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Reviews
Oppenheimer (2023)
Great cast, great for history buffs but too damned loud!
Being a student of the history of nuclear weapons development, I was pleased that the film was surprisingly accurate in terms of Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb. I was especially interested in the efforts made to destroy Oppenheimer's reputation after the war and applaud Robert Downey's Academy Award level performance. My reason for rating this film lower than I had hoped to rate it is the sound track. Three of us found it difficult to clearly hear the cast members because of either distortion in the recording or masking level ambient noise in the film. The use of "airy" voices that has become so prevalent in todays films is infuriating. It is as if the use of vocal cords in the uttering of speech is now forbidden. I kept wanting to shout out "SPEAK UP". SAY IT SO WE CAN HEAR YOU!" Finally, the use of extreme noise levels in this film was far, far overdone. For an atomic bomb explosion? OK. But the use of room jarring, earth shaking low frequency sound levels over and over again was both gratuitous and ridiculous. I would be very careful in recommending this movies to my friends and relatives.
Beau Is Afraid (2023)
Like watching a snake slowly swallowing a bunny
I don't think I could ever recommend this film to anyone I know. Being a patient person, I thought I could piece the parts of this puzzle together in order to understand what I spent three hours watching. What I did not realize is that I, as a viewer, was viewing the world through the eyes of a paranoid schizophrenic. Of course it did not make rational sense. Of course it came across as one chaotic experience after another. The fact is that I had just spent three hours seeing, hearing and sensing my world through the eyes of a severely mentally ill person! As I was leaving the theatre I was reminded of being on a very long and tortuous amusement park ride. Let me off! That said, it did hold my interest.
Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School (2005)
A feel-good movie for mature adults
Anyone who watched this movie with the expectation of witnessing accomplished dancers displaying their talent has seriously missed the boat! This is not "Dancing with the Stars". More to the point, the movie is not even about dancing or about the therapeutic value of dancing. It is about dealing with confronting personal life issues.
It is refreshing to see a film that is superbly acted while portraying issues of loss, grief and missed opportunities that life can throw at you, especially when you might least expect it.
My wife and I (we are both in our eighties) loved this film and felt that it struck a unique personal chord for each of us after having faced more than our share of disappointments and losses.
As portrayed in the well told story in this film, finding strength to move forward and through pain can often open doors to fulfillment and increased happiness.
This film reveals that the impetus to change course can sometimes come at a most unexpected time or due to a totally unexpected experience.
Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School (1990)
Tenderness and working through some of life's issues
It was so refreshing to find a film that addresses dealing with personal loss and regrets with both sensitivity and maturity. The excellent acting and direction more then make up for some of the artistic license that results in an inaccurate portrayal of childhood "potty mouths" in the 1960's (elementary school boys did not cuss that way sixty years ago) and the over the top formality of the dance and etiquette instructor. Amazing to find a wholesome and satisfying movie in the ocean of foul mouthed action and CGI based products the are aimed at today's adolescents and young adults.
Under Suspicion (2000)
Climaxes Interuptus
Interesting, steadily growing body of evidence until the very end when someone walks in with a bucket of ice water! Would have made a great stage play if the ending had been written with a logical conclusion.
Closer (2004)
Pornography by any other name
All that is lacking in this film are close up images of the sexual acts being verbalized over and over again by highly compromised actors who agreed to do this film for bundles of cash.
The best analogy that I can draw to watching this movie is to go to a high end European art gallery to see a portrait of Jesus Christ done in cow manure. (Yes, it has happened.)
Offensive and gratuitous filthy language expressed by a cast of lost souls for an audience of adolescent minded, quasi-adults in need of audible titillation.
Why this film was not NC-17 rated is beyond me.
Drowning Mona (2000)
What was my first clue?
When I saw the scene with the town ner-do well fishing with a spinning reel mounted upside down on his fishing rod, I knew that someone in the production of this film was simply not paying attention. I kept telling my wife "let's give it a chance" over and over again to see if it was going to gather momentum. It did not and the ending was so illogical as to leave me staring at the screen saying "huh?".
Puncturing a cast iron brake master cylinder with an awl? Clipping stainless steel brake lines with garden shears? Nearly the entire population of the town driving Yugos?
The police chief looking the other way, knowing that his future son-in-law (Bobby) had at least attempted to disable someone's brakes for the express purpose of killing them (Phil)?
The absurdity just goes on and on.
Love the actors but the movie is both a waste of their talent and my time!
Heartbreakers (2001)
Painful!
I tried to watch this whole movie with my wife. I failed.
The writing was sophomoric. The acting, other than that of Gene Hackman, was stiff and unnatural. The story line was absurd and full of holes. The gratuitous cussing was clearly aimed at an immature audience.
I could go on and on about how awful this movie was but others have already done so.
If I did not know better I would guess that this was written by and directed by eighth graders as a eeekend class assignment.
It was almost painful to endure. I wasted about seventy five minutes of my life waiting for some redeeming value but it was not to occur.
Is it possible to change my rating to a negative number?