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jpewther
Reviews
His Only Son (2023)
A reminder of Christ's sacrifice.
For those of you who may have half forgotten, this movie is a reminder of the fact that 'human sacrifice' is at the root of the Jewish religion from which Christianity branched off. Also, if you want to understand the movie better, it would be a good idea to go back to the parts of the Old Testament that talk about Abraham and Isaac, and refresh your memory. I have to admit that I didn't do that, but it would have been helpful if I had. Also, it would have made clearer which parts of the movie are just improvisation, and which parts are straight from the Book. Plus I had a little bit of trouble understanding Abraham speaking. Either he had a foreign accent, or I'm just hard of hearing (79 years old.) Still, it was a very good movie, especially considering how it was made on a budget.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
Bad sound quality
I saw the 3D version of this movie at a local AMC Theater. The 3D and special effects were nice, throughout the movie. But for almost all the voices, there was too much emphasis on mid-bass, plus a bit of echo, making it difficult for me to understand what was being said. I don't know whether this was the fault of the sound track in the movie, or the particular theater where I watched it. But when there was background music, that seemed to be pretty much normal. So my message to all movie producers and theaters is this: just try to make human voices sound normal and understandable, and forget about trying to manipulate human voices in some way to make them sound more impressive or exciting--it ain't gonna work. I was falling asleep during this movie because I couldn't fully understand what the actors were saying, in their giant, bass-heavy voices.
L'événement (2021)
Brutally Honest
I think I've probably seen films where illegitimate pregnancy and abortion were a side issue, but I have never ever seen a film that was solely devoted to this and only this. Maybe I'm exaggerating by calling this film "brutally honest" and giving it a 10, but my impression was that the film really stands out, and for that reason deserves a superlative review. There's almost nothing here about this girl's relationship with the guy who knocked her up, or why she was indulging in sex when she was a smart girl living in an unforgiving society, and should have known better. The whole movie is focused on her week by week experience of finding out she's pregnant with an unwanted fetus which could upset her plans for higher education and a better life, and all the emotional turmoil and struggling for a solution that this causes. So I regard this film as worth a 10 as an educational experience.
P. S. I always thought the French were more liberal than us here in the U. S. But it looks like back around 1963, which is supposed to be when this story takes place, that was not the case.
The Northman (2022)
I liked it except for....
I saw this movie in Dolby Cinema in a large theater, and the sound was just too much. They may have had the volume turned up too high, causing distortion. Plus too much bass in everything, even ordinary conversations. It reminded me of standing next to a freight train that was roaring by. So I could only understand less than 20% of what the actors were saying -- except where the actors were supposed to be speaking in a Norse language, and then subtitles were shown. It was delightful to know what the characters were saying for at least a few seconds. I wish there had been subtitles throughout the movie.
Still, I got the general idea of what was happening in the movie, and I can imagine agreeing with the reviewers who gave this movie 8 to 10 stars, if only I had a clear understanding of what the characters were saying. It was obviously a powerful story and movie.
Of course, part of the problem might be that my hearing is not perfect. I'm a 78 year old man. Yet I see many movies where understanding what the characters are saying is not a significant problem for me. So my suggestion for movie producers is this: if you think there's any chance that some people will not understand what is being said, then throw in some subtitles.
Belfast (2021)
No need to take this review very seriously...
I couldn't understand what anyone in this movie was saying...I guess mainly because of the thick Irish brogue, while I myself heard almost nothing but mid-western American English while growing up and learning to understand English. That might explain why my "stimulus generalization gradient" for English is so steep, meaning that I can only understand English when it is spoken approximately as learned it. Anyway, I could only understand about 10% of the words I heard in this movie, which is not enough to really understand what's going on.
I had much the same problem understanding what people were saying in "The Tragedy of Macbeth," another recent movie in black and white, because I can't understand Shakespearean English either. By the way, why would anyone shoot a modern movie in black and white, unless it is to signal, "Shh! This is an art movie! You have to be a bit sophisticated to understand and appreciate it! If you don't understand it or appreciate it, you must be some sort of moron!" Are movies like these yet another form of "the emperor's new clothes"? Where people who don't have a proper appreciation for what they are seeing and hearing, feel intimidated into remaining silent?
But I'm also 78 years old, and I know my hearing is less than perfect. Yet I have no problem understanding news commentators on American TV, or most American actors. So I think my lack of understanding goes back to my rather steep and narrow "stimulus generalization gradient" (Google it) for English.
Greed (2019)
The trailer seemed very exciting...
But the movie itself was not. Also, the employees at the theater where I saw the movie forgot to turn out the lights when the movie started, so the movie itself was all washed out looking. Finally, the room lights were turned off, and the movie still looked washed out, as though it had been made with the cheapest camera and film. The acting and story too seemed washed out--and I considered going home. But I stayed, and the movie did get a little better toward the end.
The Turning (2020)
It suddenly ended without an end.
The movie was going along fairly smoothly, even if not making much sense, and then it suddenly ended with no end at all. It was if the moviemakers had suddenly run out of money to finish the movie, or they had hit some kind of deadline, a time by which the movie had to be finished. And so in a panic, they quickly spliced a few film strips which had previously been cut away, and made that the end of the movie.
Puss in Boots (2011)
It put me to sleep
Good animation. Good acting. I had good expectations going in and was wide awake. I wanted to like it. It was somewhat amusing in the beginning, but about half way through I found that I could hardly keep my eyes open and kept dozing off. I've often had that problem with animated features, as well as with non-stop action movies like the Transformers series. The problem seems to be that the characters don't seem real in any way, and the story makes no real sense, so it's hard to care about anything happening on the screen. Plus non-stop action just puts me to sleep. At the opposite extreme was Ratatouille, an animated feature that kept me completely engrossed, because it told a really good story. I'd rate that one as one of my favorite movies of all time. So I'm not prejudiced against animated features, per se.
Someday I want to mount a TV in the ceiling above my bed. And I'll have a collection of movies on DVD, which I bought because they put me to sleep. Then I won't have to use sleeping pills any more. Puss in Boots will be one of the movies in my collection of "sleepers."
The Beaver (2011)
Good acting, but story is disappointing
Mel Gibson's acting was terrific, as both the super-depressed husband/father and his alter-ego, the Beaver. And when the Beaver first appeared, I thought this movie is really going to be different, quirky and fun. I still had hope when his wife initially accepted the Beaver alter-ego as much better than the big fat zero her husband had been the last time she had seen him. And as the Beaver explained, Gibson's character had tried every other cure for depression known to man: psychotherapy, anti-depressant drugs, self-help books, and nothing had worked. But now he was trying something new and radical, and it seemed to be working a miracle. So why not leave well enough alone, and see where the Beaver would take her husband? But nooooo...she can't take this obvious improvement, and insists on bringing her husband back to reality and his painful depression--thus bringing him into the jaws of disaster yet again.
Also, how is it that this man's oldest son is virtually psychic when it comes to being empathetic with his fellow students, and yet has no empathy or sympathy at all for his own father, whom he once loved? What is his excuse for hating his father so unrelentingly? We are never shown a reason.
The only family member who exhibits consistent kindness and empathy for this man in his new alter-ego form as the Beaver, is his youngest son, who doesn't mind at all that his father talks in a Cockney accent and uses a hand puppet, because now his father is very positive, creative and fun. Why is this small child the only family member who accepts the miracle of the Beaver? What stupid, mean people the others are! Is that what the author of this story was trying to tell us?