jackbecker007 Reviews

The Fisher King (1991)

Underwhelming and Overrated

[4/10 · 16 March 2019]

I love Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges. They are phenomenal actors and I was excited to watch them in this movie. But they nor this movie were really that good.

The Fisher King was a slog to get through. It really was. Jack Lucas' character arc was not really believable, I found him as insufferable at the end of the movie as I did from the opening scene. I was surprised by Jeff Bridges inability to do more with the character, though the script deserves a lot of the blame. Robin Williams was just kind of generic (for him). His performance here wasn't transcendent like other roles of his in Good Morning Vietnam or Good Will Hunting or even admirable like in Dead Poets' Society or Insomnia. It was fine, but nothing special.

I will concede the movie grows increasingly endearing during the time when Jack and Anne are trying to help Parry woo Lydia. But this does not make up for the movie as a whole, and I truly do not understand the widespread acclaim this picture received. Merecedes Ruehl was a lone bright spot, she made every scene better.

At the end of the day, I feel like The Fisher King thought it was about something really really important but ended up being really trivial and ordinary.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

The Coens deliver a solid anthology film

[7/10 · 4 March 2019]

This is a really good anthology film. Of course, the six vignettes are not created equally, but they really don't feel uneven. There is an exceptional ebb and flow in this film. Tonally, these stories fit together quite nicely.

Personally, I really enjoyed the stories "All Gold Canyon" and "The Gal Who Got Rattled." I don't have any major complaints with any of the stories, they were all well written. Even "The Mortal Remains", which wasn't as strong of a story, was fitting for the Coens aesthetic (though it was a bit anti-climactic to use as the final story).

The cinematography is beautiful. This was the Coen Bros.' first film shot digitally, and it was magnificently realized. The West never looked so good!

The acting was fine. It was what it needed to be, the actors were well cast. The one standout for me was Tom Waits in "All Gold Canyon". His character was transcendent.

All in all, I really liked this movie. I suspect I will watch this several more times.

Listening (2014)

Not a good movie.

[4/10 · 19 May 2017]

I think 4 out of 10 stars for this movie is generous but I'll admit it has a really fascinating concept. That was why I chose to watch it, was the premise. It just didn't deliver.

At no point are the three lead actors convincing in their roles. They are poorly written and don't even make sense. I never believed that any of these grad students could be remotely capable of the advanced science they were supposed to be doing. And the characters are not likable. I was never rooting for them to succeed in any manner.

Not to mention that this "sci-fi" movie was predictable and filled with every cliché and trope in the book.

It's not even worth this many words.

Sully (2016)

Hanks is good, but Sully falls flat

[5/10 · 14 October 2016]

I think Clint Eastwood is very talented director and Tom Hanks is easily my favorite actor. He's just good in everything. That being said, I was going to wait to rent this movie because the subject didn't appeal to me very much. Ended up at the theater with a group of friends who wanted to see it, so that's what we saw.

Put simply, it was just OK.

Tom Hanks is always good (in my opinion) and that was still the case. He did really well and might get awards consideration. I don't think he reached the heights of his performances in Philadelphia, Cast Away, Forrest Gump, or Saving Private Ryan or even another bio-pic, Captain Phillips. He was very good and made the movie watchable. Aaron Eckhart was also pretty good. My problem with the acting is that I don't feel those characters would be very difficult to portray, so although they did a good job, it isn't impressive per se.

I am all for creative license, but I think the choice for the antagonists in this film is borderline slander given how actual events panned out. That's all I will say about that.

The plot honestly doesn't have much going for it. We already know how the flight ends and thus lose a great deal of dramatic suspense. Eastwood tries to work around this with how he structured the story, but it just felt forced. Three separate times, I believe, we end up in a flashback of the flight in question and it does not add anything to the story. It quickly grows old.

I mean, technically, this film is impeccable. The editing, the cinematography, etc. Clint Eastwood knows how to shoot a movie. So I don't want to knock it too hard. I just feel like it is pretty forgettable.

6 stars is my standard rating for a movie that is well made, but I just didn't really care about.

• I do have to say that Aaron Eckhart's mustache is the star of the movie.