ROM POM POM POM MAN DOWN
Please don't let this season be consumed with her crazy. It will be great if she ends this having conquered her demons?
Finally, a good sequel. Good god the animation, it's so beautiful. And the action was so smooth. Also, Pixar better gives us a short movie about Edna babysitting Jack-Jack.
This is a beautiful story, exquisitely performed! If you are not able to suspend disbelief and see truth in fantasy, I grieve for you, because you miss out on gems like this film. This story deals with loneliness, kindness, friendship, love, courage and nobility. As well as ambition, prejudice, corruption of power, cruelty and powerlessness. Guillermo del Toro wove a sensitive and beautiful story set in a sterile and cruel world. The performances are wonderful by a talented and accomplished cast. The production design brilliantly captures the romantic tension of the piece. I highly recommend this film and give it a 9 (superbly beautiful) out of 10. [Fantasy, Drama, Romance]
Exodus: Gods and Kings was pretty bland. Some of the grander scenes were suitably epic in nature, but for the most part it was just filled with a serviceable script and average acting. God, the bioterrorist, is depicted in a very unfavorable light in all his Old Testament glory, with characters not hesitating to call him a child murderer and Moses himself questioning God's actions. The movie's sort of meant to be more "realistic" and so skips some of the fantastical elements of the story (e.g. the staffs turning into snakes), but this ends up not working very well and detracting from the movie instead. The parting of the Red Sea just ends up being water receding before a tsunami which just looks absolutely terrible and is obviously nowhere near as impressive as what you imagine it to be or what it's like in previous movies such as The Ten Commandments. This is a huge loss as the best parts of the movie end up being the "epic" parts, such as the early battle and the plagues, except Ridley Scott decided it would be a good idea to omit the most memorable part of the whole story. The closing of the Red Sea's still very impressive, but it's just not the same thing (also howdotsunamiswork). The editing for this section of the movie was really bad as well; the speed and distance of the tsunami kept varying depending on what shot type was used and the last strip completely changed from a set of cliffs to a beach.
Everybody who isn't Moses and Ramses/Ramesses has almost no development at all, with Aaron and Joshua in particular having basically no role of significance in the movie. I have no idea what was meant to be happening with the way Ben Kingsley talked. The whole thing was drawn out too long and ultimately lacked any emotional impact; this is meant to be founding myth of Israel, but instead becomes a story about terrorists and how Old Testament God was a dick. This obviously isn't a movie that's going to appeal to religious audiences (which I'm not a part of anyway) because of the depiction of God and it ignores key parts of the Exodus story, such as passing over the Passover altogether (geddit?). On the other hand though, there are references to things which people who aren't from a Judeo-Christian background are almost certainly not going to notice, such as a brief glimpse at the golden calf. I have no idea who this movie is meant to appeal to. If you want to watch a more enjoyable, Biblically-accurate and all-round better depiction of the Exodus, just watch The Prince of Egypt instead.
This is probably the most charming character study movie I've ever seen; it really is delightful!
I agree that Greta Gerwig did an amazing job and really made Frances playful and sincere and sweet. The other actors were excellent as well.
The pacing of this movie also really stood out as exceptional.. there were so many fantastic little scenes sprinkled throughout the movie of her just interacting with someone or doing something simple, that really fleshed her out and gave both her and the audience time to process everything.
The soundtrack was used really well too. It was just a fun and wonderful movie all around :)
Pretty disappointing and crappy movie.
I suspected a casual and fun movie with this one, maybe with some puzzles and an interesting premise. However the movie disappointed from the start.
For a adaptation from a book I sure hope this was a bad one. You get thrown into the middle of a stoy where suddenly all kinds of stuff happens. I hope this wasn't the case in the original work, because it is one of the major flaws of this movie, and could be explained as the cause of many of its other faults.
The acting was luckily pretty ok, but many of the characters don't add to the story at all and are just filling up empty screen. The sound was to cry off as well. Soundtrack was ok, but many scenes had no music and felt like a soap because of it.
I am all for being creative with sound, but this was just done badly.
Since I won't bore you with pages of irrelevant texts, like the movie does, i will just make a list of the cons and pros.
Cons:
- Paced way too fast
- No build up for a climax (the film was more of a constant climax actually)
- Not getting time to get acquainted with the characters, therefore not caring about there faith.
- Very little character development, except maybe for Gally (Will Poulter)
- Stating many things as impossible without many explanation
- Revealing the endgame in the first act of the movie with a flashback/memory which makes the whole movie unnecessary,
- Also making the whole story as predictable as a Japanese train schedule.
- Inappropriate absent of sound
- Too much unimportant characters
- Did we really need another Hunger Games movie?
- etc.
Pros:
- Nice environment
- Funny but cool looking cyborg creatures
- Doesn't need many attention to follow, so you can check your twitter or facebook feed in the meantime.
24 will return in early May as tentpole event drama "24: Live Another Day", which will arc through the summer.
This is the cinematic quintessence of the most literal interpretation of the word "Spectacular". If you have the capacity to follow subtle "show, don't tell" narrative beats and character motivations, and appreciate precisely timed plot developments and environmental storytelling organically affecting the progression of the plot, then you will appreciate a perfectly laid out narrative, with uncannily perfect balance of dramatic tone and thrilling presentation. It's simultaneously uncanny and bizzare, while also being groundedly human.
Everything gets filled in exactly as you need it to understand the narrative and writing developments. And god damn are the action scenes exquisitely designed and performed, and the sound design explosive and punctuated. It's musical—sometimes literally—but it all works flawlessly.
This is one of cinema's greats.
Notes: I actually never watched any of the previous films in their entirety. Also, I watched it in a kind of bastardized "bootleg Black and Chrome", since I could only get the full chroma version in 4K, full quality, and resorted to turning my saturation to zero. I know it's not the way it was intended, but I was sold on the monochrome from short clips, and it really does focus the presentation even more, and I understand why Miller considers it the definitive way to see it.
I got goosebumps when they started talking about the music video. This is so f:asterisk_symbol::asterisk_symbol::asterisk_symbol: up. What the hell. I never had a big opinion about him other than he is a talented artist and a very smart person, but this is insane. He needs help, but these girls need it more. And he’s just one of many. This is so sickening. I’m impressed beyond words how these women managed to stand up in the end and come forward.
The cast is good but this movie really is a chore to get through. A story about the profiting off of stereotypes told through the plot of a tired cliche. The only redeeming quality is the meta aspect of this movie getting a Best Picture nomination because liberals love to make fun of themselves while thinking they’re one of the good ones.
What a way to not stick the landing in the absolute slightest...
Xavier really likes to say if I’m being honest
and that’s why she’s mother!
I've got to be honest, Abe's instant praise of Miriam's achievement (once he understood) got me bawling.
I find it difficult to see awards going anywhere but to the cast and crew of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel this year (or next year, I guess, for most of them). Tony Shalhoub's performance last week and Alex Borstein's in this, with that incredible monologue, are certs.
But everyone's top notch. There's been a lot of discussion over the years about who Miriam would end up with. This finale answers that in the best way possible. They were already with them. Sometimes a fulfilling life doesn't necessarily rely on romantic love.
Kaleb’s gamble on Emily in episode 2 paying DIVIDENDS!!!
Props to the man randomly spinning on the street. Now that's a unique bit of local flavor for the episode!
I really can not stand Hisam.
Margot Robbie is a gift to cinema. This movie is a gift to our society. It's enjoyable and fun but part way through it become a pretty good commentary on our society and how men and women treat each other. It talks about capitalism, consumerism, feminism, the patriarchy, men's mental health, and how wrong we get the simple act of living sometimes. I'm sure there's gonna be people who think this is ultra woke, but maybe (and ironically), that's some people need.
I went for the laughs and left the movie theater with an existential crisis. I loved it <3
Must watch tv!
I have to admit, prior to watching this show I was one of the ignoramuses who thought all Pitbulls were bad and all convicts should just stay in prison (or that they didn't deserve any rights while they were incarcerated)... man was I wrong.
When I first watched this show I remember stereotyping the people/animals right away, Tia appeared to be one of those "biker chicks" who probably shouldn't have custody of her kids, who no doubt had some drugs on the property and/or illegal activity going on but as I watched, admittedly mostly to see her fail and my preconceived notions of her (Tia), her children, the parolees and the Pitbulls come true, I was left eating crow. The show would peek my interest in not only educating myself more about Pitbulls but about parolees and the American justice system (wow, how screwed up that is!), it would shine a light on the medias fascination, and misrepresentation, of not only Pitbulls but ex-cons as well. Like so many things the media saw ratings in it's stories about these big bad dogs and ran with it, almost single-handedly turning peoples perceptions of the breed against them despite any evidence they are any worse than any other breed of dog. I already knew the media liked to do things like glorify shark attacks for ratings and ignore things like the fact more people die each year from cows then sharks but they never reported on that and here I was faced with the awful truth that I had been misguided... again!
As the years, and seasons, have gone on I have done a complete 180, I don't see the Pitbulls as the problem but simply those who own them, as a matter of fact I now consider Pitbulls to be among the most loyal and family friendly among breeds, I have educated myself about the problems with the American prison systems and mistreatment of convicts resulting in higher rates on re-offending and have seen what other countries are doing about it that has drastically reduced the recidivism of ex-cons not only reducing the stress on families but adding to the contributions made by these people in their communities.
Tia and her daughters, although inked and tough looking on first appearances, are simply strong willed women with hearts if gold.
Not an episode goes by that doesn't tear at the heart strings, makes me wonder how people can be so cruel, or how so many dogs can remain unadopted? Where would this world be without people like Tia? or shows like Pitbulls & Parolees.
[9.5/10] Is Susie Myerson a friend to the people in her life, or just a mercenary business woman? In the far off, distant year of 1990, combined roast/testimonial by the famed Friar’s Club suggests it’s the latter. The jokes are about her being tough as nails. The stories are about her being a Machiavellian (and persistent) bullshitter and ballbreaker. She’s being championed for these things, even as she’s being softly slated for them, and hearing her whole life’s professional accomplishments laid out in lionizing yet debasing detail seems to lead to nothing but disinterest from the now veteran entertainment legend.
The roast is a fun device. Not only does it allow the producers to bring back Gilmore Girls vets like Sean Gunn and Danny Strong, but it provides the show an excuse to jump around the timeline, giving us glimpses of Susie’s life, and by extension, those in her orbit, long past the main story’s late 1950s/early 1960s timeframe.
Many of those stories are fun, but paint Susie in the light of a manager who took a no-nonsense, “by any means necessary” approach to her job. During the famous triple crown, she pays off caddies, harangues execs, and invents sitcoms on the fly to make three major deals in one day.
When an entitled young hack of an actor demands the world from her, she reads him the riot act and tells him to fuck off. Rumors even fly that she bilked Harry Drake out of his clients when he wasn’t all there. The fellow showbiz muckety-mucks busting her chops seem to admire all of this, but the version of Susie they’re celebrating is slimy, abrasive, and something of a con artist.
And yet, for once, the truth is softer. She did inherit all of Harry Drake's big clients. But not because she got him to sign them over while he was delirious or paid off his daughter. Instead, Harry wanted her to have them because she was the one person he could trust. He saw the way she went the extra mile for Midge, kept her on the right path, and wanted the same for the stars who stayed loyal to him.
Before then, she thanks him for recognizing something in her and helping her get on her feet. Afterwards, she’s the only one who stays by his bedside while he’s dying. And if that weren’t enough, she pretends to be his daughter, not out of some selfish plot to take his business, but to grant him one last measure of kindness and peace in his final moments. The Susy Myerson people don’t know, the part of her life that doesn’t make headlines, are moments like that where she shows appreciation and care for the people who’ve helped make her a success.
Thankfully, that incudes Dinah! One of the small but joyous happy endings The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel offers in its final season is for her, who ends up not only becoming a manager with Susie’s mentorship, but running her whole east coast operation. On a personal level though, she also goes above and beyond a business relationship, to recognize when Dinah is being physically abused and send her goons after the culprit, while also giving Dinah the day off and the time and money to be able to rest and recover. People joke about her mob connections, but she does these things out of kindness. Whatever her faults, she goes out of her way for people, and isn’t just using them to further herself, even the underlings and also-rans with whom she could get away with it.
That same attitude, of course, extends to Midge. In a 1973 Hawiian wedding that Midge wants to break off, Susie tries to draw lines. She’s having a beautiful time and loves the peace and quiet of it all. Professional problems? You got it, Midge. But this is personal. It has to stop somewhere.
Except it doesn’t. It’s Susie who has to explain to the latest celebrity beau why he’s being left at the altar. It’s Susie who has to tell Grand Funk Railroad that their name is confusing and they won’t be playing tonight. It’s Susie who has to endure a comical scene where Abe and Rose go on about how expensive the cake they bought their daughter was. This goes beyond being a manager. This goes beyond business. This is the act of someone who cares.
And I guess, I have to begrudgingly admit, that also includes Joel. He is one of Susie’s greatest challengers here. After noting that she’s in with the mafia, and being wise enough from his dad’s operations to know there’s a second set of books, he’ll do anything to stop the mob from “owning” Midge. So what does he do? He offers himself instead, letting them get their hooks in his nightclub business by way of “financing” in exchange for leaving Midge alone.
Now let’s be real here. This is a stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid plan. It works (more or less) because this is, despite some raunchiness, a generally bright and warmhearted show. But god help me, the answer to someone you love being in the mob is not to get your family in deeper with the mob. We like Frank and Nicky, so we’re apt to buy that they’re men of their word. But in reality, even the gilded reality of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, making deals with the mafia only ends badly for everyone. It’s a dumb solution to a problem that ought to, by all accounts, only make things worse.
And yet, taken in the aspirational tone of the show, this is Joel’s greatest redemption. I still don’t love the guy. I still find him kind of grating and entitled in his own way most of the time. But for someone who didn’t appreciate what he had with Midge, and who didn’t seem to respect her or the life they’d built or her talents as a stand-up, this is an act of him throwing himself in front of this bullet train so that he can protect her, and ensure that she can pursue her career free and clear of the mob’s influence, and not for nothing, the noblest thing he’s ever done.
Maybe that’s the answer for Susie and an improved, if not exactly enlightened Joel. He’s an obnoxious jerk much of the time, but when it counts most, when he has a chance to show he cares about Midge in a way he didn’t when they broke up, he not only seizes it but stays quiet about it for decades so as not to burden her.
With that, Joel is what breaks up Susie and Midge. The prison sentence we learned about a couple episodes back turns out to be the product of an FBI sting for his mob ties. Many of these flash forwards have prompted the audience to ask what could possibly break up Midge and Susie after all they’ve been through. The answer is satisfying. Whatever their issues, Midge cares about Joel. Her seeing him go to jail for her, to help cover for a problem Susie got into, would be a final straw, something big enough and harsh enough that it would change how Midge saw her manager.
It made Susie look more like George from The Gordon Ford Show. Most of this episode is about the future, but the one detail that advances the story in the present is Susie helping stage a coup to get George ousted (and with him, the rule against employees appearing on the show) and get Mike installed as the new producer. The smoking gun is George sitting on Gordon’s network contract so that he can feather his own nest. For all his gladhanding, for all he plucked Gordon from obscurity, he was just using the guy to further himself, putting his needs before his clients.
That's what Midge effectively accuses Susie of. And Susie has things to answer for. I like that several things that have been floating around in the background of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel come to the forefront here. I wondered all through last season how getting in with the mob would come back to bite Susie. Well, now it gets the partner of her number one client sent to jail. It sees Susie kicking thirty percent of Midge’s earnings to the mafia rather than to her. Even Susie’s seemingly pointless gambling problem comes back! With the suggestion that she’s forcing Midge to take tough casino gigs to settle her debts and square up with the wiseguys who own them.
Midge throws it all out there, accusing Susie of doing something worse than lying to her -- using her. When Susie tries to say they’re friends, Midge kicks it back in her face, chalking up the first time Susie ever used that phrase with her as a dodge, a sop, another con from a master of manipulation. In a fiery back-and-forth worthy of being compared to the Gilmore Girls’ “Friday Night's Alright for Fighting” family blow-up, the worst view of Susie comes from the person who arguably knows her best, which makes it sting all the more.
And still, when we return to the Testi-Rostial, something changes. Midge offers a video greeting. And in it, with the time to reflect and reminisce, she realizes that whatever their problems, Susie was always there for her. She was the person who went above and beyond to look after Midge not just as a business associate, but as someone who cared. She saw something in Midge, like Harry saw in her, and helped that fire burn hotter and brighter until the world could ignore it no longer. She fixed wedding disasters and staged talk show coups to clear the way, and rescued Midge’s third favorite hat. These are not the acts of a user; they’re the act of a friend.
But there’s something more too. Susie has seemed ambivalent to so much celebration, barely tolerating this dog and pony show. Only, Midge’s video has power. It is part apology, part expression of gratitude, but also part a recognition of something there that neither of them necessarily realized. When Midge couldn't go through with the wedding, she said that her beaus couldn't make her laugh. She’s cycled through boyfriends and husbands like chewing gum, looking for genuine love. And yet, years later, when she’s celebrating her manager, she talks about how Susie always did make her laugh, how Susie, in deeds not in words, showed her so much of that love. It’s a quiet sign of a quiet truth.
Susie isn’t a craven showbiz snake who treats her clients like expendable meal tickets and her supporters like stepping stones. She’s always been the one who recognizes the human beings beyond the business. And for Midge especially, she’s been more than a friend. She’s been a partner.
I was bracing myself when I realized most of this week's episode is going to be a big flashforward, as I feel my favorite parts of this season so far have been about Midge's new writing job. But it turned out to be the show's best episode in years (personally -- maybe ever?), as the structure is cleverly used to weave our characters' future and conflicts among the fast-paced remembrance and humor. Then it ended on such an unexpectedly moving note; I teared up literally at the same time Susie did (Borstein is great throughout the ep). “Tits up, old friend"
We will eventually need this episode to remind us that everything's going to be alright. so, don't you worry about a thing. Brilliant Episode. Probably the best of the series. A true Masterpiece writing.
A beautiful way to use Amsterdam for an episode. It fits the show like a glove.
Sometimes a show can make you realize, you weren’t just supposed to be skipping along and watching each episode as they come. You were supposed to take a minute, and enjoy the side quests. We aren’t supposed to watch a tv show for the destination.
[HBO Max] There is in this film a combination between the observation of nature focusing on the smallest details and a portrait of the brothers who try to contribute a grain of sand in the fight against environmental degradation in a city like Delhi, which it devours its inhabitants on the surface but it also devours life in the skies. It's a mixture made with meticulous attention to detail, with a sense of the visual that is overwhelming. It reflects the illusion of two contributions that can be small and frustrating sometimes but that prove to be above all passionate and powerful.
Pretty entertaining and an interesting watch but I'm gonna need the "rich people bad" films to at least find more unique angles at this point because while I agree wholeheartedly with the message it's completely hamfisted and played out.
In addition to that, I felt like this movie was giving me whiplash with how it would go from interesting to bad to kind of good to bad to "omg this is really good" to "wow this is stupid."
And that ending was the most predictable thing ever.
