Change Your Image
anitakwall
Reviews
Fair Play (2023)
Film depicts another accomplished but easily manipulated female
Why are so many female lead characters depicted as highly competent in their field yet so woefully inept in their social relationships? I got tired of yelling at the screen, at her stupid actions and reactions.
I really wish filmmakers weren't so lazy in their storytelling. Many of the challenges faced by so many accomplished females are represented here, especially by females in a mostly male-oriented corporate culture. The filmmaker had opportunities to show a female who recognizes these baiting traps - denigrations based strictly on her sex - so why not show some advancement in the female's abilities to deal more self-assuredly and aggressively with these transgressions?
The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey (2022)
Excellent!
I'm a renewed fan of Samuel L Jackson because of his portrayal of multiple personas, especially of an elderly person with dementia who harbors several generations of poignant memories. It's authentic and the relationships he has with the other main characters is wonderful to watch. Such a mature portrayal of a man who faces challenges in thoughtful, unpredictable ways. Each episode has me intrigued.
The Gilded Age (2022)
Rehashed formulae
Not much creativity because the same upstairs/downstairs dynamic has been overdone in many other period pieces; the characters are very familiar as are the dramatic scenarios - any Downton Abbey fan or similar ilk will recognize these. Cynthia Nixon's accent and all the Black character's accents are overly dramatized and all are annoying to the ear. Cynthia's character (Ada?) in general seems quite out of place and too much of a milquetoast to be believable; makes me cringe whenever she occupies the scene.
I do enjoy scenes with Mrs Russell and find her voice rather different and pleasant to listen to. But beyond the beautiful costumes the writers did not do much more than adapt well-known antics of the robber barons and their wives from days gone by.
The Dark Knight (2008)
Still mediocre
Overly long and over-rated. I watched this when it was released and did not agree with the hyped up accolades; and I just rewatched years later - still have the same assessment. Christian Bale's mouth alone annoyed me to no end. Why cast someone with a lisp or lazy tongue or crooked teeth to play the title character whose mask draws all focus to the mouth area? Plus there are far more charismatic actors, who enunciate better. The story was too drawn out, the dialog reminded me of the old Batman TV series (which may have been deliberate), and the plot was so twisted yet predictable. Heath Ledger's Joker performance alone could not raise this above a mid level rating for me - plus I enjoyed Jack Nicholson's much more.
Invasion (2021)
Too many cliches
Stopped watching during episode 4 because the characters were all making stupid decisions and mistakes. I won't mention spoilers but really .. can't we have characters of normal intelligence portrayed in such movies to make it more compelling, so we can focus on the terror besetting them versus the stupid conversations that would (I bet) go out the window if we were facing a common threat??
The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window (2022)
Stupid
Watched episodes 1 & 2 then skipped to the last episode when I saw how ridiculously predictable this was turning out to be. Ep. 8 was even more ridiculous- stopped watching after the first 10 minutes. I even had a bit of wine to help me enjoy it better .. Nope!
Crisis (2021)
Good intertwining storylines
Great set of actors telling compelling stories from all angles of the drug "problem". Wish they had distinguished, though, between the 2 or 3 young brunette men who worked on the drug smuggler team - I couldn't tell who was who as they all looked alike.
Eye of the Needle (1981)
Another flick with a woman making stupid decisions
It's not suspenseful when the leading female constantly makes dumb decisions. It's tiresome to watch, and demeaning to women. Most women are far more calculating when it comes to life or death situations involving their beloved child, let alone themselves.
Patria (2020)
This deserves better dubbing
The story is compelling and allowed me to learn about a culture and its recent history of which I had no prior knowledge. It's just ruined by the English dubbing - the dubbed voices are without the proper emotion; seems like someone just reading a script, does not match the actors' emotions. This detracts from the overall quality of the series.
The Photograph (2020)
More like this please
Finally a film showing beautiful brown actors in normal, healthy and mature relationships, telling a romantic story where neither race, violence nor toxic, dysfunctional behavior are used as crux. Love scenes between the characters and the family portrayals were far more realistic than we've seen with typical films featuring people of color. In fact the fact that the characters were people of color made absolutely no difference- it's as it should be. The musical soundtrack really resonates by subtly showcasing many iconic 80s and contemporary R&B tracks that are generally not in frequent rotation; these brought back so many wonderful, long-forgotten memories.
There was no cgi, no gun or other violence, no angry foul behavior ... and we need more films like this. I felt great during and after watching this film and I can't say that about many films these days. Well done.
Downton Abbey (2019)
Uninteresting
I'm sure it was difficult to squeeze so many distinct character-specific story lines into a 2 hour movie. The result seems too contrived and of course predictable One good thing- Tom finally has an optimistic future.
Pose (2018)
Music is great, but acting & dialogue could improve
The subject matter is pretty enlightening, to me. Not sure how I missed the goings-on with certain segments portrayed in Pose since I vividly remember the 80s. But I applaud this series for educating its watchers. The music here is near and dear to my heart. I wish I could feel more for the characters but the majority of the acting is just not very good.
Death at a Funeral (2010)
Watch it for the all-star cast in their prime
So the script is not that original but this movie is worth watching just because of all the stars who are much bigger now than back then. Too bad the writing didn't deliver the quality that these actors deserved. Still the movie was very entertaining and warrants a second look.
Riverboat (1959)
Riverboat & Star Trek vessel name similarity
According to a biography on Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, this: "Roddenberry was asked to write a series called Riverboat, set in 1860s Mississippi. When he discovered that the producers wanted no black people on the show, he argued so much with them that he lost the job." Perhaps this is why there is similarity in the naming of the vessels in Riverboat and Star Trek. BTW Kudos to Roddenberry for taking a compromising moral stance way back then.