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Órói (2010)
LGBTQ?...NOT!!
One would be hard pressed to find a movie as horrible as this one. There is more "gay action" at a Trump rally. The boys supposedly in love are hardly ever in the story. They start kissing at the start of the film without any hint of them wanting to do so. Then the girls enter the picture chasing them are all over the place for some reason that is never explored or explained. The parents are all concerned about their kids behavior absent any any hint as to why they care. This is not a coming of age teen film. It is centered on teens getting smashed with their friends which is nothing new. "Lets have another drink" is the zeitgeist of the show. When I was finished watching this disaster I had more than a few.
Monster (2022)
Dinner with Jeff. No wine list needed.
Like many others I binge watched this series. It was hard not to. This is not only the best Netflix series I've ever seen, it it the best movie/docudrama I have ever seen in my life. Period. Aside from "In A Glass Cage" a Spanish film written and directed by Agusti Villaronga in 1986, it is also the most disturbing.
Evan Peters gives a performance that is impeccable. We all know the story but Mr. Peters plays the role to perfection and with a perfect nuance. There have been other actors who have played this role in other films, but no one can come close to what he delivers. Like "In A Glass Cage" Ryan Murphy doesn't candy-coat anything. He slugs you in the mouth like a ton of bricks. One of the other reviewers on this site suggested to watch it with the lights on. Good advice.
The other actors knock it out of the park also starting with Niecy Nash who plays the next door neighbor, and is by the way a lesbian in real life. Jeff's grandmother played by Michael Learned is so intensely devoted to Jeff's mental health you can feel her pain. Rodney Burford plays a deaf man, Tony Hughes, who Jeff picked up in a gay bar and is ultimately killed by him after a very brief affair, is actually deaf in real life. There is a scene in this episode where Jeff and Tony are facing each other. The are both filmed in black silhouette. No audio. Haunting and very tough to watch.
The parents, played by Richard Jenkins and Penelope Ann Miller, do a great job and one can see how their inaction with Jeff, especially as a child, and their constant vicious arguments which Jeff had to witness led partially to his demise.
Jeff's grandmother finds Jeff's black mannequin and throws it away. Jeff goes ballistic. Subsequentially, Jeff is making love to one of his victims and slides his hands down his chest. Yet as he reaches his genitals he fantasizes the mannequin's crotch.
Somehow, Jeff gets a job in a hospital and draws blood from someone who does not become a victim. Jeff takes home three bags of his blood and rips one bag open and then drinks the blood which then runs down his chest.
Yet as much disturbing as the movie is, the crime that isn't mentioned here is sending him to prison. He should have been sentenced to life with no parole in a mental hospital for the criminally insane. The psychiatrists could have picked his brain for decades and glean from that experience a better understanding of how this happened to him.
But unfortunately this is America where revenge rules above all. Sad.
Dear Evan Hansen (2021)
Pure genius
The story line for the story is beyond unique. I finally saw it last night on Broadway. I've lived in NYC for fifty years and rarely have I ever seen a musical resulting in such a gut punch. If I were to remove all of the Stephen Sondheim works, I would say it is unmatched. Yet I can see why some people don't see it that way and don't "get the point," I feel sorry for them.
This show is a masterpiece. Period.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
God is dead
Upon hearing of Stephen's death, I collapsed in pain. Having seen the play many times with Angela Lansbury and both Len Cariou and George Hearn, I rewatched the Tim Burton movie which I hadn't seen in over10 years. I wept.
Broadway musical theatre died on Friday afternoon.
Red Notice (2021)
Are you a top or a bottom?
The negative reviews here are spot on. "Dreadful," "Worst ever..." "Seen it all before" etc, etc. It's a silly pointless movie, and in my opinion just what we need to tune-out the world and it's current problems for a couple of hours. Yeh, it's "bad" but it's a "good bad."
Ojing-eo geim (2021)
For all the marbles
This would get an 11 if I had that option. Just when you think there is little inventory on new concepts, this series pops up and is beyond unique and thought provoking. I can't wait for the second season. An absolute masterpiece. The reviewers who think it's all about killing people miss the point entirely.
Midnight Mass (2021)
Midnight Mess
Great production values, cinematography, and acting. That's about it.
Father Paul, played excellently by Hamish Linklater, shows up unannounced at a Catholic Church on the small island of Crockett, pop 127. He is there to temporarily replace an allegedly ill Monsignor Pruitt. It is clear from the beginning the prefect of this church Beverly Keane, played not so excellently by Samantha Sloyan, runs the show at this parish. (I must say here that her sup-par acting is mostly the fault of a poor script).
At the same time, Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford) returns to the village and his parents after spending four years in prison for vehicular manslaughter, hitting and killing a young girl after a night of drinking. And so the stage is set for this seven part series. Unfortunately it can't make up it's mind where it wants to go.
The church prefect Beverly spends most of her time quoting the Bible to others, usually inaccurately, She is a one dimensional character and it doesn't take long to figure out she is one of the bad guys. The other characters engage in long stretches of monologues disguised as conversations. Their length wasn't as annoying as the boredom of what they had to say. At the end of the movie there is a final near-five-minute soliloquy that could have been lifted out of any number of New Age tomes.
The plot, if you can call it that, is a contrivance. After a couple of episodes you quickly get the underlying theme. But the characters are never fully explained much less developed. There is no denouement. Very little makes sense. Armed with a fresh idea, Flanagan somehow manages to turn it into a train wreck. I cannot recall watching any film or series that was so disappointing.
If I was a priest hearing a confession, watching Midnight Mass would be the perfect penance.
La cocinera de Castamar (2021)
One beautiful film
The setting, the cinematography, the acting, the sets (I could go on), are beyond amazing. I could watch it again without the subtitles. It's just beautiful. Alas, too many characters just pop up without explanation of purpose or depth; making the story difficult to follow. I found myself constantly saying to myself: "Who's he, who's she, and why are they here?" It could have been such a brilliant film. Sad.
The Lone Ranger: The Brown Pony (1953)
Swastika?
The outlaws take a blanket off of their horses at the beginning of the episode. One of the blankets has swastikas all over it. How did no one catch this??
Nureyev (2018)
Mesmerizing
I saw this movie last night at a packed house in NYC. As one who started following ballet very closely during this time period, I was spellbound throughout. The unseen footage alone was worth the price of admission.
I was fortunate to see almost all of these dancers in my youth.
The movie covers as much of his life as one could expect in two hours. Aside from showing his sine qua non love of dance, there are insights into his romantic relationship with Erik Bruhn, a Danish contemporary who preceded him in death, and even deeper insights into his love for Margot Fonteyn, whose death two years prior to his own simply devastated him. There are brief and poignant poetry quotes throughout that are lifting and on point.
There are also aspects which cover his Russian youth, his defection, his relationship with his mother and his untimely death from AIDS. The movie is to be applauded for it's handling of this final chapter of his life. It is matter-of-fact told with great sensitivity, yet not turning the subject matter into a political commentary.
In the mid 70's there were one or two classical dancers who, if based on an Olympic scoring system, actually would have scored a point or two above Nureyev on a technical scale. This was not mentioned in the movie nor should it have been. It didn't matter. There was no contest when they took the stage. While other men danced the roles to perfection, Nureyev made love to and devoured them at the same time. When he took the stage, you knew it. It was like no one else.
The movie was not without faults. The sound quality was south of acceptable and at other times when there was narration over footage, the music did not match up with the piece being shown. This was somewhat annoying.
Nonetheless it touched me in a way I find hard to explain. That was 18 hours ago. If the documentary ran that long, I would still be in the theater.
Unplanned (2019)
Former pro-choice
Long before this movie came out, I reconsidered my abortion stance. I am now pro-life. Unfortunately, this movie is fact challenged. Planned Parenthood does many good things for many good people. Trashing that organization, and the people who are pro-choice is not the way to go. The movie claims the clinics, doctors, volunteers, etc. really don't care about killing people and then sustain this view by their own definition of "common sense." It isn't that simple. Any one with "common sense" already knows this.
The Favourite (2018)
Misses on all cylinders
I went to see this film assuming it was a period piece concerning Queen Anne. I had no preconceptions. I did not know it was advertised as a comedy. I agree with all of the negative reviews. I actually thought they were almost too kind. The movie had no focus, no plot, no depth, and aside from the performances, no redeeming qualities.
Very early in the film, when Abigail cuts her finger on what appears to be a sliver of glass while scrubbing the floor and then carries on as it she was mortally wounded, I knew something was amiss. Putting together a comic-drama is a difficult task. The writers, producers, and the director of this movie all failed miserably at the attempt.
"Fargo" is a perfect example of this genre done well. The Favourite was not a comedy, not a drama, and not a comic-drama. It was just a mess.
Olivia Colman gives an Oscar worthy performance as the queen. Rachel Weisz (Lady Sarah) and Emma Stone (Abigail) are excellent in their roles but I do no think they deserved a nod. There was simply no depth to their characters. Where they came from or how they got to be who and where they are, on an emotional level, is completely ignored. The queen has ducks running all over her bedroom that supposedly represent the number of her children, yet she never mentions one of her offspring. I have not seen any of his other films, but it this is an example of Yorgis Lanthimos' work, count me out.
The cinematography was amateurish. Robbie Ryan makes one bad choice after another, difficult to do given the canvas he had to work with. He seems to view light as an enemy. For some reason, he shifts his style to the point of ridiculousness. Wide angle lens used here, panoramic lens used there, and fisheye shots sprinkled throughout that add nothing to the film.
The costumes lacked any spark or ingenuity. Aside from the principals, there were only two costumes: one for women and one for men. There was an opera recital scene in which the attendees, all women, were indistinguishable. Was it a group of nuns?
The sets didn't fare much better. OK, I'll forgive the mish-mosh of period pieces all over the place. I can't forgive the obsession with tapestries on every wall, ceilings that were 300 years ahead of their time, or the fireplaces that were half the size of the real thing during that period.
Many have said this was "the worst movie I have ever seen." I'm not sure I would go that far, but it is definitely in the running. On the other hand I am sure that the music (if you could call it that) WAS the worst I've ever heard. It was so painful to listen to I almost left the theater. I can't blame the composer as there was none. The score is comprised of numerous compositions just thrown together presumably by the director and/or the three additional producers.
There were other things that did nothing but annoy me: The aristocrats throwing tomatoes at a naked guy for entertainment, the man having intercourse with a prostitute at a brothel - nothing exactly wrong with that - but standing up with his clothes on?, Sarah getting dragged through the forest by her horse for what seemed like an eternity, and the sex scenes that all involved masturbation, none of it reciprocal, and natch, like the "John" in the brothel, everyone is clothed at the same time. There is a lot of throwing up for no evident reason. The actresses just grab a pot and heave at whim.
The end of the movie made no sense at all and for the vast amount of viewers at my movie house it was a WTF moment. At the same time it may have been the best part of the movie as it indicated this tragic waste of time was over with.
Still there are many critics I respect who have opposite views. For the life of me I don't understand what they see in this. That said, if you still want to see it,wait for HBO. It won't cost you anything and you can always turn it off anytime you wish.