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Reviews
The Invisible Woman (2013)
Mrs. Dickens is the truly invisible woman.
So much so that her husband forgets to name her when introducing his family. Charles Dickens was always fascinated by very young, slender, virginal girls, they are venerated in all his novel. His wife had been such a girl when he married her, but after giving him ten children in a period without anesthetic, she has naturally gained weight and aged. He may tell himself the classic, "my wife doesn't understand me," but it's clear he really just wants a new young, slender girl. The film itself doesn't seem to buy the story that his wife is intellectually boring but instead clearly shows Dickens flinching in disgust when he looks at his wife.
Neither are we shown any brilliance of mind in Nelly as the actress maintains a slack jawed, rabbit-like expression through most of her scenes.
Most biographies depict Dickens as not only treating his wife as invisible, but openly ridiculing her and inventing ways to be cruel to her. We see an example of that here when he makes her take his gift of jewelry to his mistress.
Why we should find this affair romantic I don't know. It's boring and trite and, worst of all, taints any future reading of his novels. A film about the life of Catherine Dickens sounds much more interesting.
The Goldfinch (2019)
Regret and Redemption
This movie isn't as good as the book, but then neither were "Gone With the Wind," or "The Godfather," and they are all three great movies.
This is the story of a boy who loses the only loving person in his life and is suddenly dependent on the kindness, or not, of strangers and one estranged relative. These people make up the wonderfully portrayed characters in this film who shape the young man he becomes.
Theo's grief is inconsolable, partly because he blames himself, and his only comfort is a package wrapped in a blanket that in it's softness over bone-like hardness is the physical as well as emotional connection with his lost loved one.
His world goes from a privileged life in New York, to having to steal and cook his own food in California, to a career that uses his artistic eye for detail and a soul still struggling to find the sense of belonging he lost.
Truly absorbing and moving.
The Professor and the Madman (2019)
"The work will help me, but I will need books."
I had read the book so I was aware of this almost unbelievable, true story of two brilliant men working together to create something never before even imagined, but the movie itself exceeded all my expectations, with it's wonderful acting and beautiful scenes.
Watching Dr. Minor's room in the asylum fill with books and notes as he worked on the dictionary was a visual I'll never forget. How long I have waited to see someone with severe mental illness portrayed realistically, from his worst psychotic episodes to his quiet ordinary days. Sean Penn did a wonderful job. It brought tears to my eyes to see him struggling to do his dedicated work in spite of the distractions of his paranoia and delusions.
Body & Soul (1993)
Too long and too trite.
At six and a half hours this was twice as long as it needed to be. It's the story of a nun, conflicted as to whether or not she should leave her order to go home and run the family business or stay inside her cloistered convent. The writer clearly has a bias, as none of the spiritual rewards of the religious life are shown and all the hardships are highlighted. Changing to a teaching order is never suggested.
One would think Thomas's character had been forced to join and held prisoner for 16 years.
It's all quite predictable with heavy hints that she had only joined the convent because she had been sexually repressed and is now "awakening." We even have to see two full frontal nude scenes while she gazes at herself in the mirror as though she hadn't known she had breasts. We're expected to thrill over things like new clothes and a rather plain haircut, and be delighted that she's jumped so quickly from a vow of chastity to casual sex. The only "moral" she retains is a very judgemental attitude about other people's smoking.
Mr. Church (2016)
Miss Charlie WasToo Much
Eddie Murphy delivered the subtle pathos that we saw peek out of his sketches way back during his SNL days The story was a sweet example of how we sometimes have to make our own families where we find them and Mr. Church's kindness was touching throughout.
But Charlie? Spoiled, rude, snotty little Charlie? My hand itched to slap her during all her early scenes. Sure she was a little upset to find a stranger in her kitchen and it's realistic that it might take a few days for a child to accept someone new in her small world, but hadn't her mother taught her anything about respect for adults? Good manners? Everyday niceness? Her whole spoiled attitude went on way too long and once she was grown up I still wanted to shake her. How could she possibly believe that Mr. Church saved enough money by using grocery store coupons to put Charlie through college?
Finally, after inviting herself into his home, she breaks his one and only rule and goes snooping through his bedroom drawers! Her behavior was inexcusable through most of the movie, she even had to have Mr. Church tell her to forgive her damaged friend for being materialistic. What were Charlie's redeeming qualities? I saw none.
Still, well worth watching, for Eddie Murphy's acting and his memorable character.
This Is Us (2016)
Overrated
This show isn't terrible and it has some interesting moments, but I'm finding the characters, yes the same ones everyone else is in love with, to be fairly hard to like.
Jack is probably the best of the bunch but he is too perfect to believe. What man has a tire blow out and smiles about it? Rebecca favors one child over the others to an abusive degree. Her son Kevin begs her for attention and she can't even be bothered to go to a single one of his shows, or learn the name of the play he's in. That's just cruel. She suddenly cuts of her parents forever, instead of trying to talk out her problems with them.
Kate sits in weight loss meetings and belittles the concerns of the other dieters. She can't bring herself to smile or nod at strangers who pour out their hearts to her, in fact, she maintains a stone faced disregard of others most of the time.
Kevin is horrible to his brother when he's a teen and not much better later. He's needlessly rude to his step-father.
Randall makes snap judgments about his bio father and his adopted mother without giving them a chance to explain themselves. He has never ever watched his brother's TV show. When his mother drops in on the way to the theater, he says, sarcastically, "Thanks for not calling first."
Miguel is insensitive to things like the family traditions, but everyone is equally insensitive to Miguel and treat him like a pushy, interloper even though he's been married to Rebecca for years.
I can't care about people this insular and self-centered .
Deadwood (2004)
Juvenile Idea of Realism
"Horrible," and "realistic" are not the same thing. This show wants to shock people and call it gritty and real, but it's no more realistic than the "Saw," movies. We're supposed to think white outlaws would dismember victims to make it look like Indians did the deed, but Indians rarely did such things, certainly not in a rush on a frequently traveled road. How long would it take to saw through limbs with knives, anyway? In a town where men gun down other men in the street and no questions are asked, why would there be any concern about whether or not a small child had witnessed a murder or not? Even supposing that what she saw in the dark would have any credibility at all? There's no law in Deadwood, so there certainly wasn't going to be a trial where witnesses speak before a jury. That's just one of many silly plots.
The people in this fictitious, unrealistic place bear no resemblance at all to what must have gone on in the real Deadwood. I'm sure Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane would have a good laugh, after they got over their surprise and shock, to hear the f-word used as an adjective instead of a noun, blasphemy go unremarked, women wearing their underwear in the saloon, skinny, sickly women considered attractive, and an almost complete absence of people with a normal, human sense of decency. Deadwood was without formal law but it wasn't the inner ring of Hell.
For authenticity in westerns we have brilliant writers like Larry McMurtry and Charles Portis. This series seemed to have been written by a 16 year-old boy who happened to have read the Wikipedia on Deadwood and just loved to say bad words.
Ruby Gentry (1952)
Battle of the Master Thespians
Watch this one with a friend so you'll have someone to laugh with. Jennifer Jones and Charlton Heston bring their over-acting talents to new heights in this fun melodrama. Watch how he violently drags her into his arms and the two disproportionate faces, his gigantic forehead and her softball size cheekbones almost fit together. Listen to his forced gravel of passion and her snarling lisp. Watch them face each other with the same odd posture of caved in waists and flat behinds. See them try to walk across a room without knocking anything over, shoulders swinging and arms flinging as they go.
I would like to think this film would have been better with more subtle actors but even the story lacked credibility. We are told repeatedly that the town didn't like Ruby because she was born on the wrong side of the tracks, but I think her blatant public flirting and major anger issues might have had a lot to do with it.
Home for the Holidays (1995)
How to Ruin Thanksgiving
Take two hip, sophisticated siblings from their creative lives in the city and send them home to their family in the suburbs. Make sure they spend their entire visit letting everyone know how superior they are to the ones left behind. This can be done through eye rolls, snide remarks, snickers and mean spirited comments.
While it's true the home town folk were sometimes odd, self-centered, grudge carrying, or shallow, none of them deserved to be treated like dirt beneath the two protagonist's feet.
Not funny, and lacking any of the warmth we might expect from holiday movies.
The Master (2012)
Anderson : Making it up as he goes along.
This isn't really a movie about religion or even Scientology, and in spite of its title it has relatively little to do with the leader of a cult. It's about a severely ill alcoholic who is brain damaged from drinking gasoline and paint thinner. He is permanently out of control with a sort of chronic steroid rage expressed in violence and deviant sexual urges. He needs a good physician, recovery from alcoholism and hormone therapy.
This could have been a good movie if we had seen the origins of a cult or followed the ideas and motivations of its leader. From another angle, we may have been able to learn something about the nature of the sort of person who joins a cult if we had followed an ordinary person into the sect. Instead we have a cult leader who seemed to have sprung from nowhere and Freddy is far too frightening and deranged to be typical of anyone.
Many people see this as an expose' of religion but that's like reading bad poetry and calling it an expose' of music. The Cause is not a religion. Neither is Scientology. Religions seek a higher, spiritual plane, and whether it's Allah or the Great White Spirit, they all have a supernatural God. This is the story of an ignorant, violent young man and the con artist he falls for. Neither are interesting.
I had looked forward to this movie, hoping it would answer questions about the nature of cults and their members. All it did was raise questions about modern film fans and their slavish devotion to certain directors who have convinced them that lack of narrative equals artistic freedom, ugliness equals realism and criminal, deviant behavior equals the true nature of man.
Of Two Minds (2012)
Honest and heart wrenching.
My niece has schizophrenia and, at times, I felt like I was seeing her on my screen. The acting in this was perfect, from the flat affect when the medication is causing that sluggish, underwater feeling to the terror and confusion when a psychotic episode hits. My niece also sits and smokes during most of her days but we are thankful she is no longer tormented by voices or terrifying hallucinations.
Other fine points from the film are that Baby's mother was shown as caring and loving. The old, false, belief that schizophrenia is caused by bad parenting, or traumatic events, still lurks in some minds and it's good when a movie helps people learn that it is, in fact, a brain disease, like Alzheimers or Parkinsons and no one is to blame.
The well sister, Billie, is also realistically portrayed and points out the problems when young family members have to deal with the ill person.
My only wish would have been to place more emphasis on the costs. Medication can easily cost a thousand dollars per month and private residential care can be over $200,000 a year. Only the very wealthy can afford the nice ones.
This is a terrible disease, the number one disabler of young people and something that strikes the young and lasts for fifty years or more. That's a long time to be trapped in a nightmare, unsure about what is real and what isn't. We need to find a cure.
Water for Elephants (2011)
Stigma and Sensibility
This film followed a book that was read by countless book clubs, my own being no exception. I've wondered why on earth this second rate story has been so over-rated by both readers and film goers and all I can conclude is that many of us have a nostalgic draw toward circuses and a huge soft spot for sad animal stories.
Both book and film do a fine job of capturing the feel of a depression era circus. Hence two stars.
Everything else was weak and flawed. The dialogue was corny and far too contemporary. The film's many heavy handed lessons; be kind to people of other races, be kind to animals, poor people have a rough life, all were obvious enough for Sunday school class. The romance was slow and served to point out the over-the-top sensitivity of the main character who seemed to be too soft for his chosen field, let alone circus life. His university had a huge scholarship program for veterinary students at that time, he should have checked it out before he ran away to the circus.
The films biggest flaw was it's "diagnosis," of August as a paranoid schizophrenic. He is shown to have huge mood swings going from highly competent manager to irrational rage. These are not symptoms of schizophrenia, bipolar maybe, but no unmedicated schizophrenic would have the organizational skills needed to manage a circus or carry on a persona of elegant competence. August didn't hear voices, have delusions, or lose contact with reality, he was just a cruel, violent person and the movie, while being so pointedly politically correct in other areas, does a great deal to promote fear and stigma against the mentally ill by falsely labeling August as schizophrenic. Apart from all else the term schizophrenia wasn't commonly used at that time. Doctors would have said dementia praecox and lay people would have called it insanity or simply madness.
This film would be harmless, if childish, entertainment if not for it's potential to further stigma against the mentally ill. But then, "schizophrenia" has served as a quick substitute for actual character motivation by lazy writers for a long time, I guess we shouldn't be surprised.