Change Your Image
dmoose-76734
Reviews
Czechoslovakia on Parade (1938)
Fascinating BUT Depressing
This film is both fascinating and depressing. It is fascinating because of the wonderful architecture shown and history discussed. It is a snapshot of what Czechoslovakia and Pague was like right up to the greatest disaster to befall Europe, the Second World War. AND that is why it is also it is so very depressing. Released in 1938, one cannot help but to think that within the next year the United Kingdom and France will sell out Czechoslovakia to Hitler. One cannot help but to wonder how many of these people on the screen will be in concentration camps or even dead within the next year or two, or five to seven years. Striking and sobering is the segment of soldiers in traditional folk costumes marching and carrying NOT weapons but musical instruments. Hell is on the way to this then democratic country, and no hint of that impending doom is divulged by FitzPatrick. Of course, that is not the purpose of a travel log, to warn. A travel log is designed to motivate people to visit the subject country, and one must also wonder how many people followed up on this enticement only to be caught up in the approaching maelstrom. Yes, fascinating for what Czechoslovakia was in early 1938, but still so very sobering and depressing when seen with the hindsight of a 21st Century viewer.
Mayans M.C.: When the Breakdown Hit at Midnight (2022)
Mayans becomes The Godfather
This episode is very similar to The Godfather. EZ's transition from a sympathetic character to an evil one is like Michael's transition. Nothing could be clearer than when EZ walks away from Angel and into the next room, where the now subordinate gang members pay homage to him. Compare that to when Michael tells Kay he did not kill Connie's husband. She walks out, looks back into Michael's office and sees Michael's now subordinates kiss his ring. Then in both this episode of Mayans and The Godfather, the door closes, shutting out Kay in the Godfather and Angel in Mayans. This scene bowled me over!
A Tale of Two Guns (2022)
Inept lawmen
A mediocre story with very inept lawmen. One more than one occasion the lawmen have their weapons pointing at the bad guys (who's weapons are not in hand and in their holsters). Yet, in these instances, the bad guys are able to draw their weapons and get the first shots off before the lawmen can fire. Further, the flowery language is quite stilted and unnatural. This language and the ineptitude of the lawmen makes this movie quite laughable. I watched this movie because of Tom Berenger. Once involved, I wanted to see where it was going. But in the end, it was not worth my time and I would suggest this movie is to be avoided.
The Little Match Girl (1937)
The Ugliest Cartoon I have ever seen
The original story has a little girl who dies reunited with her beloved grandmother. This is a bittersweet story. A child dies, but is reunited with her grandmother, who was more kind to her than her own father. BUT the cartoon does NOT have her grandmother, nor her father. A little impoverished girl, get trampled and pushed around by adults, who then point at her and laugh at her as she looks longingly at pancakes being made. Then this starving child craws off, lights her matches, and falls asleep (obviously, she is freezing to death). She has a pleasant Nutcracker like dream. But as she dies, her dream becomes a nightmare, which only ends with her actual death. Then an angel picks her up and takes her to the sky where she becomes a star. So, in this cartoon, we have wealthy adults who trample an impoverished, starving child. They then ridicule her, right in front of her. None of these well to do adults takes any pity upon her or gives her any compassion. Instead, they drive her away where she dies alone. This is not only the ugliest cartoon I have ever seen, it is the most meanspirited one. And this was made in 1937, at the height of the Great Depression. Had I been around at this time, I most likely would have been very familiar with hunger. Had I been around at this time and managed to scrape enough money together to take my family, I would have been enraged that the theatre showed this cartoon. Had I been a child and been familiar with hunger and seen this cartoon, I would have had nightmares because of it. How could. Color Rhapsody and Columbia Pictures be so detached from the suffering of the bulk of the population that they would make and show this cartoon?
Too Many Girls (1940)
Foreshadowing Babballoo
A dull musical with poor and laughable lyrics. But, most fascinating because this is where Desi met Lucy, and because at the end we see Desi playing a conga drum (as we will numerous times in 11-17 years later in I Love Lucy).
The Desperados (1969)
A real dog.
Dumb plot, bad script, and poorly acted. Not even Jack Palance and his overacting could save this movie from itself. As the movie proceeds, it gets worse. And the ending is the culmination of a really bad movie.