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Reviews
The Hateful Eight (2015)
Full of Hate and Doesn't Rate Positive reviews
Quentin Tarantino wasted 70mm cinematography on this movie filled with hate by a self loathing director who continues stoking racial strife by rehashing distorted history from the tragic period of 150 years ago. The Civil War cost the lives of 500,000 young men but all Tarantino does in this movie is spew hate.
There are no insights into racial issues done with any intelligence. Just lots of pretentious dialogue and several references to a fictitious letter by Abraham Lincoln that is read at the end of the movie after criminal Daisy is hung inside Minnie's Haberdashery.
Being technically competent does not make up for the nastiness in this movie.
The worst sequence being the recounting/flashback by Samuel Jackson's character Major Marquis Warren of his murder and humiliation of the son of Confederate General Smithers. Smithers is played by Bruce Dern, who must really be desperate for any role to be in this angry film.
In that sequence Samuel Jackson tortures and forces the son to perform oral sex upon him, while the son is naked in the wilderness setting before his death. Jackson, who seems to enjoy his torture tale, right out of a maximum security prison for rapists and other perverts, should be ashamed for taking this explicit role and it doesn't jive with his hawking Capital One Credit Card.
Anyway, the movie is pointless and I really wish Tarantino would take his movie mimicry into another endeavor--- like becoming a permanent movie critic because he does no service to the art form with the likes of this movie and the "Django Unchained" shock style of "movie making."
The Revenant (2015)
The Revenant is surprisingly often not realistic
This film often got rave reviews in 2015 and in 2016 on IMDb. But those accolades are not deserved IMO. While many claimed the action was so realistic, huge plot flaws undermine the supposed gritty realism. And the shaky cam usage is irritating and overused by the director. Granted the bear attack was well done and the cinematography often beautiful, but the narrative has a number of weaknesses that bothered me. For example, although the hunting party went to the trouble of constructing a gurney made of logs, nobody fashioned a SPLINT for Leonardo's character's broken right lower leg! Later in the film the protagonist is seen running full tilt and even jumping on to a horse--- a total impossibility. In another scene, DiCaprio's character comes to the edge of a huge cliff spying a river and the next cut has him at the bottom of said cliff in that river. Another ridiculous unrealistic scene. Furthermore, the character, Glass, is submerged in the frigid water of a waterfall and has no problems with the frostbite and hypothermia that would have most certainly ensued! There is also a scene stolen from "Star Wars" where Glass eviscerates his dead horse and climbs naked inside of the carcass to seek shelter from a blizzard. And the next day he puts his clothes back on although said clothes were left outside in the blizzard--- of course the clothes are perfect?! Another major problem is the constantly changing scenery. Sometimes there are massive mountains and other scenes have a temperate forest. There are no points of reference to make the settings coherent. Everything is for style and visual effect with no logic. And Leo does a lot of grunting but one never gets a sense of empathy for him except a little bit when Glass sees his murdered son's body. All in all, another overrated exercise in style with an illogical script and disjointed narrative by a self important director
Get Hard (2015)
Get Hard fails hard
This vulgar excuse of a movie demonstrates Will Ferrell's continued deterioration in both his choices for movie roles and his waning comedic talents. Etan Cohen directed this trash and also co-wrote it with some equally depraved individuals who reveal a fixation on male anatomy and prison rape.
Pop singer John Mayer appeared in this filth and actually sang a crass "song" on the Late Show with Jimmy Fallon, who was uncredited, but that did not help either one of them.
The movie opened with Ferrell's butt shot and despite a couple of mildly funny scenes, never rose above its profane and ugly self loathing demeanor.
Stereotypes are everywhere but the ridicule and disdain of white people took priority. Towards the end of the movie Ferrell's character actually "joined" a black drug dealer's gang to gain "protection" prior to entering prison at San Quentin for trumped up white collar crimes for which he was framed by his future father in law. Ferrell's character tried "joining" a white (racist) biker gang but was assaulted because he couldn't say the "N" word.
Throw in a disgusting scene where Ferrell's attempting to give oral sex to a guy in a bathroom stall and on that alone you have enough to make you vomit and/or stop watching this waste of money and time.
Director Cohen ought to stop "making" movies because if this is his idea of comedy, he is one sick fixated piece of work. And Ferrell should take two years off and re-examine his life because it's going downhill.
Interstellar (2014)
Interstellar light years from stellar
Interstellar is another example of the continued deterioration of Christopher Nolan and his writing partner and brother. This movie is really a jazzed up version of "Ghost" and "Back to the Future" in many ways and that is in a serious science fiction movie, of course, a bad thing. It is pretentious, preachy, and cliché ridden and has the Nolan mark of some nice visuals but dragged down by haphazard and illogical storytelling.
Instead of being an exploration of the astrophysical possibilities of transcending the vastness of space, it starts out as a soap opera and ends in a ludicrous manner with the impossible survival of the main character passing through a black hole.
Michael Caine essentially plays the same character as in the Batman movies and that is becoming tiring to me. Matthew M. sometimes mumbles his lines, maybe embarrassed by what he is supposed to say; but hey it's Christopher Nolan, right?!
Anne Hathaway is not believable at all and miscast. The rest of the cast is acting as if in a SyFy original movie. No memorable characterizations or lines in a nearly three hour movie. And at 200 million dollars to produce and promote it just proves that if "big names" are associated with a project anything can get made.
When watching this movie I kept hoping something would be adequately resolved but the ridiculous last 15 minutes on top of the poorly written first two hours demonstrate that Nolan should stop making movies to try and "dazzle" and make movies that actually have a good story and good characters.
As an example of a bad story; in the beginning the audience is told that the world is in a drought but Matthew's character drives through a big green cornfield. Huh? And his truck has a flat tire and he never gets stuck in the field. That kind of illogical depiction continues throughout the movie.
Overall, a non stellar work from a self important deteriorating director.
A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)
another bad movie with actors showing bad judgment
"A Million Ways to Die in the West" is a terrible movie by Seth McFarlane who seriously believes vulgarity and bad taste is funny and demonstrates with regularity his twisted juvenile lack of intellect. When I read some of the favorable reviews on this piece of trash I had to add my opinion to bring down the overall rating for this disgusting excuse for satirical "comedy".
Lacking wit and style, and focused on sex and "potty humor" the talent lacking Seth delivers another Hollywood funded piece of garbage that is both offensive and unfunny. That Theron and Liam N. would put themselves in this terrible exercise in tastelessness shows bad judgment on their part and an unlimited desire to make money, regardless of the quality of the script.
I actually felt sorry for Christopher Lloyd making a cameo in this movie because it reveals his desperation over his waning career.
And throwing "f bombs" around as a sign of humor is really a demonstration of the wasteland that is Seth's brain. I really hope he stops "making movies" because he cannot write, direct, or act. Avoid this movie unless you are writing a college paper on the deterioration of American comedy.
The Door in the Floor (2004)
Slow-moving film fails on most counts
Plodding action and not believable characterizations throughout. Nudity by Bridges in lead role with child actor present in scene shows bad judgment on everyone's part, especially the director and the child's real life parents.
Kim Basinger is mostly one dimensional and near catatonic in some scenes. Script copies other, better films like "The Summer of '42". Mimi Rogers is a nude body in one scene and a flaming hysteric in another scene; just another case of desperation and overacting on her part.
Don't believe the glowing reviews. An irresponsible boring mess of a movie.
Meeting Evil (2012)
Ridiculous Plot and ridiculous acting make this a clunker
This movie starts out somewhat interesting with SLJ playing his standard menacing character by rote. But the character played by Luke Wilson makes one mystifying decision after the next, defying logic and common sense. I can never understand why lousy writing such as seen in this movie gets a regular pass by the producers of so many movies. Maybe they don't even actually read the scripts and just are interested in "demographics".
And the two detectives are more than bumbling; they are boring too. In an unintentional comedic bit of casting/writing; the two actors playing Luke Wilson' children, a boy and girl, look nothing like the parents and play deadpan throughout their on screen time. Even if they are supposed to be adopted, one would expect some emotion from them but it rarely shows.
The alleged "twist" at the end is thrown in there along with the rest of the ridiculous inexplicable plot devices. Thus, a noisy nonsensical waste of time all around.
Valley of the Moon (2009)
Very impressive!
Excellent short film. A very impressive first film by the Monteleone brothers! They have taken a difficult subject matter and treated it in a unique and riveting way. The movie grabs your attention right from the start through to the end frames and makes you want more. Lindsay Goranson is superb in her critical role and the other actors play their characters perfectly. The beautiful cinematography and great production values are evident throughout the film and it deserves the many awards it has garnered. The film's score also heightens the mystery and nicely compliments the interplay between the characters and the dramatic pauses in the story. I would like to see a full length version of this short.