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Reviews
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
This is Why I Go to Movies...
It's been a really long time that I've seen something that reminds me of why I love movies.
It's rare I find a movie that is so human that you experience the gamut of emotions in one film. All of the actors were great and the characters well written. I laughed, I cried, I sympathized, rooted for, identified with, saw myself in some parts, it hit some inner child wounds, had me deep in philosophical thought and made me contemplate human nature...all in all it was a spiritual experience.
Human connection, The Human Condition, Family Dynamics and Dysfunction, Our Connection to the Universe.... I couldn't believe what I had seen and couldn't wait to see it again I knew that when I did I would see even more in it.
When they get it right it's like having an out of body experience and this is what seeing this movie the first time did.
Michelle Yeoh deserves all the awards possible for her acting very few people could pull this role off and she did it brilliantly.
What I really appreciated most were the obvious metaphors for mental health and the need for human connection and family support done in such a transcendent yet digestible way.
Interview with the Vampire (2022)
They Took Liberties but It Kind of Worked
I am a huge Anne Rice fan and I love the Vampire chronicles. In some ways the way they fundamentally changed Luis' story to fit into a more interesting time made their relationship even more compelling and complicated. Capturing a unique part of New Orleans History was a smart play.
The story had some elements of another of her books The Feast of All Saints so I could go with it...
My problem came with Claudia...she was way too old and her acting was pretty one dimensional...I know it would be pretty impossible to get a 5 year old to have the necessary depth for the character but maybe an 8 or 9 year old could have pulled it off...
There is something automatically horrifying about an immortal child that drinks blood to survive...with the soul of an adult.
Luis and Lestat on the other hand were great together and the toxic narcissist abuser dynamic was palpable.
Looking forward to the next season which should be in France if we are following the book...
Mayfair Witches (2023)
Poor Anne Rice
The Witching Hour which is the first book of the series is a masterpiece. That book is over 1000 pages. That one book easily could have lasted 2 or 3 seasons...if they took time to really tell the story and show Lasher through the generations of the Mayfair family....
Her writing was elaborate, rich descriptive and detailed it's like they made this series from the cliff notes leaving out major characters like Julian....
I had so much hope for this series and was excited that it was finally being done but they missed the mark so badly.... I regret that I sat through the entire thing...
I would suggest if you haven't read the first book of the trilogy do so ...this series is already forgettable but the written story is brilliant...
Yellowstone (2018)
Seasons 1-3 a 10 ...4 and 5 a 2...Story line is mostly WTF!!!
I'm just going to rant...
It is so bad now I have to defer watching it until all the episodes air so I can view it like a Netflix series because the disappointment each week is too much to bear...
Easy Turnaround:
Give Beth and Jamie a common enemy to destroy
Have Jamie make Beth his son's Godmother asking for her help in raising him
Let her heal while supporting a baby soften her a bit....but please please don't lose her edge
Reinforce the whole family values core even though dysfunctional
Stop the economic progress as enemy of rural communities storyline there is no plausible resolution
Focus on the Duttons making progress financially instead of barely holding on ...evolve into other businesses or industries...
Right now they seem antiquated and kind of dumb...what are they holding on to? Fighting for? They killed people for generations and branded their cowboys to make Yellowstone a conservation reserve...wtf
Now your herd is possibly diseased...gross...
what am I supposed to do with that...why should I care...again wtf
We love this family, but the characters aren't progressing...the story is booooring....and every episode is...an "ok these siblings hate each other", big business vs the little man...native Americans are screwed and starting to actually be marginalized ....with tiny storylines and very little dialogue...just a few years ago they saved your lives...where's the gratitude lol
My biggest regret is not waiting until the mid season break was over before I even started watching.... I'm just numb.
How could something so great become this sub par?
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022)
Made for TV, but still Mediocre
I love Whitney Houston and believe she deserves an amazing biopic to memorialize her accomplishments and to tell the detailed story of her complicated life...unfortunately this is not it.
Most addiction stems from trauma and dysfunction in the family of origin. So it's difficult to create a framework if you avoid highlighting or exploring a person's childhood and family dynamic.
The movie plays like a lifetime movie lightly touching on topics we've already seen in previous documentaries and stories leaving out very significant trauma (Possible molestation, abuse in the household, issues growing up in the projects, emotional incest, her toxic abusive relationship with Bobby)
Their big reveal (not really a spoiler cause you already have seen everything in this movie somewhere before) is the montage of songs she did for the American Music Awards...
I went in hoping to see something like "Elvis" "Bohemian Rhapsody" or even "Ray" but instead got a play by play of obvious moments with no deeper insights or understanding into one of the Greatest talents of our Generation...
I gave it 5 stars because I appreciate that the subject matter is Whitney. For originality, script, dialogue, and dramatic worth It would easily be a 3.