I spend a fair amount of times researching movies to watch and this one really stuck out because of the gigantic difference between what the critics thought of the film and the audience rating. I almost always side with the critics… until I don’t. This film had a ton of heart and in the end was extremely endearing. I love the way the film transitioned from one “scene” to the next and then was tied up at the end in a way that I should have seen coming but did not.
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I really enjoyed this film. You see very few films that deal honestly with race relations. I like that Clint used words that make us feel uncomfortable - how else could you make such a movie? If I had one (extremely) minor criticism it is that they chose to make a group of people that nobody knows the subject of most of the verbal and physical attacks in the movie. I have to wonder if they feared the repercussions of featuring a group that had a larger voice. The movie was extremely well-acted even though most of the leads were complete unknowns. I thought that Clint may have taken this project because it kind of put his Dirty Harry character to bed, just as The Unforgiven had put his "Man with no name / Blondie" character to bed.
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The show returned with an unbelievable episode. It started of a bit slow, but the scene with Deborah and Hannah alone in the room was magnificent. They were friendly to each other, but there was sooooo much more bubbling underneath. Finding good comedy on tv is so hard - I am so happy to have this show return.
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I wanted to like this movie a lot more than I did. Don't get me wrong, I liked it... I just didn't love it. The problem with it is that it is a more stylish version of The Talented Mr. Ripley. Unfortunately that was a better movie.
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The movie is as advertised - it is surprisingly entertaining and informative. While I found it particularly interesting because I lived through that time and adored that phone, I think the story is good enough for a non-geek to appreciate. The two leads are perfectly cast and form an excellent center to the movie. I would have actually liked it more if it had spent more time showing us the evolution of the phone. In that sense it may have worked better as a limited-series show.
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How did this show get this good out of nowhere? The first 2 episodes were exceptionally uneventful. Hell, it even seems as though they turned the weak link on the show (Stiffler's Mom and her storyline) into a gem. Fantastic writing here.
As someone who is generally not a fan of summer blockbusters the only thing I have to say about this movie is.... wow. Just wow. They absolutely nailed this one. I think the most impressive part about what they did is the nostalgia side of the movie. While watching this movie I thought a lot about The Force Awakens. In that movie it felt like we were sluggishly being dragged through a re-make of Return of the Jedi. As Maverick played out we were kind of laughing about all of the checkboxes that were being checked as the movie when on: singing in the bar, beach scene, emergency situation developing overseas, etc. There difference between this movie and other movies like The Force Awakens is that it didn't beat you over the head with the nostalgia. It all felt very authentic, especially when the movie did zag a little bit in the last twenty minutes. And most importantly, the movie is a TON of fun.
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I watch a lot of indie movies that try to pull off films like this and they almost always fail miserably. I think what impressed me the most about this movie that they were able to take the limitations of a pandemic film and make it into a positive. In a way it reminded me of the movie 1776 in that the monologues sent over voice.... errr... video mail worked the same as if the two leads were sending letters to each other. We got a sense of who they were and what they were struggling with through these monologues without having to sit through scenes to act them out. By the end of the film I felt like I knew them. Fantastic job. If you aren't familiar with the works of the Duplass brothers I suggest you seek them out immediately.
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Imagine that a community theater group decides to create a play in homage to Woody Allen (think Waiting for Guffman) . They hire a writer to create a script that vaguely resembles something that Allen would write. There are questions about life and the meaning of it. There are many references to Fellini in general and 8 1/2 in particular. The lead character will be neurotic and will date or be interested in someone far too young for him. And the location will be exotic.
So because it is local theater you're stuck with whoever shows up. Sure, the elderly actor that showed up to play pseudo-Allen would never in real life be married to the beauty that plays his wife but we can suspend our disbelief (as we would in many of Allen's films). The dialog is poor and disconnected and the leads deliver the trademark Allen one-liners so slowly and awkwardly that the few good lines are hardly noticed. We meander from one scene to the next and the actors trudge through the poor script. But the font on the marquee is the same one that appears at the beginning of Allen's films and the music is all-too-familiar so despite the fact it is community theater there is a vague familiarity to the production.
Ladies and Gentleman, I give you Rifkin's Festival.
I am in the minority in that I have actually enjoyed many of Allen's late-stage movies (Wonder Wheel, Irrational Man, Cafe Society, etc). And then A Rainy Day in New York came out... oh what a dreadful film. While that film had numerous things to hate about that film but at least there was something to talk about. This film... yikes. First, Wallace Shawn is horribly miscast. He is far too old and delivers his lines far too slowly. Gina Gershon isn't much better and the two of them have zero chemistry. It really feels like they are punching the clock and just going through the workday. Then again, they have almost nothing to work with. The dialog is terrible and at times it just feels like we are a fly on the wall of day-to-day life. I could go on and on... this really was a tragedy.
In a sense the movie mirrored the end of Allen's career. Here we were having to hear an old man yammer on and on about old movies and the way things used to be. If this were your uncle at a family gathering you'd just shake your head and look the other way. Allen is probably my favorite director and he has brought me a lot of joy. I can't be too upset about this because at least he didn't go the Tarantino route and stop making films at a certain age. I am grateful for what I got out of him and I am sad that this was his last film. But if I am being honest... this movie was really, really, really bad.
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In skimming some of the reviews of this movie I think that some people became a little too focused on the details and may have missed the bigger message. Were parts of the movie wrapped up into neat little (implausible) packages? Surely they were. I haven't seen AOL chat since You've Got Mail. A couple of the scenes where she eavesdropped on others were a little too conspicuous. I suspect the director chose these simplistic deliveries to make the movie a little more accessible and to keep the run time down to a tight 84 minutes. Once again, those scenes were only tools to the bigger message.
While much of the movie was simplistic I think that it did something that is extremely hard to do: it dealt with the sensitive topic of religion in a way that was not too heavy-handed. Full disclosure: I am a humanist and an atheist. I think part of the human experience is just that - being human and experiencing all that we can. As the woman in the bar neatly says, we're all just trying to figure out our s***. I feel sorry for those that never get the full experience because they are looking upward. The film also did a great job of exposing the hypocrisy of so many of those that tell us what the invisible man in the sky wants from us while not walking that walk themselves.
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I have a couple of problems with this film. I really wanted to love it but didn't.
The first is that is that it reminded me of so many other films. That in itself is fine - when you've seen hundreds of films that is bound to happen. The problem is that all of the films that popped into my head while watching this were better than this one. The obvious one is Taxi Driver. That film is an all-time great film by a legendary actor. As Joker went on I thought it reminded me more of The King of Comedy (ironically both starring Robert De Niro). And finally it seemed that the Joker ended up being an anti-hero like we saw in Cool Hand Luke. All three of these films featured top-flight actors at the top of their game. The difference is that the character matched the backdrop and thus felt authentic.
All of this brings me to the second problem. Just what is the backdrop here? They told me it was a world gone mad but I really didn't feel it. The Joker was said to be a tortured soul but I really didn't feel that either. The final scene where he is some kind of new leader of the scorned? Didn't feel right. The movie was trying hard to be a drama but this felt cartoonish. Look, Phoenix is amazing but if you've watched his work in recent years (You Were Never Really Here and the amazing Her come to mind) this isn't a surprise. He kills it. But it felt like they took a comic book character and dropped him in to a random film and this is what you got. I could watch Johnny Depp be Captain Jack Sparrow in just about anything. They could have dropped in Captain Jack into this film in place of Joker and it would have felt no less discombobulated.
In a nutshell the parts of this movie were better than the sum.
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I am really loving this year. Unlike past seasons where you had to have the obligatory one-season bad guy and girlfriend this season is stripped down and more about the characters. I don't get the previous comment about being more invested in the characters in previous seasons - if anything I am more invested now (and I had tapped out of the show for a while in previous seasons).
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The best way that I can describe this show is that it is a more mature and advanced version of The Wire. While that show certainly had higher highs this show was consistently good from beginning to end and actually got better from one season to the next. And unlike The Wire it knew when its ending was and was able to finish the final season appropriately. The backdrop and the stories are fantastic. The finale..... one of the top 5 in the history of television. I loved it and will miss it terribly.
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Besides the obvious draw of the film (oh my freaking god I can’t believe he climbed the rock without ropes) there really was a lot of meat on the proverbial bone in this film. I spent much of the film assuming that he was simply an adrenaline junkie only to realize later on that this was not true. The director did a fantastic job slow-playing this story line as it isn’t towards the end that you get a better feel for what makes him tick.
The second most interesting theme in the film is the relationship between the climber and his girlfriend. What does he owe her? What is right for her to expect from him? Once again this director avoided did a great job to not portray her as a sobbing puppy and instead focused on the nature of their relationship. Some of his statements about the relationship will really grab you.
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One of the most gritty movies about love that I have ever seen. The story is told in two separate story lines - one where the couple has just met and is falling in love and... well... the other one. The contrast is stunning and really socks the viewer in the proverbial gut. At the end I was exhausted and emotionally spent and I loved every minute of it.
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This film was about a young girl growing up in a very broken home in Brooklyn during the 80's. The film was horrific, tragic, beautiful and moving. It was a real testament to both the best and worst of humanity. The acting in this film was second to none. It kills me that The Blind Side took home a single award over this film.
In the event that you have not heard of this movie, it is the last film made by the great Heath Ledger. Ledger did not live to finish the film so his friends stepped in to help out - Johnny Depp, Colin Farrel and Jude Law (it may sound silly but it works in the movie - you'll see why). It is also directed by Terry Gilliam of "Monty Python" fame. I started to type out what the story is about but then realized as that was a pointless exercise. The film has some amazing performances (with the notable exception of Vern Troyer) and it absolutely keeps your attention. It is very rough around the edges and that is part of what makes it an enjoyable film.
I have seen bits and pieces of this over the years but never the whole thing. It was interesting to see this film after having seen Gran Turino. It was everything that I expected it to be - a tough-guy cop that takes on the world of crime. While it was the film that really spawned that genre I still think that it is better than the vast, vast majority of the movies that came after it.
I was pleasantly surprised by this film. The film explores a different side of superheros. Don't we all want to be a superhero? Sure, the film is a little over-the-top at times but that's ok sometimes (when it is planned and well-done). It was dark and funny and very much unlike any film that I can remember.
It's hard to find a coming-of-age film that brings at least a little something different. I loved everything about this film. It had a different vibe to it than so many others in this genre. It's not going to knock your socks off.... it's just quirky and really good.
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The landscape is littered with comedies that tried to incorporate elements of mystery and suspense while remaining a (dark) comedy. Few have pulled it off and I am happy to say that this film is one of them. For me it ended up where movies like Hot Fuzz should have stayed: a comedy that went dark but not too dark. This film really was a ton of fun and I rarely say that about movies.
Bateman and McAdams have amazing chemistry in this film. I think the most surprising part of the film is the mystery aspect of the film - throughout the film I kept thinking that I knew something when I really didn't.
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This film is unique in that it is the first movie that I can recall where there is a homosexual relationship that isn't in some way tragic. It very much reminded me of the fantastic An Education. The film was a joy to watch. I can see how some found the film to be dull - there can be a fine line between subtle and dull.
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One of my favorite movies of the year. While this film obviously isn't for everyone it tried something incredibly ambitious and for many of us it really really worked. It's just so nice to see something that is as visceral as this film. I wish more projects like this could be made.
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What do you get when you mix 1/4 "Heathers" and 3/4 after school special? This movie.
I think this film is one of the best examples of how the Rotten Tomatoes scores can be misleading. The RT scores are an indication of either a positive or negative score and nothing more. A film like this certainly isn't bad so it gets a plus from the reviewer. However, it certainly isn't great by any stretch of the imagination.
I admit to being a sucker for the coming-of-age genre and based on a lot of the reviews others feel the same way. But I think that skews the technical review of the movie (something I call "the coffee shop effect" - we are all more than happy to listen to the folk singer in the corner of the coffee shop but we'd never actually buy his cd. The backdrop makes it feel better than it is). There is nothing fresh or new in this film and I can't fathom why it is getting the amount of run that it has. This isn't even the best coming-of-age film I've seen in the last few weeks let alone be nominated for movie of the year. There have been better entries in this area - The Way Way Back, Edge of Seventeen, The Spectacular Now to name a few.
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Can someone please explain what I am missing with this movie? I am the first person to say that I love "talkie" dramas. But where was the drama? I spent much of the movie trying to figure out how I should be consuming this movie. Was it the mystery? Ultimately it seemed that the point was the unravelling of the marriage, but it took more than two hours to get to that point. Why? Nothing else was really that interesting. I've seen this topic done much better in movies like Marriage Story and Blue Valentine.
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This is by far my favorite Anthony Hopkins performance. Sure, the glittery performances are the ones that tend to resonate more (like his performance in Silence of the Lambs), but I think it is so hard to nail a character that requires a subtle and understated touch. The character says so little and so much at the same time. The movie may be a bit slow for some, but for those with patience the reward is amazing. I could have scene Hopkins and Thompson interact on a screen all day long. I also very much enjoyed the commentary on the differences between classes - I thought that was extremely well done.
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This is a movie that is somehow made to match the demeanor of Nighy's character. It is such a delicate film that I felt like I had to put it back in a case after finishing it. The story is extremely well-told and the last few minutes of the movie are extraordinary. I hope Nighy has many more movies left in him.
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I went into this movie with fairly low expectations. After all, the movie got pretty mediocre reviews (not to mention I can't remember the last time I saw a good Will Ferrell movie. Stranger Than Fiction?). And what else could anyone do with this story that hasn't been done before? In short, I was blown away. The movie is too much of everything, and it is gloriously so. Yeah, there is probably too much singing and most of the songs aren't very good. The movie was just so much fun to watch... it really was joyous. As it ended I could have watched it again right away, and that almost never happens to me.
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Imagine that there is a community theater company in some small town in America and for their next production they have decided to take on one of the Fletch novels. The troup actually does a decent job with the production - the actors can believably say the lines and you get a whiff of the classic character played by Chevy Chase. And that's great, if you are expecting to see a community theater production of Fletch. On the big screen? Yikes. From Jon Hamm's quiet and uneventful portrayal of Fletch to Marcia Gay Harden sometimes putting on an accent, this movie is bad. Chase's portrayal of a greasy yet charismatic detective is the gold standard. To Hamm's credit he wasn't trying to do an imitation of Chase. The problem is something that I've thought of him for a long time: he has zero on-screen charisma. If you hear an interview with him he comes across as a smarty, funny and engaging guy. On the screen? Unless he is playing a stern character there is just nothing there. The editing surely didn't help - at times it felt like characters were having a conversation at two different times and they were spliced together. The whole thing was mediocre.
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I've enjoyed so many of Aubrey Plaza's movies over the last few years. I wanted to really love this movie.... but I only liked it. The story was pretty good and the acting is excellent - I am not completely sure why I didn't enjoy it more. I think some of it has to do with the resolution - in hindsight I wish that they had spent more time setting up the theme that if you let people take advantage of you then you will always be a victim. I think there was a better movie in there.
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