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Reviews
Forgotten Ellis Island (2008)
Hope and horror, kindness and prejudice greeted immigrants to Ellis Island. ,
This film helped me understand and appreciate what my own family went through upon arriving at Ellis Island. Thankfully, they were among the early Italian wave of immigrants. I know from my father the prejudice that he encountered towards Italians in New York but knew nothing of the eugenics part of the story. What a wonderful country we were to welcome so many that had so little. How much have these multitudes of brave people contributed to America in the ensuing century? Certainly the process was imperfect as were the scientific practices of the time, but all in all, this film captures the heart of America and the soul of those who undertook this huge and risky adventure in a new land!
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Please set my bail and get me out of here!
It is difficult to write a bad review of a Batman movie. The franchise, started for most of us in childhood,grew to reach major movie studio treatment. That being said, the Dark Night Rises is a laughable attempt at completing the Batman story. At a very long 2 hour and 45 minutes, I eventually felt I was being held against my will. In fact, by the end, I was hoping that Metropolis would once and for all be destroyed. As luck would have it, that did not come to pass. The movie was filled with plot holes, a cardboard villain and contrived drama. As the clock on the bomb counted down from the overused 5 seconds, a silent cheer could be heard in the audience watching with me as it appeared the end was near. The plot line, hard to call it that as it is more of a plot meander, like a slow moving stream that carves its way snaking along the unremarkable flatness of the mid-west, covers far too much territory far too glibly. The only character that was actually fun to watch was that of Anne Hathaway, and not for the most obvious of reasons. Her snide and cynical portrayal seems just right for this abomination of a film. I lack the ambition to finish this review as it makes me relive nearly three hours when I was held prisoner by The Batman!
The Dark Knight (2008)
A convoluted slow ride to Paris!
It is difficult to write a bad review of a Batman movie. The franchise, started for most of us in childhood, grew to reach major movie studio treatment. That being said, the Dark Night Rises is a laughable attempt at completing the Batman story. At a very long 2 hour and 45 minutes, I eventually felt I was being held against my will. In fact, by the end, I was hoping that Metropolis would once and for all be destroyed. As luck would have it, that did not come to pass. The movie was filled with plot holes, a ridiculous villain and contrived drama. As the clock on the bomb counted down from the overused 5 seconds, a silent cheer could be heard in the audience watching with me as the end neared. The plot line, hard to call it that as it is more of a plot meander, like a slow moving stream that carves its way snaking along the unremarkable flatness of the mid-west, covers far too much territory far too glibly. The only character that was actually fun to watch was that of Anne Hathaway, and not for the most obvious of reasons. Her snide and cynical portrayal seems just right for this abomination of a film. I lack the ambition to finish this review as it makes me relive nearly three hours when I was held prisoner by The Batman!