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Reviews
Plane (2023)
Very good action/thriller - much better than reviews
Plane is a very good action thriller, with an excellent, if not well-known cast, and top-notch filming and special effects. The lead, Gerard Butler, plays his part perfectly., as does his co-star. Michael Cotler. They are fine actors and should be offered leading roles in many more top films. The action scenes are realistic but not unnecessarily gory. Very exciting, with malevolent and believable villains.
Ignore the reviews - as you probably have found, most film reviewers today seem to be ignoramuses who don't appear to know much about films or filmmaking.
Plane is a thoroughly rewarding, well-made movie, a good dose of quality acting and high-octane escapism. A lot of fun and a great way to spend an evening. I look forward to seeing both Butler and Cotler in future films.
The Duke (2020)
THIS FILM IS A TEN. ANY CRITIC NOT RATING IT AS SUCH NEEDS TO FIND A NEW JOB FOR WHICH THEY ARE BETTER SUITED, LIKE REVIEWING CRAP ON TIK TOK.
This is a brilliant film. The fact that it is a true story only reinforces why it is a TEN. The cast is superb - Jim Broadbent as the lead protagonist, Helen Mirren as his long-suffering wife, Fionn Whitehead as Broadbent's son, and Matthew Goode as the barrister who defends him, all deserve Oscars. The story is touching and points to how dysfunctional our so-called "advanced" Western democracies are in caring for the underclasses in our country. Any critic who finds fault with this film is a blithering idiot, because the film is perfect and there are no faults. Quite simply, it could not be made or casted better. Sit back and enjoy it.
To Olivia (2021)
IGNORE THE REVIEWS. THIS FILM IS EXCELLENT.
Film reviewers seem to be generally not a very bright group pf people, and the negative reviews this film has gotten are absurd. IGNORE THE REVIEWS. This is an excellent film, based on the true story of the writer Roald Dahl and his wife, the Oscar-winning actress Patricia Neal. Hugh Bonneville and Keeley Hawes play the lead roles brilliantly and capture the tragedy they endured when they lost their young daughter Olivia to measles, before the vaccination for this dangerous disease became available in England, where they lived. (Note to any idiotic Anit-Vaxxers reading this - GET YOUR KIDS VACCINATED NOW!) This is a beautiful, very inspirational story.
Against the Ice (2022)
IGNORE THE REVIEWS - THIS IS AN EXCELLENT FILM BASED ON A TRUE STORY
Once again, based on the poor reviews this film has received, film critics show how truly stupid they are. This is an excellent film, with beautiful photography, and great acting. The fact that it is a true story only makes it better. The two men portrayed in the film show bravery and fortitude far beyond what you can imagine a human being can be capable of.
The Last Full Measure (2019)
IGNORE THE REVIEWS. THIS FILM IS A 10.
Ignore the reviews - film critics are typically dumber than boxes of rocks, so pay no attention to any review that rates this film less than a 9.
If this film isn't a TEN, then what is? Incredibly moving, true story about the struggle to get a Medal of Honor awarded to Airman First Class William H. Pitsenbarger, an Air Force paramedic who is dropped into a horrific firefight in Vietnam in 1966 after the Army medic on the ground is killed. He stays, and saves lives, when he could have been flown to safety in his chopper. Superb cast, great acting. Shows the horror of the Vietnam war and incredible bravery of our young men (and women) who fought in that stinking hellhole.
This was easily the best film of 2019 and the cast should have swept the Oscars for best actor and supporting actor. The fact that the hero, after 32 years, ultimately, and posthumously, gets his long-overdue and deeply deserved Medal of Honor is almost an afterthought - what really counts are the mothers, fathers, wives, girlfriends, and children who were, and in many cases, still are, able to cherish their loved ones saved by this incredible man.
Margin Call (2011)
Excellent drama of the workings at a Wall Street brokerage
Being in this profession, I can attest that Margin Call is a realistic portrayal of what happens in a major Wall Street financial house. It will disappoint viewers expecting it to be a "thriller", with some sort of deep conspiracy or dark plot. It is none of these things. With an excellent cast, it simply and accurately describes what happens when a bunch of profane (the F-word is used constantly, as a noun, verb (both transitive and intransitive), adverb, and adjective, sometimes all in the same sentence), sexist, back-stabbing, overpaid, arrogant, alpha-male egomaniacs (and that is usually what most of the people at these firms are - women are starting to make inroads but still are largely only minor players on the trading floors) realize that they have made a monumental error and have gotten themselves into a position where the amount they have paid for "assets" they are holding (usually some sort of esoteric financial instrument) is likely to be worth a lot less than what they realize they can sell such "assets" for. This process, more accurately referred to as arbitrage, is utterly simple but the amounts of money involved are breathtaking - a single trade can literally involve hundreds of millions of dollars of profit, or loss, because, as succinctly pointed out by the head of the (unnamed) firm, Jeremy Irons, for every winner, there is a loser, and vice versa.
Some reviewers have suggested that the film portrays what led to the collapse on Wall Street in 2008 but, while there are a few minor similarities (the "asset" potentially killing the firm in the film sounds vaguely like the mortgage-backed securities (MBS's) that brought Lehman down), that debacle was caused more by an inadequate general oversight of the capital markets rather than one Wall Street trading house getting itself overextended.
In any event, there is nothing inspirational about this film. There is no moral message conveyed. It simply and brilliantly shows how capitalism works, and like it or not, this is what makes the free world tick. Nothing pretty, often ugly, but, notwithstanding the current recession, that's why the free world's economic system produces the highest standards of living in the world over the long run. It is important to note that there is no hint of illegal activity at the firm in the film – indeed, when entering the high-level meeting where it will be decided what to do about the mess they are in, the boss tells his underlings to only tell the truth and not lie. The characters portrayed at this firm may not be lovable but they are not crooks.
The actors (and one actress of note, Demi Moore) are excellent. Kevin Spacey is brilliant as the head of trading and Simon Baker absolutely nails the role of his reptilian boss. The animosity Spacey conveys for Baker's character, who is younger than Spacey's, is pure acting skill and there is something hilarious about watching one repellent person sneer at another repellent person. Paul Bettany is perfect as Spacey's number two (his accounting for how he spent his prior year's $2.5 million in salary, which did include sending $150K to his parents, is worth the price of admission). Stanley Tucci is equally brilliant as the cerebral head of risk management who has been fired ("downsized") just as he is in the process of determining that the firm's financial exposure on these "assets" exceeds the firm's capital – and then can't be reached later because the firm's idiotic bean counters have stupidly turned off his cell phone when they escorted him off the premises. Penn Badgley and Zachery Quinto are perfect as the two idealistic young analysts who have the nerve to bring the firm's looming financial catastrophe, passed on to Quinto by Tucci at the last minute, to the firm's senior management. And Irons is superb as the firm's utterly amoral senior executive.
Don't expect to like any of these characters. Even the most sympathetic, Spacey and Tucci, ultimately cave in for the money. Nobody in this film is nice and that's the way it is on Wall Street. But it is an excellent film – well worth your time.
A note – some reviewers have complained about the film's title, since the financial plot has nothing to do with a "margin call" (a process in which an investor is required to post more capital to cover his/her position on an investment that has declined in value). This complaint is technically true but the filmmakers faced a dilemma. The term "margin call" is somewhat understandable to potential viewers who do not have knowledge about the workings of Wall Street. They probably would have lost a lot of potential viewers if they had called it "Arbitrage Gone Wild" or "How to Cover a Loss Position on Credit Swaps and Mortgage-Backed Securities".
The Tree of Life (2011)
Worst "film" in the history of cinema
After reading some of the gushing reviews from critics about the Tree of Life, I am compelled, as a service to humanity, to write this review and warn you that this piece of pseudo-intellectual psycho-babble is the WORST FILM IN THE HISTORY OF CINEMA. Now in saying this, I am not ranking it against truly bad "movies", the kind of cinematic endeavors, with their no-name casts, that you know are bad and, therefore, have no expectation for (even though such movies can occasionally be so bad that they later become mildly enjoyable cult hits). No, the Tree of Life, with a cast headed by two marquee actors (Brad Pitt and Sean Penn), aspires to be a "film", which I define as a cinematic endeavor starring well-regarded actors and actresses, with great story lines and also often containing thought-provoking, emotionally moving messages.
As a "film", the Tree of Life is horrible (actually it's even horrible as a "movie"). It has no plot. It has no direction. It has no acting per se. It runs over two hours and defies human endurance to sit through in its entirety, although we did, just to make sure we didn't miss anything. Critics have called it "beautiful", "majestic", "poetic". It is none of these things. It is just two hours of mind-numbing torture that makes water-boarding seem pleasant. Even the cinematography is nothing special. The dinosaurs in Jurassic Park are much better and if a bunch of computer-generated graphics (perhaps to simulate a bad trip on acid?) are supposed to be "beautiful" then I'm not sure I know what the definition of that word is.
There is a reason why many theaters running the Tree of Life had to post written warnings at their ticket windows telling patrons that no refunds would be given when you realized you had just wasted a lot of money and two hours of your life. Any critic, and apparently there are some, who includes the Tree of Life in his or her "10 best list" for 2011 needs to find a new profession. Avoid the Tree of Life at all costs. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!