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lyndsayw
Reviews
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
Excellent acting, horrible character
Melissa McCarthy and Richard E Grant are amazing, but the main character is just SO unlikable. The other characters were great and helped make the movie more palatable, but Lee is just such an awful person it's difficult to find empathy for her when she has none for anyone but herself. She is beyond selfish and unapologetic for how awful she treats everyone in her life.
That said I still gave 7/10 because the acting is so exceptional and I loved seeing Melissa McCarthy in a serious role. And Grant is always delightful in everything I have ever seen him in. I hope Melissa McCarthy will do more serious roles in future.
Enlighten Us (2016)
Narcissism at it's BEST..... or worst, whatever works for you.
Before watching this documentary I had never even heard of James Ray. I have always had a fascination with people who have personality disorders (narcissists, psychopaths, sociopaths, borderline personality disorder etc...) and especially with cult leaders. James Ray ticks off more than one of these boxes. James Ray built his empire through the pain of other people. He used their pain through methods that people have been using since time immemorial. He is the snake oil salesman of today. He would take people who desperately needed hope, then he would promise them the cure for that pain, convincing them that he had the recipe for the cure that could fix everything. He would tell them a story about how when things were bad for him and he was searching like they are now, he discovered this way to fix everything and now he wanted to share that cure and help others. He employed techniques that cult leaders have perfected over time. He would rip their world and all their self worth apart and then he would give them a moment of euphoria aided by everyone else there. They would watch as he tore into them, believing his lies about how he did this to heal them and out of love. Then they would have what he called a breakthrough which in truth was really that he had successfully reprogrammed their whole way of seeing things and then he and all the others would love bomb them. These moments felt so good after all of that and the result was that they would become addicted to these breakthroughs. This entire situation was a recipe for disaster. The more people followed him and paid to be put through this over and over, the more you could see tragedy looming on the horizon. Sedona was that tragedy. This is a powerful documentary and not for the reasons James Ray wanted. I would suggest it to anyone.