Reviews

It's refreshing to watch a movie with an original idea. Never Let Me Go has that: a class of humans being raised for body parts. This film explores whether these humas are human at all. I suppose the conclusion is that they are. In fact, the only difference b/n them and regular humans seems to be how tranquil they are in accepting their fate. Sure, there's some mild pushback, but not very much.

Slow pacing kept me from embracing this film until the scene where Ruth asks forgiveness for inserting herself b/n Cathy and Tommy. Those lost years of love are magnified due to the donors' short lifespans.

My favorite scene of the movie is when Ruth is on the operating table and the doctors remove an organ from her belly. The beeps of the monitors go silent, but the doctors make no attempt to resuscitate her. They walk out of frame leaving Ruth bloody and alone; she has "completed".

8/10 ***RECOMMENDED***

I actively disliked this movie. Plodding, scattered, ridiculous, annoying, immoral...

PLODDING: My goodness A. I. is slow paced. Spielberg directs like he's a college student working for the first time with fancy tools. Every shot is established from multiple angles, fade ins from hazy to clear, walk arounds to change perspective, etc. Just get on with it already. No reason this needed to run 2:26:00.

SCATTERED: There were basically three separate movies smushed into one screenplay. The replacement boy story; the humans hunting and killing robots story; the alien story. The first two were interesting, the third was just a contrivance so as to have a happy ending. The movie should've ended when David committed suicide.

Note: The opening narration about the polar ice caps melting due to greenhouse gases made my eyes roll all the way back in my head. Hilariously, that had zero effect on the story until 3/4 thru. Somehow, the hundreds of millions of ppl dying under 300 feet of water didn't hamper the production of electricity, robots or much else, haha.

RIDICULOUS: Somehow David (Haley Osment) and Joe (Jude Law) both knew how to fly a helicopter. That was convenient. And, Coney Island being located in Manhattan...also convenient. The fact that the "mommy" was resurrected, but only for a single day due to the space-time continuum(?) - and she has no memory of her husband or human son - is so dumb. How is this movie on the list of Top-100 of the 21st century?!?

ANNOYING: Sorry, John Williams, but your score is bland and melodramatic. A good score should hardly be noticed. This one I couldn't stop hearing. Partly Spielberg's fault, too. Overuse of dramatic cues!!

IMMORAL: The whole idea of bringing back a human who has been dead for 2,000 years is pure evil. To do this, David shows not love, but selfishness. The filmmakers obviously wanted a "Pinocchio" ending, but I was rooting against David at the end. The fact that he turns into a real boy by falling asleep into a dream just felt like a half-measure. Chickensh17.

Note: If my 11-year-old son was calling me "mommy" (or "daddy") I'd put a stop to that! What is he, 3?

The best parts of the movie were: (1) the younger brother and his friends razzing David, and (2) Brendan Gleeson's impassioned and morally correct speech at the Flesh Fair about how corporations are mimicking human emotions and implanting that into child bots. Being a Hollywood movie, though, Gleeson was framed as a bad guy.

Clovehitch Killer (1) Starts out strong. A seemingly normal family with a Christian, Scout leader father. Slowly, the teenaged son uncovers some disturbing things in dad's secret hiding places (bondage porn, etc.). Does this connect him to a serial killer that plagued their town a decade earlier?

(2) We rise to a climactic moment then get shunted back several days and relive those hours again, now seen thru eyes of the son rather than the father. This section of the movie drags a bit, but I was still on board.

(3) The ending leaves all sorts of plot holes.

***SPOILERS*** The son and his friend follow the father to his next victim's house. They save the distressed woman and confront the father/killer, eventually knocking him out. Then they somehow drag him into the woods to set up an apparent suicide? Huh!?!

It makes no sense! This case would've triggered the largest forensic investigation in the history of the town; a serial killer strikes again after a decade. The teens + the vic = three witnesses. Yet, the son never appears to be questioned by police. Do they not know he was there? Did the victim not see him and his female friend? She wasn't unconscious.

Argh! A good movie fumbling the ending. I hate that!!

***SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED (for the first 2/3)***

Grand Budapest Hotel is similar to all other Wes Anderson movies: surrealism reaching its own limitation when stretched over a 2-hour runtime.

Some of the scenes are really beautiful, like the chase scene between Willem Defoe and Jeff Goldblum thru the museum; some scenes are LOL funny, like the chase scene down a bobsledding run and over a ski jump...but what never connects for me are some of the core emotions. For example, the older Zero waxes philosophic about his dear, departed wife Agatha who died in childbirth, yet he tells that part of the story in only a sentence or two compared to the long narrative about his mentor, Gustav. Agatha's death had no impact on me, emotionally.

Anderson inevitably chooses quirk over substance. The jailbreak sequence is another example. The crux of the action is that Agatha smuggled them in some tools. OK, fine. But, the convolutions of the escape itself go on and on with no context. We know that they filed into the sewer pipe, yet magically none of the prisoners are covered with filth when they reach the outside. Quirk over substance.

Don't get me wrong, there are good things about the film, too, like the framing - older Zero telling his story (a la Amadeus). Also, Ralph Fiennes' character is delightful. He unapologetically loves the finer things of life, and his worldview (respectful rejection of incompetence) carries the day in most circumstances. Sadly, by movie's end, I had pretty much lost interest.

***SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED***

Please someone make it make sense! I give this movie an 8/10 on the strength of its acting, editing and pacing, but I'm baffled by the ending.

***SPOILERS***

After 2 hours of deny, deny, deny, suddenly Gene Hackman's character confesses to the rape and murder of multiple children, only to find that the "real murderer" was just caught in the act while Hackman was in for questioning.

Huh?!?

All I can think of is that: (a) He was pushed past the breaking point and gave a false confession, simply aping all the details the cops had fed into his brain, or (b) He was trying to protect someone. But, since we never find out the identity of the real killer, it's impossible to know who he might have been trying to protect.

So, I'm left baffled.

This movie was suggested to me by my 13-year old kid. It was on amazon Prime, which was perfect. It reminds me a lot of I Am Legend (killer creatures suddenly populate the earth), except in that movie there are more moments of calmness. A Quiet Place gives the audience almost no breathing room; it is relentless stress.

As I was watching, I found myself starting to question many plot holes, like: (1) Without humans, do all the nuclear power plants melt down? Is the air unbreathable?

(2) How did they plant so much corn by without machinery?

(3) Where are they getting the power to light the hundreds of bulbs strung over their crops?

(4) Why did the brother and sister sink in the silo corn, but the creature didn't?

Etc... SPOILER: The best moment of the film, IMO, was when Emily Blunt descends the staircase and steps on the...Well, I shouldn't spoil too much. I groaned so loudly, I was shushed in my own house, haha.

This movie is not bad, but there are parts that don't really make sense. Like, why is the hearing aid acting as a piercing sound generator? And, why is the baby in a diaper immediately after being born in the most gruesome circumstances?

I gave this movie a 9/10. I appreciate that it stayed true to the book. IIRC, the section where Inman (Jude Law) stays with the widow (Natalie Portman) lasts quite a while longer in the book; he slaughters a hog for her to make it thru winter, etc. But, basically the movie stays on the page.

The piano-themed portions of the score were just right; not too advanced or complex, a good addition. The letter being read to Inman by a nurse - fading into Nicole Kidman's voice - then fading back to the nurse's voice was very well done.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman steals every scene he's in. What a massive talent lost :-(

Renee Zellweger deserved her Oscar. Ruby was such a fun character in the book, and she nails it! The goat lady was my other favorite character; also very well depicted in this film.

A few minor quibbles: (1) The font they use for information on screen is way too small!

(2) One nighttime scene goes by where the men's faces are so dark that I didn't know who the characters were.

(3) The sons running out of the barn to save their mother, then instantly getting themselves shot, was ridiculous. Weren't they runaway soldiers? They didn't learn any tactics while in the service?

Overall, very good movie. RECOMMENDED.

After WIlliam Hurt died last year, I bought this DVD; haven't seen the film since it first came out on Showtime or HBO back in the day. The originality of the story makes it worthwhile. All the actors are very good at "talking the talk" of high-brow scientists. Charles Haid's character Mason is especially funny when he gets angry and shifts from doctor-speak to gutter talk.

Altered States deals with "Big Ideas": Can one regress to more primitive states of mind? Can one regress to more primitive states of physical being??

What I noticed this time thru is the overwhelming SFX. The first few trippy sequences were cool, but by the 7th or 8th time down the rabbit hole, it was bit much. What started as a quest possibly for God became an ape-man quest ending in nothingness. That's where the movie breaks down a little bit, IMO.

But hey, at least this movie aims toward Big Questions.

That's the title the movie should've used. It's what's written on Barry Seal's gravestone. He seemed to know he wasn't long for this world.

I like this movie. It walks you thru the steps to see how a person living a relatively mundane life can start down a different path that leads to chaos.

Tom Cruise did all his own flying, which is interesting in its own right. That makes for some excellent long takes from the cockpit.

The director was pretty even-handed with the politics.

The locations were phenomenal: jungle air strips, low flights into Louisiana past gulf oil rigs, dropping product in the swamps, etc. Very place-specific. Well scouted.

The acting was solid. The wife, in particular deserves some plaudits for being more than just a hand-wringing ditz. She had depth and a backbone. Whether or not her character made a wise choice sticking with her husband, is arguable. But among the generous special features on my DVD copy (much appreciated!) there is an interview with one of Seal's children who was 9 when his father was killed; the man still calls his dad his "hero".

***RECOMMENDED***

I have never seen a movie more void of colors. Occasionally there is a pale blue sky; beyond that get ready for 2.5 hours of greys and browns; cold and misery.

The movie is ostensibly about trappers, but there is virtually no content along those lines. 10 seconds in we are already into ultra-violence, and that theme never stops. Leo is mauled, choked, stabbed, shot at and he even falls off a cliff. He barely speaks or ambulates throughout. Instead, we get long hallucinatory sequences full of magical Indians who inhabit the spirit realm (Hollywood loves their magical Indians!)

Toward the end, I really didn't care. There was only one thin story line, revenge, and we all knew how that was going to turn out.

***NOT HIGHLY RECOMMENDED***

Certainly not the worst movie I've ever seen. But, I couldn't stop picking things apart in my head while I watched. It started with the too-low volume dialog. Then...

(1) Nobody could hit the side of a barn with their shots. Seriously, there must've been 100+ gun shots in the movie, yet only about 5 hit their mark, and those were mostly point blank shots.

(2) Setting her own house on fire accidentally, which 100% would've killed her baby from smoke inhalation.

(3) Watching while the main bad guy slit your neighbor's throat, but not shooting him before or at least right afterward. Why?

(4) The suicide mission of the mother sending her son out to release the bad guys' horses from behind their barn/hideout. Huh?

(5) The husband returning and jumping on one of the bad guys, but then immediately getting caught. Stupid!

Well, I shouldn't pick too much. It's good that a new film studio has sprung up, and that Gina Carano got to make a new movie after her cancelation from Disney.

Here's to many more! CHEERS!!

From the title of this film, I always assumed it was a multi-generational mobster flick in which Viggo is the focal point. But that's not the story line at all. The actual plot is more subtle and interesting: a man trying to shed his former life (of violence) and start anew.

My familiarity with David Cronenberg is from Dead Ringes, The Fly and Scanners, so this feels like a complete departure. Good for him; stretch those creative muscles!.

I like how Viggo's character has to sort of "climb the ladder" of dealing with ever-more dangerous men to win his freedom. And, that William Hurt sits atop that pyramid, haha! Even as a bad guy, the late William Hurt makes me smile.

I have to knock off a point for the Hollywood cliche of a man shot in the shoulder, who somehow carries on with little more than a wince of pain. But, I'll restore a point for the gnarly fight scenes.

Some of the sex scenes (and Maria Bello's acting in general) are a bit over the top. And, the final scene at the dinner table left a bit to be desired, IMHO: she looks at him, he looks at her, she looks more intensely at him, he looks even more intensely at her. Cut to black.

Still, this movie is worth a watch.

***RECOMMENDED***