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Reviews
Midnight Run (1988)
One of the most underrated movies! So wonderful!
I have watched this movie many many times, and it never bores me to watch it another time. The acting is wonderful; the dialogues are great, and the plot superb. The comic elements are very natural.
The most touching part was when Jack had to go to his ex to ask for some money. In the midst of their argument and the moment when Jack and the Duke, Jack's daughter Denise appeared. Her appearance and later giving her father Jack her babe sitting money of $180 were the one of the most heart breaking scenes ever in movie history (the other one that immediately came to mind is when soldiers watched airlines taking off with 101 airborne paratroopers at the end of the 1st episode of Band of Bothers - the scene with the music connoted a profound sense of solemnity and even loss/melancholy - everybody knows that it was the last day of life for a lot of these paratroopers and planes. The daughter-father bond, love, and sadness felt between them was absolutely moving. The music enhanced this so much also.
Road to Perdition (2002)
Pace too slow; laughable, unrealistic details
I agree with other reviewers' view that the pace is too slow, and Sullivan (Tom Hanks, the most trusted enforcer of his boss Rooney)'s dull expression makes the movie slow and a little boring.
Among the many details that are highly realistic:
1. When Maguire ambushes Sullivan in Alexander Lance's hotel, Sullivan seriously injures him. At this point Maguire is disabled and defenseless. Instead of shooting him dead with one or two quick shots, Sullivan would proceed to check where Lance has fled. This intentional omission by the director - for the sake of the end of the movie - shows Sullivan is an amateur enforcer, not someone with years and years of experience.
2. When Sullivan shoots Rooney's bodyguards, they just stand there shooting back without making any dodging maneuver. This is so laughable. Surely such an important underground boss like Rooney would have the best bodyguards available right? Even an ordinary bodyguard would dodge, hide behind the car or immediately move the boss away from the car to the wall or behind a post or something. They just stand there like a stone, shooting aimlessly back and waiting to be slaughtered.
3. There are so many other details that the director is so in capable of dealing with. For instance, when Sullivan robs banks in Chicago, he puts his handgun on the desks of the bank managers. We see from outside the window, clearly, the handgun. This is again so amateurish. Anyone can easily see a bank heist is going on. Can't Sullivan just put the gun underneath the desks and point directly at the managers? He can still be lethal, but avoids being seen by customers or bank employees.
Overall, this movie is an okay one that you can watch, if you have 2 hours of time. But for a budget of 80 million bucks, Sam Mendes has not earned his money as a worthy director.
War Machine (2017)
Lack of Basic Military Etiquette
After watching the movie from Netflix for just 5 minutes, I quit. Anyone who has watched some solid military movies/tv shows, even if s/he has not had any military background, would know that the director of this movie does not know basic military etiquette. The very first scene, for example, when the four start general walks cockily toward his men, shows a lack of understanding how subordinates would have to immediately stand up the moment they see the four star general arrives. Everyone would be at attention and the general would typically say "at easy, gentlemen" or something like that. Similarly, the next scene when the general is walking among or inspecting his troops, nobody solutes, and those personnel who are sitting do not even bother to stand up in attention to their commanding general (CG). This is absurd. Seeing this, I lost any interest of watching this movie any more. A total waste of money by David Michôd. These two scenes alone show his disinterest in learning even basic protocols before he directs.