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Man of Steel (2013)
Interesting reimagining of Superman with over the top CGI battles
This film forgoes depth of character and plot in favor of flashy CGI. Seriously, more buildings getting destroyed than a Godzilla movie. After about 30 minutes of watching Superman et. Al crash into buildings, it kinda loses its flavor. Most renditions of Superman have him purposely & consciously avoiding battles in cities & around people to minimize civilian casualties, but this one steers for them. I suppose they had to find a way to compete with the Avengers for greatest battle laying waste to a metropolis.
I didn't mind the different version of Lois & Clark, the unique take on the backstory was interesting, but shortly after establishing the backstory this film veers hard into the "mindless action" persuasion of superhero movies, a. La Marvel. It's far from the best rendition of Superman. For a more nuanced take on the character, try Superman & Lois. This film flirts with the idea of Clark being a role model for humanity, but it's both shallow and hit over the head of the audience quite hard. Other versions show him really grapple with what that means and how to live a moral life and use his abilities for the betterment of mankind. Even Smallville had a more complex take on the character. This is more of "Superman fights bad guys" for half of its runtime.
I truly don't understand all the praise in these reviews. Many sound like they were written by teenagers. The movie wasn't bad as a mindless blockbuster or popcorn flick, but Citizen Kane it is not.
MH370: The Plane That Disappeared: The Hijack (2023)
Absolute nonsense
This is where this series goes off the rails. The 1st ep was interesting (if slow), mainly because it was at least somewhat factual. Ep2 makes ludicrous claims that Russian operatives snuck into the electronics bay and somehow took control of the plane (even though there's no way to control it from the electronics bay), turned off the transponders but then "spoofed" the Inmarsat data to mislead investigators, even though they had no way of knowing that data would later be used to estimate position. All on the hope that a missing plane would distract the world from Crimea (which it didn't... how does a missing plane cover up an act of war?) Don't bother with eps 2-3, absolute conspiracy theory trash. Ep3: the US did it (not kidding) to stop China from getting some unproven mystery cargo, and got the UK and Australia to assist in the coverup (again, NOT KIDDING).
The Current War (2017)
All these negative reviews are a joke!
This movie is much, much better than all these negative reviews would have you believe! I agree very much with another reviewer who pointed out that most of the negative reviews complain that the movie is about the wrong thing, but that WASN'T THE POINT of this movie! Review the movie on its own merits, not for what you think it should be or want it to be! Note, this review is for the Director's Cut only, as the earlier version was considered to be much worse.
This movie is about the publicity war and cutthroat business competition between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, and their respective companies' bids to shape the future of electrical power distribution across America. It is NOT about who deserves the most credit for the advances in electricity at the turn of the century. Everybody familiar with the subject knows it's Tesla... there's even a statue of him at Niagara Falls! The fact that he didn't get the recognition he deserved at the time is tragic. Yes, Nikola Tesla was a genius who deserves to the the subject of his own movie, but this is not that movie. He is given some recognition in this movie, but for anyone wishing to know more, I'm sure there are a number of biographies and documentaries that are much better suited to educate the masses and honor the man for his accomplishments.
I thought the movie was well written & shot, well directed, and brilliantly acted. I'm sincerely disappointed that this hasn't been more widely viewed, as it's a story I think many people would be fascinated by, and it's told in a way that would've likely intrigued many audiences to learn more had it landed more prominently in theaters.
Reviewers complaining about the cinematography and the artistic camera angles are clearly not very familiar with Martin Scorsese. I did not find them superfluous or distracting in the slightest, the few that I noticed I thought gave the movie character. For those charging that the movie was boring, I cannot disagree more. I found it captivating for most of its duration, and I have to imagine those people aren't very interested in the story of Edison & Westinghouse anyways... if you really have no interest in what it was like to be on the forefront of shaping such a new and vital piece of technology, and have never thought of electricity as anything more than a flick of a light switch, this movie may bore you... but honestly, I don't think it will. I know a number of people who saw this and were fascinated, because it's a story so forgotten today, and yet is connected to some of our most cherished icons in Edison and Westinghouse, and a brilliant inventor who's name is unfortunately, criminally much less familiar to many (Tesla).
For the claims of historical inaccuracies, I'm sure there are some, as most movies based on a true story tend to have some manner of inaccuracy to them, but I think most of those criticisms are again directed at the more minor role Tesla played in the film. He obviously played a much more significant part in making AC current viable than what was portrayed, but they did acknowledge the need for and importance of his invention multiple times throughout the film. For the complaints that he is treated as a second class citizen by the film because of his status as an immigrant, that was literally how he was treated at the time, which the movie specifically demonstrates. I think most viewers can recognize that his brilliance was not appreciated for what it was at the time through the way he was portrayed in the film, without needing him cast as the undying hero of the story. For those who claim that the movie praises Edison, I disagree... I thought Edison was the clear villain of the story... perhaps they saw the earlier version, not the director's cut? The earlier version was panned as a much worse film, for what it's worth.
My recommendation? See the movie and judge for yourself, but I certainly would consider this movie to be deserving of a reputation that it's star-studded cast would otherwise garner. Though it didn't get the theatrical release it deserved due to the upheaval in Hollywood surrounding the rightful collapse of the Weinstein Company, this is an excellent and entertaining movie that likely would've been a minor hit at the box office.
Triumph of the Nerds (1996)
Stereotypical and Offensive
Highly stereotypical and very offensive to anyone with a computer programming background. Apparently in the 90's it was socially acceptable to make sexist remarks and wildly speculative accusations about anyone even remotely tech savvy. This documentary enforces every false negative stereotype I've ever heard and mocks the very so called nerds that it praises, while demeaning "their way of life" and casting them as "weird social rejects." The narrator himself talks as though he is examining some alien race from another planet, and comments on just how abnormal and socially repugnant their lifestyles are. A few obligatorily pretentious comments from Steve Jobs of course made the cut as well.
Wind (1992)
Somewhat enjoyable, but kinda cheesy
While the sailing sequences were enjoyable to watch and well filmed, the rest of the movie was somewhat of a disappointment. It had some really good scenes and some exciting racing sequences, but the acting and dialog was pretty cheesy and poor outside of that, and the 'love story' aspect of the movie detracted from the rest of the film. There were a few plot points that weren't portrayed very well. As an engineer, I found some of the design scenes a bit amusing.
Bottom line, if you like sailing or the America's cup, you'll probably find parts of this movie enjoyable, and other parts a bit cheesy, over the top, or poorly acted. I would say that the sailing sequences are fun enough to watch that this movie is worth watching once for sailing buffs, and possibly someone interested in the sport.