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Reviews
I Care a Lot (2020)
No resolution
When people talk about systemic injustices, this is an example of what they are talking about. The movie is loosely based something that actually happened. In real life a trashy, dumpy woman was assisted by a judge in filching older people by becoming their guardian. She made a lot of money but ultimately ended up in jail. The woman was not sexy and what she was doing was ugly. She might have gotten away with it if she hadn't been so excessive and greedy. Unfortunately, the "heroine's" greediness in I Care A Lot is the fuel for her success.
I Care A Lot is morally vague. The evil people are sexy. There is no satisfying reckoning which is badly needed for resolution. I watched it for the potential comeuppance. But that potential is destroyed in a deux ex machina recovery and an unlikely alliance. Worse of all, I think we were supposed to find these irredeemable monsters attractive?
Unpregnant (2020)
Honest portrayal of common experience
The characters are fun. The acting is great. If it is preachy, it's because this is something that needs to be preached about now, today on October 27, 2020
I liked how the road movie trope is applied to the experience. It was light hearted, fun, and a little silly.
Unplanned (2019)
There's no hardsell at abortion clinics
The entire movie revolves around the premise that Planned Parenthood actively pressures pregnant patients to have abortions. These clinics would be subject to massive lawsuits if they did this. In real life the exact opposite happens. Clinic counselors (not managers) check with women to be absolutely certain that no one is pressuring them into doing something they don't want to do.
I added an extra star because it's the Reefer Madness of the future. I hope I will live long enough for the satirical musical.
The Returned (2015)
Contains Spoilers sort of - Ruined Madam Costa
I watched the French version first. (I don't know French but I know how to read subtitles unlike some other review.) I liked the French one a lot. It was Breaking Bad good as far as I was concerned. Needless to say I liked the French one better but was willing to give this one a shot. I thought Sandrine Holt was a wonderful Julie. And the actress who played the twins mother was very good. None of the others stood out but it was okay. I loved the French one and really wanted to see how this would turn out.
I ended the experiment when I discovered how they changed the character of Madame Costa. In the French version she was this sexy, nihilistic, wise-cracking, tough, sort of scary middle aged woman. The Americans got Michelle Forbes to play her American doppelganger, Helen Goddard. I thought that that was a perfect fit. And if they let Forbes play the Madame Costa character it would have been great. However they decided to Americanize her by turning her into a loud, boring religious freak. They destroyed a really interesting character even though they had an actress with the capacity to play her.
My Foolish Heart (1949)
Good Story - Bad Movie (contains spoiler)
I would not have watched this if I didn't like the short story by Salinger. I'm not a fan of black and white melodramas from the 40s and 50s. So I gave it a one not only because it changed the story into something else but the something else was very bad.
Here's a comparative example of awfulness:
At the end of the story Eloise is crying to her old friend and very nice Mary Ann about feeling a loss of her old self, her kinder self. There's more to it than that about loss and how she's trapped.
At the end of the movie Eloise is crying to Mary Ann who just stole her husband. Mary Ann has to steal Eloise's husband because Eloise drinks alcohol or something. Mary Ann is not presented as the horrible person she obviously is. Eloise says the same thing about feeling a loss of her old self. But I'm pretty sure that her grief is not about her loss of her sense of self or true love but about the loss of her virginity. Mary Ann decides to be nice to Eloise and lets Eloise keep custody of her own child. But still steals her husband.
After this, I don't blame Salinger for not wanting Hollywood to touch "Catcher in the Rye."