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alice-enland
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A Man in Full (2024)
Real Housewives of Atlanta
Real Housewives of Atlanta would be a better title. This mini really misses the mark. TW's book was a hefty work, full of rich, fleshed out characters but this series is a watered down, toned down soap opera. So much is left out. We never see the business acumen of CT which must have been there in order for him to amass such wealth. The ending is embarrassing to watch. So much rich material to work with. Maybe Mr Daniels was too weak of an actor to play the lead and everything just went down from there. The only good substantive actor was Mr Pope as the banker. We never doubted his commitment to bring Trotter down.
The Breaking Point (1950)
Neal was an anchor
Traxton was superb as the dutiful wife. Although with little makeup and in unflattering clothes, it was easy to see her beauty beneath the surface. She lived for her husband and daughters. OTOH, I thought Patricia Neel's portrayal of the "escort" was quite superficial and heavy handed. The little boy looking for his dad at the end was hard to take. The various heavies were adequate as were the actors playing coast guardsmen.
John Garfield darn near got himself killed which would have impoverished his wife and girls, instead of swallowing his pride and going to work for his father in law. That is not a trait of character.
Thunder in the City (1937)
A not too funny comedy
Just enjoy this movie and don't be too judgmental. EDR maybe is miscast but that is part of the charm. He is a big city (American) ad man who can sell ice to Eskimos but his bosses tire of his go go go and cut his loose. There is a nice farewell scene with his spinster-like secretary and off he goes to England to visit his distant relatives of whom EGR is a grandson of a black sheep relative. The Brits think EGR is rich and has come "back home" to rescue them from a severe case of "land rich, cash poor." This is mostly a comedy built on mis-understandings as most comedies are. EGR plies his hard sell techniques on the Brits. EGR is himself with more smarm than evil. A middle of the road pre war movie.
House of Strangers (1949)
Darn good movie
This is a darn good movie. Thought provoking on many levels. If you've ever worked for a family owned business you know that the internal struggles are often deep and can cause mayhem. Conte is a fine actor and in the beginning you'll think he will be the heavy throughout since that is his metier. Not a big fan of Susan H but I like her here. I thought EGR was too over the top but I got the point. Zimbalist stayed in the background so much he might as well have been left on the cutting room floor. Maybe he was just there to explain what happened to Conte's fiancee, Debra Paget. As is often the case the character actors were very good such as the bartender. I felt the middle act moved too slowly and we saw too much of the developing relaltionship between Conte and Hayward. Other than one kiss I never saw a relationship between Conte and Paget. Overall a fine film and the print off You Tube is top notch. Almost HD.
To the Ends of the Earth (1948)
Let's drink
I have a new drinking game for you. Watch this movie. Every time you think it's ending take a drink. You'll be out like a light before the movie really ends. A water torture of dragging out an ending.
The Big Bluff (1955)
Great little plot
I'm rating it highly because of the plot and the twist at the end. No great acting or great photography or a great story per se but it was clever as it could be. It could have been a classic if this featured well known actors and had a good director. Well worth your time.
Only Murders in the Building (2021)
Too Cute By Half
The writers try too hard to be cute. I'd HATE to have dinner with these 3. Each is boring and when you combine them you get boring cubed. There is not enough difference in personalities between the 3 to create any interest. I like the idea of the show but the execution falls flat.
Another Man's Poison (1951)
Oh No
I've never given a movie a one star so I'll give this a 2. All in all it's so bad; it has the look of an early 1960's Twilight Zone but without the quality. Bette vamps her way through from start to finish. There is no suspense. What drug was she on?
Moontide (1942)
Worth your time
IMO this is a better film than it is a story. It starts slowly and the initial characters are not well drawn. It is a master class in how to stage, how to light, how to edit, etc. Quite amazing that with only a few sets so much was shown. The sound stage water scenes were top notch. That all said, it's in no way boring. Certainly worth your time.
Murder in the Blue Room (1944)
Oh no!!
Combine a so so mystery, a so so comedy and a so so musical and you get .... this. Ok, once the mystery is revealed at the end (with abouit 10 seconds to go) it wasn't a bad little tale. And, I admit I laughed a few times. There is nothing kind that can be said about this as a musical.
Scandal Sheet (1952)
Most Excellent
This is a very good film, just about excellent. The actors are all top notch and no one over plays their role. The story and plot are not unique but presents a genuine feeling of angst in the viewer. As old as it is, it's not dated IMO.
Morning Call (1957)
It Really is a Stinker
It's a kidnapping of a society doctor who is married to a socialite wife. His wife is genuinely interested in recovering her husband but the police and the press keep getting in the way. Those aspects make us wonder if this isn't also a tale for current times.
Island of Terror (1966)
Stole from WOTW
Similarities to WOTW. The creatures tentacles are similar to the Martians. The sound the creatures make is identical to the sounds made by the Martians. At the end as all the people are crowded into smaller and smaller spaces and it appears all it lost at the very last second the creatures die.. In the post script when the Asian doctor goes into the room and closes the door we hear the WOTW sound again.
The Accountant (2016)
Forrest Gump is a CPA
When making a movie about an accountant who is boring, has no people skills and has autism you have 3 actors to choose from: Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner and Nicolas Cage. As was said by someone else years ago, those actors can express every emotion from A to B. The movie sucks with a near impossible to follow in real time convoluted plot. The only thing potentially interesting here is the actual character Affleck took money to play who is basically a more educated Forest Gump. The CPA takes incredible risks to accumulate tons of money that he evidently has no use for other than to buy "collectibles". Ok. Elsewhere, Anna Kendrick again plays the skinny version of Audrey Hepburn, the guy from the drum movie (Simmons?) looks like he's going to digress to an insurance company commercial at any moment, and John Lithgow opens his eyes W-I-D-E at every line. This movies fails in most every department.
45 Years (2015)
I write this review for only 1 reason.
I'm sure Mr. Constantine wrote the short story upon which this is based. But, back in the '60s there was a Twilight Zone episode (pretty sure, don't think it was Outer Limits but maybe a Playhouse 90 or something) that foretold this story. In the TV show a man and his wife are at a swanky resort where they train a telescope out a large picture window and study a snowy mountain. The married man and his wife and a man who was a close friend of both, hiked in the mountain years ago. The friend fell in to a crevasse and could not be rescued. Due to some calculating which I did not follow, the people who know of these things had been able to calculate when the frozen body of the friend would move down the mountain enough so that it could be recovered. This has taken maybe 20 years. The day comes and the man and woman hike up to the body. It is recovered and the husband unhooks a locket around the dead man's neck. Inside is a photo of the wife, lovingly inscribed by her to the dead man. It's clear that she and the dead man were in love.
Dracula (2020)
After 3 episodes
Long time fan of horror esp the classics. This review is made after 3 episodes. The first 2 were superb but the 3rd was lukewarm, barely passable compared to the first 2. Overall I like the slant put on the classic story, which remains true to so much but with enough new pathways to distinguish it. I think the 2 leads are very well cast. I had no trouble accepting Bang as Drac. The little humor he injects is I think necessary to keep the story moving. We don't want another Dark Shadows. Dolly is interesting, both in appearance and in attitude. If 4 is no better than 3 I won't watch the rest.
The Goldfinch (2019)
Forced viewing of this movie would be prohibited by the Geneva Convention
The McGuffin. The damn painting. Even all those years when he thought he still had it, why not take it to the public library, hide it in the stacks then call the art police and tell them were it was? Why did his angst go on for years and years.
The Perfection (2018)
Hurts so bad
Perfection
Wow, this movie is so bad in so many ways. It should have been on the Lifetime Channel. It has all the boxes checked for the 'white men bad' template. Two women, one black and one white, and maybe an Asian, are abused and potentially abused by 3 white men. The only man in the movie that is a good person is a Chinese fellow riding a dilapidated bus in China.
This mish mash of images and dialog is the story of 2 cello prodigies who end up, at different times, studying at a very exclusive cello school somewhere in the northeast. Its run by a 3rd generation member of a rich family who can't get cello music out of their heads.
The first prodigy, a pretty Anglo girl, has to quit the school and take care of her mother who had a stroke; this takes 4 years. The second prodigy, a pretty Asian girl, has no back story at all. They get entangled literally and figuratively. The Anglo prodigy thinks the Asian prodigy needs to get away from the school and the rigors of being a top flight cello player and enjoy her life. But she never tells the Asian girl this, and instead embarks on a convoluted and diabolical plan to "persuade" the Asian girl to mutilate herself so she can never play cello again. I didn't make that up.
A few more twists and there you have it. The last 60 seconds of the movie reminded me so much of that TV show from the '80s, Tales From the Crypt.
Sexual abuse of young girls, vomiting, defecation, urination, murder, mayhem, amputations and high classed cello music. When it's over I sat back and wondered what kind of sick mind dreams this up? I sure don't want to live next door to that person.
ReMastered: The Lion's Share (2018)
Hmmmmmm
Decades ago, a South African, Soloman Linda, lived during the era of Apartheid. He had musical talent and came up with a chant that if you squint your ears sounds like the a-weem-oh-whep that begins The Lion Sleeps Tonight. None of the lyrics in Lion were written till much later. There is no doubt that Linda's chant was sold to music companies who expanded on it, made money, and failed to pay Linda's family the royalties they deserved. This doc is a long and winding road which traces the determined efforts of people to see that justice is done. It's not a happy ending as the man who started the effort to right the wrong eventually comes to realize that Linda's family has not dealt honestly with him. A lesson in what have you done for me lately?
ReMastered: The Two Killings of Sam Cooke (2019)
No conspiracy needed
Well done documentary; I enjoyed it. I was a teenager when Cooke was popular and I learned a lot watching this. Let me digress. I believe the public has always had a very hard time accepting that a strange little man named Lee Oswald, who could barely hold down minimum wage jobs, could singlehandedly murder the handsome and vital president of the United States. We look at Cooke and see all that talent and potential and we can't stomach blaming his death on the tawdry set of circumstances of the official police version. But, the facts are that Cooke liked his gin ... a lot ... that he was drinking a lot that night, he was flashing around a wad of cash and he left the bar with a hooker and went to a three dollar "no-tell" motel with her. These are the sorts of bad decisions that can get you killed. Who knows the full truth but I don't find the official version at all impossible. People say "Sam wasn't like that" but I'm afraid he was.
Nymphomaniac: Vol. II (2013)
Hard to choose between the 2 and the 3
This is a review of both part
s. 1 is better than 2. 1 actually has a cohesive story and the plot develops along a linear track. Sure there is sex but people are having fun. Also 1 has Uma Thurmond in it and Wow if there was really any reason to see this flick it would be her performance during her 1 scene. Part 2 degenerates to the point of nausea. And the ending is more unforeseen, out of character and unnecessary.
The woman, Joe, says she is a nymphomaniac. I am sure they exist. She is very close to her father (her mother is as distant as Jupiter). When the movie begins Joe is rescued after enduing a beating in a slummy looking alley. She refuses kindhearted offers of an ambulance or a hospital and instead goes home with the man to get some tea and cake.
For some reason that slipped by me, this begins an all-nighter of Joe regurgitating her life story as a nympho. Throughout the narrative, the man (forgot is screen name) buts in an offers some insight into classical music, fly fishing and religion.
Did you catch any clues? The little girl has a distant mother and a doting father so she gravitates to sex as a way to attract men. Add to that a good dose of no doubt being aware that there is little or no romantic relationship between her father and mum who she calls a cold b----. Next clue, the girl is named "Joe." Next, the first thing the Man digresses into is a speech about fly fishing. Fly fishing? Isn't that a description of what women like Joe do?
Who is this Man? We never know what he does but he is smart, well spoken and clearly a recipietn of a classical education. Also, though he be 50 to 60, he is a virgin. So? I think he is a defrocked priest, kicked out for some indescretion.
So, a nympho spends the night telling an ex priest about her lifetime of sexual experiences. Althugh the is no doubt a woman, the acresses who play Joe (and the actress who plays Joe's wannabe protege in 2) basically have the frames and figures of boys. Hmmmmmmmm. More gender confusion. You don't have to be Shakespeare to know this won't end well.
The Big Lebowski (1998)
A swing and a miss
The great Lebowski
It's hard to be objective when your first viewing of a cult movie comes 20 years after it was released. You are certain to have heard a lot about it from many people over the years and most of it was probably favorable. If it's a comedy you might expect it to be hilarious or at least funny in a quirky way. All movies age, but none age worse than comedies. Everything from set pieces to asides are creatures of their moments and usually don't remain funny 2 decades later. I've found that an exception to this rule is silent film comedies. Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy silent movies are, to me, as funny now as they were then.
Back to TGL. Yes, I've heard a lot about it over 20 years, most highly favorable. I did not avoid it, I just never crossed paths with it, not until this week.
As a funny movie, I can put it no higher than a 5. I never laughed out loud, but there were some moments when I was edging in that direction.
"Silly" and "stupid" are the 2 words I would use to describe TGL.
Casting: Silly and stupid usually describe Jim Carrey and I can certainly see him in this fiasco. But wait! Were they acting or merely mugging for the camera? Those 2 and Sam Elliott and Steve Buscemi did nothing more than play caricatures of their on screen personas. John Turtorro is one of our best actors but not here. Ben Gazzara's cameo was the best part of the movie, but he had little competition.
Plot: Reminded me of a Bob Hope "road" movie. All over the place and not coherent.
Style: The Busby Berkeley scenes reminded me of Blazing Saddles.
Silly and stupid should not be confused with funny.
Bad Blood (2017)
Don't judge this too harshly
Bad Blood
When we've already seen Godfather, Goodfellas and Sopranos, taking on a mob story is an ambitious project. So much ore has been mined from that vein I don't think it's reasonable to expect as much as some reviewers apparently expected. This series must be judged on its own merits and not held against the other films.
There ARE many scenes and lines taken from the other films and this effort would have been better without them. To give BB its due, it contains several plot twists, some jarring, that you won't find in any of the other films. I thought Kim Coates was excellent as was Paul Sorvino. I wish the lead could have been played by a better actor. Some commenters make the PC comment about how women are portrayed. First, I thought the character of the investigator who in the end brought down the Mayor and the Mob was an uber strong woman. Aside from that, I suspect the women with the mob families were pretty much accurately played.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
The wrong person was cloned
If there is a raptor god in heaven this will be the last of the JP sequels. So, what went wrong this time?
No new plot idea. Did these people even watch Lost World?
What was the rich guy's name? He was BFF with John Hammond for years but we never heard his name till the 5th movie?
Too many dinosaurs. They are on screen a remarkably brief amount of time in Jurassic Park. That formula worked. A dash of bitters is good in an Old Fashioned; that doesn't mean a cupful makes a better Old Fashioned.
The token sassy Hispanic girl and the nerdy black kid. Really? OK, the girl was ok. She was authoritative, sharp and helpful. A good role model and a good character. Why the sassy chip on her shoulder? Haven't we gone beyond that? The computer nerd. Really, millions of dollars at stake, funded by a reclusive billionaire, and this is the computer whiz they end up with?
B. D. Wong is still evil? Get a life.
Bryce Dallas Howard.
OK, so what was good? Blue was good. I think he will eventually have his own reality TV show and his own line of clothing. I love the little dino that rammed everything. Silly as it was, I couldn't help but laugh out loud every time a bad guy was seen flying in the background. Maybe Blue and Ramo can go on the road together. Build an act. And, of course, Mr. T (Rex) himself. He reminds me of a dog who hasn't seen you in 10 years but immediately recognizes you.
Oh what the heck. Nothing will ever ruin the original Jurassic Park. All that's missing now is the great John Williams' music. Can we clone him instead of that little girl?
Carol (2015)
Gray on Brown
At its root, Carol is just another Hollywood sacrifice laid at the altar of marital infidelity. It's one of the few films other than Notes on a Scandal (another Blanchet project) that dares to show the predatory nature of lesbians.
Despite the low review score I accord Carol, I recommend that it be watched on Netflix solely because of the beauty of the art direction and photography. I'm a sucker for movies set in the first half of the 1950s and I loved the time travel feeling I got while watching this.
But . . . let's see. Carol targets Therese (pronounced tuh-REZE don't you know) while Christmas shopping in a NYC department store. For her daughter, Carol buys a model train set upon Therese's suggestion. Apparently a pretty young woman suggesting a masculine gift for a little girl was a gender bender signal in NYC in late 1952.
Carol intentionally leaves her exquisite leather gloves on the counter when she leaves. Therese mails them back to her then follows up with a phone call. The tone of the call is the same as the tone of their first conversation in the department store and is the same as every other conversation they will have in the movie; dull as gray on brown. Not a hint of excitement or pleasure in either woman's voice.
They meet again and Carol invites Therese out for Christmas. Enter Harge, Carol's cuckolder husband who instantly sniffs out the nature of the women's relationship. Harge is drunk and belligerent but he professes love for Carol and a desire to be together. Harge leaves with the daughter for Christmas in Florida.
Things plod along. We see Therese taking some pictures, declining an advance by a nice fellow who works for the Times, and acting pretty disinterested in a guy who I think was her pre-Carol romantic interest.
Next we have "Carole and Therese's Boring Road Trip" where they meet a geeky guy who is a travelling salesman of notions, although he tells them he doesn't know what notions are. That night things get hot and Therese tells Carol in a monotone "take me to bed."
We then have a scene of perfunctory semi nudity (the wannabe star shows more skin than the star has to show). They fall asleep in each other's arms. More gray on brown.
The ONLY emotion shown in the flick occurs the next morning when Carole finds out the notions salesman was a private eye who rented the room next to them and tape recorded the gray on brown lovemaking. Carol is distraught and leaves for New York and her friend (and former lover) Abby comes to drive Therese home.
Fast forward to the pre-divorce attorney and client conference where Carol is
pretty quick to give custody to Harge so long as she has visitation rights.
Carol and Therese later meet for a drink and Therese declines an invitation to go to a fancy restaurant where Carol is meeting friends. After accepting a friend's invitation to a party, Therese later goes to the crowded restaurant and spots Carol at a table full of people. Therese ... walks ... slowly ... toward ... Carol ... until ... Carol ... sees ... her. Their gazes lock in what appears to be a freeze frame. The end. At last.
Now, I've been in love, though never in a same sex relationship. And I've fallen hard, and I've been infatuated. But never have I been as emotionless about it all as these 2 were. I get that this was 1952 and that lesbians had to hide in plain site (like those 2 stereotypes in the record store) and I didn't expect them to be holding hands while walking down 5th Avenue. But . . . when they were alone, still gray on brown? Never a laugh, a smile, a joke, a wink, a giggle ... nothing. Just a lifeless reading of the script. The acting in this was pretty darn lousy if you ask me. Maybe they were just following the book but this doesn't show any character, much less character development. Maybe it was just a book that didn't need to be made into a movie.
With the exceptions of the little girl and some of Therese's friends, everyone in this movie is bored to the point of self-destruction. It's Christmas in New York but where is the joy? It's as if a giant Hoover vacuum was used to suck the life out of New York.
I'm giving it a 3 because I'm a nice person.