The story is weak and it's not told well. The dialogue is unnatural. The acting is majorly subpar, even for how bad it is. Some of the stuff is just bizarre (like the CI coming into the diner and immediately shoving Detective Breslin for no clear reason). Just don't watch it.
Reviews
10 Reviews
Escape Artist
(2017)
Nope
24 February 2019
PSA: The film didn't do everything wrong. There are things that are right with the filming. The camera angles aren't justified but aren't technically incorrect. The sound is okay and the editing is decent. Most (but not all) of the actors can recite lines, and most of the lines are written as they're used in spoken English. However, ideas expressed take longer than they should take, and some scenes run too long. The musical score doesn't work with the film and it is interwoven at a pace and volume that just isn't right. Finally, the piece is not good enough to justify hundreds of votes that have an average rating above 40% of a perfect score. There are nearly eight hundred votes and the average exceeds 8/10. This can only be done by buying votes through fraudulent accounts of hundreds of "registered users." This film will not be seen, and should not be seen, by anyone not connected to the film or its makers, save for a few chumps who have been duped (like myself). Still, the film deserves an 'E' for effort.
Slender Man
(I) (2018)
It Is Good
16 October 2018
I haven't read up on this film yet, I only saw that it was rated by enough viewers to reflect a true value by its viewing public (which is apparently very low). I don't like movies from this genre to begin with and, rather than jumping, they usually just put me to sleep. But Slender Man is an objectively good film. The production quality is top-notch, the acting is believable (that's all I ask for) and there's a proper story. Also, it doesn't play kitschy tropes from the dime-a-dozen horror flicks that come out each year. I'm guessing there was too much anticipation (and expectation) and that led to seething disappointment. While not a "must see," it is definitely "good."
Two Tails
(2018)
Stunning Disaster
30 September 2018
As a public service I'll review this movie. Well, it can't really be called a movie, as it lacks the editing needed to make it a full teleplay. Unfortunately, I lack the writing skills to properly convey exactly how great of a disaster this was. If you're unfortunate enough to view it, you will understand (yet feel duped for having watched it). If you take heed and do not watch it, you will have missed nothing.
Two Tails is a movie that is actually showing in theaters for some reason. The piece lacks a central character, and some of the causes/effects in its plot are shockingly flawed or contradictory. Throughout, the piece relies heavily on an unending stream of physical comedy (i.e. stumbling, bumbling & fumbling) to lengthen the scenes, and that becomes truly tiresome after thirty seconds and will not elicit laughter or bemusement from any viewer for the duration. The dynamic between the characters is both mystifying and illogically explained. The ending is simply when there is nothing else left to put on the screen.
I've seen hundreds of films and yet, while there were many I've disliked and others I did not complete, this sorry excuse for a film stands out as the greatest epic failure to ever be distributed.
One thing that can be taken from watching this is the new meaning it gives to foreign hacking. There exists no world in which this should have a rating that reaches thirty percent of a perfect score. Someone, somewhere, has made a successful bid to pull one over on one of the most respected catalogues of film available on the Internet and stands testament to what can be achieved via hundreds of "fake accounts" belonging to "registered users."
Two Tails is a movie that is actually showing in theaters for some reason. The piece lacks a central character, and some of the causes/effects in its plot are shockingly flawed or contradictory. Throughout, the piece relies heavily on an unending stream of physical comedy (i.e. stumbling, bumbling & fumbling) to lengthen the scenes, and that becomes truly tiresome after thirty seconds and will not elicit laughter or bemusement from any viewer for the duration. The dynamic between the characters is both mystifying and illogically explained. The ending is simply when there is nothing else left to put on the screen.
I've seen hundreds of films and yet, while there were many I've disliked and others I did not complete, this sorry excuse for a film stands out as the greatest epic failure to ever be distributed.
One thing that can be taken from watching this is the new meaning it gives to foreign hacking. There exists no world in which this should have a rating that reaches thirty percent of a perfect score. Someone, somewhere, has made a successful bid to pull one over on one of the most respected catalogues of film available on the Internet and stands testament to what can be achieved via hundreds of "fake accounts" belonging to "registered users."
Disobedience
(2017)
Incredible and Authentic Depiction
17 May 2018
Ronit (Rachel Weisz), a single middle-aged photographer, returns to England from New York following the death of her father, an esteemed ultra-Orthodox rabbi who had been the spiritual leader of this non-Hasidic congregation and its institutions. It immediately becomes evident that due to personal issues she had left the community at a very young age and never looked back. As the story develops, we learn that Esti (Rachel McAdams), now wife of Dovid Kuperman (the departed rabbi's chief disciple and heir apparent, played by Alessandro Nivola) had struggled with similar issues alongside Ronit in their youth but had chosen a drastically different method of coping.
With Ronit's return, old sentiments are dredged up in a manner that upends the lives of all three in a community that simply has not developed tools for dealing with the full spectrum of matters involving private life, nature and choice that have in recent years become so normalized that we hardly lend them so much weight.
As each of the three struggle to cope with their issues, it becomes clear that there is a void in place of a guide in the doctrine of the community and that there is no one right way to cope with outlying struggles.
The directing of the picture and the portrayal of the three main characters is stellar. Aside from two seven-candle menorahs (which have no place in a Jewish home), this picture stands out as perhaps the most authentic portrayal of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in motion picture history.
With Ronit's return, old sentiments are dredged up in a manner that upends the lives of all three in a community that simply has not developed tools for dealing with the full spectrum of matters involving private life, nature and choice that have in recent years become so normalized that we hardly lend them so much weight.
As each of the three struggle to cope with their issues, it becomes clear that there is a void in place of a guide in the doctrine of the community and that there is no one right way to cope with outlying struggles.
The directing of the picture and the portrayal of the three main characters is stellar. Aside from two seven-candle menorahs (which have no place in a Jewish home), this picture stands out as perhaps the most authentic portrayal of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in motion picture history.
Norman
(2016)
A Picture Doomed to Be Misunderstood and Therefore Underappreciated
9 February 2018
This is my first time posting a review, but I felt that this picture in particular needs the introduction that I can give to it:
When initially asked if I would recommend this film I responded, "Ah, recommend? ... I don't think so." In retrospect, I think that it can be appreciated, provided that one understands the viewpoint of its Israeli writer/director.
I'll digress briefly to address the elephant in the room: Richard Gere. I was initially offended that he was allowed to (and that he had the gall to) play a Jew, but he was actually very good in the role. Without chewing the scenery, he showed that he's a talented actor who can "just go into character," and for him "less is more."
Now, there are two main points I think every viewer needs to know: First, it's a very Israeli movie (and that's what it is); you either know what that means or you simply do not. And, secondly, Israelis are looking for "the message" or "the lesson" of the film, which isn't clear, and most complain that "it has no plot." Non-Israelis, on the other hand, are left asking themselves if there are gaping holes in the film that are just not filled in, and thus find it "very confusing" or "totally unrealistic." I, however, understand what the director is going for. He's seeing Israeli politics through the eyes of 90% of Israelis (who all want pretty much the same thing: "to part with the Arabs"). Through that lens, he presents the image of an ideal Israeli political candidate who's actually capable of making a difference (i.e. "peace"), and when the wheels start moving to oust him, as they do in Israel with any successful politician, our attention is focused on the internal conflict of his "Diaspora Jewish businessman" vis-à-vis whether he can be altruistic enough, or just desperate enough, to realize the greater picture and appreciate the sincere relationship he has with this great scion, and perhaps to be ready to give up the short-lived glory he can finally reap from these events and even to fall on his own sword for the sake of the greater good.
Once I realised what it was, I sat back with no vested interest in the outcome and just enjoyed it like a foibled fairytale (or a story submitted by a child) portrayed onscreen by an A-list cast.
Without actively recommending it, I'm just telling the public what it is. A fourth-to-sixth grader's story (including that child's perception of reality and wishful thinking) presented by an A-list cast ... in which, if any of it were to happen then this is actually how it would play out. When you accept that this is the case, that you're missing nothing and that this is how Middle East politics actually plays out on the ground (that's right, you're not missing anything, this really is the circus of politics in Israel as it's portrayed in this film), then maybe you can sit back and allow yourself to enjoy it too.
When initially asked if I would recommend this film I responded, "Ah, recommend? ... I don't think so." In retrospect, I think that it can be appreciated, provided that one understands the viewpoint of its Israeli writer/director.
I'll digress briefly to address the elephant in the room: Richard Gere. I was initially offended that he was allowed to (and that he had the gall to) play a Jew, but he was actually very good in the role. Without chewing the scenery, he showed that he's a talented actor who can "just go into character," and for him "less is more."
Now, there are two main points I think every viewer needs to know: First, it's a very Israeli movie (and that's what it is); you either know what that means or you simply do not. And, secondly, Israelis are looking for "the message" or "the lesson" of the film, which isn't clear, and most complain that "it has no plot." Non-Israelis, on the other hand, are left asking themselves if there are gaping holes in the film that are just not filled in, and thus find it "very confusing" or "totally unrealistic." I, however, understand what the director is going for. He's seeing Israeli politics through the eyes of 90% of Israelis (who all want pretty much the same thing: "to part with the Arabs"). Through that lens, he presents the image of an ideal Israeli political candidate who's actually capable of making a difference (i.e. "peace"), and when the wheels start moving to oust him, as they do in Israel with any successful politician, our attention is focused on the internal conflict of his "Diaspora Jewish businessman" vis-à-vis whether he can be altruistic enough, or just desperate enough, to realize the greater picture and appreciate the sincere relationship he has with this great scion, and perhaps to be ready to give up the short-lived glory he can finally reap from these events and even to fall on his own sword for the sake of the greater good.
Once I realised what it was, I sat back with no vested interest in the outcome and just enjoyed it like a foibled fairytale (or a story submitted by a child) portrayed onscreen by an A-list cast.
Without actively recommending it, I'm just telling the public what it is. A fourth-to-sixth grader's story (including that child's perception of reality and wishful thinking) presented by an A-list cast ... in which, if any of it were to happen then this is actually how it would play out. When you accept that this is the case, that you're missing nothing and that this is how Middle East politics actually plays out on the ground (that's right, you're not missing anything, this really is the circus of politics in Israel as it's portrayed in this film), then maybe you can sit back and allow yourself to enjoy it too.
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