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Reviews
Amsterdam (2022)
David O Russell exposes his limitations
It's a bit of a mess. So much talent available but the pacing and story telling just aren't we working. If you you can't convey the story visually then you resort to lazy narrating as O Russell does. It just totters around trying to be cute and righteous at the same time without success. Perhaps O Russell saw a Wes Anderson film and thought 'I could do that' .
Sadly, he doesn't have the talent and my guess would be he has a poor sense of humour.
Painting whole sections of the film yellow doesn't really help. Just another poor directorial decision. I imagine it was to convey that this is set in olden times? Yeh, we got that.
Robie is great, of course, but Bale is trying way too hard.
Interceptor (2022)
Laugh out loud funny
Honestly, it's a hoot. Ok, I was drunk and stoned and my idea of comedy is watching some second rate actors ham it up. But I did laugh.
If think Chris Hemsworth really nailed the Me2 subtext, though. I really learned something about female oppression. That could be the biggest joke of all.
The Informers (2008)
I tried to watch this but....
Let me get one thing straight. There are very few movies I won't sit through. No amount of shock or horror or immorality or amorality or even cheesiness will deter me. Practically the only thing that will is poor film making. The type that is lazy and bland. Mostly I manage to avoid these type of thing by never watching films with Vince Vaughan but once in a while you let your guard down. I could claim it was Billy Bob but it was probably Winona. What can i say? I am weak.
This film has nothing to offer and nothing to say. The bass monotone of the soundtrack that washes over the disparate and poorly written open 15-20 minutes tries to imply a threatening atmosphere of doom or something but you cannot imply meaning without there being meaning. There was more to the eighties than bad hair and depeche mode. We already know that blonde people are shallow and sex without love is a meaningless experience ("but as meaningless experiences go its one of.....").
Films are difficult to make. But there are a few simple rules that will help. Establish character and motivation. Give the audience something to care about or at least intrigue them with something unfamiliar and new. Don't pretend you have said something when you haven't yet. Try to earn the respect of the audience with good dialogue. Multi-layered narratives can work but weak trivial garbage on top of trivial garbage is still ... well you can work it out.
Of course i might be wrong. Some people seemed to like it. But then a lot of people thought shoulder pads were a good idea. And some still do.