General Magic 7/10 a documentary about a spin off from apple who were working on the 1st smartphone prototype and failed miserably but where definitely visionaries. The Hallow 6/10 ok monster movie, so so plot but good acting. Elizabeth Harvest 3/10 convoluted plot that did not make any sense, had some great actors who were wasted. The movie pretty much centered on not being able to keep a room locked up.
A Serious Man This is one of the best things I've ever seen. Totally floored me. Completely lost track of time watching it. I'd say it's the peak representation of the Coens blend of personal torment and comedy. It was also a treat to watch the portrayal of being high as a teenager is this film--it's the best I've seen it done (one scene in particular...). This instantly rivals Lebowski as my favorite Coen Brothers movie, don't know why I waited so long to see it.
An American Crime - 7 out of 10. Based on a true story involving a single mother (Catherine Keener) who takes in two teen sisters (one of which played by Ellen Page) and well, what happens is horrible and makes you shake your head when not averting your eyes. Saw this on HDNETM. Keener and Page both give very good performances. The true story actually is much more horrible than the film.
The Platform (Netflix) - 5 out of 10. Spanish film, won some awards and received some excellent review. Morbid film about a prison that pairs two inmates per each floor, where a elevator platform goes from top to bottom floor with the only supply of food for that day, and naturally the people at the highest floors get plenty of food, while those below... well, the food pickings get slimmer and slimmer. Reviews that praised it focused on the political commentary, but too me, sorry, too horribly disgusting for my entertainment choices.
Spiderman Far from home, 5/10 I don't know who thought that mysterio would be a great villain but him being able to do what he did with holographic tech just made no sense. Marisa Tomei was the highpoint of the movie she is ageing very gracefully and has never looked better. Glass 5/10 movie never made sense and the final battle and conclusion was very weak, I liked Split and this movie did nothing to build on the other 2 films. Very disappointing movie weekend.
A Simple Favor - 6.9 / 10 A quirky thriller with an unfortunate ending that would have been more appropriate as part of a SNL sketch.
1917- 8/10 The "continuous" cut and outrageous insertions made me feel like I was watching video game cinematics for 2 hrs straight. Watch more for cinematography (didn't know flares at night could look so cool) and their great planning BTW, I wouldn't mind watching that style for other historical pics (1942-Pacific, moon landing,Great Depression, etc...) . Makes me think I'm learning somethin educational at the speed of Hollywood, like don't trust a downed Jerry pilot and save him from a fiery death. **********ers.
TCM on demand currently has Kurosawa’s groundbreaking Rashomon, 1950, and I watched it again this afternoon. Winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and an honorary Academy Award in 1952, it’s success changed the arc of Akira Kurosawa’s career, which had previously focused on contemporary Japan, and a few years later gave us Seven Samurai. It’s from the Criterion Collection and you aren’t likely to find better looking copy. 9.5/10
The Invisible Man This movie sucked. Its probably my own fault though. See I remember a movie called Hollow Man, it came out about twenty years ago starring Kevin Bacon, it was incredible because we've all had that fantasy "what would I do if I were Invisible?" Unfortunately the concept of a ghost-like Invisible character is about the only thing these two movies have in common. The main issue with Invisible Man in my opinion is the question that I asked myself when the movie started and I was still asking as the credits rolled. Our antagonist is a good looking genius billionaire right, so my question is why in the **** would he put himself through the **** the antagonist puts himself through for a middle aged sourpuss with zero personality? Subsequent questions followed. Why is this guy terrorizing this woman at this level? What the **** did she do to him? Why did she leave him and why did she get with him in the first place? In two hours and four minutes of runtime these questionsare never answered. The movie is also timed terribly, the dog is clearly being neglected, there's no solution for Sydney to go to Parsons and James is probably about to close his job. The production meeting was probably like: Director: who can be the bad guy? Writer 1: its gotta be a man Director: um hmm Writer 1: he has to be white, rich, smart and entitled Director: and angry Writer 1: he's a man, I thought that was a given Writer 2: anyone know why any of this is happening? why is he so mad and if he's so rich and so smart why is he wasting his time on this frumpy ugmo? And how are we going to end this thing, just leave the black guy standing there with a lot to explain? Director: number 2 you're fired! We have all the ingredients we need 2/10 The only reason this movie gets any points at all is because even though the plot is absolute dookie, the cinematography looks great thanks to Stefan Duscio who is responsible for the cinematography of probably my favorite movie that being Upgrade, which I might go watch now to cleanse my pallet of this vile man-hating bullshit
Bad Boys for Life - 3/10 Wasn’t expecting much but was hoping for some over the top action at the least. Didn’t get that on top of cringe worthy acting and tired jokes. Some scenes look straight pulled from a bad telenovela.
I agree. The restaurant scene was about the only redeeming quality for me. Otherwise I need more than (what did it say?? The guy doesn’t like rejection or something) for him to throw everything away for her. Makes absolutely no sense in any way.
"Darkman": 8/10, on the STARZ go app. 1990 was not ready for this violent phantom of the opera meets The Punisher movie. "What is it about the dark, what secret does it hold?" I realized then DMX had borrowed that line. Makes sense. "The Happening" 5/10, on Starz. I remembered the title from the pandemic movie thread. It's not as awful as the 17% suggests. It held my attention. Feels like it ripped off the birdbox(yes I know 11 years earlier). Still confused how it attacked. It went from parks to large groups then small groups then individually then nothing. If the happening could have stayed consistent on that front plus some rated R moments from Zooey, it could have been a hit.