mcgooganz Reviews

A Bronx Tale (1993)

One of the best American movies ever made

[10/10 · 30 April 2024]

And I don't say that lightly. I loved Mockingbird and Miracle Worker, and I consider this film to be in their class - in fact, to be better than either.

It's the biography of the central character who begins as a child of about nine years old.

Being that it is an honest biography, and being that life doesn't go the way you expect it to almost ever, this movie is impossible to second-guess. So when you're watching it, and you think oh this would be the next element of the plot, you're likely to be wrong.

I was amazed at this wonderful film having never heard of it. I was born on the West Coast and this is surely an East Coast movie. DeNiro does an excellent directorial job, and the acting is flawless.

Prepare to be deeply affected in ways you never expected by Mr. De Niro's wonderful, "A Bronx Tale."

The Kid Who Would Be King (2019)

The kid, and the flick, come through

[8/10 · 5 April 2024]

Another movie deserving of much higher ratings.

This is a pretty much flawless screenplay, wonderful cast of kids, and an internal kind of plausibility that never lets you down. You never have to ignore something that doesn't make sense. This plot takes care of itself.

And unlike few kid movies (goonies, Zathura, etc.), this movie is equally entertaining for adults as it is for kids.

The photography, music, quickness of plot, and resolution all make this a movie to be appreciated and enjoyed on many levels.

It opens as a cartoon, but don't be fooled, that's just a clever opening. This is a flesh and blood movie with kids who are up to the part. All of the lead kid actors come off professionally, as individuals struggling in life in a world of Uncertain values.

See it and please rate it highly; it needs to be seen and enjoyed. It is a rarity.

Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom (2015)

Shockingly perfect documentary

[10/10 · 2 September 2022]

We are right in with the pro-democracy insurrection over months of a people's refusal to submit to tyranny. Absurdly armed insurrectionists give their all against a treasonous president who suddenly wants ties with Russia not Europe. It's us, & the mostly young people with stones and sticks, & priests from the Catholic church, and journalists. Everywhere around bad guys with guns. We win.

It's a rare example of complete victory by an uprising of the true majority of a nation. The hope is that their success is a preview to our own.

The filmmakers are as dogged as are the insurrectionists in their insistence of being on the front line. The only comparison I can find in memory is the Battle of Algiers.

First to the Top of the World (2019 TV Movie)

Excellent film

[8/10 · 6 June 2022]

As overblown as the subject's ambitions are, so is this movies'. You'll need to watch it to find out what becomes of our ordinary men turned arctic explorers. But whether they succeed or fail, this movie definitely succeeds. Hard to imagine not being enthralled, if occasionally frustrated, by the large personality of its central character. Highly, highly enjoyable.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Entertaining, ragged, way too long

[10/10 · 24 April 2022]

Well acted, indifferently written screenplay, alternately intricate and shabby production. Difficult to understand this movie's high ratings.

Don't get your hopes up. The cast does the very best possible job with a screenplay that feels like it was written stoned by amateurs with good imaginations and too much time on their hands.

You don't need to see this one in the theater. Watch it at home, stoned out of your gourd. Take breaks when you need them; things will be much the same by the time you get back.

Licorice Pizza (2021)

Zany Brilliant Wonderful & Nuts

[8/10 · 13 February 2022]

Tremendously fun, zany but real, it so fractured my attempt to judge its characters that I just gave up and enjoyed them. Splendid fun by the guy who brought us Magnolia so many years ago.

Don't Look Up (2021)

Great cast timely story well and outrageously told

[8/10 · 9 January 2022]

Reviews of this movie remind me of the early reviews of "2001, A Space Odyssey," which many reviewer's including Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert did not understand. Pauline never revisited it but Roger re-reviewed the movie the following year and gave it high marks. This one too deserves very high marks. It is must-viewing made easy by a superb cast, all of whom voted for the movie by being in it. You can't not see this movie if you live in our world.

1883 (2021–2022)

I need it to be history

[5/10 · 20 December 2021]

When a cowpoke agrees to pay $22 to put his horse, saddle and wagon stuff away overnight you know whoever wrote this doesn't know anything about 1883. And there waren't any real persons in it neither, so far as I could tell. .

Arcane (2021– )

Strong graphics tight technical plotting

[7/10 · 6 December 2021]

The action is tight, the timing and sequencing perfect, the world envisioned interesting but our characters are exactly 2 dimensional. Quirky cartoon dialogue. It turns uncomfortably "uncanny valley." The shire is a universe away.

The Professor and the Madman (2019)

An Amazing Mess

[5/10 · 5 December 2021]

There's so much wrong with this movie that it's worth showing to a cinematography class as an example of the many ways you can go astray. It's almost traffic wreck enjoyable. Not for the faint of heart.

The French Dispatch (2021)

A feast for the eyes but a muddle

[6/10 · 4 December 2021]

This movie wanted me to pay attention all the time to who was who and when and where & I was just in the mood for watching a movie. I didn't look at my watch it was not boring. Interestingly made fascinating in moments but finally incomprehensible to this reviewer.

Twister (I) (1996)

Among the best 10 action adventure movies ever

[9/10 · 8 November 2021]

Hang your science hat by the door when you're ready to watch this fantastically well structured and scripted thriller. It is not a science-based. It is a fun romp and you probably know exactly how it's all going to turn out within the first 10 minutes. It is a joy to watch it unroll.

Moonrise Kingdom: Animated Book Short (2012)

A pastiche of whimsical well-made scenez

[6/10 · 7 November 2021]

There may be a method to this wonderfully crafted nonsense but I couldn't really feel it. One test of a good movie is forgetting you're watching a movie and instead are living in the movie's world. This did not happen for me. I wasn't bored because there was so much going on and it was so prettily and craftily done. But I needed it to make some sense, have some unity, to have a point.

Yesterday (III) (2019)

Some problems but also much brilliance

[8/10 · 5 November 2021]

Our hero find himself in a world that does not remember the Beatles, and he is an aspiring singer songwriter. The screen writer finds some amazing plot twist and revelations here. There are some rocky spots, but if you love the Beatles you must treat yourself to this movie. You will be glad for a long time.

10 Items or Less (2006)

Almost cinema vérité

[9/10 · 6 October 2021]

Essentially plays himself at odds and between jobs when he takes the side of the only ambitious clerk in a grocery store and they set off to find her a better job. I found it transfixing.

Cartoon Carnival (2021)

A new look at the history

[8/10 · 3 October 2021]

You may think you've seen the history of cartooning. Everyone knows Gertie the dinosaur. The cartoon carnival has much, much more to offer with lots of human inside baseball stuff. Loved it.

La Brea (2021–2024)

Monumentally Bad Writing

[3/10 · 29 September 2021]

The first sentence in this teleplay:. Stuck squarely in traffic the driver says to her children "Why is driving such a difficult concept in this city?." What follows is equally meaningless, a world where even gravity has lost its mind.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)

This movie is so much fun

[9/10 · 9 August 2021]

Valerian does not have great stars but its actors are professional and fine. The screenplay is workmanlike and may not give them much 3- dimensionality. The movie cranks along unrelenting and fascinating. The plot is almost spectacularly good and subtle. The whole conception is remarkable and it all works. But you almost have to see it twice (or at least I did) to understand exactly what has gone on. Visually one of the most spectacular experiences I've ever had before or since.

Vitus (2006)

This movie never stops

[9/10 · 7 August 2021]

From the moment it begins until the very end, you will love watching this amazing thing unfold. Nothing less than a wonder, this movie.