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neillaoshi
Reviews
Schitt$ Creek (2015)
Hmmm... Is this really as good as TV gets for so many people?
A good friend recommended this and there were good reviews so I decided to give it a watch. The first few episodes weren't bad and I even grinned broadly at one point, but halfway through Series One I thought, is this it?
The writing is weak, I would say lazy: why does owning a town mean they can stay in the motel and why do they seem to have zero connection to their former lives? The writers just dump them there and then have them behave in a way I can't believe these spoiled rich people could accept.
The show isn't terrible, the daughter is very good, even with weak writing, but really, there's a lot of great TV out there or podcasts or just going out... I'd watch this is I was stuck on an airplane with nothing better to watch, but really, this is very banal TV.
I Care a Lot (2020)
Original, but unrewarding
I have read some people say this is a comedy. They're wrong. Comedies are funny. Many movies have a few funny lines in them, that doesn't make them a comedy. I'm genuinely bemused.
The movie starts very well. We see some of the most vile, unscrupulous, cold-hearted people (a doctor, a care home manager, and a guardian and he her lesbian lover). Whether or not their scheme would actually be possible, it is cerainly very plausible in modern America. So now we're set up for the best comeuppence since Joffrey Lanister drank poison. The comeuppence, when it does come is way too little ( Pike's character should suffer, not just die, and her GF and the Care Home manager don't get their comeuppence at all) and way too late (the film is a bloated 2 1/2 hours long)
What started out as an interesting commentary to say that you can have a bad person who's not a straight white male goes awry. The writers decide to take this vile immoral individual, who anyone with an ounce of morality will wish to see punished, and try to get the audience to like and admire her: pretty sick. It's almost like they're saying, yes she's an awful human being, but she's a stong woman and that's more important.
Most ridiculous moment: when three mafiosa try to break the mother out of a care home and, some member of staff rings Pike's character, cuz when there's gunfire in your workplace that's what you'd do first, and her and her girlfriend are able to drive over in the, maybe five minutes if we're very generous, and take down the armed mobster.
Editing flaw? There's one scene where Marla goes to get a diamond valued and leaves it in the jewellers. This feels like it must have had a purpose in a previous draft of the script (she went back and got when all the money seemed lost), but in the final cut of the movie it's entirely superfluous.
Last Train to Christmas (2021)
Shame about the ending.
Some people have complained that the film was confusing, but I suspect the fact that it's not simplistic and you have to use your a brain a bit is what many of the rest of us liked about it.
It was fantastic to see all the different time periods, and the trains they were in: yes, that's limiting, and you have to accept that quite a few critical moments in their lives just happened to take place on a train, but if you're willing to accept that bit of poetic license you'll probably really enjoy the movie.
The only thing that annoyed me was the ending: other people seemed to wondering who he was meeting (I assume it was his brother, because that was the big final redemption and we'd already seen he was with his girl), but he'd just lost forty years of his life! He needed to go back to 1985 when the movie started and have everything OK back then, otherwise it doesn't make sense.
Dark (2017)
Disappointed
Why am I giving this much lauded show a mere six? I should first say that I'm 40 and I guess a bit jaded: I've seen a lot of movies and like a good complicated, cerebral movie that makes you work. Dark was not that. The plot is spoon fed to you, so there is no chance anyone will miss anything. While the cinematography and music were appropriate, there was no subtlety, it was like being thumped with a sledge hammer.
I didn't like any of the characters and the dialogue was insipid so no tension was created and I didn't care what happened. A great disappointment.
...And Justice for All (1979)
BIZARRE TONE
Where to start? This film has interesting points and a good cast... but...
The music is weird and completely at odds with the subject matter. The movie would have made a pretty decent drama, but the direction is awful and some scenes are just ridiculous: like when the judge lands his helicopter in the water. At times it just looks and feels like a cheap and cheesy eights show (could be right out of the A Team). At other times it seems like the movie is trying to be a comedy. Ultimately the writing is sloppy and not good enough and the director couldn't decide on what tone the movie should take. Pacino tries, but this must be one of his worst movies.
The Good Liar (2019)
Great performances let down with a silly ending
It was cruising along very nicely, although from the beginning it was extremely predictable the conman was going to be conned. Even so, I was enjoying the movie, but the end was just awful. Why would she confront him on her own in the house when they know he's such a thug? Totally unrealistic. Then we had the ridiculous 'he's not my grandson, he's my gandson's (black guy) partner: just virtue signalling for the sake of it which was totally irrelevant to the story.
Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019)
Original, but overly self-indulgent and meandering.
I love the fact that Tarantino jumps from genre to genre and is happy to break the rules: have the narrator just jump in when he fells like it, include scenes that don't move the plot forward etc. if you can do it and make it work, then do it. Unfortunately, for me anyway, it doesn't really work.
There are some cool scenes, a bit of humor with the dog, a bit of extreme violence, cool references to old movies, a good soundtrack; but the movie as a whole was too long and slightly boring. The references to the sixties in particular started to feel very self indulgent and they were just coming way too thick and fast for my liking. Another sign of the self-indulgence were the credits which included a bunch of actors as "the gang" and Tim Roth's inclusion in the credits, despite not appearing in the film (his scene was cut).
To echo what others have pointed out, if this film was by an unknown with little know actors people probably wouldn't finish watching it and no-one would be calling it a masterpiece.
Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019)
Original, but overly self-indulgent and meandering.
I love the fact that Tarantino jumps from genre to genre and is happy to break the rules: have the narrator just jump in when he fells like it, include scenes that don't move the plot forward etc. if you can do it and make it work, then do it. Unfortunately, for me anyway, it doesn't really work.
There are some cool scenes, a bit of humor with the dog, a bit of extreme violence, cool references to old movies, a good soundtrack; but the movie as a whole was too long and slightly boring. The references to the sixties in particular started to feel very self indulgent and they were just coming way too thick and fast for my liking. Another sign of the self-indulgence were the credits which included a bunch of actors as "the gang" and Tim Roth's inclusion in the credits, despite not appearing in the film (his scene was cut).
To echo what others have pointed out, if this film was by an unknown with little know actors people probably wouldn't finish watching it and no-one would be calling it a masterpiece.
Making a Murderer (2015)
A Travesty
Imagine a court trial: now imagine you only get to hear the defense case and the prosecution is just completely missing and you're beginning to have this shameful programme. This show is dripping with bias; they quickly gloss over anything which would put the audience against including the fact that this is a man who murdered and tortured cats for fun. Judging by the score they have completely succeeded in duping the majority of the audience.
Contratiempo (2016)
Maybe great, if you haven't seen similar films before...
SPOILERS It well enough acted and interestingly written, but why oh why did they make the 'twist' so obvious? The Mother and the "exert" who arrive are both of extremely similar build and wear similar glasses: it's like the transformation from Clark Kent to Superman, anyone who's observant must have seen the climax coming a mile away. I was actually thinking there must be some other twist, like it was the son in woman's makeup.
Will please many, but disappoint those seeking originality.
The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017)
Has its moments
Everyone seems to be writing here that the casting was great: I have to disagree. Samuel L Jackson is 68 and, although he doesn't look his age, neither does he look like an action hero who can run around and leap from building to building, with or without and gunshot in his leg. Obviously this movie is very far from realistic, but from the moment Jackson jogged into the action waggling a machine gun behind him I felt unconvinced. Other than that my main criticism would be the uneven tone of the film and, of course the paper thin plot.
If you are just looking for something to kill a few hours with, this is not the worst choice you could make, but there are certainly a lot of better films out there if you want something with a plot and good dialogue.
Dunkirk (2017)
Dullkirk
If I was in charge of marketing for a big budget movie, do you think I could get the score on certain websites to stay high and a lot of good reviews to remain near the front of the review board? Could I wine and dine the reviewers for top magazines and tell them why the movie is so great and make it easy for them to spin it that way? Possibly. Looking through the reviews on IMDb I seem to have 10 start reviews repeated multiple times, while unfavorable reviews only appear once.
I enjoy real creativity and originality, interesting plots and witty or smart dialogue. I've loved Christopher Nolan's previous movies for these reasons, but they are absent here in Dunkirk. But there are other things to enjoy in true story movies which tell of overcoming things when the odds are stacked against you and triumphing in adversity: in these movies you can hope to get some emotions of pride, admiration, wonder: perhaps even a lump in the throat. But, perhaps deliberately, Nolan avoids these big moments (thinks they are cheesy?). The problem is they are not replaced by anything else to elicit any feelings. This combined with the lack of background and development of characters meant that, for me anyway, the movie was emotionless and therefore pretty dull. Others have likened it to a docudrama on the History channel,but there is really almost no information conveyed about the history, so it wouldn't be a strong contender in that field either.
The only real originality I saw was telling the three stories on different timescales with them all converging at the end, but nothing about this impressed me and it just seemed more of an expedient so that the short (real time) story of the spitfire could be interlaced with the other stories. Others seemed to find this confusing, I didn't really find that a problem I will be very surprised if this movie doesn't become one of the biggest flops of the summer, if not all time: great marketing and spin can only go so far.
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
The Farce Awakens
Firstly, I don't think this is a bad movie: it's an entertaining enough way to spend two hours: but it's a terrible Star Wars movie, hence the one star.
Since most of what I think has been said at length and many times in other reviews I'll just add a few things which haven't been said so much.
There were a few good opportunities to introduce some original locations: the place where Luke is, the planet where Maz Kanata lives and the place where the rebels are, but instead the just look like earth, my girlfriend even mistook Luke's planet for earth.
Quick comparison: Darth Vadar vs Kylo Ren. Name; Darth Vadar sounds subconsciously sinister because it sounds like 'Dark Invader'. Kylo Ren sounds oriental. Costume: Vadar; Fantastically original, sure the buttons on the front are cheesy now, but amazing costume at the time. Kylo Ren; Recycled Darth Vadar, same dish, but with a slightly different sauce. When things go wrong: Vadar; dispassionately murders someone. Kylo Ren; throws a temper tantrum. Reason for suit and voice: Vadar; was horribly disfigured in a light saber duel. Kylo Ren; wants to be like his granddad, cause who'd like to be like dad when your dad's Han Solo? Under the mask: Vadar; kept in suspense as the story develops over three movies. Kylo Ren; some ugly young guy whose appearance would make me wonder about Leia's fidelity if I were Han.
Children of Men (2006)
The emperor has no clothes
I'm a Britophile: I like British movies and British actors. I'm also a lover of Sci-fi, so I loved the idea of a British sci-fi that people were saying was actually good. I first saw Children of Men and I wasn't blown away, in fact I was vaguely bothered, but if you'd asked me about it last week I'd have said it was a pretty good movie. Having watched it again I would not say the same.
The good: the atmosphere is good, Michael Caine is pretty good and Clive Owen is OK.
The bad: the plot is wafer thin and there's no exposition: don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you can't leave unanswered questions or leave the audience to figure out how some things happened, but there's just too much in this movie. Perhaps the book explained a lot more, but for us who haven't read it the movie is just an extended chase scene in a possible future, but without a good reason given for why the future is the way it is or why the chase is even necessary or what it will achieve.
The other problem is that technology doesn't seem to have moved on in over fifteen years. Of course this is always gonna be a problem for low budget movies, but it does remove one of the main reasons I like sci-fi: the chance to see what new cars, weapons, fashions etc. can be dreamt up by the film makers.
I think the first critics who saw this movie had low expectations and were pleasantly surprised, but I do notice that as more and more people have seen it its rating has dropped as people begin to realize the emperor has no clothes.