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Reviews
The Dinner (2017)
Allergic to intelligence
Of course there aren't two kinds of people, that would be a stupid thing to say, but in the spirit of most of the reviews of this film let's just say...there are two kinds of people, those allergic to intelligence and those allergic to stupidity.
This film is just too damn demanding on so many levels - most of America will have a migraine fifteen minutes in trying to understand the language, sort through all of the relationships, follow the plot, and so on, that they'll give up.
Too bad. The movie is a remarkable look at how some (perhaps most?) among the very wealthy feel above it all (above the rest of us), including above the law.
Masterful direction, cinematography, writing, and acting, with an amazing score.
This and "Ladybird" were my favorite films of the year.
Youth (2015)
Impeccable
im-pec-ca-ble// of performance, behavior, or appearance in keeping with the highest standards. Faultless.Flawless. See: Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Paul Dano, Rachel Weisz. Spotless, immaculate, perfect. Exemplary. Hear: David Lang. In response to a reporter, Michael Caine said: "I just wish I could get my youth back, but I can't, so the next best thing was to be in a film called 'Youth'". I now know what he means - if you can't get your youth back, the next best thing, perhaps the first step, may be seeing this film. I like what Michael Caine says about "Youth": "This film is about life. It's funny, it's sad, it's everything. It's not a comedy, it's not a drama, it's not a satire. It's not a musical, but there's a lot of music in it. It's Paolo, that's what it is, Paolo's view of things and I love it." I loved it too.
The Legend of Tarzan (2016)
Romance & Adventure
Ah, yes, this is why we go to the movies. Entertaining, inspiring, an escape, thrilling and wildly imaginative, "The Legend of Tarzan" would make Edgar Rice Burroughs proud. And I think he'd enjoy the updating of the story by using as a backdrop the horrifying, true story of the many atrocities committed by Belgian King Leopold in the Congo. This movie is likely to go unappreciated by "serious" film critics just as Burroughs was neglected by serious literary critics. Although In a "Paris Review" interview, Ray Bradbury said of him that "Edgar Rice Burroughs never would have looked upon himself as a social mover and shaker with social obligations. But as it turns out – and I love to say it because it upsets everyone terribly – Burroughs is probably the most influential writer in the entire history of the world..." Bradbury continued - "...by giving romance and adventure to a whole generation of boys, Burroughs caused them to go out and decide to become special." This movie couldn't be more true to Burroughs' portrayal of Tarzan, Jane, and the Mangani, the fictional species of great apes that foster and raise Tarzan.
The Nice Guys (2016)
Boogie Nights Redux
One of those films so aswim in the culture of porn that you wonder why....oh yes, there's that, the seeming limitless appetite of Hollywood for pure, unadulterated trash with a heavily misogynistic overtone. Maybe the word should be undertow. Everything that passes for a plot is mere window-dressing, what sustains this awful effort is the lurid atmosphere. And there is one disturbing element that is so prominent it can't be an accident. The children in this film, appearing in very disturbing scenes - it's downright degenerate. "Boogie Nights" used banal acting and a tired plot to mimic the feel of porn films. So it could claim (a lame claim) to be a parody, although its moral emptiness was so close to the real thing it might as well have been the real thing. "The Nice Guys" has something of the same feel. The exploitation of women and young girls, dumb scenes (hundreds of rounds shot, no one hit), cheesy music, how really different it is from the junk the porn industry turns out - except for two A-list actors?
Calvary (2014)
People doing the wrong things
In some ways it is a brilliant furbishing of Bergman's "Winter Light", a re-visioning that demonstrates the never-ending nature of the struggle between good and bad people, from country to country, spanning centuries, across cultures. The battle here is portrayed through a religious lens. And while I haven't seen any film like it in many years, it did remind me of a time when much of the art in Western culture reflected such struggles frequently (i.e., the novels of Graham Greene). Today, according to the Gospel of HBO, there are no bad people. Just quirky, misunderstood, discounted, and unfairly treated people who haven't been given a break. A belief that basically people do the right thing, that the basis of democracy is the willingness, if not the necessity, to assume well about other people, regardless of their conduct. This film doesn't buy it, I don' buy it, Einstein didn't buy it - as he said, "The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." I knew people like Father James growing up, sentinels of a sort, pillars of decency: one look. That's all it took. "Calvary" captures perfectly the make-up of our modern world, hardly distinguishable from the world you'd find in any era, a world filled with...dangerous human beings. It's a pitch-black world, but Father James is around to help, guide, console, forgive, providing a moral compass. Two other recent films, both terrific, capture this deep sense of living in an indifferent, alienating, selfish world, "Time Out of Mind", a tone poem about homelessness in New York City, and "Love & Mercy", about the crushing exploitation of a creative soul. No easy answers here, just a telling of the way it is, the way it always will be.
Spotlight (2015)
Sins of the Fathers
The construction of this film is so traditional that at times it feels old-fashioned, having an almost "I've seen this all before" quality. Clearly the objective is to deliver the story in as efficient a manner as possible. No fireworks. No soundtrack that grabs you by the throat. No chewing of the scenery allowed. Remember "Erin Brockovich"? Julie Roberts wouldn't have known what to do with herself on this set. But somehow it all works. By some strange alchemy "Spotlight" is one of the three most soulful films I've seen this year. (The two others - "Love & Mercy" and "Time Out of Mind".) Much attention has been given to the performance of the "good guys", Keaton & Company, and deservedly so. But I thought "Spotlight" did a brilliant job of showing the venality of the kind of corruption that allowed the sins of the priests to go unchecked: The performances of Billy Crudup and Paul Guilfoyle were pitch-black perfect.
Time Out of Mind (2014)
Oren Moverman Cares
A thoughtful, deeply moving study of homelessness in urban America, specifically, what it's like to be homeless in New York City. "Time Out of Mind" is a maddening film. It fits none of the expected narrative templates that we've come to expect from a mainstream movie, and because of its seemingly pointless, aimless plot - nothing that matters of any consequence happens to anyone, and the main character, George, appears dazed, lost in every sense of the word - I gave up on it...then decided to keep watching. I finished the movie and felt I had seen something profound, profoundly disturbing about the indifference we show those at the margins, the "failures". It's not an easy film to watch. I think that's the point. This is a subject that we all would prefer to turn away from. When homeless, nobody cares. Virginia Woolf said this about Charles Dickens, "We remodel our psychological geography when we read Dickens; we forget that we have ever felt the delights of solitude or observed with wonder the intricate emotions of our friends, or luxuriated in the beauty of nature." This film has re-shaped my "psychological geography" when it comes to NYC. Maybe Woody Allen heard Gershwin while wandering Manhattan. I now hear the distracting noise - the intrusive cellphones, the traffic, all of it - a fierce onslaught that can't be kept at bay. The sound design is relentless and off-putting. And it's true to life. I've been visiting NYC for years, I was there in December. It has never been louder or more annoying. So for George, cursed to live on the street, there is no peace and quiet. Ever. The performances are brilliant, all of them. Gere and Kyra Sedgwick are mesmerizing. And top honors should go to Oren Moverman. What an artist. He wrote another movie this year about the fragility of the mind, about the losing of one's mind, "Love & Mercy". Two fantastic, soul-exploring movies in one year by Oren Moverman. A remarkable achievement.
Love & Mercy (2014)
Band of Brothers
I had no idea what this film was about. I thought it would be another musical biopic like "Walk the Line" or "Ray". It's nothing like those movies. This is the most intense, in-depth, and soulful look at the fragility of the creative mind since "All That Jazz". "All That Jazz" is the best film ever made about choreography and dance, this is the best film ever made about rock 'n roll. Dark, often depressing, but also exhilarating, "Love & Mercy", like "All That Jazz", captures the sense of loneliness and despair many creative geniuses suffer. And when the music starts, it's cool, loud, and breathtaking. "A Beautiful Mind" is the best film ever made about mental illness, because it's an unflinching and compassionate portrait rendered with remarkable artistic skill by director Ron Howard and acted by Russell Crowe. "Love & Mercy" is its equal: Director Bill Pohlad tells an equally moving story of a man's mind falling apart, every bit as skillfully as Ron Howard, and the performances by Paul Dano and John Cusack are each Oscar worthy - as was Russell Crowe's. And first and foremost, I found it to be one of the most painful and frightening portrayals of a tyrannical father ever put on film. Brian Wilson was surrounded by monsters, real and imaginary. In many ways the Beach Boys were a performing family, like the Osmonds or the Jackson 5, a band of brothers at the mercy of a brutal father. I could go on and on,there's a lot going on here - it's a terrific love story too - this movie delivers on so many levels.
Her (2013)
Stranger things should have happened
A very good movie but could have been better. You could see it all coming. In good weird stories there are surprising resolutions. "Her" was more of a somber meditation than a story. I wonder what three great short story writers would have done with it. The story is not unlike Vonnegut's "Jenny", but "Jenny" is more bizarre and troubling. And then there's George Saunders' dark and disturbing "The Semplica Girl Diaries" from "Tenth of December: Stories", and pick any of the what-the-hell stories in "Stranger Things Happen" by Kelly Link. Vonnegut, Saunders, and Link can shock and create laughs, combining slapstick with horror. "Her" was a great idea for a story, but someone else should have written it - but visually it's a knockout.
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
O Unlucky Moviegoer!
"...is sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash. If it is not the worst film I have ever seen, that makes it all the more shameful: People with talent allowed themselves to participate in this travesty. Disgusted and unspeakably depressed, I walked out of the film..." That's Roger Ebert on "Caligula", a man who rarely walked out of films. Put together by the publisher/pornographer Bob Guccione, the graphic and elaborate orgies in "Caligula" featured A-list talent: Malcolm McDowell, Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud, and Helen Mirren. One difference separating these two cinematic debaucheries - upon release everyone connected with the film disavowed it, and Gore Vidal, after seeing it, sued to have his name taken off it. (He wrote the original screenplay.) It seems everyone connected with "The Wolf of Wall Street" is standing proudly by it. Many better critiques of capitalism have been made about selling out. Just a few: "The Devil's Advocate", "Glengarry Glen Ross", "The Boiler Room", "The Social Network', "Wall Street", "Trading Places", "Risky Business" and "Blow". And then there's the incomparable "O Lucky Man!" by Lindsay Anderson, another allegory about the pitfalls of capitalism. And oddly enough, it stars the star of "Caligula", Malcolm McDowell. And Helen Mirren too. Inspired by "Candide", McDowell's character, Mick Travis, experiences a moral revelation at the end. (As does Kevin Lomax in "The Devil's Advocate".) Jordan Belfort? No revelations of any sort, moral or otherwise. And no revelations for the audience as well. As Ebert wrote of "Caligula", shameful.
12 Years a Slave (2013)
Evil has a compass
David Denby says this is easily the greatest feature film ever made about slavery. HIgh praise, and it deserves more. This is easily one of the greatest feature films ever made, period. It is brilliant storytelling without the hand-holding musical cues and editing tricks that trigger the viewer's emotional responses. Scenes play themselves out in a painterly way, letting the moviegoer's gaze take hold. The viewer enters this film in a way few if any contemporary films allow. You are there. And there, the deep South, was an evil place. Where does evil reside? In a time when many feel we've lost our moral compass comes a film that can serve as a compass. I wonder where this film will lead us?
World War Z (2013)
Zombies In Jerusalem
Remember those moments in "Starship Troopers", that savage and nihilistic film by Verhoeven, when you start to root for the bugs? "World War Z" is so awful you can't even take sides. Down in the deepest depths of cinematic badness, where only Capital Letter BAD movies reside - down there next to von Trier's "Melancholia" - is where this monstrosity belongs. Not because of the hackneyed storyline, but because it actually uses Jerusalem as a prop. What's in the sequel? Will the zombies chew on the refugees at Zataari? Does the unbridled self- importance of these big-budget directors and stars make anything fair game for their ugly fantasies? After at least a half-dozen destructions of Manhattan since 9/11 in various dystopian blockbusters, someone must have said: "Manhattan! That's too obvious! Let's wipe out Israel! Let's turn it into a wasteland!" Seven miles deep, at the very bottom of the cinematic ocean, is where this thing belongs.
Les Misérables (2012)
What is all this juice?
A poet and priest, Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote in his very Christian poem "Spring" - "What is all this juice and all this joy?", referring to nature, God's creation, and I think the answer can be found in Tom Hooper's "Les Miserables". What is the essence of all this joy? It is beauty, it is creativity, and in "Les Miserables" both are a bit overwhelming. The deepest things are seen and heard in a fresh way. Someone said "caring is the greatest thing", and this film is all about caring, every kind of caring. A priest for the suffering, a mother for her child, man for his fellow man. And a deep caring is also reflected in the making of the film. So much is so original in the production that there's too much to mention, and remarkably the film's originality doesn't draw attention to itself, primarily because of the performances that are so direct and human. The formidable technological contributions don't get in the way. Everything serves the story. This is a year in which many of the best films are best seen in the theater - "Lincoln", "Life of Pi", "Beasts of the Southern Wild", and now "Les Miserables".
Hope Springs (2012)
Jaws 4
Remember after "Jaws" people saying they had a fear of getting back into the water? After "Hope Springs" you may have a fear of getting back into bed. The shark, here played by Meryl Streep, is in half-hearted pursuit of Tommy Lee Jones (perhaps this shark is a vegetarian), or at least that's how Tommy appears to view her. He plays a kind of reverse Ahab, wanting to flee at the very sight of her. Why she doesn't want to flee at the very sight of him is a bit of a mystery. If you found Bertolucci's "Last Tango in Paris" misogynistic, try to get your head around this film. This "No Tango in Maine" makes "Last Tango" look like Romeo & Juliet. "Last Tango" is all about sex, with sex. "Hope Springs" is all about sex, with no sex. Which is not that unusual, really, since most American films that are all about sex have no sex (e.g. any film starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Aniston, etc.)
Back to "Hope Springs". The premise: The secret of a good relationship is oral sex. That's the premise of most porn films, you say. You say right.
As with all porn films, few people seem to have stayed for the ending of "Hope Springs". This may be the most walked-out-of film of the year. So how and why does something this trashy get made? How does something by Lars von Trier ("Melancholia") get made? There seems to be an audience for films that express a fear and loathing of straight sex, marriage, and common decency. Loveless, without wit or charm, "Hope Springs" is described in many of the one star reviews as "creepy", creepy being the secular equivalent of evil in our tiresomely non-judgmental way of skirting the issue. But how can you skirt around it? Everything this film says about marriage is degrading and twisted.
The writer of this film, Vanessa Taylor, is nominated in the Outstanding Film or Show Written by a Woman category at The Women's Image Network Awards for 2012.
Lincoln (2012)
Remarkable times produce remarkable men, sometimes
If only. That's what I felt leaving the theater, if only Lincoln had lived, if only we had a Lincoln during Vietnam, if only we had a Lincoln today. We always live in remarkable times, only most of the time we have unremarkable men and women leading us. So much deserved praise has been written about this film - the acting, the music, the cinematography, the costumes, the screenplay, and more - that I thought I'd mention another aspect of Spielberg's genius, his talent for directing fine actors in small roles. In most film with big stars, the camera stays on the central character and everyone else is window dressing, little more than moving mannequins. In "Lincoln", in scenes crowded with actors, the performances are choreographed brilliantly. Take Bruce McGill's portrayal of Edwin Stanton. He captures Stanton perfectly, and does it mostly with facial expressions and his posture. Hawkes' Latham. Nelson's Schell. McRobbie's Pendleton. I wish there was a special Oscar given to Spielberg for ensemble direction, only Scorsese rivals him. Day-Lewis, Obama, and Lincoln at the time of the passage of the 13th amendment, are all basically the same age. I imagine this gives Day-Lewis great insight into Lincoln's commanding presence, his mastery of men. He plays Lincoln, he is playing Obama, he is also playing himself.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
Hair Club for Men with Clubs
Two things are remarkable about this film. First, and not terribly damaging, are the hairstyles. Vidal Sassoon on acid. It will probably take a PH.D. thesis akin to "The light imagery in Faulkner's 'As I Lay Dying'" to explain the deeper meaning of hair in Jackson's films; I suspect it's more than just a homage to "Hairspray", something more profound is going on. The second remarkable thing, and it is damaging, is the violence. It all starts quietly in the Shire, and then takes off, a la "The Wanderers", only more bloody. If you remember "The Wanderers", it's about gangs delivering nonstop mayhem as they run through the streets of New York in the sixties. Same thing here, only with gangs of orcs, and much more bloodshed. It's perverse that Jackson has taken ownership of such truly wonderful stories and then tells them so badly. The dialog is ridiculous and really doesn't matter, only the fighting matters: It's all just running, fighting, huddling in dark places, more running, more fighting, more huddling in dark places, hair combed, uncombed, and combed again. All unbecombing of such a great series of books.
Seven Psychopaths (2012)
One Psychopath
And that would be Martin McDonagh, the writer/director. Listless and predictable, once in a great while mildly funny, it would be unwatchable except for a terrific cast. I wanted to love this movie because of the actors. But the poor editing and stupid screenplay gave Walken et al not much to do but mug. There is so much grimacing, so many exaggerated facial tics - perhaps McDonagh thinks this is the fastest way to say "crazy" - that the characters feel more like the Three Stooges with heavy weapons than real lunatics. Walken, always the more clever actor and a master at stealing a scene, chooses to mostly stare straight ahead while Farrell and Rockwell, who appear to be competing at The Jim Carrey Make-A-Face Festival, are making fools of themselves - and steals the entire movie. And what is the point of the brutal treatment and heavy-handed objectifying of the women? What's with the extremely offensive scene with Gabourey Sidibe? Odd that Sidibe and Woody Harrelson would agree to such a cruel and disturbing scene. That scene really did seem to come from the mind of a psychopath.
Taken 2 (2012)
Faster Kim
Let's begin by just saying the director's name is, well, Olivier Megaton. Okay, let's move on. It all begins with Kim failing her driver's training exam, not once, but twice, and it all ends with her passing. This is not a spoiler. The spoiler is everything that happens between these exams. What happens: Kim has a very bad time in Istanbul. About Kim - Kim moons over her daddy, Kim moons over her boyfriend, Kim moons over her mommy; this is the most violent mooning film ever. You see, when Kim, her mommy, and her daddy aren't mooning, a lot of Muslims endure a lot of pain. Evidently anyone that interrupts this very dangerous American family while mooning is in for it. Personally, I'd let them be, and if you ever run into them in a foreign country, stay clear. Hand grenades, knives, bulletproof vests, lots of handguns - you'd think you were in Texas. This sequel is the closest any sequel has ever been to the original, in fact, it may be the same movie just set in a different city. I don't think they should do Mexico City next since that's where they did "Man on Fire", which is really the first movie in this series, "Taken" the original being "Man on Fire" 2. Back to Kim. She appears happy at the end, somewhere around Malibu, mooning over mommy, daddy, and her boyfriend over very large ice cream sundaes. But I don't buy it. I know something, something foreign and sinister, is going to interrupt these mad mooners.
Melancholia (2011)
So terribly sad
Insomnia, Melancholia, I don't know, maybe it should have been called Snarkia. This movie is such a "Whatever" snarkfest that you just want it to go away. And it all does go away, finally, all of it, no one survives - but it takes forever! It's all so badly done, so pretentious and purposeless, and at times so downright stupid that it doesn't merit anger, except for the fact this worthless film is in distribution while dozens of wonderful films that were in festivals this year (i.e., "Superstar" and "Amour") very few people will have the chance to see. One great film after another fails to get picked up, while things like this and "Taken 2", "The Oranges", "The Paperboy", "Butter", and "Won't Back Down" are in theaters. Films like this clog the multiplexes, great films go unseen. Now that's sad.
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
Man hands on misery to man.
That's a line from Philip Larkin. One of his most famous poems regarding childhood advises "Get out as early as you can,/And don't have any kids yourself." I wonder what he would have thought of this film? This touching, soulful, wonder-full movie turns all of the modern wisdom about being a father on its head. Hushpuppy's father is a "fool" and "soppy-stern", and everyone around Hushpuppy is filling her "with the faults they had" and most of the time are "at one another's throats". But the love! Her father's own wild way of loving, his rage, their unbreakable bond, and their devotion to each other, if only Larkin could have experienced this film. Do you end up pitying Hushpuppy or envying her? What did her father hand on to her? Much, much more than misery. Most comments about most movies today are about the acting, the special effects, the editing, the soundtracks, because most of the stories are so stale and safe (or insipid and cartoonish). Here, you remember the story.
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
We need to talk about the father
So that thing that hopped out of the chest in "Alien" was named Kevin? This is one creepy film, hard to watch at times, but riveting. It's strangely one-dimensional with a simple answer to all that's wrong with the world. Men. Every male is frightening/threatening in one way or another. And no one knows how to better portray an overwhelming dread of men than Tilda Swinton. Her technique is straightforward: The closer she gets to a man (or boy) in this film, the more she looks as if she's drowning. Or suffocating. Her first smile in the movie is when she's with her young daughter, and it's only with her that she's comfortable. And the father? He's oblivious to Kevin, oafish, a boor, and oddly sinister. While reviews point out the similarities between mother and son, and there are many, I think the director suggests someone else is really to blame for all of this - Dad for Kevin, men for, well, everything else. Not a film to rent for Father's Day.
Hugo (2011)
The world needs fixing
Lovely movie, with the story every bit as magical as the special effects. The acting, the screenplay, the music, the editing, all flawless. And the paradox at the core - a movie about time and temporality is also about the timeless quality of all that's important...family, relationships, the things we all long for, and then rather than leave all of the metaphors and symbols up for grabs, he dares to offer an answer, a moral answer: We're all broken. So we have three choices in life. Be someone who breaks things, be someone who fixes things, or be someone who just stands there, bemused and bewildered, doing nothing. For many years Scorsese has been doing his best to fix the problem of decaying films. With "Hugo" he shows how love can fix almost everything, and that yes, the world is filled with things that are broken, but that we're put here to work. See a problem? Get busy.
The Help (2011)
Prettified but Powerful
"Steel Magnolias" without the syrup? It's better than that, but it looks like that. Too many pretty people, too many scenes with heavy-handed and romanticized art direction, a bit sugary at times, but how can you complain when the acting is terrific and the story is so compelling? For the first time in a major film, the focus is on how white women treated black women during the era of Jim Crow. Rather than another harrowing portrayal of the horrors of racism involving white men treating black men badly, very badly, we see something that is every bit as disturbing. White women, many of them, degrading and demeaning black women, many of them, in so many small and cruel ways that it makes you ashamed. Much of it is painful to watch, and it's mostly done with soul-killing looks and words, very ugly words. All of the insults, dirty looks, callous remarks...it's a shocking reminder about the banality of evil. Amazing performances. Hope it's shown in every high school in America.
The Tree of Life (2011)
Haunting
Unlike a novel the stories in this movie do not unfold, revelation following revelation, culminating in a definable message or theme. There is no moral, no hero, no emotional epiphanies. What it presents is an extraordinarily haunting vision of childhood, how the things we love the most are as fragile as morning dew yet immensely powerful. The things that connect us, separate us, and bewilder us - again and again and again throughout our lives. The saddest, most insightful, most poignant portrayal of a family I have ever seen. Genius. How can this film achieve commercial success? it seems impossible. How did a film so ambitious get made when everything that makes money today is everything this film isn't? Bravo to the producers, bravo to the early critics who are stepping up and speaking out for this deeply moving masterpiece.
Inception (2010)
A nightmare.
This movie is a disaster on many levels, but where it fails most miserably is at attempting to put dreams on screen. This movie is the most un-dreamy movie ever made, and as critics have said since the beginning of moving pictures, watching a movie is like dreaming with your eyes open. Colin McGinn covers this in great depth in his book "The Power of Movies", in which he discusses the spatio-temporal discontinuity in films: the camera can record a given scene and then leap to another place and time entirely. This is what movies do! Nolan treats this heavy-handed hopping about as if he's discovered something. What he's lost is the mysterious, moody, enigmatic quality of dreams, the tremendous emotional wallop. "Inception" is so detailed, so measured, with constant explication, that nothing is left to the imagination. How ironic is that? And to fill a movie about dreams with carefully designed car chases, gun battles, and mayhem of all kind...it's anti-dreaming. I've never watched a film so awake, so aware of itself, so full of itself. A hundred years from now when cultural historians look at this era of Runaway Bigism - Big Government, Big Corporations, Big Bodies! - they can use over-blown and spiritually empty films like this (and "Dark Knight") as good examples of what ruined the country. Wretched excess.