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Terminator Genisys (2015)
Really good time travel movie!
I finally watched Terminator Genisys. I put it off because it got such so-so reviews. I was needing some decent sci-fi and I landed on this.
I wasn't sure at first. The first act was not great. But it kept getting better and better and it finished strong.
I love the Terminator. I love good sci-fi. I love time travel. And I love a smart story. This was a grand slam, in my opinion. It had excellent continuity and everything made sense.
The script, the acting, the directing , the FX, was all excellent. I don't understand why so many people didn't like it more. It should be at least a 7/10 average.
A 9/10 for me.
The Family Plan (2023)
Better than I expected
This deserves better ratings. It's at least a 7/10. The script is very good. The acting is very good. The comedic elements are very good. The directing is excellent. Overall, this is a fun action comedy worth watching.
I'm very picky and this did have a few minor issues but way fewer than most of the stuff being made these days.
If you have an overinflated sense of superiority and you like to think that your criticisms matter more than the efforts of the people who put in the effort to create a decently entertaining movie, then don't watch this.
As other reviewers have said, grab some popcorn and enjoy this movie.
Beautifica 360 (2022)
Worth seeing - a visual feast
We saw this in IMax and really enjoyed it. It's a trip into a series of amazing high resolution visual effects with a trippy soundtrack. Seeing it in an imax dome was an incredible immersive experience. After it finished the audience applauded. I wanted to see more. When I stood up I needed a minute to steady myself! The sound track is ethereal and heavenly.
This is a collection of computer generated graphics by at least six different visual effects artists that flow into one another. Each has a distinct feel and style. Some felt like outer space with thousands of stars in the background. Pretty cool experience.
Be careful if you get motion sick.
Spirited (2022)
Truly Excellent - in all aspects - and I'm very picky
If you like humor, an excellent script, great acting, fantastic songs and choreography, and a completely unique twist on a classic theme, you will LOVE this heartwarming movie. I'm not a pushover. I'm critical and picky as heck. I rarely watch anything with less than a 7 rating and generally I will bail out when a script doesn't make sense. This movie hit every mark possible. I love smart movies - movies that are well-crafted and this is definitely one.
Anyone rating it less than a 7 is a Scrooge. The complainers are not the target audience for this film! If you don't like musicals, why would you offer a rating? Do you regularly watch film genres you don't like just to torture yourself?
I like tight plots and I won't watch the many series shows because they drag out what can be put into a much shorter film. I found the 2- hour running time went by quickly thanks to an engaging plot with many great elements and wonderfully intertwined subplots.
Personally, I love music but I'm not a big musical fan. However this film was perfectly on target for me. The songs were very well crafted though not particularly memorable. The lyrics were excellent. The choreography was excellent. The directing was excellent!
The humor was very good too. My wife and I generally dislike Will Ferrell's style of comedy, but we both agreed he was likable in this. I credit the script and Ryan Reynolds mainly. Heh. However, Ferrel was well cast for this part.
I rarely write reviews but this movie deserves a way better rating than a 6.6! And we watched it on February 4th so it wasn't exactly in season.
I found myself wishing we had a watch party of friends and family to share this with. It was that good and that much fun.
If you liked "The Greatest Showman", (which is rated 7.5) you will probably like this just as much.
Remembering Heaven (2022)
Extremely well done documentary about the most important subject.
This is an excellent documentary about a polarizing subject. But as more and more information is revealed about near-death experiences and related subjects it's becoming unavoidable. Social media is exploding with NDE stories everywhere you look. Just try searching on your favorite sites. The stories recounted by near-death experiencers reveals important new information about the spiritual reality that we all came from and that we all return to after physical death.
Every religion started from similar spiritually transformative experiences by their central figures. But as people tried to make sense of their founder's stories they eventually went off track attempting to codify their teachings.
People with NDEs have tremendously valuable information to share with us all. In the past some were put to death. Others were turned into Saints, and a few became the cornerstones of new faiths. But all of this obscures their invaluable messages. We owe it to ourselves and our world to study this phenomena more closely. This documentary is another big step in that direction.
The Book of Boba Fett (2021)
Huge disappointment - What???
Plot - 0 out of 10 - makes zero sense - uninspiring
Script - 5 out of 10 - meh
Directing - 6 - some good action - many blah scenes
Sets/Locations - 6 - Star Wars Tatooine retreads
Costumes - 7 - okay - many Star Wars repeats
Acting - 7 - okay considering the script.
When did it become okay to be irrational?
The Mandalorian was not great but this is worse so far.
Dune (2021)
Huh? What did they say?
Dialog that's mumbled, garbled, and nearly inaudible? Really? That's the best they could do? (And no, I'm not talking about the weirding and native dialect. I'm talking about the English!)
Things Heard & Seen (2021)
Not my type, but truly very well done.
This is not my kind of movie but I must give credit where it is due, it's very well done on all points. I'm very picky and I've studied screenwriting and filmmaking. The script, the acting, and the directing are all excellent.
I don't understand why the ratings aren't better. Perhaps it's not gory enough for the horror crowd, it's too spiritual flavor for atheists, and it's not righteous enough for the traditional spiritual types.
The Vast of Night (2019)
Waste of time.
Spoiler: nothing much happens, they here a strange noise, they do dumb things, they see a UFO then they vanish. Seriously. That's it.
An Interview with God (2018)
Not quite. Missed opportunity.
I love spiritual themes. This movie missed the mark, in my opinion. It's got so much potential, but it's squandered. I loved The Shack which wasn't perfect either but it came much closer than this movie.
"Interview" asks great questions but doesn't deliver any satisfying answers. I know it's good to leave things unsaid and it's not good to spell everything out for the audience, but they leave way too much unsaid - so much that this ends up being a nothingburger.
Oh, God! Was 10x better.
Evan Almighty! Was great.
Bruce Almighty! Was great.
And many others do a much better job. This just raises questions. It baffles me how screenwriters can get away with such a big miss. There is so much good info available on how to write a great screenplay!
Every movie can be boiled down to the "author's message." The message here is that "god is good and mysterious." Gee, thanks.
It's not clear if the author has an opinion and is simply unwilling to share it or if they only have faith and questions.
The Shack (2017)
The Best Spiritual Movie I've Ever Seen
If you are spiritual, but not religious, see this movie. If you are religious, see this movie. If you have suffered a great tragedy or loss, and you are in pain, see this movie. If you have tried to make sense of spirituality and religion but could not, see this movie. It is full of wisdom and metaphor and not your standard religious dogma. It's the best spiritual movie I have yet to see.
Closure (2013)
A Truly Excellent Documentary
I"m very picky, but when I find something excellent, I let people know. This documentary is truly excellent. The filmmaker captures people effectively with a variety of styles. The video isn't always perfect, but it captures the real emotions and tells the story with subtle elegance.
This is a very moving and very well told story about a very special couple who adopt a menagerie that seems to exceed that of Ben Affleck and Angelina Jolie's brood. One of their adopted clan decides she wants to learn more about her biological roots and begins a quest to find her birth parents. Beyond probability she succeeds thanks to a variety of seeming coincidences. But what does she find? Will her biological parents be happy to see her, or will her search result in a fresh rejection?
Heaven Is for Real (2014)
Not overly religious and not preachy - which is a very good thing.
I'm very spiritual but not very religious. This movie does an excellent job of sharing important information about the very real issues that near death experiences (NDEs) bring up. All the NDE stories have certain similarities and a judgmental God is not part of them at all. Religion doesn't matter either. All that matters is love for one another. IMO.
Those last few sentences were preacher than this whole movie -- which is a very good thing. It is very tough to tell a spiritual story without being preachy, but this movie does it very well.
If you have the slightest interest, you will enjoy this movie. Is it perfect? No, nothing is, but this movie is pretty good.
8 out of 10 stars. Acting is good too. Kudos to all involved in the production.
Epilogue: There's an odd phenomena happening with any movie that is religious or potentially religious, like this film. They get a lot of 1-star ratings. I'm certain these come from zealots. Mostly, I suspect they are militant atheists who think belief in God is the root of all of mankind's problems. I'm talking about the disciples of Richard Dawkins here. I'll bet serious money that most of the 1-star reviewers never saw the movie.
With a movie like this one there is another potential source of 1-star reviews, fundamentalists who like their religious ideas literal and straight from the bible. Those folks will not like this movie at all. Real spirituality is complicated.
American Harmony (2009)
Totally Awesome!
As their trailer says "It's the greatest singing competition - you've never heard of." Each year, quartets from around the world compete for the gold medal and the right to be called the best in barbershop.
If you have ever heard a barbershop competition you know what a blast it is. If not, this movie will show you what you have been missing all these years. These are consummate showmen. They are incredibly entertaining and the sound is unequaled.
It has won several Film Festival awards this year including one best documentary award and a silver medal.
This could be the next sleeper documentary hit. Unfortunately, it has not had good distribution yet.