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npshive
Reviews
Soul (2020)
Bait and Switch
Some trailers reveal the entire plot of the movie; others are misleading. This was one of the latter. While this is an original, mildly entertaining and somewhat thought-provoking picture, it is NOT a Hoosiers-like inspirational story about a struggling teacher guiding his struggling students to greater achievement and appreciation in the field of music. Indeed, the students only appear in the opening scene (with one student making a single appearance in a very minor subsequent scene). As for the music, it is only a minor plot device, appearing in only three scenes and only involving the central character and his struggles.
Nor is this a movie for young children, preteens, or -- I would venture to say -- teenagers. The leading character is a middle-aged teacher who would rather be playing music instead of teaching it, and through a series of mishaps he finds himself traveling between the present life, the after-life, and the before-life (yes, really), guided or accompanied by a bizarre series of mysterious characters who range from the condescending to the irritating to the sinister.
There is some depth to the story as the leading character and his primary companion search for both life itself and the meaning thereof, a plot we've seen before in different forms but nonetheless, as I noted, somewhat thought-provoking, but young viewers will at best be out of their depth on this, and at worst will be freaked out, and it wouldn't surprise me if some of the more obtuse characters and images cause nightmares in young children.
Decent enough acting and an interesting enough plot to hold your attention, so if you don't mind the cliches it's not a complete waste of time, but keep the kids away from it.
World War II: When Lions Roared (1994)
Very Well Done
The lack of Hollywood-level production values should not take away from the overall quality of this miniseries. The casting and acting is superb and the amount of research must have been incredible. The script lags at some points and there are some anachronisms (most notably the many maps of Europe which show postwar boundaries), but it accurately captures the interplay between three giants of history. It's interesting to note that there are only 5 significant speaking parts (the Big 3 plus Molotov and Hopkins), and the film does a good job capturing the dialogue between them even when they're separate geographically. A simple production that is pure history without unnecessary and distracting dramatic elements -- the history of the time and how the Big 3 interacted with each other produced more than enough drama.