The good L&H in a sawmill is the short film "Busy Bodies" (1933), worth watching.
Reviews
11 Reviews
Sleuth
(1972)
Boring and creepy!
13 March 2013
If your idea of fun is watching a boring film about a sadistic psychopath and his victim in a creepy setting with the hammiest acting you'll ever see, go for it. If not, stay away from this tedious, overlong movie, and watch a good murder mystery like the Sherlock Holmes series.
We somehow managed to stay with it just to find out what happens in the end, but the wait wasn't worth it. We had really looked forward to seeing this film based on the rave reviews - what a letdown!
This isn't really a film - more like a staging of the play it was based on. Too bad they couldn't have opened it up for a real movie. Don't waste your precious time. I want my two-plus hours back!
We somehow managed to stay with it just to find out what happens in the end, but the wait wasn't worth it. We had really looked forward to seeing this film based on the rave reviews - what a letdown!
This isn't really a film - more like a staging of the play it was based on. Too bad they couldn't have opened it up for a real movie. Don't waste your precious time. I want my two-plus hours back!
True Grit
(2010)
This is a Coen Brothers film?!
16 October 2011
I'm a big Coen Brothers fan, but this film was a complete disappointment. I found it utterly boring, dull, and tedious right from the first moment. Scenes dragged on and on with hardly any action, and there was so little emotion in any of the actors' expressions and dialog, I wondered if this was just a test filming ("OK, everybody. This is just a walk-through for the camera guys, so no need to put any feeling into your lines!")
The Coen Brothers should get back to what they do best - wonderful quirky, entertaining films that no one else can do. I see no purpose in making this one.
The Coen Brothers should get back to what they do best - wonderful quirky, entertaining films that no one else can do. I see no purpose in making this one.
What's up with the casting?!
4 February 2011
This episode was almost impossible to get into - the casting was so strange, it was completely distracting. Ann Todd - born 1-24-1909 - plays the daughter of John McIntire - born 6-27-1907. That's right - he had a child when he was only 19 months old!! That must be in the Guinness record book! As if that wasn't weird enough, she has a British accent, and he has an American one. That could have been explained by a family move to England from the States when she was a baby, but nothing like that was mentioned. The actor playing her ex-husband has only one facial expression - "grinning monkey". Who cast these people?? The plot isn't much to speak of either. Skip this one.
Charlie Chan in London
(1934)
Satisfying!
18 August 2010
"Charlie Chan in London" is the first Chan film I've seen and I'm very impressed.
This movie should be studied in film classes because it's so nicely paced and well edited. There isn't one wasted scene or extraneous action - every step of the plot happens at just the right moment, making the film a very satisfying experience. Add Warner Oland's wonderful depiction of Chan (even so early in the series), an intriguing story, the fun of seeing a young Ray Milland, and the great architecture, clothing, and cars of the period, and you have one fine film.
Enjoy!
This movie should be studied in film classes because it's so nicely paced and well edited. There isn't one wasted scene or extraneous action - every step of the plot happens at just the right moment, making the film a very satisfying experience. Add Warner Oland's wonderful depiction of Chan (even so early in the series), an intriguing story, the fun of seeing a young Ray Milland, and the great architecture, clothing, and cars of the period, and you have one fine film.
Enjoy!
Next Stop Wonderland
(1998)
Awful!
24 July 2010
This is one of the dullest, most boring movies we've ever tried to watch. I don't know what movie the positive reviewers saw - it couldn't have been the same one!
We made it through 22 agonizing minutes, and only stayed around that long because of the rave reviews. We kept hoping it would get better, but it only got worse and worse.
The writing is blah, the acting wooden, and none of the characters seemed like real people. Forget this one, and see Sleepless in Seattle instead.
I liked Hope Davis in Mumford - a far better film. She just looks tired and bored in this one.
We made it through 22 agonizing minutes, and only stayed around that long because of the rave reviews. We kept hoping it would get better, but it only got worse and worse.
The writing is blah, the acting wooden, and none of the characters seemed like real people. Forget this one, and see Sleepless in Seattle instead.
I liked Hope Davis in Mumford - a far better film. She just looks tired and bored in this one.
The Boat That Rocked
(2009)
The first all-subplot movie!
14 May 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Think it's impossible to make a film with only subplots? Well, watch this one! The main story is so poorly written, edited and directed, and takes up so little relative time on the screen, that (as the writer/director Richard Curtis admits in his intro to the deleted scenes) most of the scenes could have been replaced by the ones on the cutting room floor. Instead of a few minor subplots as in most films, minor scenes take up nearly all the film's running time. How on earth can you end a film like that? Easy - just copy the end of Titanic! What a waste of an interesting true story and some fine actors, who do the best they can with this mess.
Avatar
(2009)
A golden opportunity missed
7 March 2010
Warning: Spoilers
The creation of a brand-new, unique world in Avatar is nothing less than spectacular. Clearly the film should get Oscars for Visual Effects and Art Direction.
Unfortunately, the story is dry, trite and predictable. I spent the last 45 minutes checking the time and waiting impatiently for the number-one bad guy and the number-one good guy to fight it out (with the good guy winning, of course) and for our hero to get transferred into his Na'vi body. The dialogue was flat and and the acting painfully wooden. Hundreds of millions and they can't give us better writing and acting?
But the biggest disappointment for me was the plot. Once again we are told that the only answer to violence is more violence. If even the peaceful Na'vi can't find alternative responses to aggression, what hope do the rest of us have? What a golden opportunity to show a fresh, nonviolent response that could have inspired us all to find peaceful solutions in our own life. Of course, that wouldn't have appealed to the 12-year-old boys who have hijacked Hollywood films. Violence and big-budget battle scenes have become essential – money rules. We have become inured to violence in our world and see it as the only possible answer. But as Gandhi wrote, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." Shouldn't film directors and writers take every opportunity to inspire as well as entertain? Even films made "just to entertain" inevitably instruct by the examples shown by their plot choices. So (yawn) once again we learn that the only response to violence is more violence. That we have myriad examples of this kind of response in life is no excuse. Peaceful solutions can only come about when we believe they are possible.
Unfortunately, the story is dry, trite and predictable. I spent the last 45 minutes checking the time and waiting impatiently for the number-one bad guy and the number-one good guy to fight it out (with the good guy winning, of course) and for our hero to get transferred into his Na'vi body. The dialogue was flat and and the acting painfully wooden. Hundreds of millions and they can't give us better writing and acting?
But the biggest disappointment for me was the plot. Once again we are told that the only answer to violence is more violence. If even the peaceful Na'vi can't find alternative responses to aggression, what hope do the rest of us have? What a golden opportunity to show a fresh, nonviolent response that could have inspired us all to find peaceful solutions in our own life. Of course, that wouldn't have appealed to the 12-year-old boys who have hijacked Hollywood films. Violence and big-budget battle scenes have become essential – money rules. We have become inured to violence in our world and see it as the only possible answer. But as Gandhi wrote, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." Shouldn't film directors and writers take every opportunity to inspire as well as entertain? Even films made "just to entertain" inevitably instruct by the examples shown by their plot choices. So (yawn) once again we learn that the only response to violence is more violence. That we have myriad examples of this kind of response in life is no excuse. Peaceful solutions can only come about when we believe they are possible.
Broken English
(2007)
I Can't Believe I Watched the Whole Thing!
30 December 2009
Dull, tedious story of a neurotic, marriage-fixated, anxiety-ridden alcoholic who somehow gets a great guy interested in her. I guess the moral of the story is "Life is so unfair"? Even worse than the shallow plot, trite dialog and phone-in acting is the grating "music" - I actually started turning down the volume whenever it was playing. It makes elevator music sound like Mozart! Not only was there little chemistry between the two leads, there was even less between the two so-called best friends. Don't casting agents check for that during try-outs? Only for die-hard fans of Posey, who does the best she can with the boring script. All others, stay away - there are so many better rom-coms: The American President, Love Actually, Lars and the Real Girl, You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle... almost anything is better than this one.
Return from Witch Mountain
(1978)
Excruciating!
3 August 2009
What a disappointment! Dull, uninteresting, unfunny, and badly acted by all - including Davis and Lee.
The first film was a nicely-constructed fun light comedy only marred by Eisenmann's complete inability to act (I'd love to know how he was picked for these films - did they just pluck him off the street?)
As a homeschooling family, we did get one good laugh at the warning given by the truant officer: a child can either go to school or "become a bum" - no other choice! Now that there are millions of homeschoolers, we shouldn't see that ignorant belief voiced in any more films, at least.
Sequels are rarely as good as the original, but this film could hardly have been any worse. Save your sanity and skip this one.
The first film was a nicely-constructed fun light comedy only marred by Eisenmann's complete inability to act (I'd love to know how he was picked for these films - did they just pluck him off the street?)
As a homeschooling family, we did get one good laugh at the warning given by the truant officer: a child can either go to school or "become a bum" - no other choice! Now that there are millions of homeschoolers, we shouldn't see that ignorant belief voiced in any more films, at least.
Sequels are rarely as good as the original, but this film could hardly have been any worse. Save your sanity and skip this one.
The Nutty Professor
(1963)
Mind-numbingly awful!
26 July 2007
If your life is going by too fast, rent this film - you'll think time has come to a stop! Nearly every scene seems to last forever. I can't believe we watched the whole thing, so beware - you'll either fall asleep like I did, or go so numb that you can't pick up the remote to turn this mess off. Lewis is a terrible actor and an even worse director. What are the French thinking?
Take my word for it - just about any other film would be a better choice, but here are some suggestions for way better comedies: Groundhog Day, The Dish, The Castle, It Happened One Night, The Girl in the Cafe, Dave, You've Got Mail, and Sleepless in Seattle.
Take my word for it - just about any other film would be a better choice, but here are some suggestions for way better comedies: Groundhog Day, The Dish, The Castle, It Happened One Night, The Girl in the Cafe, Dave, You've Got Mail, and Sleepless in Seattle.
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