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The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
what a disappointment
I can't tell you how disappointed I was, since Christopher Nolan directed three of my favorite movies -- Inception, The Prestige, and Memento -- as well as the two most recent Batman movies which were really good, and not just "superhero-type" movies, but were really high-quality films in every respect.
Another phenomenon is how I could dislike a movie that stars some of my all-time favorite actors -- Michael Caine, Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman -- not to mention other greats like Marion Cotillard, Gary Oldman, plus Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy (who was totally wasted as the villain wearing this mask that obscured all his emotions and, particularly, his voice).
Actually almost all of their talents were totally wasted, mainly because the storyline was grossly deficient in so many ways.
However it is somewhat entertaining, and good in a few parts (for example, I thought Catwoman was a bright spot), so it's not a bomb or anything.
The Tree of Life (2011)
A staggeringly bad movie, exquisitely filmed
A strong contender for the most boring, laughably pretentious "major award-winning" film ever made.
Completely lacking in what most people consider a plot, The Tree of Life is an extraordinarily tedious chronicle of a family, and the trials and tribulations of their largely uninteresting lives. There is very little dialog, and a large percentage of it is a failed attempt at being simple, yet somehow cosmically meaningful.
Then there's the pseudo-mystical ending -- which most viewers will never see because they will have stopped watching long before -- which is disappointing, absurd, and ultimately an insulting attempt by the auteur to foist his half-baked philosophy on the by-now brain-dead audience.
Technically the film is extremely well made, though, and a lot of the photography, camera-work, etc., is outstanding. The actors do a fairly good job too, with what they are given. But all of these efforts are totally wasted because of the hopelessly dull story line.
Prince Charming (2001)
Christina Applegate's acting is surprisingly great
Before watching this movie I hadn't had too high an opinion of Christina Applegate's acting talent. However I thought she was terrific here....especially in the scene where she and the Prince are in the museum and they see his portrait. To me her acting in that scene was truly magical -- it ranks as one of my favorite movie moments. This movie is severely underrated -- perhaps because it was a made-for-TV production. The first 20 minutes or so admittedly are a bit uneven, but then it really takes off. For the fullest enjoyment one must remember that it is a fairy tale, after all, and hence requires the requisite suspension of belief. The acting overall is absolutely superb: Bernadette Peters is at her best; Billy Connolly plays his role to perfection; the actor who plays the prince (whose name escapes me!) should be more famous than he is, as he was spot-on; Martin Short was typically wonderful and just right; and nearly all of the other actors were tailor-made for their roles.