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Ripley (2024)
So many steps...
Steps... glassware.... desk clerks... polizi inspectors... luggage... posted letters... and textures, oh those textures. Did I mention steps? These are the main characters and they appear throughout.
First thing I noticed about Ripley was the black and white cinemaphotography, then the rough, old, peeling textures of Italian architecture. This 8-part series is all about ambience, with an immersive multiple-murder story layered over it. The acting was good throughout, and I especially liked that of the oh-so-suave and sophisticated Inspector Ravini, who, but for one Clouseau-like blunder which he doesn't discover until the end of this tale, almost gets his man. Yes, Ripley does indeed have talent, perhaps just not the same kind of talent as those Renaissance painters that he so admires. But definitely more talent than either Richard Greenleaf or Freddie Miles had. At least Marge could write, and because she had that talent, she may have been spared the same outcome that befell her former friends.
Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 (2022)
Michael Lang no longer smells like roses after this
So Michael Lang, the organizer of the original Woodstock, sells his soul, if he ever had one, to help put on what he hopes will be a money-making Woodstock II in Rome, NY. The lesson being that we are idealists when young, but realists when we grow up. Unfortunately he and his partners were out of touch with the young people who showed up in 1999, who felt robbed by expensive food and disrespected by "the man." Lang went from hippie to "the man." In the end, this documentary does not tell us if W2 made money, but to many of the attendees it was the event of a lifetime, despite the chaos. Based on this three episode docu, I'm glad I wasn't there.
The Boys (2019)
It has its moments, but drags
3rd season not as good for me, though it certainly has its moments. The characters that keep slowing it down are Hughie and Annie Highlighter, or whatever her moniker is; there is no chemistry between them, and all Hughie says to anybody is "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I wouldn't mind seeing him get head popped.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022)
Not like TOS at all.
Yeah, nothing woke about this show, right?
I read many of the comments on YouTube for episode one and not one had a negative remark. It was like they were all bought and paid for. You would think they had just watched 2001 a space odyssey.
I was shocked when Spock told Tpring that he thought she would never ask him to marry her. I guess in his strange new world, the guys are subservient to females.
I have no desire to subscribe just to watch more of this PC nonsense.
Ozark: A Hard Way to Go (2022)
Character assassination in last episode
I was hoping at least Wendy would be killed off, she is such a shrew. I liked John Boy's performance, even if he is Grandpa Walton at this point. Camila was great, she had me shaking in my socks. It was nice to see Wyatt again, even if he was just a ghost of himself. Stupid of Mel the private dick to not run off with Ben's ashes at the end, and out of character for Jonah to kill him (but evil when it looked like Marty gave his silent approval of what he knew Jonah was about to do). Now the Byrdes will live happily ever after, right?
Inventing Anna (2022)
The men tried to warn the women, but did they listen?
This is a well edited, well acted series. As for the players I would like the most, it would be the three other journalists hiding out in Scriberia with Vivian. They were helpful and comforting to her. I also liked Vivian's husband and one or two of the other male significant others who warned their girlfriend or wife or coworker about being taken advantage of by Anna. But did the women listen? No. They kept on enabling Anna. So I don't feel sorry for Rachel, Vivian, Neff, or Kacy and the emotional or financial or professional chasms they jumped into to try to take advantage of Anna's privilege.
As for the negatives, I agree with others that it was too long a series and that Anna's accent was weird. The real Anna has hardly any non-American accent. I also did not like that we were told it was a true story but maybe it was not. Iam left wondering what major pieces were made up or highly modified.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
Robot deserves an Oscar
Gort the alien Robot was the best actor in this dull remake, I always enjoyed when he/her/they/it was the focus of the action. It gave an impressive performance. I was sorry when they got transformed into steel-eating steel flies but it was for a good cause (saving the Earth from humans). I plan on never watching this movie again.
Tall in the Saddle (1944)
Tight script and good acting
I just happened upon a rerun of this movie on the Grit channel (UHF) a few minutes after it started and could not stop watching it. The story is good, the pacing is good, and some of the lines are just wonderful. When Wayne makes it into the saloon and asks for "Whiskey" after nearly getting shot, you really feel his need for a drink. I had never seen this excellent Western before.
A Fall from Grace (2020)
Evil-er than I expected
Was not expecting a lot from this film, and the early parts of it did not disappoint. But then there were some twists that were not expected, and it just got evil from there. So this started out like an episode from Murder She Wrote, then morphed into something much more sinister. Worth watching.
Ad Astra (2019)
Space baboons
Overall this movie, which is somewhat copied from Apocalypse Now (based on Heart of Darkness) did not meet my expectations. It was all over the place, or should I say, all over space. Parts of it made no sense, like when Roy leaps from the Lima ship towards his own ship, which not only can he not see but is parked perhaps a thousand miles away and yet scores a bullseye and returns not only safely, but in less than 3 hours, the time he had before the Lima ship blows up from a nuclear bomb.
If the main theme of this movie is meant to be psychological; that is, the son damaged emotionally by his distant (in more ways than one) father and the son's desire to heal, then it failed to produce any sympathy from me. I did not feel invested in Roy's father-problems one bit.
6 stars, because the space stuff was pretty cool to see. As were the space baboons from hell and the floating rat.
The Spy (2019)
What's with the butter dish?
Was riveted by this single-season series and had not heard of Eli Cohen prior to this. Quite a sacrifice for this man in many ways. I've read critics' complaints of the accents used as not accurate, but to most viewers, including me (an ignorant American, I guess), this meant nothing.
There is the seemingly bizarre and overdone use of the butter dish. Both Eli and his wife are shown a dozen times getting the butter out of the fridge and buttering their bread. They did not appear to eat anything else. Maybe the intent was to show a connection between these two people when they were physically distant and in desperate need of each other.
The other enigma was the moth that fell dead on the table as Eli wrote his confession. Perhaps Kamel was the moth that died and Eli was a butterfly who was, in the end, not to be.
7.5 out of 10
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
Lacks the WOW factor of JW chapter 1
I had just seen the first installment of John Wick and was not expecting to be so taken with chapter 2 as I was with chapter 1. And I was not. It held my interest throughout, but it was just not as sharp. Poor John. He appears to be well respected in his field, but he has no real friends in his life. Anyway, by the end of this movie, I'm thinking there are more assassins walking around than there are regular people. That was just too much. 5.5 stars.
John Wick (2014)
Sort of like Death Wish plus Punisher, Keanu style
Just saw this for the first time, in anticipation of watching the second and well-received third installments. Enjoyed this action thriller much more than I thought I would. Not too much schmaltz, and appropriately timely humorous lines boosted it. Was it over the top? Of course it was, which is the whole point of seeing it. 7.5 stars.
I Am Mother (2019)
Kinda robotic
I was interested enough to continue to the end, to better understand the "motivation" of Mother, and I am glad I did. But at the very end, I wondered, was daughter going to destroy all the fetuses? Seems there really was no robot there to stop her if she chose to do so. The movie left me thinking, which is a good thing. 5.5 stars.