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bizzvanwa
Reviews
The Proposal (2009)
Spoiler. Just a Necessary Spoiler
SPOILER:
I sat through this mess and felt that it insulted my (and your) intelligence enough to deserve a spoiler. The premise, of course, is that Bullock's Canadian fast-track exec pressures her attractive subordinate into a marriage of convenience (her convenience) in order to avoid deportation at a crucial moment in her career. Here comes the...
SPOILER:
An early scene at the Immigration Department has an official tell Bullock and her mock-fiancé that they must return in a few days to be interviewed separately about each other's habits, tastes, history, etc. so the government will know if they really have spent much time together. Oh?? Does it make sense for an immigration official to give them enough time to get their stories together? Why not just do it right then and there, in separate rooms. This piece of illogic was too much for me to swallow. Sorry Sandy.
Syngué sabour, pierre de patience (2012)
Unusual, With Deck A Little Too Stacked
As others have stated, this is an unusual film. It's amazing that the screenwriter-director who adapted his own play for the screen did not become another Salman Rushdie, with a fatwa directed against him. (Maybe that did happen and I just don't know about it.) While I agree with the film's central theme, the terrible injustices done to females in Muslim countries, I think the film goes too far to make its point. It ends up in the same category as movies like "Thelma and Louise" and "Sling Blade." Both of those films refused to include a straight male with anything decent or likable about him. All men were shown as being jerks at best. In "Silence of the Lambs," the only men Clarice could trust were much older (Scott Glenn, her boss) or crazy like Hannibal Lechter. The Scott Glenn character was okay because his age made him seem kind of asexual, not horny, not a threat.
**SPOILERS** If its story is taken literally, "The Patience Stone" would actually be presenting us with a terribly dumb or delusional protagonist. The young Muslim woman who takes care of her obviously dead husband does not seem to notice any unpleasant odor coming from her husband's corpse as it lies in a room for several days. Nor does she take note of the rigor mortis that would have set in. The shock ending, which has this man suddenly open his eyes and become violent toward her after she reveals the final secret/insult to his "values" that is distasteful enough to awaken his corpse has to be taken in an allegorical, folktale sort of way. The filmmakers could not really be asking us to take his awakening at face value.
As in "Sling Blade," in which a mentally challenged male is the only kind of straight male who is worthy of approval, in "The Patient Stone," only an orphaned young (still trainable) male -- who himself is abused by other men -- is worthy of the protagonist's love. Only a damaged male is a good male.
**END OF SPOILERS**
It's easy to root for this protagonist. She has been treated was than an animal by her religion and the men. But not every ax needs grinding that is this thorough. Not every pro-female-rights movie needs to demonize every male unless he is old or handicapped.
Cop Land (1997)
So Much Better Than I Expected
I've been tempted to see this movie for years due to the praise Stallone got for his performance. But I never got around to watching it until last night. I expected a somewhat typical crime movie, which it's not. Now, it's one of my favorite pictures.
Some reviewers describe Stallone's character, Freddy Heflin, as dumb. I'm not so sure about that. I see this character as someone who knows how easy it is to suffer a great loss in a matter of minutes. He fears losing his undemanding but demeaning job as sheriff in a town with many cops as residents where he gets no respect and is expected to let the cops do as they please. He is a man paralyzed by fear. As a younger man, he saved a beautiful young woman from drowning with a heroic act that cost him all of his hearing in one ear. This has left him cautious and reluctant to throw what's left of his humble little world away. What makes this film so powerful is how easy it is for most of us to relate to Freddy's situation. Who doesn't have to play along to get along--even at the cost of losing self-respect.
Even Robert De Niro's Internal Affairs cop, a brassy self-assured dude himself, has to back down when the situation calls for it.
Stallone makes the right choice and holds back, letting of buy into his very cautious character. All around him, the bad boys are just that--arrogant, greedy, corrupt cops. Freddy's tentative manner emphasizes how cocky the others are.
The movie opens with a fresh, unexpected kind of kick-start for a crime movie. And that early event drives the plot to the very end. Suffice it to say this isn't a typical crime movie about who gets the big stash of money or drugs or anything else. I highly recommend you see it.
Gravity (2013)
Pathetic
I guess I"m outvoted. But I'll speak my mind anyway. The non-stop flirtatious banter between Clooney and Bullock is completely out of place in a movie where two people are supposed to be fighting for their lives throughout most of the movie. I had no sense of suspense. Bullock, making sure that she gets to be alluring, talks to herself quite a bit in an unrealistic, cutesy. Anything to add to her stardom. The music stunk. The best thing about this movie was Bullocks' legs, which are featured prominently in all their glory. The only person connected with this turkey who should get an Oscar is her personal fitness trainer (for the legs.)
American Hustle (2013)
Jennifer Lawrence = Lucille Ball + Marilyn Monroe
I think the 200+ reviewers before me have said most of what there is to say: an amazing film, full of life, human bonding, jazz and everything else you'd want in a movie. I have one thing to add. Watching this movie, it struck me that Jennifer Lawrence has the sass and believable "denseness" of Lucille Ball along with the sexiness and vulnerability of Marilyn Monroe. She can play a character who lives in her own world as well as anyone around. Lawrence is a one-of-a- kind talent. I don't know what she's like in person, but there must be some of these qualities in her off-screen self. She's riveting to watch, and so were all the others in this movie. I can't think of any picture I've seen better than this. You owe it to yourself to go see it.
And honestly, I don't plan on researching the real details about Abscam because I don't want to ruin the impact of this incredible story. I like it just the way it appears on the screen.