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Wanderlust (2012)
Heartwarming, funny social commentary with great chemistry!
I just finished watching this for the second time, and once again laughed my way though it. Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd have great chemistry and the issues in their relationship and genuine love for each other come off as very believable. The hippie characters at the commune (sorry "intentional living" community) are also well drawn, and speaking as someone with a lot of friends of that generation, are pretty authentic and while they are comic side-kicks, they also add a lot to the story and are not treated with scorn or derision (except for the one who turns out to be the protagonist of the story, but hey, no spoilers, right?). If you want to have a bit of fun with your wife or girlfriend, I say go for it. The movie has an undertone of social commentary, which is fair play, given the times we live in. Not really for little kids, as the jokes can be pretty raunchy at times.
The Aeronauts (2019)
A thrilling and gorgeous film!
Hooray for movies like this. The cinematography and CGI really sell you on being right there with the characters, in the terrifying stillness and frenzy and wonder of early exploration of the atmosphere. This is not a documentary, and not meant to be history with a capital "H" - it is historical fiction, and as such most of the characters are amalgams and there are anachronisms that will require suspension of disbelief if you are well versed in the actual events and era in which the film is set. For that reason I gave it an 8 out of 10. Even so, I still highly recommend this film for the adventure and the message that it brings, that we should look to the sky (and space) for mankind's future, for "that way is clear" and "you don't change the world simply by looking at it. You change it by living in it."
Ignore the "incels" who have targeted with 1-star reviews to bring this movie's ratings down because they are outraged by the insertion of a female character in place of Henry Tracey Coxwell. There is no a secret political agenda at work. Rather a typical hollywood device to add drama and depth to what otherwise might have been a dry and inaccessible story. Felicity Jones' acting is great. Her character is based on Sophie Blanchard, a French aeronaut who was the first woman to work as a professional balloonist between 1804 and her death in 1819. Go with it. Give this movie a try.
Be patient, let the characters' backstories develop over the first act, and by midway through it, you will be thoroughly enchanted!
Man of Steel (2013)
Disappointing, despite the money it will undoubtedly make...
This wasn't a bad movie - it had a lot of good scenes from which the studio made an awesome trailer. Indeed, I was hoping from the trailer that this would be the best Superman movie of all time, but I have to rate it 4th, after the two Donner films (Superman, and Superman II) and the sadly underrated but wonderfully moving "Superman Returns", a film that had tremendous heart and soul, great character development, a little humor and plenty of CGI action to show off Supes' power and humanity, without the overblown audio, shaky camera, quick zoom and refocus, lens flare, extreme-close-ups, twirling camera cuts and other tricks that made MOS' action scenes dizzying (in a bad way), hard to follow and left me with a headache. And I have to say, this movie was really hurt by the omission of the wonderfully iconic John Williams Superman theme. Instead, we got plenty of product placement ads. I'm sure the studio will be pleased with the money it will make, but this film failed to deliver an emotional punch and in the end, wasn't very "super".
No Substitute for Victory (1971)
Wartime propaganda
This film gets 5 out of 10 stars for accurately portraying the American point of view on the Vietnam War from a right wing, hawkish perspective. There is absolutely no counter argument made, and any and all contradictory facts (of which any historian worth his salt could find an overwhelming number) are deliberately omitted. If you're unfamiliar with the extreme right-wing take on Vietnam, then there is value in seeing this film. But don't expect to walk away from it knowing the truth of what happened, or what went wrong in Vietnam during America's campaign in Southeast Asia.
Sadly, the well worn points made in this film about the military "having to fight with one hand, or both hands, tied behind its back", the fingers pointed at the traitorous liberal media and politicians inexplicably siding with communists, have been taken as articles of faith by vast numbers of people today. The actual facts are far more subtle.
In truth, America had many successes in Vietnam - both political and military, but failed to properly understand and capitalize on them or see the bigger picture until too late. Ironically, the positions taken in "No Substitute for Victory" in support of the war, are among the main reasons why the Communists prevailed. American impatience with the pace of victory and frustration in coping with an enemy using asymmetrical battle tactics led to a widening of the war, including carpet bombing and the resulting 'collateral damage', which in turn lost us the very 'hearts and minds' that we needed to win in order to take popular support away from the Communists. At the same time, propaganda (like this film) and outright lies by the military (inflated body counts, deliberately under reporting enemy numbers) led to wide scale disillusionment and loss of credibility with the American people.
Rather than own up to America's tactical and political blunders - which would make American a more powerful and effective champion of the freedoms it stands for and hopes to spread around the world, movies like this put the blame on easy targets (hippies, traitors in the media and government) and in doing so, miss the point of history entirely and, worse of all, perpetuate a culture war that continues to divide us as a people.
Pink Angels (1971)
Quite simply the worst movie ever made
I hope when I am on my death bed I do not remember the 81 minutes I spent watching this utter disaster of a movie. I didn't laugh once. If you want to see a movie about over the top gays and laugh at societies' reaction to them, I suppose Bruno might be a better option. This film just isn't funny, or sexy, or intelligent. I could go on (apparently I have to in order to leave a comment on IMDb!) O.k., the acting is atrocious. The biker costumes are awful. The military costumes aren't. They are sorta green hunting jackets from a sporting goods store. The soldier in the film has bushy side burns (apparently he didn't think the script was worth shaving for). He calls his general when he sees the bikers...by opening a mail box (with the house number clearly visible) to grab a white phone and start talking (prop department? What prop department?) Oh, and the music is beyond amateurish and doesn't even fit the scenes. If you think a cow "mooo" sound effect is funny when a woman's breasts are shown, by all means, see this movie. Then shoot yourself and do your part to advance the human gene pool.