Change Your Image
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Reviews
What Am I Eating? with Zooey Deschanel: Big, Fat Lies (2023)
Zooey seems uncomfortable
The show lacks spontaneity. Maybe adding her kids would help! The information is useful, but a bit New Age. It is too bad that Krispy Kreme was killed by inaccurate information on fats, and Deschanel corrects the myth. She should read "The Cholesterol Delusion" before she opines further on clogged arteries. Dr. Oz did a program on the false attack on food based fats. If the show episodes continue to present facts, it will be a useful addition to the reality shows on food. We don't need another competition with cooking drama. It was enough when the second one aired. Give me Julia Child and Paul Bocuse any day.
Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (2021)
Does Selma have an agent to protect her?
Her brand now is to put the f-word in every line of dialogue? At her age? Is that to make her 30 again? Or even 50. It is a long way down from Oscar nominations.
Wealth and opportunity have not helped her make good decisions. Her male costars should know better than to use her in this way.
Show some dignity.
FTA (1972)
Doesn't age well.
Like Fonda's facelift(s) this film has aged poorly. Sutherland, a Canadian, never had any skin in the game. Fonda was (is) the definition of white privilege. It is hard to imagine the fate of a black man who climbed aboard an anti-aircraft gun in North Vietnam.
I headed for Vietnam in March 1972. I did not need this film to help me see the ethics of what I was doing. Fonda was preaching to the choir, so self-absorbed that she was oblivious to see that she was in it for the fame and Hollywood acceptance, not saving anyone else.
The film was egotistical when it was made, and it still is. It's restoration is another act of egotism. "look at me daddy; look at me."
Jane will always be Jane. I just wish she would stop trying to pull me into her entourage. I get to be both proud and ashamed of my Distinguished Flying Cross. She will never have one!! Even better, I don't want her in my fan club. I think I will die gracefully. I wish her the same.
Alt-Right: Age of Rage (2018)
Fresh air does not cleanse filth
Any publicity for these human disgraces is ill-advised. Weak minds miss the social danger displayed by the bigots. Antifa is no paragon of virtue, and they err in self-describing themselves and their interests. If you personally know any of the right-wingers (as I do), you know they are repressed, ignorant, misogynistic losers; the type who could not get a date in high school, so tried to make their hate notorious. In fact, they are simply deranged sociopaths. I know it is hard to sit back and watch stupidity go unchallenged, but that would be the best course of action for the likes of the racists.
The Handmaid's Tale: The Crossing (2021)
Full on Abu Graib
Exactly what the US government has been doing around the world. Horrifying.
Euphoria (2019)
I gave it a chance
I don't know any teenagers like this. I admit I don't know all teenagers, but the ones I know control their angst much better than these guys. When I watched "Girls" I wondered who could possibly like these characters. I think the same thing about this program. "Vida" is similar. We all are a bit disfunctional, but these programs all depict fringe behavior as normal. It is not. Even juvenile choices have consequences. The choices made by these characters will lead to ;short and brutish lives, and I think the producers know that. It is sad that they have chosen to exploit the naivete of the cast.
Dietland (2018)
I know it is fiction, but...
I am a male in his seventies. After sliding into obesity in my fifties, I had sleeve surgery a couple of years ago. It was the best decision I have made in decades. I was able to cancel ankle surgery for deteriorating ankles. Nothing in my motivation was about looking better or being a hunk. Over 70% of type 2 diabetics who have had the sleeve surgery have been able to stop taking drugs.
The series needs to tread carefully on making bariatric surgery a villain. It is not. The body image industry is evil, and has been for my lifetime. I hope the series can continue to make that point without discouraging a medical procedure that can be life changing for many good reasons that have nothing to do with finding a date.
Sweetbitter: Salt (2018)
OK. Everyone over thirty is stupid
There is a certain of hubris of youth, but it is based on ignorance, not experience. We all need to learn; sure; but perhaps some modesty is useful along the way. Oysters for the first time. It is not really "gee whiz." After "Cool Hand Luke" I swore I could each five dozen oysters. I could not. Still, it was just the hubris of youth (and I had already eaten a giant bowl of gumbo), not genius, not really interesting.
You don't see waves and surf when you eat an oyster regardless of how much imagination you have. A dozen oysters in five colors from the Saigon River is not imagination. It is real. And it is NOT gee whiz.
This program is going to be a huge bore if I am expected to believe that youth is genius. It is just youth, and eventually genius is possible. The rest of us are not stupid because we have eaten an oyster. Youth is stupid when it thinks they have discovered oysters.
And self-destructive characters are self-destructive, not illuminating. It would be nice if "youth" could recognize that bad choices have consequences. Body piercing does not make a person more interesting. Rather, it shows a shallowness and self-absorption that is the opposite of interesting, like a drunk sailor in his first port of call.
Arrival (2016)
The director is just trying to be smarter than the rest of us
If the communication of the concept and the story were cohesive, the director would not have had to obscure it with noise and a loud music track. Think of a conversation in club music. No one has to be articulate because no one can hear. If he wants us to think he is a genius, he could do a clearer job of it. Think of the star who speaks with a British accent even if born in New Jersey. The point becomes affectation instead of film making. It is a bit like when we all grokked stuff without even knowing what that term really meant. We were brilliant enough to understand things simply by saying we understood them intuitively. Of course, we really did not understand them, or we could have been articulate about it. Ditto this film.
God Is the Bigger Elvis (2012)
Making life more difficult than it needs to be
I have a hard time distinguishing a cloistered life from a Manson cult. It has the same mental illness, the same self-hatred, the same power figure, and the same denial of reality. It is quite possible to live simply and close to nature without the trappings of an organization with rules, rituals, and rites. Only when life is "too much" for you is there a temptation to give up. But giving up it is, make no mistake.
I remember a drinking game called Cardinal Puff. It required an exact routine. If you made a mistake, you had to drink up and start over. It had as much meaning as the cloistered routine.
It made me sad to see that Ms. Hart gave up on life and mental health, but also very happy that she is content with her choices. The true thing is that we have to reconcile ourselves to the choices we make. She has done so.
Aroused (2013)
Basically dishonest
I have nothing against pornography or documentaries. However, a documentary about pornography needs to get past the self-serving interview that is the sole menu item offered on this smörgåsbord.
Everyone has two reasons for doing what he does; the real reason and the good reason. This film is dishonest because it presents only the good reasons, delivered up by the porn stars themselves. As a result, the documentary is not particularly penetrating. There is some reason that Shauna Grant, for example, killed herself. Many dozens of other porn stars, male and female, have done the same.
There is some value in seeing the women talking about themselves, but the prevarication is obvious and transparent -- a wee bit of the happy hooker fantasy.
TWA Flight 800 (2013)
All innuendo
Opinions predominate, facts are scarce. Like all conspiracy films, this one sets out to prove a point. It is clear that evidence that disproves the conspiracy theory is edited out. Interview clips are edited to make opinions seems certain, or that doubt is evidentiary proof! Someone did not do a test, so that proves they were covering up something. Eye witnesses are presented as completely credible when research has shown that they are almost the least reliable evidence. The body language of many of the interviewees strongly indicates that they are lying. I wonder if any was subject to a polygraph test? I doubt they would pass.
The proof is like the proof that Nicole Brown Simpson was killed by drug dealers. A possibility that is not disproved does not mean the possibility is fact. Space aliens could have shot down Flight 800!!!
Except they didn't.
"What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence."
Witness (2012)
Brazil and its Favelas
There was a lot of conjecture and innuendo in the film, but very little to support it. Rio de Janeiro probably is a hell hole, and difficult to document. This HBO special did very little to penetrate that difficulty. Conspiracy fans will like it, but others will leave wondering about facts vs. fantasy. Interviews with anonymous taxi drivers. Voice over by persons who have an issue but no facts. Comments from the crowd, "don't drag her body," when the film shows a standard body removal in a body bag. Police interviews that are subtly challenged when a later appointment by a colonel is not kept. Suggestions about raids that did not occur, as if there was something suspicious about schedule changes. Allegations about mass murder without any evidence. Assertions that bodies disappear when the burned body is very much in evidence on film. Yes, identification will be problematical, but it hardly was a disappeared body. Brasil deserves a more factual film and analysis.
Nine Lives (2005)
Each vignette is a single shot
Some of the effectiveness of this film comes from the camera taking a single shot for the entire segment. The camera follows the main character, occasionally panning to persons or sets to give context. It left me curious as to how many takes were required to get the vignette just right. The actors had to know their lines to get from beginning to end, something of a rarity these days except on-stage.
Every segment was believable, if occasionally over-wrought; that is, the viewer could agree with the writer/director that someone would act a particular way, but it was not always the most obvious way to act. As with many films, the plot line was often more about persons acting from their impulse rather than acting from their reason. Most of life is not that way, Sarah Palin excepted, but it IS that way for some, and I suppose that makes their lives more interesting than the lives of the folks that live logically. Film makers choose, fortunately, the interesting and sometimes thought-provoking story line over the banal.
Ghost Image (2007)
Starts weakly, then loses its way
After about 45 minutes of developing characters that we don't care about, the director, writer, and editor seem to run out of ideas. Lots of red herrings are set out. Then they tie it all together with some voice over and flashback. Rohm tries hard, and probably does what the director asks, but she comes out looking like a pretty bad actress. It is hard to tell if the problem is her or the outtakes. Each individual scene is decent, but linked together they are inconsistent and contradictory in tone and emotion. I finished with the feeling that this film could have been a lot better if the crew had worked a little harder.
To Die in Jerusalem (2007)
A tough subject for any balanced treatment
The filming crew did not have good access to the occupied territories, so filming of the Israeli side dominated. I was struck by the nearly completely opposite points of view of the mothers. The Israeli mother lost a child who had the possibility of a life of tremendous happiness. The Palestinian mother lost a child who had only the possibility of a life of privation and despair. With such completely different viewpoints, any meeting had no real chance of any meeting of the minds. The word "peace" did not have the same meaning to each of them. Peace to the Palestinian was freedom. Peace to the Israeli was security. With such an abyss, is this sort of film really worth much? I finished with the feeling that I had watched pointless propaganda -- both sides were unconvincing.
Notes on a Scandal (2006)
Birds of a feather
I do not think it is accurate to tag the film "One Woman's Mistake Is Another's Opportunity". That would make one woman's evil less than the other's. Both women are self-centered and self-indulgent. They are pretty much the same person except for their age and family circumstance. Blancett was more attractive, but no less manipulative than Dench. If the viewer is more sympathetic toward Blanchett, it was because she is younger and more attractive, the same syndrome that is afoot when a police officer gives one woman a warning and another a ticket! Had I been the director, I might have ended the film with Blanchett on the park bench instead of Dench. You know that she is no more capable of changing her nature than Dench was after the departure of Jennifer. As complete egoists, neither learns from experience except to become better at future deceptions. I hope both actresses win Oscars. The performances were flawless.
Al di là delle nuvole (1995)
If you do not have an idea for a movie, just refrain from making it!
If rich people are different from us because they have more money, then film makers are different from us because they think the world cares about their every thought.
This self-indulgent piece of tripe seems to have been made just because the director felt it was time to make another movie, and someone would finance it. Not every trivial idea or reflection is worthy of a movie (unless you are a college film student trying to complete a course). When you don't have anything to say, sometimes it is best to remain quiet.
The visuals are not breath-taking. They are quite ordinary. The dialog is inane and unbelievable. They speak words no one would every sequence together in situations that are beyond imagination. Germaine Greer's zipless f**k is finally brought to the screen. Even if you believe in love at first sight, no one falls into bed as easily as these characters. They screw before they talk. Even more unbelievable is an aging, balding director finding instant sex with the most beautiful chick in town, though gravity is already getting to Miss Marceau at a youthful age.
Celsius 41.11: The Temperature at Which the Brain... Begins to Die (2004)
Bush's Best Case for Re-election
Keeping in mind that this film is a response to Michael Moore and "Fahrenheit 9/11", which present a case to vote against President Bush, "C 4111" makes all the points on which to vote for him. Its fundamental flaw is that it makes Israel's best case for the Iraq war, not that of the U.S. Except for Fred Thompson, the stentorian lawyer-turned-actor-turned-Senator-turned-actor, the talking heads are pretty much AIPAC and Zionist. The lead spokesman is Charles Krauthammer, who never tires of advocating the use of U.S. power to pursue the expansionist goals of fanatical Zionists. He makes an excellent case that Bush supports the expansion of Israel, and that Hussein would oppose that (as will any future democratic Iraq), and so Bush should be reelected to continue to fight the anti-Zionists. Other Jewish spokesmen are also trundled out, including Michael Medved, who seems to harbor a grudge against Kerry from their Yale days. Medved does not present any Vietnam era credentials, so we must assume that he avoided service to establish a career as a movie reviewer. Another draft dodger with plenty to say about the patriotism of a combat veteran. In his own mind, he is an expert on the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Kerry's fitness to lead. He is particularly upset with Kerry's ambition, as though someone who succeeds in show business had no ambition! I was left with the impression that he has a Woody Allen inferiority complex.
Bush supporters will nod their heads at every point made, just as anti-Bush folks nodded at every point "F 9/11" made. The film is silliest when it includes Michael Moore in Kerry-and-friends shots, and always pans to Teresa Heinz Kerry, knowing that the pan will pander to Bush supporters. Moore was more effective in his cinematography, if just as silly.
The most effective segments were Kerry's and Edwards' own words on Hussein and weapons of mass destruction dating from before no WMD's were found! Least effective was the completely false assertion that Niger and yellow cake war justification was TRUE, even though Great Britain and the U.S. have admitted the evidence was FALSE. That is a bit "1984" considering that no nuclear equipment has been found in Iraq.
Mansoor Ijaz was an enigma. He seemed knowledgeable about terrorism and the U.S. involvement in the Middle East, but his ties to Republican hawks were apparent in his opinions that did not seem to flow from the facts he recited. Ijaz is founder and chairman of Crescent Investment Management LLC, a New York investment partnership between Ijaz, Lt. Gen. James Abrahamson (USAF Ret), former director of President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, a major Abu Dhabi investment group and the heir of a prominent European shipping family. Former CIA Director, Amb. R. James Woolsey, serves as vice chairman of Crescent's Board of Governors. Maybe that explains his opinions better than the facts.
The theater was nearly empty -- just me and two others -- so it was hard to gauge the gut reaction of the audience. Since "C 4111" is simply an unofficial campaign spot for Bush, I suspect that it does little to change viewers minds. Patriotic music played behind Kerry was supposed to be ironic, which patriotic music behind Bush was supposed to inspire us. You must be prejudiced for that to work! It will work, because only the choir will pay to listen to this sermon.
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004)
Public airwaves used against the public welfare
Since we own the broadcast airwaves and allow their use on the assumption that they will be used to promote the public interest, why does the government allow them to be used for clearly partisan, personal, and political purposes?
It has been obvious for quite some time that Rupert Murdoch uses his media empire to promote his personal political objectives. It may be unrealistic to expect a Republican administration or Congress to prevent him from being blatantly partisan, but that is more the shame of it all. Politics, and the desire to use them for personal or partisan advantage, has permeated our society and culture. The end result will be some sort of commercial totalitarianism.
This film draws together convincing evidence that we are being crassly manipulated by Rupert Murdoch and his media empire. It is time to urge our federal government to break up this foreign influence and return the resources that he uses to the people to whom they belong.
Avoid Fox, Murdoch, USA today, and their related media businesses to put commercial pressure on this dangerous aggregation of power.
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
Is Dubya a liar?
A man has two reasons for everything he does, a good one, and the real one. We know that all of Dubya's good reasons are lies or simply false. When we try to discern the real reason, there are only a few possibilities. Moore hints at a number of real reasons -- the alleged assassination attempt on GHW Bush, Wolfowitz's desire to use U.S. power for Israel's benefit, and several others. Moore focuses on the enormous amount of money the Saudi royals have sent Dubya's way, and the lucrative opportunities that war offers Halliburton and other Bush friends. I have to think, though, that the financial benefits of the war are just a happy coincidence for Dubya and his friends. The real reason still eludes Moore and us.
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Marcel Marceau does the crucifixion
Great cinematography, but irritating music score and a near absence of dialogue. Gibson does a bit of a "Battlefield Earth" Travolta ego trip. Someday they will pass a law preventing actors from becoming directors, but until then we are doomed to mediocre movies. Clint Eastwood took years to get good at directing. Gibson does expand visually on biblical text, but loses his courage when it comes to going past cliche Bible quotes. He lets Jesus be too one dimensional by sticking to writings that were made centuries after he was martyred. When history leaves a blank space, the writers and directors are supposed to fill it. Gibson found the makeup artists. He couldn't find the writers? After the years in the Hanoi Hilton, I'll bet Senator John McCain gets real chills from this film! Torture is not much fun.
Homicide (1991)
Evil is in group, not the dream
Good people become bad in a group. They lose their vision when it is subverted by the group vision. You see this in government. You see it in religion. You see it in this film. Gold knows what is right. He is offended by a black city official's anti-semitism. He is appalled by the Nazi atrocities against Jews. He wants to help, only to be betrayed by Jews who hold their cause above their humanity. Unto yourself be true.
Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)
Vintage Steve Martin
The film was enjoyable with a lot of good one-liners. The one thing I did not get was how the large family survived chaos for 22 years, then melted down when Martin gets his "dream job." Martin and Hunt certainly had the skills to manage the new level of chaos, so I was left with the feeling that there was no real story here unless the writer artificially supports the premise that the simple life is happier than the complex life. Since the rich ARE happier than the poor, if occasionally disfunctional like Paris Hilton, it might have been more realistic to go with the Hilary Duff character and let the children adjust to their new, higher status rather than make themselves miserable by rebelling against the new life. Kids are pretty selfish, but I don't think they are stupid enough to sabotage success and material wealth.
Paycheck (2003)
Unconditional surrender by writers
Never have screen writers given up so completely. The ending did not live up to the very low standard set generally by the film. The last scene should have littered the cutting room floor. Surely some rewrite expert could have been found to actually end the story. One more miserable film by Ben Afleck, and he should be the clear winner for the Kevin Costner Award.