Though this film was released in 1954, it.became increasingly current over the years. It can be seen as an allegory of the way we see life through the media, especially television. There is a kind of invisible barrier that protects and keeps us away from everything that happens in the world.
Reviews
7 Reviews
The Executioner
(1963)
A brilliant drama & comedy
3 January 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Text: A film to watch over and over again, and each time new things are discovered, in the form of details that are born naturally from the story but make us laugh at their bizarreness. A caustic critic of the death penalty released in 1963, when death penalty and censorship still existed in Spain under the Franco's dictatorship. Only a waste of imagination and skill made it possible for this film to survive to this day. Typical of Berlanga is an ensemble cast, which gives rise to tragic and comic situations where at times one does not know whether to laugh or cry. Cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli (Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo and La vita è bella) does a great job behind the camera.
A guy that could be yourself gets trapped by his own destiny and falls driven by people around him into a spiral of bad luck until the end, where we find a memorable scene both hilarious and terribly sad.
In summary, here we have a masterpiece of Spanish cinema and probably one of the best films internationally. It's a shame that so few people have seen it. If it had more votes it would probably make it into the top 250 of the IMDb.
A guy that could be yourself gets trapped by his own destiny and falls driven by people around him into a spiral of bad luck until the end, where we find a memorable scene both hilarious and terribly sad.
In summary, here we have a masterpiece of Spanish cinema and probably one of the best films internationally. It's a shame that so few people have seen it. If it had more votes it would probably make it into the top 250 of the IMDb.
Not as bad as many people say
28 December 2019
The first thing you need to know is that this film had hundreds of ratings with basically 1/10 and 10/10 (as a reply to the 1/10 ratings) before the release. Too much passion from passionate people. The rest is history: some people finally watched the film and wrote several negative reviews and the rest read the reviews and posted the same ideas in their own reviews.
As somebody said here, this film is dense and requires several viewings to understand it completely, specially the first thirty minutes; I remember that when I was a teenager something similar happened to me when I watched Episode IV at the theatre (please don't let me be misunderstood: I'm not comparing them!).
I agree this film uses spot techniques studied to catch fans. That's the price to be now part of the Disney's universe. But objectively speaking, this film has all the elements to be an acceptable (just that) ending of the saga.
The soundtrack by John Williams is as good as always: that's a strong point that shows if we compare it with The Mandalalorian's ST, for instance.
Some characters like Poe Dameron are too Disney-like for my taste (maybe young public feels more identified with him), and some scenes by Rey portray her more like a Pokémon than like a master like Yoda, although the plot gives a strong reason for her to behave like that.
As a conclusion, this is not the best SW film to date, but not the worst either. If you haven't seen it yet, please make yourself a favor and stop reading these reviews until you go to the theatre and judge the whole thing from your own point of view.
As somebody said here, this film is dense and requires several viewings to understand it completely, specially the first thirty minutes; I remember that when I was a teenager something similar happened to me when I watched Episode IV at the theatre (please don't let me be misunderstood: I'm not comparing them!).
I agree this film uses spot techniques studied to catch fans. That's the price to be now part of the Disney's universe. But objectively speaking, this film has all the elements to be an acceptable (just that) ending of the saga.
The soundtrack by John Williams is as good as always: that's a strong point that shows if we compare it with The Mandalalorian's ST, for instance.
Some characters like Poe Dameron are too Disney-like for my taste (maybe young public feels more identified with him), and some scenes by Rey portray her more like a Pokémon than like a master like Yoda, although the plot gives a strong reason for her to behave like that.
As a conclusion, this is not the best SW film to date, but not the worst either. If you haven't seen it yet, please make yourself a favor and stop reading these reviews until you go to the theatre and judge the whole thing from your own point of view.
Fight Club
(1999)
Disappointing to me
26 November 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I know my critic is unpopular, but this film has a lot of inconsistencies in the plot. Firstly, how the club becomes so popular that office workers, policemen, bus drivers, taxi drivers, etc. participate in it...? it sounds like nonsense, doesn't it? Secondly, they become so powerful that they change into a sort of terrorist army that destroys official buildings in a fight against materialism... if they're so powerful, why do they need to destroy buildings? Thirdly, the film reaches in its final part a pretended twist-in-the-end in which the main character suffers a double personality syndrome; apart that this has been yet treated in films like Psycho, in the film it's something more than a psychriatic disturbance; it's like a 'ghostly syndrome', since the main character seems to be hit by a ghost as can be seen in the vigilance cameras' images, and he finally shots himself in his mouth and doesn't die. You can build a brainy interpretation about everything, and say it's an allegory about the problems in modern society and the like, but for me it's not that profound. Also, the comic moments -like the man with the big breasts'- are for me tasteless. And the extreme violence unnecessary. I'll give it a 6 out of 10, and I think I'm being generous with my rating.
Ad Astra
(2019)
Awful
22 September 2019
I think this is one of the worst movies of all time, in a group with Manos, the Hands of Fate. Almost no plot, full of physical inconsistences that result in goofs everywhere throughout the movie, boring till death and with characters that never wash themselves (!). At least, me and my brothers were laughing almost all of the time. It's the first time I give a 2/10.
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