[o0Ampy0o]

Something good to recommend:

 

Suits: Until I discovered it The Sopranos had been the greatest thing cable television produced and I did not like the entire 2nd season of The Sopranos. Great writing, brought out the best in the actors. But Suits has not had one episode I have not enjoyed. 9 seasons even! I have not finished watching them but two episodes into Season 8 it is holding up.

[David Emm]

I finally got around to Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" and I was pretty well satisfied. You have to loosely embrace the Marvel Universe to follow part of it, which is great for fans, semi-lousy for casual viewers. You have to take it on its own terms, which means X amount of hit-&-miss.

 

In this case, the story was a good mix of poignant and funny. It must be enjoyable to play those characters, because the actors really lean into their roles. They were so loyal to James Gunn that they demanded his return as the director or they'd walk. That's part of why it wasn't finished by the original date, which put a small stumble in following the story.

 

All of the loose emotional threads established in the first two chapters were tied up in an imperfect manner that fit the tone of the series well. Nobody wound up 100% happy and certain things were bittersweet, but they were mostly placed on satisfying plateaus where their next stages could occur. I was able to nod and say "Yeah, that feels right." Superhero movies naturally feature some carpet-chewing. When its balanced, the results are generally good. This one is a win.  

 

One added plus: the effects were impressive and CRISP. No distracting fuzz or low-def moments that make you squint. One CGI artist said that working with Gunn was welcome because he used practical effects for part of the load. He also allows the TIME required to render well. As a result, your eyes will pop more than once. "Lawrence of Arabia" it ain't, but it shows Marvel at its best. 

[bill5]

The Flash - Wow this was bad. Why you'd hire Jimmy Fallon's love child to play him I'll never know. 

[o0Ampy0o]

It is September 2023 and Netflix has Midnight Run available.

[bill5]

Greenland - A man, his wife, and young kid struggle to stay together and survive as massive comet fragments threaten to destroy the Earth, more or less. Some things to like but IMO more to dislike about this flick, esp the plausibility factor in a variety of ways and incredibly predictable sub-plots or situations along the way. I wouldn't say I considered watching it a total waste of time, but I can't recommend it. 

[David Emm]

On 8/24/2023 at 11:18 AM, bill5 said:

The Flash - Wow this was bad. Why you'd hire Jimmy Fallon's love child to play him I'll never know. 

 

I finally got to this one. Oddly enough, I mostly enjoyed it, but time travel & alternate dimension crapola usually weaken almost any story. Everyone ends up chasing the mechanical rabbit. Add a dusting of several characters who are unknowns to most viewers and superhero movies can go pale fast. If you haven't been following the movies in the stable, "The Flash" won't come together readily enough.   

 

On the plus side, its also a visual feast that's more fun than the public slagging it got would indicate, though the heavy fan service burdens the narrative. Too many people dismiss the solid thread of family connection in this and both "SHAZAM!" flicks. The human moments add welcome structure. There are also plenty of dry jokes that balance out the dire elements. Its a shame that COVID and Miller's public troubles messed up the release timing. The same kinds of things hurt "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3." Taken for what they are, both are gratifying *popcorn* movies. The makers should be rightfully proud.

 

Marvel kept things linear enough to be enjoyable, whereas Warner Brothers has been all over the map with sloppy planning from the beginning. Besides, no fantasy franchise holds up without eventually getting hair all over the furniture. The Flash must wear one hell of an athletic supporter to run at those speeds and not vaporize his jewels. 😬         

[bill5]

All the Money in the World - Based on the true story about J Paul Getty, at the time the richest man ever, whose grandson was kidnapped in the early 70s and the struggle between him and the boy's mother (ex-daughter in-law) about paying the ransom. Well done and really well acted, led by Christopher Plummer as JP Getty and Michelle Williams as the mother. 

[bill5]

Galaxy Quest - An "old" sci fi spoof starring Tim Allen and a surprisingly hot Sigourney Weaver. I liked it OK, didn't love it. Could have been funnier...but it did have its funny moments and was a nice, easy-going kind of film.

[o0Ampy0o]

Galaxy Quest - way better than that. It is lovable. I loved it! It isn't a blockbuster popular hit. It is just a good film. There are many details to appreciate. The casting matters... Alan Rickman as the Spock character! It is definitely Tim Allen's best film.

 

An aside, Tim Allen should not have had the career he has had. He was funny in that tool sit-com. He was funny in Galaxy Quest. Unfortunately he did not land many other good roles for the big screen.

[bill5]

Everything Everywhere All at Once - A Chinese-American woman struggling with a failing marriage and business is suddenly thrust into a battle to stop some mysterious baddie from destroying "all universes." This had its moments too but on the whole was a mess with a lot of squirrel-on-crack cinematography, general weirdness which sometimes devolved into lame potty humor, waxing philosophic, and token martial arts action to distract you from the fact that there isn't really much of a movie there. This could've been a lot better if it was more straightforward and basically lose the grunge.

[o0Ampy0o]

We should be make this a Siskel & Ebert thing.

Two Major Keys Up!

I loved Everything Everywhere All At Once.

7.8/10 on IMDB, 94% Tomatometer and 86% Audience Score on RT

...not bad.

 

 

 

 

Kidding. Have not seen it.

 

 

[Ivan May]

On 10/15/2023 at 5:39 PM, o0Ampy0o said:

Galaxy Quest - way better than that. It is lovable. I loved it! It isn't a blockbuster popular hit. It is just a good film. There are many details to appreciate. The casting matters... Alan Rickman as the Spock character! It is definitely Tim Allen's best film.

 

An aside, Tim Allen should not have had the career he has had. He was funny in that tool sit-com. He was funny in Galaxy Quest. Unfortunately he did not land many other good roles for the big screen.

I saw Galaxy Quest at a friends house many years ago, and I thought it was one of Tim Allen's funniest movies! Of course I've never really seen him do any dramatic roles so no wonder.

[bill5]

He did other movies?

[Anderton]

"Miss Americana," the Taylor Swift documentary on Netflix. No matter what you think about Taylor Swift, pro or con, it's fascinating to see someone so young handling so much pressure and being so driven, yet being constantly self-analytical and questioning. It's not hagiographic, there are definitely some "warts and all" moments. Well worth a watch, IMHO. 

[bill5]

Living - An elderly bureaucrat faces a terminal illness and wrestles with how to spend his remaining days. Not bad, not amazing. Extremely understated, which is refreshing. Worth the watch I think, just go in with modest expectations. 

[David Emm]

On 10/16/2023 at 6:02 PM, IMMusicRulz said:

I saw Galaxy Quest at a friends house many years ago, and I thought it was one of Tim Allen's funniest movies! Of course I've never really seen him do any dramatic roles so no wonder.

 

Oh, its absolutely a love letter to "Star Trek," so you have to get that aspect to fully appreciate it. It still has plenty to offer, though, even if you never gave a rat's for the series. Its a great example of a pure 'popcorn movie.' The laughs are casual but genuine. There was talk of a sequel, but the great Alan Rickman's passing nixed it. A real pity. I also note Tony Shaloub, who adds his own comic timing to the mix. I think its fair to call it a fine weed movie! 😛  

[o0Ampy0o]

I posted this movie in the Time Travel thread however I am including it here because some people have no interest in the Time Travel theme and might not have a chance to hear of this film. Mr. Nobody does explore the past and jumps around different periods of the main character's life but it also explores alternate realities based on the selection of choices in the character's life. The film's present is 2092. The main character, Nemo Nobody, is 118 years old recounting his life for a journalist. Sometimes he believes he is the age he remembers at the time. Sometimes he seems confused. Other times he is clear and insightful. He happens to be the last human who will die from old age because mankind has achieved a form of immortality. That aspect is not really of any importance to the story. It could have been omitted and they could have had Nemo Nobody at a more realistic old age IMO. This is not futuristic film. The story's present time could just as well have been in 2023.  

 

Mr. Nobody starring Jerod Leto. I thought it was well done. It is particularly successful at conveying deep consequences of events and choices in our lives. It is about the life of a 100+ year old man described to a journalist. You wonder whether you live all the possible consequences of different options. There is a lot of attention to detail. I always appreciate it when they carefully cast people representing the same characters at different ages. Here the casting is plausible. I am a romantic. Great loves lost or found can make great subplots. This is the most normal character I have seen Jerod Leto play. The jury was still out on him. I had only seen him play bizarre characters. Now I am certain he is a great actor.

 

There are many children and teens in this film and all are up to the task. Credit is due the actors who portrayed the adults at 15 and 9, especially Jarod Leto's character Nemo. Sometimes the "star" gets the attention while a significant portion of a film is handled by others portraying them at different ages, (i.e. Fried Green Tomatoes was carried by Mary Stewart Masterson yet Jessica Tandy who was just being herself and hardly acting got the attention). Leto is excellent covering all the adult ages including his character Nemo at 119 years old. However Thomas Byrne was excellent as Nemo age 9 and Toby Regbo was excellent as Nemo age 15. Juno Temple was excellent as Anna age 15 as was Clare Stone as Elise age 15. Although the girls who played Anna and Elise at 9 were good they were mostly just looks, expressions and behaviors without dialog. But even the other kids, Nemo's brother and sisters for instance, were good at their small parts. It really shows the producers were aiming for a high quality product. Everyone acts well and resembles their alter-age counterparts.

[o0Ampy0o]

Dune (2021)- I give it a 4 out of 5. There are many things to like/even love about it but also some weaknesses. It is a beautiful film. For the most part all of the players are up to the task with several key characters given meaty goals with attention to detail and doing just fine. I particularly liked the mother and son. The actress playing the mother looked very familiar to me but I do not recognize her name, Rebecca Ferguson. Looking through IMDB I have not seen anything she has appeared in. The son, played by Timothée Chalamet, I recognized from a couple of movies I had noticed and he was in a few others I recognize but I had not seen anything with him in it. Both will be worth looking for in the future.

 

It is a long film. That never deters me. More often than not I want more of a good movie than for them to be shorter. I enjoyed Dune. I never looked at the time until it ended and then I thought "That's it?" Before posting this review I read through this thread looking for reviews mentioning Dune. I had followed the thread in real time as it grew but Dune was just on a back burner to watch someday. I had no interest in the Sting version, never saw it. I did not read the book this is based on. But I saw a post mentioning a sequel and Google said it is coming in 2024. I will see that eventually.

 

 

Possible spoiler alert between ______ lines. I have reduced the size and made it gray to diminish it making it so you must intentionally look and copy/paste in order to read it. Of course the color effect depends on the forum style you have selected so it really only helps identify the content of the spoiler material.

 

__________________

 

One weakness is Jason Momoa's character. While I easily accepted Josh Brolin's role and had no idea where it was going to lead, Jason Momoa's character was entirely a paper doll cut-out role. His character was treated like one of countless cut-outs from the Star Wars franchise. I was not impressed and didn't ever care about him when the film had set up a certain relationship with the main character. I never bought into it. Everyone involved (writers, director, producer) could have done more to make sure Momoa's character was well rooted in the ensemble, one which you really could care about. But they seemed to ride on the man, Jason Momoa, and his existing popularity in his career. People like Jason Momoa. That Superbowl commercial he did where he turned out to be a 90 lb. weakling was popular. But I had not actually seen him in a film before. I just saw clips or that commercial. He seemed likeable enough as a person but his character here needed to be more than his mere presence in the role. Out of all characters he was too much a man of our times while everyone else seemed to be in some other time. Also, the hand-to-hand acrobatic combat was implausible. Hollywood has produced many convincing fight sequences in a wide variety of styles, this was not one of them.

 

__________________

 

 

[bill5]

The Sixth Day - Ahnolt S stars in what is billed as a "sci fi flick" but not like you might think - deals with cloning and baddies who abuse it in the just slightly distant future, it's more of a crime thriller (that said, the shameless ripoffs from Total Recall aren't hard to see). I read up on this before watching and it got "mixed reviews" so I took a chance. How this wasn't universally panned I don't know. Sure this could have been a good movie despite its lack of originality, if it had - oh I don't know - a worthwhile script and compentent director. But the screenplay was incredibly bad but that was made up for by weak directing. And honestly, Total Recall was more believable. I can believe Ahnolt decided to make this movie, but I'm a little surprised Robert Duvall (who needless to say, was wasted here) did. 

[bill5]

Love and Monsters - A tongue-in-cheek monster movie about a teenage kid in a post-apocalyptic world where huge mutated cold-blooded animals (insects, amphibians, etc) rule the world and only small bands of humans living underground suvive...he sets out on a 90 mi trek above ground to reunite with his girlfriend. This kind of reminded me of Night of the Comet in that it's quirky and not meant to be credible or taken seriously. Unfortunately, a lot of this movie felt ham-handed and the characters were cliched or otherwise just kind of eh. It wasn't terrible, but I don't recommend it. (Side note for those who saw: wtf with the chandelier?)

[16251]

On 8/24/2023 at 12:18 PM, bill5 said:

The Flash - Wow this was bad. Why you'd hire Jimmy Fallon's love child to play him I'll never know. 

Got Max black Friday sale ($2.99 w/ads for 6 months,) and watched The Flash. Within the first 5 min., I was ready to turn off. I ended up watching all of it. Wow, what an awful movie. The first couple of seasons of the Flash on CW was more enjoyable. (I stopped watching it after they started to allow cast to show off their singing skills.) The Flash movie should of cut bait from Ezra and whoever wrote the script and though having two Flashes should be writing commercials for toilet paper. BTW - Ezra's off screen escapades had no impact on my feelings of Ezra. He was tolerable as a side character in Justice League but fingernails on a chalkboard is more desirable if he is the lead.

[David Emm]

On 11/29/2023 at 8:16 AM, 16251 said:

Got Max black Friday sale ($2.99 w/ads for 6 months,) and watched The Flash. Within the first 5 min., I was ready to turn off. I ended up watching all of it. Wow, what an awful movie. The first couple of seasons of the Flash on CW was more enjoyable. (I stopped watching it after they started to allow cast to show off their singing skills.)

 

AMEN! The TV series had its moments, but it was so clogged up with CW-style emo, I only dropped in once in a while. I think that overexposure hurt the movie was well. I enjoyed it as a general thing, but the wobbling conceit of superhero movies lies in thinking everyone has followed the endless soap opera of it. That's part of why the field has lost steam. Moviegoers who have never seen jack previously should be able to enjoy the story on its own merits, not as a series of callbacks and teasers.

 

"Aquaman" rocks pretty hard because it isn't diluted by backstories or distractions. Its a straight-ahead fantasy all the way. That area can rally, but it needs to be "story first, superpowers second." Follow "The Dark Knight"'s framework. Its not about a guy dressed as a bat; its about people making Decisions and dealing with the results. That defines all of the best films.

[o0Ampy0o]

Cop Land- I had seen it years ago and thought it was a good film. It was about to leave Netflix so I am watching it again. Man the cast is full of greats in their career prime. Meaning, when this age they were in many of their greatest films and here so many are in the same great film. Ray Liotta, Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, Robert Patrick, lovely lovely lovely Annabella Sciorra, Michael Rapaport and I was generally not a fan of his but this is the one where Sylvester Stallone showed he was capable of acting and portraying a character other than an action paper doll or Rocky.
 

Edit: There are a surprising number of actors who appeared in The Sopranos TV series: Annabella Sciorra, Edie Falco, Frank Vincent, Arthur Nascarella, John Ventimiglia, Bruce Altman, Tony Sirico, Max Casella, Frank Pellegrino, Robert Patrick, Felix Solis, Janeane Garofalo
 

The opening few minutes set up the story and this is a perfect example of how to do it right. The pace, just enough time on characters and their activity, solid acting by people already settled into their characters and roles, etc. Contrast this with the opening few minutes and throughout the entirety of The Many Saints of Newark (The Sopranos prequel) which is a perfect example of the opposite. When done wrong you end up with a tough to follow jumble of activity. Instead Copland is a pleasure to watch as everything unfolds. 
 

Also I mentioned it in another thread but to give it due notice Loudermilk is a TV series currently available on Amazon Prime and will be available on Netflix soon. It is funny, has good acting and writing and does not suffer from noticeable short cuts or puffed up nothings like so many streaming network productions.