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Reviews
The Green Knight (2021)
Agonizing, tedious, underwhelming.
Big fan of medieval films but this one was like being stuck in a classroom for 2 bloody hours whilst students do fingernail screeches across a chalkboard. The pacing was terrible, cinematography amateurish, the storyline felt contrived and tediously drawn out without purpose. The main character falls into scenes like a rucksack of dead palavers. I lost count of the times I asked "Wait, what the heck was all that in the story for, what's the point?" The scene at the forest's edge with the battlefield scavengers was totally unnecessary... as were the St Winifred scenes, the giants in the mist, and others. Like On Golden Swamp or Sophie's Story, I'm adding this one to my recommended viewing to people I really don't like.
Slumberland (2022)
Lush, innovative, complex; solid acting, editing, directing
So, I hadn't heard Jack about this film but the list of credible actors involved said it might be worth the time. Turned out, well well worth the time. The film's premise is a delight for anyone who has tried to control their dreams... because in the end you realize it's an entirely possible thing. But the waking world is where the adventures lay, not in the escapism of dreams & what might have been or personal insecurities & safe spaces. The plot line feels contrived sometimes, eg, the regulators' world feels a lot like Harry Potter meets Men in Black. But the allure of operating in a chaotic, messy, adrenaline pumping world of dreams where rules don't matter- genius time by the screenwriters and priceless. It's a film well worth watching. I didn't think of it as a family film; at 67 I found the lessons charming and insightful. Flip felt like Captain Jack Sparrow on speed and in the beginning of the film, I dare you not to hear his voice aped by Jason Momoa.
If Tomorrow Comes (1971)
Juliet & Romeo retold
It's a romantic movie with a deeper message, not often found in 1970s TV movies turned out weekly with low production values and retread actors. Love transcends race, community bigotry, hate... but always at a steep price. When I watched it on my parents' living room floor with my siblings and folks, the idea of America interning citizens in concentration camps was new to our Midwestern naive world: Sure, Nazis did that, but us? The guys fighting in Nam to free an Asian people? It wasn't a topic in our history books, it wasn't a topic at the dinner table. We knew Dad served in the Pacific with the Marines... knew the stories... Mom followed him to boot camp in Chicago & San Diego. When he left for Guadalcanal in the Solomons, she returned to her parent's farm because she was pregnant. He marched through the campaign hitting all the battles & got taken out in Iwo Jima with shrapnel from a Jap gernade. But internment camps for American families based on race? How could that happen? They tried explaining it all during commercials... and afterwards for days.
The most poignant moment in the film comes when Patty Duke's character has to prepare his body for burial. I haven't seen the film in 40+ years but the emotional triggers thinking of that scene, are still as strong as they were for that 7 year old kid on his parent's living room.
The Empress (2022)
Well, it's not Jane Austen
So imagine a film made up of a series of events that never happened whilst calling itself a historical film? Love story, not compelling even with the gratuitous soft porn scenes... which are lame and unappealing. All set on the stage of pre-WWI, court opulence with staggering lack of purpose beyond being a back drop for uninspired dialogue. Granted, Deutschland into English is a challenge but if you watch it with German subtitles, you sense how utterly wrong headed the voice-overs got it. And then there's the drunken scene at breakfast -hideous. Waste. Cartoonish display. And the endless plotting of Maximilian's coup makes one wonder where on Earth did the adapters get this theme? Maybe to inject some drama in a story lacking all real drama... it's like the adapters watched The Queen and wanted to mimic that royal rot.
Persuasion (2022)
Only one who has suffered loss can understand Byron
This is the perfect exposition of what makes Jane Austen a great storyteller. Conspiratorial sidebars with the audience, misdirection, repeated reflections of one's own situation in the light of others' experiences. Polite societal norms evaded, moments gathered is the turn of plots... and damning English cultural structure throughout. Brilliant touch, glorious authentic settings, a seemingly static life changed a thousand ways in a flash. It is Jane Austen unparalleled in her considerable writings. And yet very contemporary - of Mr Elliot, played by Henry Golding, Anne says "He's a 10. I never trust a ten in any man". Worth all the tea at Kellynch Hall & China.
The Gray Man (2022)
Far better than most, but lacking at costume selections.
What could go wrong in teaming up chiseled Ryan, pec popping Chris (sigh), and KFC version of Billy Bob? Nothing actually except wardrobe. Great script, inspired acting, delicate and credible martial arts, authentic weapons & vehicles, good pacing, lush & dense locations, flawless storyline exposition, killer soundtrack that'll rock you through the next 17 workouts at the gym and -to help identify with the 12 year old male mind set the film was targeted to- a cheesy little actress to put in jeopardy and fuss over... all that and the costumes just suck. Like the fitted t shirt that Chris' character has to wear to prove he's a sociopathic narcissist and demonic sadomasochistic? It's a rack item last seen at the KMart in Biloxi Mississippi. And that suit and overcoat of KFC General Billy Bob at the funeral? Rack again at Robert David Allen's in Boise Idaho. As JoeB would say in exasperation: "Come on, man".
The Bad Batch (2016)
You can't possibly find merit in this mistske
Filled with inelegantly long periods of excruciating boredom, this "movie on meth" tweaks out the absolute worst career performances from actors who know better. Like Miami Man Jason Momoa, with an incredibly bad accent of a Mexican drug lord or Dream Man Keanu Reeves with an unmitigated pimp vibe getting philosophical about sewer lines or, worst of the lot, Jim Carrey the Homeless Hobo, who pushes back any value in the phrase "Made in Canada" to the outer margins of silly nonsense... trading a snow globe toy for a shiv. None of these actors should have been paid. Hunch is that the script was written the night before shooting after some really bad peyote and Bud Lights. The music track literally seems like it was chosen by a prepubescent teen age girl still wishing her daddie had gotten her a horse, instead of the Spotify subscription. And waiting for it all to "take off", the audience is left holding a bag of nothing. Hard pass. Hard. Real hard.
Il mio nome è vendetta (2022)
Netflix buys another forgettable film
A plot line that's been made 100 times, far far better in Hollywood. Brutal man hiding for years from unforgiving criminals, impossible odds defeated all day long, young vulnerable doubting naive daughter who learns to become a master assassin, this team stops the unforgiving criminals and democracy and decency and ridiculously cunning high technology-all whilst rebuilding their fragile relationship. You can literally guess the next scene at every turn. Unimaginative. Uninspired. A first year graduate film student could have done better. Even the landscape and venues for each scene are predictable and lame.