Reviews

Despite what the ideologues out there try hard to push, the movie has a very balanced perspective on race and and objective look at history. Each side of the coin expected the movie to support their narrative and when that didn't happen, they slammed the movie with a low score.

Also, the videography is stunning and the actors performance stelar! Viola Davis give an Oscar-level performance, pivoting brilliantly from portraying a strong woman that carries the destiny of the whole continent on her shoulders to displaying the weakness and sensitive side of a woman with a troubled childhood.

Do not fall for the propaganda on either side, just watch the movie and decide for yourself. You will not regret it.

I was pleasantly surprised to identify clear and bright gold veins of Guenonian Traditionalism in the narrative of this great movie. The spiritual connection to the esoteric truth of the primordial tradition will most probably slide by ignored by the movie watchers, yet those accustomed with Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Rene Guenon and Frithjof Schuon will recognize and savor the deeper level of interpretation presented to the public through this visual masterpiece. The rational-driven minds of today will have a hard time understanding the role of the scene where rational, scientific knowledge, no matter how vast, is not enough to crack open the mysteries of the universe, and only rising up to the superior level of intuitive knowledge obtained through inspiration and revelation a human being can hope to aspire at grasping the whole truth. Escaped in today's world, the genie experiences anything but freedom, a wonderful depiction of the end of Kali Yuga, the current cycle, where spirituality finds less and less a place, drowned by the avalanche of communication, messages, unfiltered ideas and destructive ideologies. As such, spirituality, aka the genie, is forced, after almost being completely destroyed, to escape the crazy world and return now and then to touch base only with those who are ready, willing and able to perceive him.

The movie is a marvelous artistic depiction of fundamental spiritual concepts that will leave some cold and indifferent while enchanting the initiated in the spiritual paths of the primordial tradition.

The first half of the movie is excellent! The script points out important existential aspects we need, as a world, to reflect upon, and the cinematography is of top quality. Then it all falls apart into a disaster, a Hollywoodian kitsch. Too bad! It could have been awesome, but somehow someone there had to power to overwrite quality and force a derailing of the movie into a cheap, tasteless, classic Hollywood action bull.

Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston have pulled a big hit with the movie "The Upside." Both actors brought forward an amazing acting talent. Kevin Hart displays a wide range of emotions, from the deeply troubled minority average male to the beloved comedian we all know him to be. Bryan Cranston had an immensely hard role to play, with the camera set on his face the entire movie. You have to be an xtremely talented and expressive actor to play an entire movie only with your face, without the ability to use your body to support the role. And he pulled it through brilliantly. We should not forget the script, based on a real-life story. Humor is used dazzlingly to introduce much deeper aspects of life. Since a direct approach of those aspect would have probably shocked the audience, humor is used as a conduit to open the mind to deeper analysis of those elements that give our life meaning, at a much higher symbolic and spiritual level than everything directly related to our body. All together "The Upside" is a movie that pleases both mind and soul, making you laugh while appreciating the profound things in life.

This movie is a masterpiece for Jackie Chan. In the past he used to create martial arts action movies with some drama, now he created a profound drama movie with great martial arts action. Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan feature masterful acting skills beyond their average standard. I was very impressed with Jackie Chan's emotional range in the tragedy realm and with Pierce Brosnan's Irish accent, both managing to build complex characters. Bottom line: a very different type of movie for Jackie Chan, that proves he deserves to join the upper category of complexity, acting and script level. Plus, the music is killer!

The Legend of Tarzan is the epic version of Burroughs' story. Many scenes are similar to the opening scene in "King Kong", with mist and amazing scenery and savage tribes to bring back a mysterious past of little known areas of our planet. The movie makes justice to the raw beauty of the African continent. The script cleverly weaves in historical facts little known about the destructive control of the European imperial powers over the African continent. Even though at times the computer generated imagery and action becomes obvious, if you let yourself carried on by the story you will end up with a wonderful sensory experience rich in amazing imagery and epic music.

This version of the legend of Hercules is probably one of the best I have watched so far. Way before Discovery Channel I was lucky enough to have a History teacher who was an expert in old empires and their methods to train and fight. The movie Hercules embodies everything that professor taught us about the ancient times. Hercules keeps it amazingly real, yet bringing in the glory of the ancient times of Greek legends. I guess many people are so entrenched is the Hollywood's bombastic and unrealistic special effects that they were disappointed by how close this movie kept it to reality. Yet, make no mistake, the movie delivers on every plan, from great twists in the story, to excellent and memorable lines, to tension brought to peak levels, to amazing cinematography.

Kevin Costner's "Black or White" is one of those break-through movies who bring the silver screen art to a next level. In his case, the movie brings the cultural and social conversation about race to a level it should have been long time ago. The movie suggests a new paradigm for the topic of race, a level where the social and personal relationships between people no longer include the skin color. The movie portrays with a keen sense the tension and resistance our cultural biases pose to any attempt to remove the racial aspects from the confrontations between people of different skin color. In "Black or White" Kevin Costner breaks the pattern of action hero he has got us used with, displaying acting traits of the highest level. With the camera close-ups on his face most of the time, his eyes add immense value to his acting, displaying real emotions and deep feelings only those who experienced parenting can truly understand and react to. Overall, "Black or White" is a new paradigm of both his personal acting and the cultural and social topic of racial tension.

The movie is in the same category as "Wag the dog" with Robert deNiro and Dustin Hofman. But this movie offers a more complex glimpse on modern world system of values, symbols and communication. Al Pacino did a wonderful job! There is this dialog in the movie that defines a whole communication theory: "I didn't kill her!", "Sorry, it's in the papers!" I don't agree with IMDb's opinion about this movie being a "comedy". This movie is a comedy as much as "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" can be. The movie contains a lot of wonderful acting scenes of Al Pacino that are memorable. Winona Ryder did a good job but her part was not the corner stone of the movie. I think a lot of people don't want to see behind the curtains because what they could see may challenge their value system. Each of us is secretly "in love" with a Hollywood star, without knowing the true person lying behind the glamor. By the way, are you sure Winona Ryder is real?...