edcar47 Reviews

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)

Good Movie with lots of subtext

[6/10 · 27 December 2019]

I've seen this movie a couple times. I'm just wondering if anyone thinks that DiCaprio's character needs to see a medical doctor.

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)

Once Upon a Time... in (the) West Hollywood

[6/10 · 18 August 2019]

From reading other reviews it seems I made a big mistake walking out of this movie after only maybe 2 hours of mind numbing time travel. Slaughter-House Five did it much better and with less hype. Honestly, in all my years of avid, but critical movie watching I never thought I would have to endure 2 hours of self-indulgent, dis-jointed mish-mash in hopes that the ending would make it all worth-while. I'll admit I happily drank the Tarantino Kool-Aid after watching T.R, R.D. P.F. and K.B. but this last (burnt) offering left a bad taste in my mouth. I've been watching Once Upon a Time in the West by S. Leone before Hollywood came out and I noticed at least three references that Tarantino has made use of in the above movies mentioned. With Hollywood now it's four. Seriously, watch Leone's West for a better appreciation of Tarantino and to learn how a super long movie can keep you in your seat because you want to be there all the way to an ending that doesn't need to justify what came before. The sheer beauty and humanism of the ending stands in sharp contrast to what came before. Teach yourself to be critical. It's okay to criticize the great Q.T.. Really it is. Again for a better appreciation of Tarantino watch Leone's West , La Dolce Vita, and My Life to Live. Especially the last - you'll be amazed. And I promise I'll see the ending of Hollywood when the DVD comes out to see what everyone else is so gaga about.

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Building the bridge vs. laying the track

[14 July 2009]

My big problem with this movie is simply this: when building a railroad why would you have two separate sets of engineers working independently (one to clear the jungle and lay the track and one to build the bridge to span a river)? And further, assuming that you do have two sets of engineers, should they not be in direct communication with each other so one can inform the other about any difficulties they are having? This would seem to be necessary if in the event that changes have to be made by the bridge builders then the track layers can adjust their calculations and vice versa.(Also, why wasn't the river bed checked for soundness BEFORE the first track was laid?) The entire premise of the movie rests on the idea that the train tracks on both sides of the river are being laid to converge at a very precise point (which is where the bridge has to be) and on a very precise (not too distant) date. When the British CO informs the Japanese CO that the location of the bridge needs to changed the Japanese CO should have complained about the massive delays this would cause in re-routing the track yet he does not. In fact, there is nothing to indicate that the track-layers know about the change in bridge location. Are we to assume the track-layers continued blithely laying track along the old route and yet still connected with the bridge at the new location? Ah, how marvelous is this movie magic!

Seven Beauties (1975)

brilliant character study

[12 March 2008]

I am truly pleased to read all these positive comments about this movie. Even though the total comments are rather few in number they are all positive, which in itself is remarkable. I saw it when it first came to the theater and have loved it ever since. The movie hit on all cylinders for me in a way that probably no movie before or since could do. (Kazan's EAST OF EDEN comes close.) This is not an easy movie to like in that it is a Totally Focused Character Study about an individual who we meet for the first time in the movie. It is not a simple Genre movie that focuses on one aspect of life (crime, war, anti-war, comedy, romance, tragedy, coming of age, sex, survival etc.). This is a one-of-a-kind Character Study that asks you to follow the life of a human being (combining all aspects of life) as it unfolds before our eyes. And as there is justification for each of his sins (and they are legion) we cannot judge him too harshly, or at all. Also, because we initially like the character we become complicit in each one of his monstrous deeds and soon there is no turning back for either him or us. We can only continue going forward together, if only to see how it all ends. Oh Yeah. Perhaps that is what the OH YEAH Beat poem at the beginning is all about. That is the final irony- how the start of the movie and the end become one. At the end of the movie (or the true beginning of his life) Pasqualino becomes the person being mocked in the Oh Yeah poem of the opening scene. I think the reason everyone seems to like this movie is that the people who would not like or understand it knew instinctively within themselves to simply stay away. Or they walked out on it as soon as they realized this was not their kind of (genre) movie. Historical Note- I heard on the History Channel on a program about Naples during WWII that fully 30 percent of the women of Naples were prostitutes during the war. ed

Vivre sa vie (1962)

MY LIFE TO LIVE a precursor to PULP FICTION

[10/10 · 18 January 2007]

I found this movie by accident at my Goodwill store and bought it because it looked like an interesting example of 1960s experimental French cinema of which I am not too familiar. When I started watching I liked the stark black and white simplicity of the film and long before it ended I realized how similar this movie was to PULP FICTION. The girl, Nana, was simply exquisite and similar to Uma Thurman in many ways. I won't go into all the ways this movie is similar to PULP but the thing I noticed right away was how the movie opened with the male and female at the restaurant counter with their backs to the camera. They are talking about breaking up - Vincent and Mia were meeting for the first time. In sum, Tarentino must have seen this movie and used it for many of his ideas.