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lucianolvr
Reviews
Evil: Room 320 (2020)
What is significant about?
Mathew 13. Can someone explain? It's a scary episode, my first time watching one. Definitely not for kids! ha!
My 600-lb Life: Angela J's Story (2019)
Frustrating episode
Angie is apparently a drug addict who wants to go to Houston, but she tries to guilt her daughter into leaving her child's daughter, and boyfriend, to bring her (Angie) to Houston. It's sad to see the daughter made to feel guilty for wanting to take care of her own little daughter and not her drug addict mom. It's just sad all around. Angie is in complete denial about everything, and tries to pull the wool over Dr. Now's eyes but he of course will have none of it. He drug tests Angie and tells her that if she goes to rehab, she can continue on the program, despite the fact that she lies continually. She chooses to blow him off, not go to rehab and return home, apparently to continue her lifestyle of drug abuse and obesity and require caregiving from her poor daughter. Even though she has a "husband" she does not want him to clean her or buy food for her. Hopefully she goes to rehab some day, gets help from a therapist, gets clean and loses weight ,and frees her daughter from the guilt of wanting to have her own, healthy life.
Religulous (2008)
What a coward!
Really? I don't even have millions of dollars and I could make a more honest film on religion, by interviewing people, and NOT editing every single interview to mock and make fun of the interviewee. Wow. I am ashamed for Bill Maher. He exposes himself as so weak minded and lacking the integrity of actually inquiring into faith and being open to the responses, instead of instantly mocking them and editing the footage to cut out any insightful or purposeful wisdom stated by those being interviewed and mocked. He constantly cuts out the interview.
That is why, I believe, the Jewish man keeps saying "let me finish" because he knows Maher's style. The worst situation is where he goes to the Vatican, is impressed and pleased by the Roman Catholic astronomer, who welcomes him kindly, then Maher gets himself thrown out of the Vatican. Then, he interviews an older priest and goes crazy with the editing! You can even see it with the people in the background who disappear and then other people appear. This film is so dishonest. I get his humor, he is funny and I laughed quite a bit. But underneath, the disdain for persons of faith and the disrespect shown to those who have been touched by God is an infuriating situation for me because he has SO much money and SO much access to the public, yet spews this disingenuous dog feces.
She-Devil (1989)
Best movie ever
This is one of my all time favorites. Roseanne is great, as is Meryl Streep. Both give nuanced performances and it's such light comedy with a great theme and outcome! Go Ruth! Streep as Mary Fisher, with the logo "MF" at her gate was decades before you see that on the ring of Kevin Spacey's character on "House of Cards." This move was well written, has great flow and is wonderful entertaiment!
Cold Pursuit (2019)
fun movie
Great movie, fun, quirky. Loved seeing the mountains of Colorado (probably filmed in Utah, I don't know) and having the Ute Indians have a part. Fun! Liam still knocks it out of the park.
The 15:17 to Paris (2018)
Great movie
I love that Eastwood had the real guys play themselves. Why not! They pulled it off, and the story itself was so interesting and great. I cried a lot once Clint's piano started playing, he always seems to have a piano in his movies. These guys were heroes and I loved seeing it, and seeing them get recognition. Great choice, Clint, and thank you gentlemen for saving all the people on that train that day. Great movie!
Us (2019)
Sorry you thumbs downers!
Spoiler! Don't read unless you want the movie ruined. I liked this movie! Not just because I love Santa Cruz, and it was way fun to see it used as a central spot in a strange account of underground tunnels with soulless clones in them! The acting was great, the humor was fun, it was quite compelling and suspenseful. I don't understand why there are so many people giving it a 1 star out of 10.
The thing that I am confused about is that the mother at the end, "Adelaide", even though we find out she was actually the original "Red", seems to have heart and soul. Red said that they did not have a soul. But the mother (the clone, Adelaide) seems to have soul, and a love for her children. Or, is this just an act? I can see how this movie can inspire fun conversations.
Also what was with the look on Adelaide's face at the end? What did that mean, as she is grinning at her son? Was he also switched? If he wasn't, why was she grinning? I thought it was a super fun movie, and highly recommend it.
I would hope that if something like that is happening in real life, we can all come together in peace and love and liberate the clones, and give them love and affection and a start at a new life. I doubt our US govt. would just abandon millions of clones down below. And surely the human originals would find those tunnels and unearth this conspiracy. I hate the thought that one of my children could be cloned and living underneath the boardwalk. I would want them all! and I would want to love them and make them ALL happy. So the thought is disturbing, thank you Mr. Peele, but the movie was a good fun ride.
Workin' Moms (2017)
Missed the opportunity
Totally portrays stay at home moms as morons, charicatures while the moms who want to leave their babies all day long with someone else so they can have careers are the funny, interesting ones. Right there it's insulting to anyone not making the same choice, and the writers fail to realize that some stay at home moms or dads may tune in. While some scenes are funny the liberal agenda portrayed and lack of any conservative viewpoints is disappointing in its predictability. Hope if there's a second season they drop the cliches and political agenda.
Being Human (2008)
One of the best shows ever
Loved this show. Hal was the best. Wish it did not end so quickly. I never gave the US version a chance, because I know that the US often ruins things. So I stick with this UK version, and will always love it. Funny, interesting, and a good way to see parts of England that I never will. Also it does something near the middle of the series and I won't spoil it, but it has to do with characters who die, that was not done before. Now it happens in US shows, but Being Human was the first one to do this. A trendsetter.
The Big Valley: By Fires Unseen (1966)
Do the Barkleys ever have a successful romance?
I'm enjoying watching the old episodes of The Big Valley. Nick was such a hunk! And Lee Majors looks like a god. I haven't seen one episode yet where one of the men has a lady who they love, who either lives or doesn't end up in prison or leave them for another man. Or get them paralyzed. Is this whole family star crossed? And what about beautiful Audra? Does she EVER find a husband? I hope so but doubt it...
The Big Bang Theory (2007)
Missed a chance at originality
What would have been real original and fun to watch would have been if Bernadette had chosen to stay at home and raise her baby. She is an intelligent scientist, so it would have been nice to see a show where a smart mom chooses to raise her baby and bring it up in a way where it is emotionally secure, happy and allowed to be curious about the world. Instead they use the lazy, socially irresponsible daycare trope. Sad! The rest of the show has always pleased me and made me laugh. This was disappointing.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (2010)
Financially stable emotionally unstable families
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills used to be fun to watch, but one thing that has always been disturbing is the lack of parental supervision when all of the parenting is turned over to a cast of nannies. In this latest case of several dog bites happening to Dorit's little daughter, only 3 years old, at what point should authorities get involved? It's obvious by watching the show that Dorit is not bonded to her children and she has nannies do the raising of her children. But the nannies most likely do not love the children, and you can't pay someone to love your child as their own, and they have not prevented the littlest child from being bitten twice on the face and perhaps traumatized.
All the women are arguing about this season is who said what about the dog, who told who etc. yet no one addresses the one major issue that needs to be addressed: why this child is not being protected. If the mom can't do it, she needs to hired a nanny who can. So terribly sad to be a child raised by self absorbed parents who only want to be seen as rich and known for fighting on a reality show. The show loses its fun when we must become too concerned and heartbroken for the children lost under all this stupid glitter and glam. Maybe it's time for a reality show that exposes the truth about forgotten, dismissed and ignored Hollywood children. As far as the women and the drama, it's clear that Vanderpump did not plant any story, and the whole slew of idiotic women are so gullible as to believe that she did by some stupid word such as "nipped" and they show that they will buy anything they are sold and spoon fed. Someone is playing them and they are all falling for it hook, line and sinker. Vanderpump may leave and that will ruin the show. I would not watch an entire group of stupid women who fell for some dumb story and decided that Vanderpump was lying, without knowing the truth. That would be completely boring, so I hope that Lisa V does not leave, else I will stop watching the show.
Les frères Sisters (2018)
Thought it was a sci fi
Somehow, by reading the movie description at Redbox, I got the idea that it was a time travel movie. Something about two cowboys chasing a bank robber into the future. I think the description may have been quite misleading! Anyway, other than waiting for the time jump to happen, I enjoyed the movie. It was so quiet though that I had to have captions on. Very interesting! Love John Reilly.
They never did travel through time, though. Had some fun with gold, and that was intriguing, but yeah, no time machine.
Widows (2018)
Guess Who's Coming To Dinner.....or for Chicago Pizza
Pretty much really liked this movie. Have some serious concerns, however. I rented the movie from Redbox and knew NOTHING about it. Hadn't heard one thing about it or read anything. So, I really enjoyed the pacing. I loved learning about Chicago, because I have never been there. Also, when you view the film at home you can rewind and try to figure out a scene or sentence that you didn't get the first time around. I would imagine that if I had seen this movie in a theater I would not rate it as high as I have here. I also took a two hour break to go to the store before watching the second half of the movie, and that helped. Still, I found it pretty riveting!
This review is going to have major spoilers, so please stop reading here if you don't know what happens in the film. Again, I loved how the movie took me on a visual viewing of Chicago, especially that scene where Jack Mulligan (Colin Farrell's character) leaves the projects and ends up, in one uncut scene, in his extremely sweet, tree lined house in an upper scale neighborhood. Shows how fast the transition from poverty and struggle geographically goes to gentrification, class and privilege in almost a heartbeat. Also the conversation in the car was intelligent, how his secretary (assistant? future wife?) knew exactly what he was doing, wondering if all black guys were more endowed than him.
I do believe I heard a little Irish accent coming from Colin at one point, and this threw me. His dad (Tom Mulligan, played brilliantly by Robert Duval) is completely American, and even though they are Irish Catholics I don't see why Jack Mulligan would have even a hint of an Irish accent. Unless he was doing a "lucky charms" impression for fun. Uh, but this movie was not about fun.
I loved the premise that a gorgeous white hunk was in love with a lovely black woman, not "beautiful" in the classic sense, and how it just showed it as being a natural, non issue, loving marriage. I suppose now in hindsight all of Veronica's loving memories of Harry were a bit enhanced. How could he act so completely in love with her when he was planning on completely screwing her and leaving her with a giant, dangerous debt? Not only does he dump her for a white girl, the girlfriend of his team mate who he betrays and murders, but he lets Veronica think that he is dead. He really shows no concern at all for her mental wellbeing. Not only did they lose their child together, but he is ready to kill her at the end of the movie for money? Really? That for me was hard to swallow as they didn't show Veronica as having any clue whatsoever that he was a monster that had crawled out of the Black Lagoon.
The scene where he was exposed to be alive, in the closet, was great. I loved how she did not open the door, as you expect her to. However, you are left wondering if she knows that he a) had an affair with the Amanda character or b) figures out that he is STILL ALIVE!!
I don't like being able to figure out too much in a movie, but the scene in the garage where the van blows up was too obvious for me that it might have been a dead body in the driver seat. And of course the fact that it's Liam Neeson plants the doubt in your head how he can be killed off so early in the movie. So, I thought that it might be a dead body.
Let's talk about all the characters in the movie. There wasn't one character that I really liked. The widows aside, every character (except for Bash) sucked. It's one of those Sopranos problems where every character is described as being so base. Who isn't corrupt? For me that's hard to take. From the detective that's bribed to not investigate whether the bodies in the van are actually the criminals the cops are after, to the mortician who is corrupt and provides a dead body, to every single other lead character in the movie, it's just too much, sorry. Real life ain't like that. There's always a good little person running around, honest, trying to do right in every situation. So that's a major flaw as far as I'm concerned.
Also, the beautiful blonde (Alice, played by Elizabeth Debicki) has only her looks in the movie. Seems like a cliche. Yes, her own mother is a nightmare who wants to pimp her out, but you would think in this day and age Alice would see herself as having options other than selling her body. And the fact that the only nude scene in the movie is with this classic blonde beauty was a let down, again, why should this actress be the only one who has to strip naked to make the movie good? Just because she's beautiful she's the only one? As a woman I would like to have seen a nude scene with Neeson, or a nice looking dude.
It was fun seeing Lukas Haas and recognizing him from Witness as little Samuel. Shane also had a small role in this movie, and I always want to see more of him. What took off the final 4 stars of the movie for me was the ending, and how it is not clear whether Veronica gives the money back to Jamal Manning or not. He is owed 2 million dollars. If she does pay it back, each woman gets approximately 750K. But it doesn't explain what she does with it. Also, what about that getaway car that the women jump in to go after Jatemme Manning after he robs them of their booty? Did Veronica know ahead of time that he was going to do that, and so she had a back up car nearby so that she could pursue him?
A few other little questions:
a) Did she know that Harry would be at the garage to rob her? She didn't seem too surprised.
b) What about the van bought at auction? Was that bought with a fake ID? otherwise it could be traced back to Alice.
c) Wouldn't the woman have to launder their money, for example when Linda goes and gets herself a store again? Wouldn't the feds wonder where that cash came from?
d) The gunshot victim of Alice, taken to the hospital. Yes, she is using a fake name of Jennifer, and yes, Linda tells the EMTs that it was a drive by. But the hospital would have to have been close enough to the house that was just broken into and robbed, and where Tom Mulligan was shot and murdered. Wouldn't the Chicago PD first look at gunshot wound victims in a hospital? And wouldn't her blood be easily identified through DNA at the scene of the crime? That was a big hole for me.
Finally, the shooting of the mixed race son. Shaking my head. This was necessary to the film, how? Cops don't just murder people in cold blood like that. I know that "certain movement groups" like to portray that. (I don't know how much imdv will censor here so I'm not using the movement's name). To continue to portray cops as murderers is dangerous, disrespectful and getting real old real fast. Also, as a young black man his mother would have taught him never to reach for anything in the car as soon as he is pulled over. Hands go straight up, hands are seen the whole time, this is survival. That scene just looked like a modern day, PC statement tacked into the movie which turned me off. Also if it had happened that way there would have been a giant movement with protests and media and Veronica's face would not be anonymous. People would know her.
Other than the problems listed above, the movie was captivating, interesting, and good!
The Real Housewives of New Jersey (2009)
Yeah, Marge cool it with the croaking toad voice
The other person got it right: when Marge lowers her voice it is hard on the ears. She needs to stop that. Sounds like a frog. Maybe she is trying to talk like the ditzy young girls these days who sound ridiculous. Not a good sound for her. All the girls on Vanderpump Rules talk that way and it's why I can't watch the show.
Warning Sign (1985)
great movie
FINALLY I found out the name of this movie. I saw it alone in my living room about ten years ago, on t.v., and was so incredibly creeped out, especially when the scientists come on their "quest" after waking up. They acted so gentle, mild, yet we the audience knew that they were completely homicidal and insane, hiding axes behind their backs. Yikes!!!!! This movie came out at least a decade before 28 days later, another film I love, but Warning Sign was first!!!! Also, I love the fact that the enemies are formerly intelligent, successful people. always, the idea of people who you know and trust, changing into something evil is so disturbing to the human psyche. I've been searching for the name of this movie for so long, and finally got it by googling the actress, whose name I just happened to remember. Great movie!! very suspenseful and interesting.