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Reviews
Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor (2013)
All Young People should Watch This.
If more and more movies were made like this, we would have a better society in today's modern world. Tyler Perry understands that modern society and the world in general is in a lot of trouble, not just with relationships and marriages, but with God too.
So, he tells the story about Judith, a wife going through a dull part in her marriage, to a husband she has known since childhood. Judith is a caricature I believe of the modern-day woman, who recklessly and willingly succumbs to advances from a clearly amoral millionaire man. I will say, people are right about some of the corny acting. The husband Bryce, seems to be missing heart sometimes and forgets his wife's birthday for the second year in a row. Judith's mother is combative at times, though she is a Christian. And I despised Kim Kardashian's presence in this film. It's not a perfect movie, I do wish that Tyler Perry had made some of the plot mechanics flow a tiny bit smoother.
All of that being said, Tyler Perry is trying to teach a deep lesson here and I think in some ways this movie is a punch at Hollywood and modern society for pandering to and worshiping self centered women. Even though Bryce is inattentive at times, the wife Judith instead taking a vacation with her husband or spending time recommitting to the man who has stayed faithful all these years to her...instead falls into the arms of the rich seductive man Harley who promises wealth and help to her business.
There is no excuse for Judith, she reeks of Self, absorbed in her own feelings and wants, and disregards her worried mother's biblical advice by retorting she'll enjoy the ride to hell. That may seem corny to some people, but Tyler Perry hit the nail on the head on how worldly, selfish people act exactly that way. If not in their own words, in their actions! The most immoral people are the ones who laugh it off, and pretty much say they will never face consequences.
You know, I think a lot of the hatred of the movie in these reviews is coming from people who don't like seeing themselves in Judith, or Harley. You don't like the stigmatism of the cheating spouse getting HIV? Well it happens! Even the CDC has to admit it, if you are not in a monogamous relationship you always run the risk of STDs. Sin has consequences, people. Deadly, tragic consequences. There is a reason why people who have affairs end up on dateline.
In a modern society that celebrates adultery, and panders to the selfish person whether it be a man or woman, it is refreshing to see a movie like Tyler Perry's that confronts the ugly Truth; adultery is betrayal and it destroys many lives. Judith found out that that new man she thought was going to swoop her up into a nice new life, that she left her good husband for, turned out to be the person she wished she had never met.
In the end, we find out just as Judith that the real hero of the film is her husband, Bryce. Yes it's a little bit convoluted that he went to save her from Harley, although I enjoyed the beat down he gave him. That is to show how Bryce continued to do the right thing, and cared about his wife when she didn't care for him, and that's exactly how many marriages end up! Of course, betrayal has lifelong consequences and ultimately, Judith is revealed to be the marriage counselor from the beginning intro, desperately trying to save another couple's marriage and not only is divorced and alone but is keeping close watch on her disease.
Now to the movie's credit, it's not seeking to damn women like Judith to hell. People can try to say it is, but I disagree. We see in the ending credits the aged Judith interacting with Bryce, you see the care they still have for each other in their eyes. He's forgiven her. Judith even seems somewhat content, knowing she helped save another woman's marriage. She's even going back to church, a strong hint from the Christian Tyler Perry that she's back on the right track in her life. But you also see the grief in Judith, seeing Bryce with his new family, and the sorrow of the future for herself she destroyed as she walks away alone.
The tragedy here is brutal, it's sad and it's very thought-provoking. No, Judith is not damned. She has redemption and hope for life, if not in the earthly Life it's beyond. But the movie doesn't sugarcoat or ignore that she destroyed her marriage to a good man with the choices she made. She has to live with that. Yeah, the grief and the consequences of sin, they can follow you the rest of your life even though you're forgiven. If that offends people, y'all need to pick up the Bible and learn the truth of Jesus.
Damsel (2024)
Don't Bother!
It's a shame. I like Millie Brown and maybe as a actress she is great in the film. But her character in the film only goes along with the stupidity of the plot. Because spoiler alert; the dragon is just a vengeful creature we are supposed to sympathize with and the prince's family is the real villains for " senselessly" killing dragon Young. I missed the part in the movie where this ridiculous morality makes total sense! And that the medieval world would really operate that way.
First thought; they are absolutely trying to get the audience to sympathize with the murderous animal. NO. I reject all movies that do that from now on. No more. That is a leftist fantasy, it is not reality. And why are we supposed to care about this dragon's murdered children? Playing devil's advocate, it was kill or be killed in the medieval world, there was no morality against killing dragon children. Why is this horrifying? Why aren't we actually marveling at the bravery of the prince's family for taking out additional threats of dragons? Dragons are not by nature Good creatures. Just saying.
Second thought: they really missed their shot to be a great movie with the stupid dragon plot. Why didn't they make the plot instead about Millie Brown marrying into this evil family and then trying to figure out how to escape or survive? Come on Netflix you paid all the money to have Millie Brown show up, and you couldn't create a more successful plot? Why not make it a human drama about a woman in a time where woman and people in general had little options for happiness? And I'm not a feminist, but I think that would have been a great movie.
Third thought; waste of time. This movie was a complete waste of Millie Brown's time and mine. Let me summarize it for you, stupid modern female makes friends with the vengeful killing dragon and helps it kill the prince's family. Netflix doesn't have a concept of how the world really is, they think with their leftist doped brain. And they think honestly everyone is as sick as they are. There's no real good and evil, and the monster isn't even bad according to this show's twisted morality even though it killed innocent women. It's not even vanquished at the final end. What a joke. Don't even bother watching it.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, modern movies suck!!
The King and I (1956)
Impressive Play, Unimpressive Story
It's strange to look back at a movie that I loved as a child, only to look back as an adult and realize how foolish the story truly was.
The rating given is not for the production value. As a production piece this movie was Hollywood at its best. Great singing, costume, set dressing, perhaps the accents were incorrect. But Hollywood in 1956 was not so attentive to accents. No, this rating is for the overly romanticized, improbable story of a governess/teacher falling in Love with a serial polygamist who murders another woman and her lover after she refuses to be another concubine. It's not only Hollywood that's done it, countless adaptations and plays have done similar.
As someone grows older, the more you realize how absurd the entire story is for trying to give legitimate love for a naturally dictatorial and self centered man like the Oriental King of Siam. Unless Anna was afflicted with Stockholm Syndrome. Perhaps she was, and if so this "love" really shouldn't be celebrated. I'm not sure if the memoirs of Anna Leowowens are to blame, I've never read them. I don't know that I want to.
Regardless, the story at least for me lost its enchantment over the years and fell into the realm of sad, and unrealistic. There are too many people in life that try to romanticize abuse and selfish behavior as love; I think children should be taught how to see the ugly reality behind fairy tale stories like this.
Exposed: The Ghost Train Fire (2021)
Not Even Sure They Proved Murder?
Admittedly, I had never heard of the Ghost Train Fire event in my life. But I'm always interested in accidents and tragic stories involving amusement park rides. Can I just say that Luna Park clown effigy was terrifying??? I don't know that I would have wanted to have gone to that Park as a child.
Anyway, I can't even imagine what those poor families and the survivors went through. Made me bawl rivers of tears, that is how real this retelling felt through The eyes of the people reliving it. Yet, they try for two entire episodes to prove that this tragic fire was not an accident and intentionally set, first by biker gangsters? Then it evolves to a gangster Mafia type member that's in the government? Um, I can't even wrap my mind it.
Martin Sharp and his associates did not spend enough time proving that the fire was not an accident, and many of their arguments are flawed. Firstly, just because a fire erupts quickly that by no means means that it was started by an accelerant, as they try to say. The fluorescent paint, the tar covering the walls, all of those surfaces when burning could have smelled like accelerant!
I also counted, the first witnesses to the fire were noted at 10:00 p.m., the second witnesses were at 10:10 p.m and by then the flames were strong. 10 minutes was more than enough time for an average fire to grow. Secondly, I have also seen fires create the roaring sound the one park employee describes, and shoot up into the air without accelerant: It's called an ignition point. Every flammable material has an ignition point, particularly when it is a ride full of paper mache objects... Look at the Kings Cross Station fire tragedy if you don't believe me. The fire at that train station shot flaming tunnels of Fire like two jet engines, no accelerant required. Strange things happen and it's not because of accelerant!
Thirdly, why didn't these investigators ever examine or test the theory that the FAN blowing underneath the imitation fireplace could have overheated?? Overheating fans are the number ONE reason fires start. Here's another factor; the ghost train ride was old, built in the 30s. How do they know that there were not a dozen safety ricks?? Martin Sharp and his journalists never addressed that. They wanted to go straight into conspiracy theories.
Fourthly, they " disprove" that the fire could have been started by an electrical malfunction "because the power in the ride was functioning", that on its face is bogus. Go YouTube it, there are electrical fires that burn up an entire room and the power is still on! An electrical malfunction does not always cause the power to shut off. It depends on where the short is in the wire; the power outlet's circuit could also be completely separate from the Power box and only blow the outlet. There are so many different factors.
Lastly, I do not doubt that troubled teenage visitor at the park that night saw those biker gangsters bragging about using kerosene to start the fire on the ghost train. He definitely saw biker gangsters, he even described them in detail. The bikers likely even said they " lit up the ghost train ride". Playing devil's advocate here, his story is not proof that these bikers did anything. Gangs brag all the time, bragging what terrible things you did is part of your street reputation.
I'm sorry to say this, but these Australian investigators and these grieving family members are not fully investigating every single avenue of thought. They seem desperate to think that there was some great big conspiracy behind the Ghost Train burning down, like they don't want to accept that it could have just been an overheated fan. It was 1979, safety at amusement parks was barely thought of. And an old, closed dark ride, with no sprinklers, full of flammable paper and tar, with fans that probably ran constantly and were never checked for electric shortages, was a fire DEATH TRAP waiting to happen!
Now, undoubtedly there was a cover-up. You see Australian government absolutely hindered all investigation, and outright lied. That could be because they don't want fear and Hysteria to spread about amusement parks not being safe, and they also don't want stories to spread that Park managers often cut safety corners. Perhaps, the local government knew of many many safety violations that Luna Park might be committing and they didn't want to reveal that they knew about it. There didn't have to be a giant, Mafia hit to destroy the ghost train to gain Luna Park. And that conspiracy plot made no sense by the way.
Come on, life is not a Hollywood movie. And this is really hard for people to believe, but oftentimes the most senseless tragic things happen and there isn't a great big villain to blame. Yes, the park inspectors and the park management should have been better at managing safety at the park and they should have been punished. But I say they do NOT make their case that the Ghost Train and the people that died in that fire died because of some Australian mafia guy.
It's truly horrific what these family members and survivors of the Ghost Train tragedy went through. I know they want someone to be punished, they want justice. And Australia has an evil government that does not allow freedom of speech or Freedom of information. So no wonder these people think that something more foul occurred with the level of corruption they see. But here is the reality, corrupt government covers up any criminality even if it is murder or just negligence. Because evil government has no sense of justice in either case.
I am not sure Justice lies in their theory that the Australian mafia boss started the fire. Hopefully the peace of God will find all these poor people. That's the best comfort they can have.
Outlander (2014)
Fantastic Historical Series but Too Repelling
Had such high hopes for this series because I love English and Scottish lands and history. The directing and detail on the history was fabulous. Sam Heugan is a gorgeous man and a great actor, but we do not need a ton of sex scenes just because he is a good looking man. Really, this show borders on porn, and it's not even necessary to the plot. If someone needs to see or have to have this much sexual content in a show, there is something spiritually wrong with that person. Normal, healthy people don't need pornographic scenes in a show. Personally, I think the screenwriter and the director are both sexual perverts.
Now the main character of Claire, God I hated her from the episode 1 and that intense dislike did not getter! Irritating, mouthy, prejudiced, cantankerous witch. I get that she's a tough WWII nurse but she seems way too hardened, to the point that she's just not likeable! Which is a major problem of course because she is the main character.
I was at the point that I felt nothing but pity for her husband Frank, for being married to just an unfaithful, heartless harpy. Are we supposed to root for Claire? Because I wasn't and I'm sure as heck not going to. They are sending the message in this show that a wife has the right to leave her loving husband, who did nothing wrong in the marriage that we can see, just because he had an ancestor that was evil who looks like him. No. No normal person does that. A normal, responsible person does not justify walking out on your spouse and try to glamorize it with the sexy hunk from the past.
I'm just letting you people know, the writer of this series is a sociopath. If she is trying to say that a woman has a right to leave a marriage even if there is no cheating, no abuse, nothing wrong, she is a sociopath! A sociopath justifies their selfish behavior with " he didn't love me enough" or the infamously stupid "we grew apart". Seriously, why are you even bothering to save your first husband by keeping his ancestor alive when you've already destroyed his life by leaving him? Is it to avoid her being recognized as a faithless b.i.t.c.h? Well they're not going to gaslight me. I will tell y'all, this woman is not a heroine. She is a selfish, whining piece of tar that I wanted to die within two or three episodes of watching her.
Beyond how much I hated Claire, what horror came later in the season made me sick and I completely lost interest. I'm not even going to visit it here. All I will say is Jamie deserved better and if that's the garbage they want to put in this show, forget them.
What you watch with your eyes is important and after this show, I had to cleanse my mind. I have no desire to watch future seasons. I think some sick people are in charge of this show, and a healthy person shouldn't watch it. It just makes you feel gross.
The Witcher (2019)
Low Quality Lord of the Rings
Foul mouthed, bleak and filthy show. To compare this show to the beauty that is Lord of the rings, as some people do, would be comparing a silk purse to a Sow's ear.
I admit I know nothing about The Witcher series, I don't care to read the book. Maybe the books are better but I only care to rate the Netflix adaptation. The Netflix adaptation threw f-bombs and foul language that was completely unnecessary and didn't even fit in the period that this is supposedly taking place in.
If you have to have foul language to make your show interesting, that means you have no class and you are not counting on your plot being captivating. They didn't need foul language to be interesting 25 years ago in movies! What's happened to us?
At one point the show was even trying to romanticize sibling incest. Gross! No way, I don't accept that.
I held on and tried to ignore how basically unlikable everybody is with the exception of The Witcher, especially humans. But my interest burned out the minute that the overall savior or great magical sorceress that I guess the show is waiting on is Ciri, a teenager.
As a woman, I'm sick and tired of the feminist dominated storyline where we need a strong independent woman saving the day. Women are not somehow stronger characters if they are imbued with magic, and I'm definitely not ecstatic to see that the world's fate is placed in the hands of a young kid. The plot line has been beaten to death.
About halfway through the series I decided I couldn't handle it anymore. There's just not enough good to keep going. Henry Cavill is a beautiful man, but he was the only character in the show that I liked, and he's not enough to hang on.
Rings of power is better than this nonsense.
June (2023)
June gets the Spotlight she Deserves!
So young 31-year-old woman talking here. I did not really grow up with June Carter. I discovered her and her husband after I stumbled upon Cash's music. For me, this documentary honoring June was great because I knew so little about her. I don't know why I just felt a connection with June. Maybe it was her quirky sense of humor, the old fashioned Americana I miss, maybe it was the warmth in her face, there was just something about her I instantly liked.
I had no idea stars Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton knew June, wow. And loved her so much as friend. There's admiration of June from both young and old that was beautiful to see, clearly she touched a lot of people. You often wonder how someone behaves behind the scenes, when they're such a public figure. From all appearances June was very kind to most people, unless you were trying to exploit Johnny. Many people loved her.
June Carter gets overshadowed so often because of the great man she married, and their history they made together. She can be a controversial figure for some people, because of the love affair she had with Cash. Whatever you think of that, she deserves to have her story told! I think she deserves more than just the moniker of Johnny's wife or the person who was involved in a love triangle. She blazed many trails in her life, and I'm not a feminist but I was insulted to learn how the record companies did not want to produce her final solo record because of her age. She had a wild, intriguing life, who knew people like James Dean and Elvis at a young age and unlike a lot of people she got to fulfill some unfulfilled dreams before her death. She had a life that few people will ever have, and I think as a woman her legacy in Nashville was often understated. Regardless of gender, someone should be honored when they have reached a ripe old age and they want to leave a lasting legacy.
Her life wasn't perfect and what's wonderful about this documentary is they talk about the pitfalls. We hear Carlena talk about the first marriage that broke her heart for years, about the second marriage of convenience, about the judgment she got for being divorced in a very unforgiving religious era. The archival footage of those days was pretty neat, you don't get to see it mainstream anymore. And they're more honest about the weary years with Johnny. I imagine loving and being married to Johnny Cash was not a picnic, she had a lot of tough strength that most women would not have. You get a fairly clear picture she carried the both of them for some years. She really took the marriage vows seriously with him, when she could have just walked away and no one would have blamed her. And like many caregivers, she was so strong for others that her own health wore out. It's sad.
I'm really really happy to see that June is getting her honored due's in this , and it's not always sunshine and rainbows. People forget that June endured a marriage to a man with many struggles, had struggles herself. She chose to stay tough on the outside and didn't sell her dirty laundry to the tabloids, like many celebrities do, and for that she should be blessed. She's now in God's perfect peace.
And thank YOU to Vicky Hamilton for honoring June's legacy by helping her with her last albums. That was a respectful thing she did.
Elvis (2022)
Austin Butler WAS Elvis but Movie Pace Hampered It's Glory
To start with, I am NOT rating this movie as Meandering because of Austin Butler's performance. Austin Butler was excellent as Elvis. Of course no one is going to really replicate Elvis Presley, Austin Butler did pretty dang close even if he was a little bit goofy looking. Austin Butler's acting was great, Olivia Dejonge was a worthy Priscilla but I'm not really sure they had much chemistry on the screen though. I didn't really get emotional when Priscilla left Elvis in the movie. Perhaps if they had been given more time together, or if the movie was entirely about Priscilla and Elvis, I would feel differently about these two. The main focus was Elvis Presley and his devil of a manager, played by Tom Hanks.
What makes this movie a big disappointment Firstly was the rapid, dizzying story pace and the jerk between present day when Tom Parker lays dying, to the past. Left me with a bit of a headache, watching. Someone thought that the producer might have ADHD, perhaps that is what happened. Because this type of pace isn't normal and I hated it instantly. Also, I had no idea who Tom Parker was so to open the movie with Tom Parker was a little jarring. Would have been more practical if they opened it up with Elvis's death. Or funeral.
Secondly, it's not often I agree with other critics but in the case of Tom Hanks' , the ridicule is completely justified. Tom Hanks' sounds like a fool with his abhorrent, fake German accent? That grated on my ears! And why did he even have to narrate the movie, when the audience is led to hate him throughout the movie? Why couldn't they have just told the story? I didn't think a narrator was needed. Especially not him! Seriously, in a movie about the King of Rock, Tom Parker's ugly voice was not needed.
Thirdly, Elvis Presley deserved a slower, more respectful pacing in his own movie. About his own life. It felt like they were constantly trying to hurry you on to the next phase of his life and didn't even give you a chance to really empathize, and absorb the life and world of Elvis. You see way too much of Tom Parker, to the point where you want to tear him out of the film, because the movie shouldn't even be about him. It should be about Elvis.
Then there's the ending itself. Just cutting off after Elvis awesomely fires Tom Parker and then to explain through scrolling the rest of history. After all of the drama of revealing what a con artist and what a Mephistopheles-like demon Tom Parker was; worming his way into Elvis Presley's life and leading him to absolute misery...
Why didn't the writers give us satisfaction of a scene of Tom Parker dying alone in the hospital? You tell such a heart-wrenching tale of all that happened Presley, it was a mistake that all we are left with at the end was just a couple history cards to read.
I have seen better biopics from Hollywood. This is not one of them. I expected a lot more of the story of Elvis Presley. Johnny Cash and June Carter got a pretty good Hollywood movie, Elvis Presley deserved better than this.
Guess I would say to the fans of the King, watch it for free and don't be surprised if you end up disappointed. And for heaven's sakes don't buy it!
The Crown (2016)
One of my Favorites!
Breathtaking, intelligent, riveting without even having a real villain half the time, and effectively dramatic. Being an American and not really being a royal family fan, that doesn't stop me from saying that this series is incredibly well done. Even spanning six seasons, The Crown still manages to be entertaining. Perhaps not in the same way as the first two seasons were, because I love Clair Foy as Queen Elizabeth best, still each actress of Elizabeth brings something different to this dramatization of the Queen's reign.
Some seasons are better than others, I happen to think that season 3 was pretty boring except for the Aberfan tragedy and the thwarted romance of a young Prince Charles and Camilla. Season 4 was fascinating to see how doomed the marriage was of Prince Charles and Diana even before the famous wedding and at times even though you know the history you still are in trepidation. That is how fantastic all of these actors are.
Some people have accused the writers of rehashing history, and as someone who lived through much of Diana's and Charles' martial drama, I can see their point. There were moments I had to fast forward through. However what I love about this series is the humanization they bring to these people. You can also always skip the dramatization of history that you remember. And may I just say that the recreation of certain scenes was so breathtakingly accurate, I had to do a double take.
And the casting was phenomenal! Josh O'Connor and Dominic West are a better Prince Charles than the real Prince Charles. I had to do a double take so many times with Elizabeth Debicki, with how uncannily similar to Diana she is. Ed McVeigh and Meg Bellamy are practically dead ringers for college age William and Kate. I was beyond impressed. Seriously, the series deserves all of their rewards and accolades.
And the best part is the Crown doesn't need sex and violence to be interesting! They don't need foul language to command attention, they have class all the way. This series should be a giant middle finger to institutions like Hollywood that make it their mission to be as immoral as possible.
I honestly hope that we get to see a sequel from Peter Morgan about the earlier history of the royal family someday. I would watch it!
Tolkien (2019)
Touching Snippets of Tolkien's life but Missing Depth
Professor Tolkien is one of my favorite authors to ever have lived. And I was beyond excited to see this movie come out. It's not a bad movie, it's quite a good movie. The actors do very well, there's chemistry and there is genuine camaraderie between all of the actors. They go through from his childhood to his college years, to him meeting his wife and falling in love, and touch briefly on the horrors the experienced in world war I.
If I have a complaint it's that it's not nearly long enough as it should be and it doesn't even cover half the traumatic and interesting experiences that Tolkien survived through. Didn't even touch upon his friendship with CS lewis, which I was very disappointed in. CS Lewis was a core inspiration to Professor Tolkien and vice versa.
World War I was very traumatic for Tolkien, and he witnessed firsthand a lot of friends blown up, and we only get maybe 5-10 minutes of some vaguely brutal battle scenes and how it inspired morgoth and the darknesses of Lord of the Rings.
The directors and writers Hollywoodized his lifestory instead of giving Tolkien the three hour or 4 hour movie that he deserved. The man could not be justly covered in two and a half hours! So I guess I say that it's a descent movie to watch once, but I wouldn't pay money for it. Get it for free.
Ticket to Paradise (2022)
George Clooney and Julia Roberts Made the Movie
Title says it all. The rapport and the chemistry of George Clooney and Julia Roberts is so natural that you don't even think they're acting. Even when they're fighting, and supposed to be a bitter divorce couple, they are the most refreshing duo in the entire movie.
The movie should have been entirely about them, not their stupid daughter. Because the rekindling of their romance was believable, and touching.
But this movie fails and it falls flat because it has two problems; Kaytlin Deaver and Maxime Bouttier. These two young co-stars that are supposed to be the adult daughter and her husband to be have absolutely NOTHING chemistry-wise between them. They meet in a matter of a month we are supposed to believe that they are madly in love? And ready to get married?? Complete and utter BS! They don't even act like they really love each other, every awkward silence and every Forced kiss is glaringly obvious to the audience. Hollywood is supposed to make things believable, this was not believable even for a moment. They don't even try!
Kaytlin Deaver does not connect with the starkly different island culture, the environment, or Geme's family. Indonesia is nothing like the tropical Paradise that is shown, Bali is quite a bit poorer than what the movie depicts it. Anyway Deaver is the definite clueless, spoiled American whose looks belong in a teenage chick flick. And no real American who has just spent all their money in college to be a lawyer would throw it all away to go live in a dirty, poor country like Bali. With a seaweed farmer. That's a joke. No foreign Island family would encourage him to marry her! In fact you're left thinking throughout the entire movie that she's making a colossal mistake marrying into this family.
I guarantee you in 5 or 10 years time this couple would be in a awkward divorce and this daughter would come shuffling back and tell her parents that they were right and she was sorry to ignore their warnings.
I hate to devalue the movie based on the performance of the daughter, but when she is the driving force of the plot to stop her from getting married and inadvertently reconciles the separated parents, the writers and directors should have tried a little harder with her romance! Maybe picked a different actress! Or maybe replace Maxime Bouttier. He wasn't all that great either.
George Clooney and Julia Roberts made the movie bearable, but I would not pay any money to see it again. And I have no desire to see it again.
Harry Price: Ghost Hunter (2015)
Spookily Entertaining and Occasionally Emotionally
I didn't really know who Harry Price was as a real person, not sure how much of this movie is based on a real case or not. I don't know that it really matters. I'd like to know if he really did swindle people as a spiritualist and lead a client's family member to commit suicide, I could see it happening.
Very suspenseful, all the characters were masterfully acted. Kept you guessing! Complete with emotional twists and turns, and a surprise element of a real supernatural plot.
This is a movie that does not get the credit I think it deserves. I wish the American Entertainment companies would take a page out of the book of the British. You don't need flashy action elements, and you don't need sex scenes to create intrigue.
The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash (2019)
Better than Walk the Line!
Watching this documentary for the first time, and I've watched a few documentaries on the Man in Black. Very fascinating and in-depth, not only using interviews with Johnny Cash himself but more importantly with people who knew him; such as Rick Ruben, Roseanne Cash, Bruce Springsteen, John Carter Cash, even Sam Phillips. I would say this is the best documentary about Johnny Cash himself and his life because it has many collaborators that had important insight into life back then, and how life was for Johnny.
If you were disappointed with Walk the Line, or were curious for the more deeper story behind the cheap Hollywood glamor, this is the better movie in my opinion. We still don't quite know the full scope of some of the darkest sins of Cash, (and it's really none of our business) but we get hints and oddly enough sometimes the hints are better than secrets exposed.
This is also one of the only documentaries so far on Cash's side that pays more sympathetic attention to his first marriage. I was surprised to hear Cash talking fondly about the early years between them, and the days in Memphis. It was great to hear that there was a part of him still that even loved the days before he was famous, and yet he never says that he regrets following his dream. He openly regretted the drug use, and the suffering he caused to Vivian and his family, but clearly he felt a powerful need to sing his heart out before people.
Johnny Cash is one of those men that is so relatable, and likable to all who have struggled in life and are honest about it. How difficult being a musician was in the 50s and 60s, and it's easier to understand with this movie how easy it was to fall into drugs unwittingly! I for one did not know how little was known about amphetamines and barbiturates then, and I'm sure not very many people did either.
And although the love story of him and June has been revisited so many times, there is a deeper sweetness in the home movies here. It's unusual for me to say that I can feel the love he had for her, just by looking at them together. And to hear that they didn't simply live happily ever after, had tremendous problems but still decided to stay committed in marriage was inspiring. The family doesn't share this knowledge to air dirty laundry but to share how complex Johnny and June were, which not very many people know how to do well. They still fought yes, and I'm sure there were moments they were ready to strangle each other but they didn't let their problems destroy them. The love of the Hollywood Walk the Line, like in all Hollywood movies, was simplistically cliche and the fuller story is more intriguing. I think that love grows deeper through trials, if you're willing to hold tight together.
Also his faith in God increases his interest to me, there are very few men in the music world that are so open about the faith they have. And to have unflinchingly continued forward after the Christian hating record company and fans dropped him for being a man of faith, what a hero! Had no idea that he paid such a price for years for his commitment to God. Bless him for rediscovering such respect that he deserved before his death!
Watch this, you won't regret it.
My Darling Vivian (2020)
Worth Watching, But Be Cautious
Heartfelt but disheartening and this movie is not for everyone. I suppose everyone deserves to have their story told, and Vivian Liberto is no exception. She did play a large part in the time of Johnny Cash, and her life was enjoyable to hear in its own way.
The story is mainly told through Vivian liberto's daughters. They are fun to hear from, and they paint a vibrant picture of a good but complex woman, yet I wished at times we could have heard from people other than Vivian's daughters. I did appreciate Roseanne's transparency on Vivian's flaws as a mom and as a person, and how hurtful and foolish she could be at times. It distorts the image we got in the autobiography of Vivian as this matyr and lifts her up as human.
The journey takes you through the early days of Vivian Liberto in love with a young Johnny Cash and gives you glimpses of the sweet Love letters they sent each other. It's easy to understand when you hear all the promises of love he gave her, why she was so heartbroken when it all fell apart years later. Vivian deserved better than to fall in love with a man who would nearly destroy her. It's a tragedy that the Catholic Church didn't give premarital counseling in those days, I think that the incompatible differences of these two might have been revealed in some in depth counseling.
I think if Johnny Cash had been anybody but Johnny Cash, and had stayed that salesman or had gone on to have an ordinary job, they probably could have stayed together. This is probably unpopular to say but they maybe shouldn't have gotten married. Especially after only really spending time with each other in person for effectively 1 month. Letters over 3 years don't really help you get to know someone. You see the beginning of the end of the marriage when his career starts taking off. Vivian was not a woman who enjoyed being a celebrity wife, she wilted under the media attention and desperately missed Johnny while he was on the road.
The blame for the collapse of the marriage is placed on Johnny's drug use which really took hold in California, and I'm sure it played a role. But I would argue that he was making decisions without caring how Vivian felt long before. Such as the move out to California that left Vivian isolated, and always finding excuses to leave. You get the sense when you watch the documentary that Vivian was much more committed to the marriage than Johnny was.
There is also the sense that the daughters don't quite know the secrets of the marriage, because why was their dad away on tour so often if he was happy with their mother? There's quite a few subjects the girls don't visit that they should have. The fact that Johnny had other affairs besides June, and no mention of the close friendships Vivian had with Patsy Cline and Billie Jean Horton. So much riveting material wasted. This is why I complain that I wish we'd heard from adults that saw the things Vivian saw, all the behind closed doors secrets the children would not have seen.
This is definitely the life Vivian experienced. Is it the full story? Of course not. Just like Johnny did not experience the pain Vivian did, Vivian never experienced what he did. He changed out there on the road traveling the world, and she didn't.
Then we get to how the affair with June affected Vivian. It was sad to hear how it led her almost to the brink of suicide, and no matter how much he and June loved each other I'm sure it caused severe distress to his family. I wish that Johnny Cash had been a man about the problems and just told his wife she was him driving crazy or whatever else was happening instead of cheating and breaking Vivian's heart. Although that conversation probably would have destroyed her too.
Though Vivian was thankfully able to end the marriage and live her own life, I was annoyed to see how she rushed into another unhappy marriage just to be married before Johnny and June and then continue to mourn over a man who treated her so badly. She watched all the interviews Johnny gave over the years, pretty odd she didn't accept he led a very good life without her.
Regarding this anger at the media and the world, I understand the anger the women have at how their mother was dismissed and ignored. But did they ever stop to think, maybe their dad wasn't so bothered by it? When someone divorces their partner, they have the right to think or say that their previous marriage wasn't all that important to them. I'm not saying it's right. But Johnny Cash was like anybody else with broken relationships, he probably didn't want to be reminded of his failures.
Some criticisms I would like to make. Look, I know the girls want to honor their mother, but they can honor their mother without disrespecting June's part. For a man to THANK a woman and her family for helping him get saved, it is beyond insulting for the kids treat what he says as meaningless. Being that these women were little Rugrats living with Mom when this battle was happening, I trust what Johnny says about his own life more. They also should have been a little more compassionate for their stepfather, he was willing to stay married for the rest of his life to a woman who never loved him. Sounds like he sacrificed a lot to give Vivian what she needed.
Secondly, All four girls knew June for almost their entire lives and Roseanne even did June's eulogy. For them to be scolding Carter literally years after her death for her way of including her own kids and Johnny's kids as "their children" is flat out backstabbing. At least she was trying to be good to them! What did they want? To be treated like stepchildren? That lowered my opinion of every single one of these women, and just for their judgmental attitude I'm slapping the documentary they're so proud of with four stars. They can thank themselves for this negative review.
Overall, the family admits the divorce was for the best, and I agree it was. But like I said, this movie is not for everyone. It's a painful story of what happens when you marry before you really are mature. I don't know that I would consider Vivian a strong woman that was inspiring, more like a tragic figure.