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Reviews
The American Society of Magical Negroes (2024)
Magically Disturbing
This film aims to disturb you, in a way to elicit a self examination and a societal examination. It's a great film. I really don't understand the haters. I read the 1/10 reviews. They are in a different universe than me.
Hardly a scene passes in which I wasn't uncomfortable, for a character, or for myself. The film compresses the notion of the "magical negro" into nearly every scene, or the issue of social invisibility or stereotyping.
The breakdown, passionate speech at the apex of the film is delivered masterfully, and again makes the viewer uncomfortable.
For a film to make one "feel" something so strongly is a great achievement.
It is probably useful to know my perspective - I am a white guy in my 70s. I was raised in a town full of white people. I have since lived my life around people of color and my family is now mixed.
Obliterated (2023)
Absurd, frenzied, and fun
Watch and enjoy! I am 4 episodes in as I write this. It is possible I will watch the whole thing before I sleep.
It's not pretentious, it's exactly what it aims to be. I laughed a lot, and was still taken in by the story. Fun action, so many absurd, hilarious sidelines. It retains just barely enough realism to make the absurdity better.
There are many cliched characters, which describes most characters in anything, but the protagonists are individually likable. Likewise, the antagonists are easy to detest.
I enjoy a wide variety of genres. It doesn't have to be Oscar material to be worthwhile. This is fun, a lot of fun.
Sweet Tooth (2021)
This series is a hybrid
I've watched all of the first two seasons. I will watch the next season when it comes out.
The show is a hybrid of a very harsh show, aimed at a YA/youth audience, and a show for adults, but with the plot holes and predictability we'd associate with a children's show. So it suffers from the weaknesses of both.
I was captivated by it, but I admit to being easily captivated. I cried a little, at the poignant, heartbreaking, or earnest parts.
Is it a thin metaphor for all the disadvantaged and unfairly treated people in the world, past and present? Yes. Thin metaphors are the stuff of children's shows, which is fine, except I doubt many parents would let a kid the age of these kids watch it.
I wonder if I am alone in looking forward to an ending that includes the demise of the un-hybridized component of the human race?
65 (2023)
Cliche fest
Nice premise, but poor execution. Every dino-cliche and jump scare ever done. And quicksand! Really? Kind of a schlocky Jurassic Park.
The girl was good, and I liked her language. It would have been nice to hear more of it. I always enjoy fake languages in film (I admit this may have been a real language, but it didn't seem real to my admittedly untrained ear). Adam Driver's character communicated by speaking English slowly and loudly, a cliche of poor communication.
I like how it started in a Star Wars-esque "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" and ended up on earth at a very inconvenient but spectacular time.
La Brea (2021)
Let's make every possible stupid choice
Cool premise, some good acting, but three episodes into season two now and I don't know if I can keep watching everyone make bad decisions, not communicating, not planning. It has become a continuous trope like "hey, let's split up" in horror movies.
I generally enjoyed the time hopping from past to present, it added dimension to the story. The animals in the past were cool, but there should have been more of them.
The repeated introduction of other groups and bizarre time loop conspiracies was an irritating and unnecessary scripting error, in my opinion, which showed a lack of imagination in following through on the original plot line.
Moonfall (2022)
Kinda fun, some good science and some bad, nice visuals
I saw "Moonfall" today, and I have to say it is far from the worst science-fiction-disaster movie I've ever seen. My friend and I actually both enjoyed it. I think it is getting a far worse rap than it deserves, in the scheme of things. They got some subtle science things right, and some things wrong, but that combination probably makes it ok in the genre.
The best aspect was the performance and character of John Bradley (of Game of Thrones fame), as KC Houseman. Alternately funny and sympathetic. Had he not done his part, I would have enjoyed the movie much less.
The epic disaster genre is always flawed, technically and otherwise. And there is hardly a movie made that isn't derivative or a seeming combination of other films, so I almost always dismiss reviewers who whine about the lack of originality.
Daughter of the Wolf (2019)
Cliché after cliché
Some good acting. Great scenery. About a thousand cliches. Stupid guys, irrational wolves, unoriginal action. It could have been vastly better with some script improvements.
Cruella (2021)
Secondary characters made it even better
So many positives, but I want to shout out the contributions of the supporting characters, on both sides. The sidekicks and assistants added so much, often with just a word or a look.
My most enjoyable film in a couple of years, and I see a lot of films. I had, at best, mediocre expectations for this. I plan on seeing it again. That's a rarity for me.
Bright (2017)
Good world
It started very weakly, being too overt about racial injustice. Just should have let the story make its own points. It got better as it went, although suffering a bit from a cliched antagonistic buddy plot line. Overall the world it was in was very interesting and had a lot of promise.
The acting was excellent and the characters were well realized. Superior artistic design.
Ultimately, the story was quite good, and the flaws weren't fatal.
Underwater (2020)
A master class in bad filmmaking
The positives: acting was good by Kristen Stewart, and especially T.J. Miller. Everything else was drudgery, muted, dark, mumbled, technically inane, and absurd. My group of three all felt the same about it. For the money they could have made a good movie in this genre.
The aspect that irritated me the most, which is not unique to this film, but a hallmark of bad ones, is action scenes that are flashing sequences of 1 second shots, edited into a semblance of continuity, but failing horribly. They went another level lower even, by having it dark and murky, so the incomprehensible staccato action isn't visible anyway, rather it is a suggestion of action, stifled and dimmed by molasses.
6 Underground (2019)
Fun
It isn't meant to be high art. It had characters who were interesting, nice locations, humor, well choreographed action, spectacle, a morality, and style. I'd certainly look forward to a sequel. It wasn't original, but originality is very, very rare. It was fun. I cared about the characters and the outcome.
Ryan Reynolds played pretty much the same character he always plays, but it is a fun formula that has built great success for him.
Ad Astra (2019)
Bad story, bad science, bad movie
Obviously a high budget, and well made in many ways film, but the story was lame, and the characters were not engaging, not sympathetic and not deep. The plot was absurd and the science pretty much terrible.
Dong wu shi jie (2018)
Visually strong
This isn't the first film to have a grossly misleading trailer. it skews the audience by attracting an audience to the expectations driven by the trailer, and keeping away those who would actually enjoy the real story.
It is a dark, dystopian semi-fantasy with interesting, well-played characters and a terrific visual style. I largely based my 8-stars on its appearance, which let me forgive the weakness of the mostly wasted clown scenes and the plot holes.
The lead is a disturbed (for good reason) young man with a highly stressful life. Top level production design. The plot twists and betrayals are well done, and plausible, under the dark fantasy circumstances.
I hope there is a sequel, and if so, maybe the clown aspect will be important. If not, then it is largely a waste of screen time.
Film fans who are also mathematicians will have an extra dimension to enjoy.
Shao nian ban (2015)
Universal, but still very Chinese
I saw this movie on its release day in Chongqing, China. I had no idea about it, I just wanted to kill some time and I picked the only movie that was about to start when I arrived at the cinema. I got lucky that it had English subtitles. It is one of my favorite movies now. I was the only westerner in the audience of young Chinese viewers. They were clearly appreciative of the film too.
It is moving due to its examination of teenagers, especially bright ones, and how they feel about themselves and the world. It is also deeply insightful, maybe not always intentionally, about certain very Chinese things.
While it has comic elements, it would be difficult to have a movie about teenagers that didn't, I disagree strongly with those who would categorize it as a comedy. It is a coming of age movie. Very poignant in more than one point in the film.
Physical beauty of women plays a somewhat different role in China than in the west, and this is seen in the film if you know a little of each culture. The role and depiction of family, and family pressure is very Chinese. The characters could have been somewhat better developed, but it is difficult to do that in an ensemble piece.
Bottom line..... I love this film.