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dpmccandless
Reviews
Blow-Up (1966)
A colossal failure
Please don't let the premise of this film lure you into this vapid nonsense.
David Hemmings plays a photographer who discovers he might have inadvertently stumbled upon a murder. Blow Out with John Travolta supposedly was based on this, but that was actually an attempt to make something of the premise.
For god's sake, it takes an hour before Hemmings even develops his film and begins the process of finding out what he has captured. Before that are a serious of supposedly artsy shots of what the London fashion scene was like. Between the photographer's sex romp with two young women and an encounter with an overstuffed jeep filled with mimes, there's not much to recommend.
The ending confirms once and for all that you have lost 2 hours of your life.
I'd rank it one star, but the filming is good and it does provide a nice look at London during the '60s.
Past Lives (2023)
Beautiful story
It's pretty obvious this isn't for everyone, and i'm in the camp that loved it.
It's a thoughtful film that is anything but trite. There were any number of opportunities to go down a typical Hollywood path, but the story just went its own way.
The reunion of two Korean childhood friends (along with her current American husband) has all the depth you can imagine with three people viewing the situation from completely different perspectives.
Is the boy (now a man) in search of love?
Is the girl (now a woman) also remembering their friendship as love and does she want to rekindle it?
The husband tells his wife, "You make my world so much bigger and I'm wondering if I do the same for you." Is he going to explode in a fit of jealousy?
The answer is beautifully told.
Deadloch (2023)
Excellent dark comedy
As others have written, this isn't for everyone.
That being said, Kate Box and. Madeleine Sami form a hilarious detective duo investigating a serial killer in a small town. Sami plays a blustering big-city detective sent in to help with the case and steals the show for the first 4 or 5 episodes, but Box quietly takes over the rest of the way.
The plot of a serial killer targeting men in a town run by lesbians has some great twists as the intrepid detectives try to solve the case. The solution isn't as important as how you get there.
I had a couple of quibbles: (1) Sami's character tones down a little too much toward the end. Her off the rails approach to police work was one of the best parts of the show. (2) The climax had a little too much violence for me. The murders were gruesome during the first 7 episodes, but the violence was all off screen, which I preferred.
All in all, a great show, though.
Truth Be Told (2019)
Unbelievably disappointing
First off, it's beyond me how this could get a 7.1 rating, let alone a second season (which I won't watch).
It sounds interesting and has a great cast, but it's so poorly written as to defy belief. We literally paused about every 10 minutes to comment on how something didn't make sense. The lead character is supposed to be noble, I guess, but her quest is destroying so many lives that you can't sympathize with her. The fact that she's an "award-winning journalist" makes no sense because she doesn't believe in any journalist standards. She just comes up with ideas and broadcasts them to the world, and they're always wrong. I noticed in the credits that the writer and director seemed to change from one episode to the next. Did somebody think that was a good idea or did they have to keep changing because the writer and director begged to get out of it after one episode?
As for the acting, the idea of Octavia Spencer as a journalist doing a crime podcast sounded engaging. However, she is so miscast as the person she's supposed to be that it's embarrassing. Aaron Paul, Ron Cephus Jones, Elizabeth Perkins and Lizzy Caplan were all outstanding, in spite of the horrific story. I really liked Octavia Spencer's family, but she didn't fit in with them either. She should get a new agent for putting her into this.
WeCrashed (2022)
Neumanns at work again?
The 1 and 2 star reviews on this are baffling. Maybe the Neumanns and their PR firm don't like the portrayals? : )
Leto and Hathaway were a little over the top, but so were the Neumanns. Frankly, I think they could have been a little more despicable. Great production values, truly well done.
Some people preferred the documentary, but I liked this better. The docu was interesting to watch afterward to see the real Neumanns, but it was mostly a lot of talking heads saying the same thing over and over and not enough of Adam and Rebekah.
Film Fest (2020)
Very entertaining
I don't get the low score, this was a good little film. Similar in spirit to Best of Show in providing an inside look at the self-absorbed world of indie filmmakers.
Belfast (2021)
Beautiful story
Slow-moving in parts, but makes up for it with a string of scenes that stir your emotions. Can't say enough about the acting: Catrion Balfe (Ma) and Jamie Dornan (Pa) show the roller coaster ride of a struggling marriage, all unfolding before the eyes of their young son.
Set in Belfast during the Troubles, but that's only a backdrop. It's really about a family struggling to stay together.
Out of Omaha (2018)
A great story
Don't let the synopsis about "overcoming social injustice" fool you into this thinking this is a dull, preachy documentary. This is at its heart the story of two brothers and what they do to survive. It has a powerful message, but you get so caught up in their lives that you only care about what happens to them.