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mikefox-04778
Reviews
The Redeem Team (2022)
Who was on the team?
It's an ok piece of film work, gives some historical context, and has some good and interesting behind-the-scene insights into the motivations and mindsets of coach K and some of the players.
But for a documentary which is trying to make the point that teamwork, camaraderie and chemistry are the most important ingredients in a successful team, it sure does a terrible job at including all players as an integral part. The film hypocritically preaches team spirit, then goes on to single out the individual contributions of 3-6 players at every possible turn, while pretty much ignoring the rest of the team.
So who was on the team? Yes, Kobe, LeBron, D-Wade, Melo, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer
But also:
- Jason Kidd
- Deron Williams
- Michael Redd
- Dwight Howard
- Chris Paul
- Tayshaun Prince
It could have been a lot better, if all players had been interviewed, or if they actually didn't want to (which I doubt), then at least give them their separate spotlight on the court. They were on the team, they made it work as well, they had their moments, not just the "main" characters.
You Can Choose Your Family (2018)
The usual web of lies, but with some heart
Hollywood for decades has been thinking that a web of lies and a build-up of more and more ridiculous contortions to save those lies from being exposed before everything comes crashing down makes for a good story line. I'm utterly tired of it. But this movie actually succeeds in making us half-believe that the lies have not sprung from complete idiocy, but had some strong coercion. It's almost believable that he thinks he was doing the right thing. I particularly enjoy that there is no wholesome forgiveness waiting for the protagonist, just a partial one. So yeah, it's not a funny movie, the bong-smoking uncle is unnecessarily graphically gross, but it has some unexpected heart.
His Dark Materials (2019)
Getting worse by the episode
Not having read the books (which is a rare thing for me when it comes to screen adaptations of fantasy novels), I found the first season rather enjoyable to watch, even if it seemed like an absolute mystery why anyone in the misogynistic Magisterium would put up with Mrs Coulter for more than a minute before removing her from all positions of power, as she seemed to fail at all endeavours. The end to season one was an surprising twist and a good climax.
In the second season, the story plot gets lost, it feels like enormous parts of if are skipped over, and strangely at the same time it feels as if there is hardly any development. Ok, so Will and Lyra have come to a new world but don't seem curious at all of what's outside the city walls. The scientist Mary Malone is apparently supposed to "figure it out by herself" (what Dust is), but seems to do nothing scientific, and in the end just gets put out of her ignorance by the Dust angels who decide to talk to her despite her unimaginative attempts to communicate. Mrs Coulter is straight out of a horror movie with her gaping void of a mouth, and reading some of the reviews here suggests this is not a great portrayal of the original book character. Lee Scoresby as one of the few likeable characters in this series has somehow developed the deepest feelings of love for Lyra, which makes me feel like I missed an episode (I haven't). Carlo Boreal seems like a super villain at first, then degenerates into a doting sentimental chump who has no perceivable skill of perception when it comes to the object of his affection. The bears and Gyptians seem pretty much gone from the story. The witches get half wiped out of existence without even a fight, looks like they were pretty much defenseless, didn't seem like it at other times - was everyone asleep? Lord Asriel is completely absent until the last episode, where he gets a short scene in the worst episode of them all. This last episode is all over the place, the decisions characters take make absolutely no sense to me, like the witches deciding they should be walking through canyons instead of flying above them so they can be picked off easily one by one by the spectres. Will wandering off on his own. Lyra not using the alethiometer as usual, which is never really explained. Mrs Coulter catching up to them in a heartbeat when they have been travelling for days. Will meeting finally meeting his father seems to have no point, and makes Lee Scoresbys death all the more pointless and disappointing. It non-ends in an total mess of verbiage accompanied by unexplicably grandiose music
It feels like the second season was directed by someone in completely over their head, without a sense for which parts of the book's tale should be in- and excluded.
Redemption Day (2021)
Clear rating manipulation
Check the distribution of the ratings, it has clearly been manipulated. This terrible movie would never get so many 10-star reviews.
The plot holes and the sheer uninspiration of this movie is mindboggling.
IO (2019)
More fiction than science, and yet atmospheric
A post-apocalyptic movie which finds no need for bombastic presentation, but focuses more on creating an atmosphere of loneliness, the loneliness of an abandoned planet who witnesses his inhabitants disappear and fade. It's like playing an indie game who doesn't try to impress with expensive graphics, and instead imparts a mood that feels... different. The actors are great, ethereal Margaret Qualley and intense Anthony Mackie both give more depth to their characters than the rather minimalist script warrants. There are some blatant scientific bloopers, my personal favourite would have to be "ammonium as the main oxygen source". If you can just experience this movie as glancing into a strange slow-moving bubble between worlds and ages, you may find it as enjoyable as I did. If you expect fast action, an extensive story, or consistent science, you'll be disappointed.
Heathers (1988)
Over-hyped
So it's a cult movie that seems to strike a nerve with everyone having gone to an American high school. Not being American, I have some trouble relating to the characters, even taking into account their obvious caricature. There are some bumpy p(l)ot holes along the way, like Heather number one gulping down the drink without even sniffing it just because she was 'dared', the second footballer/victim running directly back to where he knows the first one was killed (even as brainless as he is, that's a reach), J.D. speaking out loud (not even psychopaths regularly do that unless is furthers the story) to a faceless hanged Veronica so obviously not hanging from her neck, Veronica turning up at school without a plan or an attempt to warn the other people, randomly looking for J.D. who could be blowing up the school at every moment. Just because it's satire doesn't mean you should just give a free pass to every terribly constructed story turn.
I like both lead actors, had a crush on Winona Ryder like every teenage boy with eyes in the nineties. But even though there is gushing praise for their acting in many people's reviews here, my experience was different. Making a caricature out of a character is easy, playing the caricature in a believable way is hard. I didn't feel they were able to pull the latter off.
The 6/10 is a measure of enjoying the challenge the movie presents, to homicide and suicide portrayal ethics, to your ability to digest the first unexpected murder, to rule violations in general like the compassionate protagonist clinically witnessing her former boyfriend's gory suicide.
The movie is different, unconstrained and is bound to tumble around in your thoughts for a while.
Love & Other Drugs (2010)
Carried by the cast and the music
Starting with the bad, this movie has no originality in its story, in no way can it lay claim to digressing from the overused Hollywood romantic movie plots. Boy finds sick girl who sets him straight, boy and girl separate for stupid reasons, boy finds out how much he loves girl, boy wins girl back with grandiose romantic speech.
I also find the psychology and philosophy of the movie flawed. It treats the fear of being hurt or the fear of needing someone as inevitable ingredients or even likable qualities, where they are normally expressions of low self esteem and lacking courage. Realizing you do *need* each other is what brings you back together? Need is not love, need is selfish, where love is giving.
I did not buy: the homeless guy's Prozac transformation, the drug agents and doctors milieu constantly partying like wall-street wolves, the convenient parkinson-conference across the street with all its positivity, the panic attack originating from telling someone you love him, the closing scene.
Apart from that, I largely enjoyed the movie. Jake Gyllenhaal has found its most natural role as a slight nimrod with emotional deficiencies (adding depression in his 2015 movie Demolition), Anne Hathaway is breathtaking in her sensuality and sensibility, and also the supporting cast is wonderful. Combined with a resourceful soundtrack (The Specials, The Kinks, Fleetwood Mac, Regina Spektor, ...), it's hard to watch the movie without finding something to like.
La La Land (2016)
Average at best
Obviously there is a little of a problem when you watch a movie as acclaimed as this one, this will always generate a slightly unfair expectation bias.
Still, battling through opening scenes which are simply boring, wondering when the movie may start taking a few unexpected turns, dreading the reappearance of people singing mediocrely and without much inspiration, not much good can be said about the first hour.
And even the rest I spent far from captivated by a disastrously simple story line: Girl meets boy repeatedly, they fall in love, both are very talented and under-appreciated artists, boy acts stupid, girl sets him straight, one row and the relationship is on pause, boy rescues girl from low self-esteem, they both have to follow their dream which rips them apart, years later they meet again, both successful and appreciated now, still love each other, but oh the tragedy they can't be together.
And before we can leave we have to sit through an alternative universe dream where everything went perfect.
There is basically a complete absence of witty dialog, all elements are pieced together to self-celebrate Hollywood, at times the picture gets so cheesy the screen threatens to turn into caramel. Add a happy-end and you would doubtlessly leave with a sugar overdose. As it is, it's tolerable.
What's rescuing this movie from the jaws of lethal pathos is its cinematographic master class, the electric magic between Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling which is well-proved by now, and a main score track which carries some spice. The sheer number of awards this movie has received is hard to understand for me.
Captain Fantastic (2016)
Enthralling and honest
Intelligent and funny, full of colour and emotion, this gripping movie does a great job of taking on the downsides of our more civilised life: detachment from nature, eroding of family bonds, focus on amassing wealth rather than experience and knowledge, lacking ethics. And then when you're lulled into believing going back to the roots is the answer, makes you understand it's all not that easy and one-sided. An impressive cast and story keeps you enthralled for the full two hours.
It's interesting to read the negative reviews, which all focus on one thing basically: the perceived slight against our way of living. What they mostly seem to miss completely is the honesty with which the problems and short-comings of Ben's mindset are brought up. Most notably when he runs out of words to defend his actions (like teaching his kids to steal from a supermarket, or running the risk of climbing a rock face in uncertain weather) to his father-in-law, when he has to admit the life in the woods did not help his late wife, when his son rightfully accuses him of not preparing him enough (making him a freak) for social encounters, when he has to apologise for not respecting the rules of people within their own house. And when the movie finishes on a compromise.
The bad reviews also mention (not without merit) the many extraordinary and too little explained talents Ben has. But it would take extraordinary people to attempt and successfully create this utopia, so just imagine he's the one that had the tenacity and qualifications to succeed where others have failed. I mean outdoorsy physicists interested in history and philosophy DO exist ;)!
One of the most enjoyable movies I've seen in years.
En duva satt på en gren och funderade på tillvaron (2014)
More like Reflecting on Non-Existence
The movie takes painstaking care to portray humanity at its worst. With thespian scenes, set camera and no movement, the unlucky viewer is led through a series of mostly disconnected tragedies of the mundane and less mundane life, with the actors generally mostly half-way to their grave both in agility and complexion. Lacking respect of death and the dying, death, greed, cruelty, slavery, torture, poverty, heart-break, loneliness, depression, suicide, war, grief. There is no character development, no hope, no love, no colour. In a regrettably dystopian image of a world, Andersson is treating the audience to misery and despair, without bothering with too much imagination. Attempts of understated comedian expression repeatedly fall flat. The end credits come as a relief from utter boredom.
The Guilt Trip (2012)
Seth Rogan More Than Tolerable
Being neither a big fan of Seth Rogan, talented actor but participant in so many unspeakably bad movies, nor Barbara Streisand, this movie definitely had to overcome some obstacles for me. Which it did, with Rogan in a refreshingly unpretentious role of a son who is trying to deal patiently with his Mom's idiosyncrasies and finding success as an inventor, and Streisand very believable as a too intrusive mom worried about her son's life. They are effectively both trying to fix the other's life, in a good-natured but also slightly naive way. The movie was sufficiently credible to me, while staying light on its feet without engaging in unnecessary comedy (something that seems to put off a lot of people who had this expectation, probably influenced by Rogan's usual role and the marketing) or drawn-out deception entanglements.
Heightened spoiler alert... I particularly like the scene Andrew puts it squarely to Joyce why he wants her to come to San Francisco. So many movies would think it's a good idea for the character to keep coming up with some pretense that would explode into his face at some point. Instead he pitches it to her, as badly as he pitches his invention, with a reaction of Joyce that comes across as genuine as well. And then there is the next-to-last scene in SF, which might contain one of the most heart-warming moments in cinema history, just when you thought there would be no catharsis for decade-old feelings (which might have increased the authenticity, but I feel the movie had been lifelike enough to justify indulging in a happy end).
Hats off to Anne Fletcher and Dan Fogelman.
The Lobster (2015)
So weird, so alive and dead at the same time, and a bit too violent
This movie is as weird as a camel in a forest. It has you figuring out what's really going on, whether the people get interned in the hotel by choice or by law, for a long time. The polite service and the pretty surroundings of the hotel create a stark contrast with the many rules, mandatory activities, psychological abuse and draconian measures. The matter of fact proceedings and dialogues, the ready acceptance of horrible circumstances contrast with the insanity of the system and the mental anguish the people must feel. Expressions of emotions are usually deliberately subdued, which exacerbates the surreal experience for the audience.
Figuring out the world depicted in that movie is as much fun as trying to understand why it was constructed this way. Did Yorgos Lanthimos write the whole thing as a hyperbole to actual life? Is uncovering the hypocrisy of the hotel owners relationship a central message, is the mad search for a common "defining" characteristic something he really thinks is happening in the world or is it an analogy for something else?
If you watch this movie with an open mind, it will stay with you for a long time, which is one of the most valuable characteristics available.
The acting performances are universally great, although the absence of displayed emotion creates a slightly skewed measurement of course.
Heightened spoiler alert...
I'd love to give this movie more than 7/10, but I can't do that for two reasons. First one is unnecessary graphic violence. To show the still frame of a dog (that's actually a person) who has been kicked to death, for a perceived 5 seconds, is just bad taste, nothing else. Showing the bloody shin of the women is more than enough. It makes little to no sense for Lea Seydoux to have Rachel Weisz kill the former hotel maid. Driving home the point that the heartless woman has no heart can be done less painful than having a suicidal woman scream for an eternity while she bleeds to death. The second reason is the beginning and the ending. It's just too easy to let the audience hanging, I think in most movies an inconclusive ending is just a cheap shot at extending the previously mentioned effect of it sticking in your mind. The same goes for the unexplained and deliberately enigmatic beginning.
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)
One of the better stoner comedies
The bigger part of the movie is just the usual silly "let's talk dirt, get high, make as many music/race/sex/drugs jokes as we possibly can", with most of it not being imaginative enough to actually laugh about. Dusk and dawn have a duration of about three seconds, despite driving a lot of miles the same people keep bumping into each other. The incredible screen presence of Kal Penn and John Cho as well as strong appearances by Neil Patrick Harris and Gary Anthony Williams keep the movie from falling apart however.
Flash Gordon (1980)
Awful movie, yet iconic
Sam Jones in that movie is as bad an actor as they come. In a weird way that makes him a believable football quarterback. Brian Blessed could have been blessed with more talent as well, and Melody Anderson plays a strange tune. Then there are Timothy Dalton, Ornella Muti, and of course Max von Sydow, with quite strong performances.
The effects are horrible, even for that movie age. The Hawkmen "flying" in particular are terrible to behold, closely followed by the Lizardmen's snake suit costumes with eyes inside their mouths. The rulers of the galaxy seem to number a couple of hundred people, the Arboria planet/moon is a floating rock with a forest barely bigger than a football field, and the aerial city is more like the size of a village, so I guess inbreeding is a given for all involved races and may explain a lot. I've never read the comic, so I can't make a comparison.
The story is studded with American pathos, the hero is the quarterback of the New York Jets, savior of the universe, who gets invincible as soon as he holds something the shape of a football. What really kills me though is that the wedding march seems to be universal.
So why not 2/10? Once you get over how bad this movie is, you need to admit it sticks with you. It does a great job at being so bad it gets good again, because you've never seen anything quite like it. I have a theory about Art which says: Art is what has the power to cut through the mind-mesh you have created over the years, hitting your heart and soul unchecked, causing that happy feeling of touching something otherworldly with your mind. Flash Gordon does that for me. It's iridescent, iconic and unique, which is notably reinforced by the Queen soundtrack.
The Dressmaker (2015)
I so want to give this a better rating
So much going right for that movie. Amazing cast, Australian setting that seems genuine, colourful in every facet, gripping story, funny and tragic, utterly weird and still somehow staying within itself.
At least 8.5/10 for most of it.
{Big spoiler alert}
And then they decide to kill off Teddy in the most stupid, implausible and pointless way possible. Trying to impress his girl and in some warped sense prove she's not cursed, by jumping into a silo full of mice. And as it turns out sorghum, which I am pretty sure Teddy would at least consider possible, if he knows it's been loaded that morning. So he drowns. Apparently they have to cut a hole in the side of the silo, which takes 3 hours. No unloading door at the bottom, no way to fish him out from the top? OK, I get it, everyone has to be subjected to a terrible destiny in this movie, and and it needs to be Different. Does a great job of that, too. Still, I didn't recover from that scene, the rest of the movie, which is basically a destructive spiral into death and oblivion, passed in a blur.
Adventureland (2009)
Realistic in some areas but not in others
I find it hard to decide if I want to applaud this movie for doing away with the usual obviously designed dialogues that exceed the characters intellect, or to criticise it for its very few original and surprising moments.
One clear issue I have with embracing the former perspective is that the characters themselves are hopelessly exaggerated. The likable nerd, the philosophical jew, the femme fatale waiting to be rescued by true love, the sexy gum-popping lipstick chick, the bald mother-in-law witch, the lets-hit-each-other-in-the-balls jokester, the queer folks running an amusement park... The only character which has a slightly surprising side to me would have to be Connell, who is an adulterer and liar but still manages to be a likable guy, and garner some sympathy when he doesn't rat James out.
So you construct a story that has not much originality over any other romcoms, cook up the characters out of the usual rather one- dimensional repertoire, then try to be more realistic and life-like about their dialogues? To me, this ended up being neither fish nor fowl.
Still, to some degree, I can't help but succumbing to the romantic summer fair attraction of Adventureland, its crew, its atmosphere.
If you want to watch a similar themed movie, with more heart, originality and less pathos, consider The Way Way Back.