I'd only heard of this film recently, and I have to say that it was a really deeply intensive look at teen suicide. The two leads, Gabriel Sunday and Brooke Nevin, were particularly impressive in their roles. This film really pulled no punches, nor did it offer false hope or non-existent solutions to a problem that plagues many societies. It simply looked at the effects of suicidality in a particular teen population w/out even necessarily delving too deep into the causes, since they are so variant. This film was well-made, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in viewing this problem from the outside-in.
I'm 20 minutes in, and for the past 10 minutes, I've been thinking, "Who wrote this weak script? Is this really the best idea that the studio could come up w/ to kickstart a movie monster franchise?" The melodrama from Annabelle Wallis is difficult to stomach, especially when they find the crypt. I can't imagine getting through two hours of this dreck.
This was a really fine film. Two of the best American actors of their generations, Robert Duvall and Robert Downey, Jr., working off one another's talents throughout the film, along w/ a tremendous supporting cast, made this a compelling journey about family, learning that sometimes the best way to win the battle is not to fight, and realizing that, sometimes, we can go home.
This had a fine cast, albeit a bit old to be playing 16-year-olds, but the script and direction were not good. I found Dakota Johnson's character to be really unlikeable for most of the film, and there was no look into the three members of her cohort, which seemed like a really wasted opportunity. What was the plan, to tell their backstory in a sequel? Tahar Rahim is a fine actor, but he was not good in this, and for all the vitriol against this film, it wasn't that bad, but it also wasn't good, as it really wasn't a superhero film, so I'm not really certain why they marketed it as such. To give you an idea of how bad the scripting/dialogue was, there was a scene in the first third of the film, where the four main characters are standing in a park getting to know one another a bit. Celeste O'Connor complains that her father makes a fortune polluting the oceans with plastics, which would've been a worthy gripe had she not less than 30 seconds earlier finished eating a bag of beef jerky before tossing the empty plastic bag into the bushes. Seriously, no one in the entire filmmaking process caught this?
This was a really unique film about the resilience, inventiveness, and intelligence of children. The cinematography gave it a nostalgic, 1970s feel to it, and the young actors were terrific. It was a sweet, heartwarming tale, and it would seem that Weston Razooli is a filmmaker to keep an eye on.
I really enjoyed this. I thought that Awkwafina and Sandra Oh had great chemistry together, and the comedy in this hit just the right notes. For me, Awkwafina always stands out in whatever I happen to see her in, and it's no coincidence. She's incredibly talented and brutally funny. I think that she's criminally underrated as an actor.
Overall, this was an interesting story. However, it should've been kept to five or six episodes. There was absolutely no need to string this out into 10 episodes. It really lost purpose in the middle, and it got away from the main focus for long periods of time. In the end, the performances by Amanda Seyfried and Tom Holland were quite strong, and they carried material that otherwise might've been quite lackluster.
This was a terribly pointless film from a vile racist, bigot, misogynist, and child-rapist. Always remember that Tarantino said that a 13-year-old girl wanted to be raped. That thing is a fucking subhuman.
This started off well enough, but it ended on a sour note. It's never a good sign, when the final episode of a mini-series is roughly 10 minutes shorter than each of the other episodes. It gives a feeling of watching the leftovers. One thing that I didn't really understand was the jumbled timeline. Griselda Blanco's life story was interesting enough w/out them having to change so many details, and keep in actual events but in an alternate order. It didn't make much sense, and it certainly didn't add anything to the story. If anything, the story that they concocted was more of a rendition of Scarface than anything else. I wish that I knew why they had done this, especially when there were plenty of action involved in her real-life story. I will say that one thing I didn't care for about this series was how they made her a sympathetic figure. She wasn't, and to make her and her family victims was disingenuous and dishonest. Other than that, it was well-acted, but it just didn't flow well.
I scored this a 7/10, b/c it was an interesting idea for a film, but ultimately, it fell a bit short for me. The writer/director was seemingly making a commentary on today's society and how we disseminate, ingest, then regurgitate information into misinformation and disinformation. It showed how much of what we speak on is ignorant, ill-informed, and flat out wrong, yet that doesn't stop the message from being progressed. The film showed the point at which the information originates, then the various levels of groups that pass it along, some more educated than others, yet many lacking in basic critical thinking skills. It's a disheartening message, often made worse by those directly involved in it and their responses to outward stimuli. It was an original idea, so it was worth the watch, not to mention the fact that an ensemble cast did a really nice job.
I liked this better upon second watch. It's a compelling tale about how women are manipulated by narcissistic men. There were a number of strong performances throughout by Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, and Haley Bennett. Their work really made this film come together.
I haven't seen this film, yet, but I do question why they would put one of the most handsome men on the planet in this film w/ that haircut. There are people that will go see this film just b/c, Henry Cavill is in it, but I'm also willing to bet that some of them will have seen this movie poster and thought, "Nah, I'm good." What would compel a filmmaker to make a decision like that?
This was a really remarkable story about two women, at an age when our culture tends to send them out to pasture, achieving the unachievable. I would love to see a sequel based on the friendship between Bonnie Stoll and Diana Nyad. They seem to have accomplished a great many interesting things in their lives that would make for a well-told story.
Arya Stark is a fucking beast! W/ her hand, she shall bring death to all the subhuman mongrels. And, Cersei Lannister is NOT a victim. That was just the beginning of what that thing deserved.
This was such a fantastic way to end this run of 22 films. The characters were predestined for greatness solely based on their origins, so the stories were the key to making the films great. The writers really outdid themselves in wrapping up this 11-year arc. I walked away from this feeling completely satisfied in how each character's storyline finished. That's not an easy thing to accomplish w/ such a large, ensemble cast, but the writers managed this task quite deftly. While the Marvel Universe will carry on w/ more stories, in the form of both movies and television programs, this will likely be the high-water mark for their content, so my recommendation would be to enjoy it.
I wasn't overly familiar w/ the story behind the GME stock, but I knew enough to know the players in the game. I was intimately familiar w/ Ken Griffin, however, as a researcher of right-wing extremism. I found it ironic, if not odd, that his singular role in the funding of fascism, white nationalism, and neo-Nazism in America went unchecked in this film. He has pumped tens of millions of dollars into what the media terms as "Far-Right" politicians. He's a hateful individual who preys upon vulnerable communities, and he and his family are a danger to everyone unlike him, white, Christian, heterosexual, and cisgender male. For his activities, he should be considered a domestic terrorist, but not enough people are aware of who, and how dangerous, he actually is.
This was trite and formulaic. This is the after-school special level of superhero movies. It's embarrassing that DC thought that this would kick off their new film franchise. This film was so derivative and so poorly written, it's astonishing that it was greenlit.
The first movie was all right but certainly not to the point that two additional movies were required. The grabs at money these days by media production companies and studios really comes at the expense of creativity and originalism.
This was a thoroughly unenjoyable, pointless film. It's entirely unsurprising that the sequel will be a musical.
Alexandra Daddario and Tyler Hoechlin had really good chemistry together. That chemistry is what made this film work, where it would have fallen flat, otherwise. The story isn't a revelation, and it's not particularly amusing, but it's a sweet love story. I wish that the script had been better fleshed out, but all in all, it worked well enough.
This was the finest writing for television since The Twilight Zone created by Rod Serling. Nic Pizzolatto generated a masterpiece of American television with this season of True Detective.
This film is not what it seems. It's one thing to look at mental health through the lens of stalking social media influencers, but this film goes beyond that into an area that doesn't deserve to be explored in a film of this type. Ingrid is a woman, likely with some type of undiagnosed attachment disorder, who stalks social media influencers by ingratiating herself into their lives. She attempts to make herself appear as if her life is fuller than it actually is, and she does so through duplicitous methods. For instance, [spoiler]she tells her newfound friends that she has a boyfriend, and she sleeps with her landlord in order to get him to pose as such for her.[/spoiler] It could be argued that this action fits with the narrative of the film by being symptomatic of her disorder. Fair enough.
However, she does other things that have nothing to do w/ her disorder that make her an awful human being. In one instance, [spoiler]she borrowed the truck of her landlord, and violated the agreement she had to return it, b/c she was having fun w/ a new friend. Later, she wrecked the truck, and when she finally brought it back, she had cost her landlord his ability to meet a responsibility, and she offered no accountability. She tried to pretend that it wasn't a big deal and not something she should be bothered w/. Later in the film, it's indicated that the damage was $8000, and again, she attempted to play it off. She later outrights steals the truck, which, again, could be seen as something related to her disorder.[spoiler/]
Those who engage in this type of behavior are dangerous. I felt that they focused so much on the mental health-related aspects of her behavior, they overlooked what a terrible human being they actually made her aside from that.
I found this to be only a somewhat accurate depiction of living life w/ schizophrenia. I wish that the script had focused more on the side-effects of the drugs used to treat it, b/c this is why many people stop taking them. The side-effects can cause a state akin to losing all sense of self and feeling, and one of the more prominent drugs used to treat this condition actually has a nickname for this state, b/c it's so prevalent. When Adam stops taking his meds, the script indicates that he does so due to the fact that he was unable to properly taste his culinary cuisines. Yet, that would've been a lesser effect than the actual state that he was in. The other thing was, when he began taking the meds, he seemed to perk up, become almost happy, which is not the effect these drugs have. They simply keep the visual and auditory hallucinations at bay. I really wish that the film had focused more on the actual nature of the disorder rather than the dramatization that was portrayed.
There really wasn't much to this film. The fact is, I found the ending to be particularly egregious. An on-screen graphic stated that Phil Knight has donated $2 billion to charity. What it didn't say was that he weaseled Nike away from its founding father, Bill Bowerman, supported child molesters, rapists, and murderers by giving them multi-million dollar shoe deals, and supported white nationalism, neo-Confederatism, Christo-fascism, and neo-Nazism by being a supporter of Donald Trump and hateful, right-wing policies.
The film also puffed up Sonny Vaccaro, a man who has played a significantly mixed role in American athleticism. Yes, he did help bring Michael Jordan to Nike, and he recruited Ed O'Bannon for the claim against the NCAA that eventually allowed student-athletes to receive payments while in school, but he also had a huge hand in creating the shady, often illegal activities of summer basketball camps, all-star youth tournaments, and elite prospect camps, all endeavors supported by basketball shoe companies, which Vaccaro took a big piece of the pie from. He was essentially paid to force kids to risk their eligibility to play high school and college basketball. This was his day-to-day job. He really wasn't a figure to admired.
I had no idea that I'd appreciate this movie as much as I did when first sitting down to watch it. This was a surprisingly powerful film, and Mia Isaac and Zoey Deutch were really effective in their roles. To be frank, as I started to watch this, I thought that I was going to hate it, b/c I couldn't stand the characters in the film, but in reality, this was about the journey they went on and where they arrived at the end of the film. I think that it's a solid in lesson in realizing many we see online may have personas that aren't necessarily who they are in real-life, and they're not all one-note characters incapable of change. This film made me realize that we need to take each instance of deceit on a case-by-case basis, b/c in certain circumstances, people do have the capacity to cause great change in themselves. They won't always be selfish or thoughtless, b/c experience and education can effectuate changes in us that we may not have expected.
This episode was an important corollary to our times. It showed the dangers of rehabilitating fascists, which is something a number of adherents to Left-Wing ideology believe is possible. It is not. You don't turn off that type of thinking, racial superiority, gender superiority, religious superiority, ethnic superiority, and the belief that due to their "inherent superiority," they are entitled to rule as they please, and employ any means necessary, including violence, to keep others down. This is not something you rehabilitate others from, either due to the deep-seated nature of these beliefs or the past harm they wrought b/c of them. In other words, the only good Nazi is a dead Nazi.
When the droid dropped the statue on IG-11's head, and Mando said, "That's using your head," that was severely disappointing. It sounded like a line out of an '80s/'90s action-adventure film, which is not a good thing. I hope that it doesn't portend things to come this season.
This was a really sweet film about a man who lost his purpose for living, then found it again in being of service to others, w/ the help of a new, loving neighbor and her family. Mariana Treviño as the neighbor was excellent! Her performance was both touching and heartfelt. She did a tremendous job in showing what it takes to reach out to someone who's lost their way. I'm looking forward to seeing more of Ms. Treviño's work in the future. The theme song for this film, Til You're Home, performed by Rita Wilson, actor, songstress, and Tom Hank's wife, and Colombian singer Sebastián Yatra, was beautiful.
There's so much to love about this show. The representation is amazing! The writing and acting is really spectacular. I greatly appreciate the deep-dive into the lives of women, especially queer women, and queer women of color. I can't even begin to imagine how difficult many of their lives must have been, to have to live in secret, or live a life of lies, in order to protect oneself. I hope that in coming seasons, they explore more of living in a white supremacist, Christo-fascist society that brought on these hardships for these women.
If i had one critique, it would be that they should lay off the CGI during the baseball scenes. I understand that it's designed to make these women look like professional baseball players, but it's obvious that they can play, b/c you can see it in their movements on the field. It's one thing to use CGI to effect a homerun or some extraordinary play, but in general, each throw didn't need to have CGI behind it. They should simply let these women play ball.
While viewing this episode, especially the ending sequence, I was reminded of an incredibly fitting tale once retold by the great orator and baseball announcer, the recently deceased Vin Scully, upon his induction, many years ago, into the Baseball Hall of Fame:
"There is a legend in the West of an Indian chief who was wont to test the manhood of his young braves by making them climb up the side of a mountain as far as they could in a single day. And at daybreak on the appointed day, four braves left the village. The first one came back in the late afternoon w/ a sprig of spruce to show how high he had climbed. Later that afternoon, another came with a branch of pine, and much later in the day, the third came with an alpine shrub. But, it wasn’t until late that night by a full moon with the stars dancing in the heavens that the fourth brave arrived. “What did you bring back? How high did you climb?” asked the chief. And the brave said, “Where I was, there was no spruce nor pine to shield me from the Sun; there was no flower to cheer my path; there was only snow and ice and barren rocks and cold, hard ground. My feet are torn and bloodied; I’m worn out and exhausted; I’m barehanded, and I have come home late. But,” and then a wondrous look came into his eye, and he said, “I saw the sea.”"
