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Jean-7
Reviews
A League of Their Own (2022)
All over the map...
Finished four episodes, hoping for the baseball movie to begin. This, however, is a series about relationships, not sports. In the end, half way through, no one is keeping score, the games don't actually matter, the standings don't matter - it's just another excuse to tell coming out, coming of age love stories.
I guess I'm just missing the church of baseball.
Isanghan byeonhosa Woo Young-woo (2022)
Autism as a plot device...
I'm sensing a theme here. 'The Good Doctor' was modeled after a K-drama about an autistic doctor. I predict that if Extraordinary Attorney Woo is a success, many spinoffs can be expected.
The autistic politician, the autistic teacher, psychologist, mafioso, taxi driver, astronaut. The paussibilities are endless!
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
Rename it 'Soap Trek'
Some interesting stuff in the early seasons, but Season Four is unwatchable. And I have no problem with LGBTQ+ characters or storylines - but WHY, oh why must those characters be so fragile and weepy and "sensitive"? I have a number of gay/trans/non-binary pals and almost without exception, they are tough as nails, having survived everything that the cis world can throw at them.
In short, where are the villains, the misinformed, the apathetic, the angry monsters? This show is now so concerned with "understanding" and "connection" that it's lost any concern for dramatic storytelling.
(Perhaps, most cringeworthy is when the two teenage characters "smile" at each other - the saccharine falseness makes my teeth hurt.)
Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted (2019)
Gordon Ramsay, Graverobber
Sorry. There's just a whiff of rot here. Ripping off Bourdain - without his self-skepticism, thoughtfulness, or empathy. Hard to watch Ramsay here - he can't drop his PR and self-aggrandizement for the life of him.
La famille Bélier (2014)
A quibble...
An enjoyable, if slight and somewhat predictable, comedy. One unbelievable moment: that the daughter Paula, quite obviously well into puberty, should be experiencing her first period. It provides for unintentional silliness when the full-breasted actress menstruates unexpectedly and is humiliated. This is one weakness of this film, which occasionally sacrifices logic and consistency to propel its cute story forward.
The Big Red One (1980)
Superb! So where's the uncut version?
What a marvelous film! Every time it comes on TV, I find myself captivated once again by its sequences. One of those few movies you can watch over and over without tiring.
My big complaint is that no one has stepped up to the plate and released the 4 hour original. What gives here? All of Sam Fuller's fans in H'wood can't throw a little cash into the hopper and release this masterpiece as it should have been shown in the first place?
So where's Tim Robbins now? He professed undying admiration of Fuller in that IFC bio-documentary a year or so ago. C'mon, you powers that be, get this masterwork out of the can and onto screens, video, and DVD! Get your butts in gear and release this work of genius.
L'albero degli zoccoli (1978)
One of the Greats
Very rarely, films transcend their medium and break through into some other dimension. These are not merely technically superb films with fine cinematography and wonderful performances. Rather, something else has been addressed; at the risk of seeming pompous, I'd call it "what it means to be human." Maybe some of you know what I'm talking about. After the film is over, you walk out into the world and your life has changed in some fundamental way. You actually experience colors and shapes and smells afresh, as though you've re-emerged into a different universe.
I can think of several films that have had that effect on me. Eric Rohmer's "Summer (Le Rayon Vert)" and Kieslowski's "Decalogue" spring to mind. But "Tree of Wooden Clogs" approached the core. I'm not Catholic, would pronounce myself an atheist if that didn't suggest the arrogance of certainty, but this movie comes as close to touching the soul as any I've ever seen. It is one of the most shattering, delightful, and profound works of art ever created. After first seeing it, I sat in my car, clutched the steering wheel, and sobbed for half an hour.
Since that day, many years ago, moments from it continue to haunt me. I'll be walking down a street lined with trees and remember the boy walking home from school. Out of the blue, the looks on the faces of the just-married young couple as they adopt a child will come to me. And, of course, the image of the villagers watching the lone wagon disappear into the darkness is one which will live with me until I die.
In short, as I stumble my own way through life, this film is one of the touchstones that reminds me why I'm here.
The Patriot (2000)
Faux history for real morons
Laughably bad. Ridiculous and sometimes obscene rewrite of history. Evil Brits, happy negroes, noble (if "flawed") militiamen, and campy, cliched dialogue combine in a way that makes Peabody's fractured history look like the real thing. If I were African-American, I'd be throwing tomatoes at the screen.
Ronin (1998)
What was in the case?
Don't get me wrong, I loved this movie. But, echoing De Niro, what was in the case?! And I don't want to hear some existentialist crap about ronin and nothingness.