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Reviews
Meg 2: The Trench (2023)
No Good without the Bingbing...
Everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING, that made the first movie the biggest shock and surprise since Jaws...everything is GONE. Aside from a strong neo-Jurassic flashback at the opening, this movie spends the first hour wasting everybody's time with a bunch of noise and a big mess of chaos that meant absolutely nothing...
But after about an hour (it took them long enough), they finally make it to a bikini beach. Not sure exactly what they were there for, but the Meg was somewhere off shore, and between the bikinis and the giant shark this movie, briefly, hit a stride similar to the first one. They managed to correct the BIG mistake they made, when they chose to film this sequel without the Bingbing herself. The movie barely avoids becoming a big, unwatchable mess.
Even so, not using Li Bingbing was inexplicably DUMB. There was a motherlode of a story around her, her daughter and the male lead that would have made this movie seriously worth watching. As it stands, this thing barely made it.
Secrets in the Walls (2010)
Classic ghost story
What this low budget movie lacks in originality, it more than makes up for in sheer effort, and a refusal to abandon the classic ghost story. Its the kind of script that if Sam Raimi or James Wan had gotten their hands on, there would be a totally different discussion all around about this movie.
The focused, incredibly simple, mother-daughter premise is worthy of Japanese horror, translated through Lifetime's unique way of doing things. Jeri Ryan's luck as an iconic television actress is all over this project, with music, cinematography and other production values that make this a cut above most tv movies. Ryan as the mother to the two very smart, very pretty daughters seriously adds to the inspired simplicity of this story, which wisely chooses to obey every cliché, until their tragic little narrative point is made. Better than a lot of big budget horror nonsense from Hollywood these days.
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
Story stupidly abandons the Wonder Women...
So what if the Avatar 2 story was a familiar rehash. That wasn't the problem. Terminator 2: Judgment Day was literally, a big budget remake of the first one. And nobody complained. Its because James Cameron went back into the elements that made the first one a classic and improved them. Same story, only bigger and better.
But this time, in this "Avatar: Way of Water" project, he veered off into self indulgent boredom. The brilliantly simple and inspired elements of the first story are all but scattered to the wind and the sea here. He touched on a few interesting, familiar paths but abandoned them over and over, until we were left with a vacuous, disappointing ending that did NOTHING but lay there like one of those beached weird-eyed whales in the Pandoran Sea.
I hope Avatar 3 gets back to business, and lets a FEMALE CENTERED story grow and develop into something that is worth sitting through for three hours. We're no longer impressed with the visuals of Pandora alone. The kickass, female centered STORY that made the first one so good to the very last frame...rehash it right.
Picture Me Dead (2023)
Erica Mena needs help
Erica Mena is going to have to be rescued from this bad directing or else. The woman has some serious dramatic potential. When those ears of hers are covered and that hair frames her face properly, she is dangerously beautiful to look at. And yes, in many flashes, one can see that she can act. A little. But the producing and the directing just can't pull it out and sustain it. If this same cast, this same story, had been done by a production crew like the one that has kept Law and Order SVU on the air for 20 years, we'd be having a different conversation about Erica Mena's career. This might be her last chance, but I hope not because the woman is sexy as Hell.
The Stepmother (2022)
Erica Mena is HOT...
Had never heard of this Erica Mena chick until I stumbled onto this movie. Was stuck in it the whole time because of her. Found out she is some kind of hip hop reality star already, on the hugely popular Love and Hip Hop New York. Go figure.
She's one of the more beautiful actresses I've seen in any movie, good or bad. Her screen presence is strong as Hell. Not enough pageant pretty, light skinned black actresses being showcased in Hollywood. I pray she gets a movie worthy of her talents. She carried this turkey from start to finish.
Hope to see her in a string of these bad LMN / Lifetime type movies. But next time, let's hope the clichés around her will be as sexy and fun to watch as she is. Imagine her as, what else, a crazy Nanny, terrorizing a rich, busty white woman and her daughter.
Martial Law (1998)
Kelly Hu and Sammo Hung
This show was given a second shot in Season 2 and seriously blew it. For some reason, they brought in Arsenio Hall to try and capitalize on the fame of Rush Hour and it killed the show. Instead of making sexy Kelly Hu Sammo's partner, they pushed her off to the side and that made the show half as good as it could have been.
As the novelty of Sammo Hung wore off, there was nothing in the show to make up for it. Arsenio Hall's antics were more annoying than funny. No further depth was given to Kelly Hu's character. Luckily the show had just enough left to be worthy of syndication. With the combination of Sammo Hung, Kelly Hu, and a magical second season theme by Joel Goldsmith, the son of the great Jerry Goldsmith, the show still has just enough watchability to pull you in and hold you.
Its still fun to watch Sammo Hung's fighting skills. As a child he trained with Jackie Chan in a Peking Opera School, where strict training and harsh discipline were the norm. Despite his size, its easy to see that Sammo Hung is clearly one of the best martial artists in the world.
The Meg (2018)
It ain't Jaws, but...
The best thing about this intentional Jaws ripoff isn't really the sheer size and great special effects for the 75 foot mega shark ("mega," is that the source of the ridiculous title, oh... right, its a "megalodon"). The best thing about the movie was the lighthearted insistence on the female Asian slant in the casting and the background. Its about time, the female Asian lead guarantees that you will have to stay with this thing until its done, possibly again and again. Long after you get tired of everything else about the movie, and you will, you won't get tired of the beautiful Asian women scattered throughout, even singing an Asian version of "Hey, Mickey" at the end, which might be the next most compelling thing about the whole picture.
"Jaws" cannot be equaled. The picture understands this, and does not waste time trying. Worth the time just to watch how impossible it is for another killer shark movie to even approach the Spielberg miracle from 1975. Enjoy the Asian wedding girl's dog named "Pippin" in the water. Will Pippin become a snack? Did "Pippin" in Spielberg's movie? (I thought the Spielberg dog was named "Pippet.") Oh well, I guess I was wrong.
Rudy (1993)
The Great Jerry Goldsmith...
One of the best kept secrets in Hollywood history was called up from the shadows, to put his 18 time Academy Award nominated stamp on this sentimental classic. Jerry Goldsmith's music went into the sentimentality with guns blazing and came out with what is one of the greatest scores in movie history. Rudy's incredible story will well the tears up, and Goldsmith's score will bring 'em down, whether you want it to happen or not. Be warned.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
The best of all time....
Parts of this movie were deeply inspired. Some of the best material since The Empire Strikes Back in some places, particularly the scenes between Luke and Rey. The movie does not disappoint, visually stunning action sequences, which were typical but beautiful and fun to watch. The anticipation built up from the months of waiting, about what could possibly transpire between Luke and Rey on that island, will be satisfied about as well, if not better than expected. Story choices were made involving Luke Skywalker that, lets just say, make his character___________ (You'll see).
Contracted (2013)
Better than you think...
People sometimes confuse production quality with story quality, meaning, they think just because its not Robert Zemeckis behind the camera, its not a real movie. Well, this is one those worthy stories that might suffer this, if you're not careful. Its too bad that going in, the people reading these reviews already know the full picture of what this girl has "contracted." Truth is, the less you know, the better. The story itself is a somewhat inspired entry into this genre, and definitely worth the time. For what it is, it truly is a great story.
Logan (2017)
Wolverine and the Little Girl...
Marvel was smart enough to market this as a coming together of two fascinating entities: Wolverine and a pretty little girl mutant. But what they failed to tell us, sadly, was that the story was going to take a tragically ill advised left turn later on, until the refreshingly simple concept of grizzled, battle weary Logan and his pretty little companion wound up in some Mad Max looking alternate world, where too many annoying, dull characters were wandered into the story and brought the whole production down a level. This had its moments, mostly from the concept alone, Wolverine and The Little Girl, but ultimately, it was a promise left frustratingly undelivered.
Rings (2017)
Samara deserved better...
The main problem with this movie started early. It wasn't the story. The spirit of the old franchise was successfully recaptured in part: if you watch the video, you die. Congratulations to the producers for staying retro, at least at the beginning, for keeping the curse associated with an actual VHS videotape. In the post modern age of video files and DVD's, videotapes and VCR's are suddenly creepier than they were before. All of this was fine. Done well enough. Not a problem.
But the problem with these movies, as with most big budget, A list horror is that they refuse to accept that part of the full enjoyment of a horror movie is the focus on FEMALE characters. It is half of a good horror film's entertainment value—no amount of story and production can overcome this. Without a Tom Hanks (Cast Away), a Mel Gibson (Signs), a Tom Cruise (War of the Worlds), etc. a good horror film MUST have a great female lead for us to root for or against, for us to love, or love to hate, for us to care about in some way or another.
But these dumb, but well intentioned filmmakers went full energy, full steam into this powerhouse of a franchise, literally refusing to bow to the thing that made the first two films so powerful
The first person who watches the tape is a GUY. A boring, ordinary guy. Who is not Shia LaBeauf, or Mark Ruffalo, or whoever else they could have paid enough money to help pull them out of the fire here. And though they did try to have a girl be the center of concern in much of the story, she was simply too benign, too uninteresting for anyone to care about.
I can't say this is a bad story, because it isn't. I can't say it's a bad production, because it's not. But somewhere in the shadows, where unemployed actresses go to try and scrape out a living, there is a legion of beautiful, compelling Asian women who were inexplicably left out of the casting call to this production. In short, why wasn't at least one of the dull, pointless, white male characters refreshingly transcribed, so that we could watch a Kelly Hu or Lucy Liu type run in terror from Samara Morgan in this movie?
Yes. The curse of Samara Morgan is partially intact here. But in sore need of a return to the compelling, female power that made the Japanese versions so impossible to look away from. A sad, and drastically inferior ending to a once brilliant horror franchise. Rescued from complete unwatchability by the return of our favorite girl from the bottom of the well.
The story, and Samara herself
deserved better.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)
Mankind is doomed...
Zack Snyder must have either been jumping for joy or writhing in jealousy over parts of this weird and wonderful movie. The director (somebody named Burr Steers) understood from the ground up what matters about this movie is less the zombie half than the Pride and Prejudice half, ie, beautiful women and pretty girls walking around in cleavage and cute smiles, wielding knives like ninja warriors and guns like bounty hunters. All of that nonsense was so artfully disguised in beauty and civility that the movie was a visual feast, and just might have the most plausible feel for the whole ridiculous zombie concept that I have ever seen.
The director was smart enough to balance the typical dashing male lead with an elegant damsel, who wields her zombie killing sword with Crouching Tiger-esque skill and loveliness besides. Sadly, this won't become a model for future horror efforts, as movies continue to get dumber and dumber, where the watchability goes no further than a brilliant trailer and big special effects. I didn't understand half of what the heck everybody was cooing, mumbling and whispering about in this movie. But between the brains, beauty and breasts that decorated this gem of a story, it didn't really matter.
The movie is a visual masterpiece. As complete an end of the world warning as has ever been made. Despite our attempt at cultured civility, man is a fallen, corrupted force in creation. The overriding reason for this movie comes from a line in the movie itself: "the human race is surely doomed."
The Wicked Within (2015)
Refreshing simplicity...
When you're tired of The Exorcist and those James Wan Conjuring movies and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, where do you go? Well, here is as good a place to start as any. Nary a big budget ego anywhere in this project to get in the way of a simple, bare bones, Lifetime Movie-ish look at what might happen when a young blonde, suburban beauty gets possessed by a demon. They strap the poor girl to a chair the whole time, and listen to her growl and divulge their dirty little suburban secrets, and it is hilariously over the top and engrossing.
The possessed girl's loopy performance is probably unique in the history of these possession movies, as she laughs and cries and roars her way into a performance that is sure to become a cult classic. There's a strange, end-of-the-world relevance to this little movie, its main strength being a script that someone like Robert Zemeckis or Ang Lee would have turned into a masterpiece of Kubrickian simplicity. But as it stands, it's a fascinating little peek at what happens when low budget Hollywood gets hold of another great script, and does the best they can to tell the story under the big budget radar. A worthy glimpse into the truth about the nature of mankind, and what lurks behind the façade of public hypocrisy we wear.
The Forest (2016)
Wasted potential...
The director here was obviously inspired by the beauty and potential terror of the Japanese countryside and horror culture, which in general, is far superior to American creep shows anyway. But despite the original, compelling premise, this movie is top loaded with unfulfilled promise from the beginning, with Japanese schoolgirls drifting by, beautiful Japanese teachers, pretty Japanese motel cabin clerks in the forest, etc.
Early on, there was one last chance for the director to choose the right path, when a pretty Japanese girl who was familiar with this haunted forest, was asked by the hot American blonde to take her in as a guide to help her find her lost sister. But the Japanese girl inexplicably refuses, sending this movie down the wrong track from that point forward.
Aside from the beauty of the lead actress, and the forest she gets lost in, there is little here that makes this movie worth watching. Especially not the boring, annoying male character who gets in the way of our enjoyment of the woman in jeopardy scenes we wait for. The majority of this movie is just wasted potential, which could have been helped a little if the lead girl's partner had been the pretty, sexy Japanese guide. It would have at least made for some infinitely more watchable mediocrity.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Gal Gadot is Wonder Woman
The last time I trusted a project like I trusted this one, was when Steven Spielberg got on the world stage, reluctantly, and agreed to direct the sequel to Jurassic Park. But unlike that disappointing exercise in half assed mediocrity, Zach Snyder decided going into this project that the critics, the audience, and everybody else in the world who was not directing this film was going to have to step back and literally, shut the Hell up.
Zach Snyder's track record speaks for itself. He turned two star material in Watchmen into something almost worthy to be watched. He wasted no effort with those hot, crazy girls in Sucker Punch. He made the testosterone driven mess that was 300 a visual masterpiece. He was smart enough to put a woman in charge in 300: Rise of an Empire, and infuse her story with a slow motion ballet of blood and beauty. And he took that commitment to visual and auditory excellence, and made Christopher Nolan look like more of a genius than he really is, making Man of Steel a shockingly vivid, visceral example of comic book storytelling, perhaps the 5th best comic book movie of all time, Superman (1978), The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 2 and The Avengers notwithstanding.
And what of Miss Gal Gadot?
Her name is Wonder Woman.
How did I feel about the first 40 minutes of this film? I thought it was one of the best movies I had seen in years. At first, I thought the critical backlash on this film was probably the biggest bunch of nonsense in recent Hollywood memory, and was a tragic, real life example of the very thing the movie is trying to say about humanity. I was thinking that not only is there nothing bad about this movie, not the acting, the cinematography, the dialogue, the characters, the plot, the casting—I was thinking that not only is none of that stuff bad, but that there was hardly a moment of it that does not aspire toward excellence. I was thinking that Godzilla, Jurassic World, Age of Ultron, Terminator Genisys, none of that stinking garbage belongs in the same room, the same planet with this rosy masterpiece of a movie. At least, that what I thought in the first 40 minutes or so.
Forty minutes into this move felt like twenty. That level of filmmaking talent poured into characters this iconic has truly created a perfect storm of elements, that has come together to produce a whirlwind of cinematic watchability. A once in a lifetime opportunity for everybody who loves a simple, interesting movie. Every critic that rated this movie as less than a A minus should check their character. Or so I thought.
But after about an hour, the giddy high I was on settled down into something close to normalcy. No, Jesse Eisenberg is not a shoe in for a nomination. And neither are the solid performances from any other actor, nor the sweeping cinematography nor breathtaking effects. And the music here fails miserably. But there are elements of this story, flashes of boldness and power, that rescues it from total mediocrity over and over again.
And I stress again...Miss Gal Gadot?
Her name is Wonder Woman.
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Ruined the Hulk...
The sad thing about this movie is that though it gets better every time you see it, one particular story element just keeps getting worse. Its when Tony Stark put on that iron fat suit and started throwing the Hulk around like he was made of styrofoam. There is not a true Incredible Hulk fan in the world that is not saddened and disappointed by this.
I used to look at Bruce Banner in this franchise with awe and reverence, now I just look at him with frustration and disillusionment. The idea of Bruce Banner and the Hulk used to mean something. When all else failed, it was what the story, the heroes in the story, and the fans watching the story could all depend on. Joss Whedon captured and delivered that beautifully in the first movie. Everything around the Hulk got its ass kicked by him in the first movie and he did not give a damn. This is the terrifying, and satisfying, essence of the Hulk.
But what Whedon and these money mongering jerks have done is ruined his character for the sake of marketability. Marketing the Hulk as some kind of half assed, green anger-clown to be made fun of and used to create suburban soccer mom-ish bullcrap out of his character is unforgivable. Next, he'll be wearing a tuxedo and holding a wine glass at his own wedding reception with Natasha Romanov. ALL credibility has been stripped from Whedon as a storyteller and from the Hulk's character, if he can be knocked out by a freakin' robot and hauled away in an airplane as Bruce Banner.
How the Hell can the Incredible Hulk go from knocking a building sized flying worm monster down with one punch in the first movie, then get knocked out by a robot his same size with one punch in the second movie? Until Whedon fixes this colossal mistake, this colossal bulls*t, in my opinion, his credibility is ready to be flushed down the nearest toilet. He is NOT the Hulk anymore. He's just some big, green clown that is hardly worth anything more than a yawn and a few laughs. Next, he'll be wearing an iron collar, chained to a leash in a traveling circus.
For what he did to the Incredible Hulk, Joss Whedon makes me sick to my stomach.
Spotlight (2015)
Boring and Overrated...
Don't remember the last time I saw a film so undeserving of the outpouring of praise it received. 30 minutes into this thing and it was everything I could do to keep from squirming and going to sleep and doing the dishes and working on my own stuff. I am sick and tired of movies that use the infinitely compelling and tragic topic of child molestation to gather interest, and then the movie does not deliver the goods. One or two lines about a priest telling a little boy to do something sick does not a great movie make. If this had been a Clint Eastwood movie, I guarantee he would have taken us behind closed doors, perhaps even a look at one of the sick, twisted mothers of one of these kids that knew her child was being molested by these nasty priests and did nothing about it for whatever reason. And dear God, where are the NUNS??? Nuns are just as sick and twisted as priests if not more. And maybe, its time for somebody to film the echo of one of these scenes taking place; show us the priest going into the boy's confessional or something. And where are the little girls that were molested? http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ crime-scene/tom-jackman/priest-sentenced-for-molesting.html I am still waiting for a good movie about this topic and this is not the one. Though touching in parts, this movie is well written, well acted BOREDOM. Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, on its worst day, is better.
Maggie (2015)
A literary zombie film...
Its the kind of script Hollywood normally sweeps under the big budget rug, where low budget movies get lost in the shuffle. But this time, Arnold Schwarzenegger showed up, to lend the biggest screen presence in the world to this little zombie project, rescuing it from low budget straight to video obscurity. Abigail Breslin plays his daughter, who has been infected with a zombie virus, and her eventual transformation is only a matter of time. But unlike the big budget chaos of World War Z, or the tongue in cheek, dismissive parody we see in some zombie movies, this inspired screenplay bypasses all of that to get to the heart of good filmmaking: interesting story, interesting characters.
Breslin has about as much presence as either Kirsten Dunst or Anna Paquin ever did, and is well directed here. She helps carry us through this simple, focused little story about what might happen if a so-called zombie virus were real, and what devastating effect it would have on a real family. The stark, Lars Von Trier-like simplicity makes it as scary as any zombie story really needs to be, accomplished with a disturbing realism hard to find in this genre. With Schwarzenegger and Breslin in the lead, this unassuming little project will be hard to dismiss, and will likely become a low budget classic.
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
Could have and should have been better...
The ending to this messy, nostalgic nonsense brought home the fact that J.J. Abrams really does know better. So why doesn't he ever DO better in his movies? One of the things that made the first trilogy immortal was Lucas's epic focus on simplicity, gathering us around relatively uncomplicated characters and scenes stretched out into longer scenes and eventually, before you know it, the whole movie was over and imprinted on our souls forever. And this movie also proves that the golden age of casting is in the past for Hollywood. The lead chick in this future Oscar winner for Best Visual Effects does little more than cutesy her way through, uninterestingly, from beginning to end. Albeit she was definitely part of the glue that held this thing together, the other part being HARRISON FORD. Of the old actors that make their appearance, he is the one who still has the old magic on screen, proving that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg once knew exactly what they were doing. What story there is here just falls flat until the very, very end, when we are briefly, and impressively, reminded of why we still care about Star Wars in the first place.
Supergirl (2015)
Lesbians, watchability, and the future...
Inject Supergirl into the movie "The Devil Wears Prada," and this is what you get. Which is, in my opinion, a bold and refreshingly simple direction to take comic book entertainment in from here on.
If we have to be subjected to aliens and clichéd, two dimensional villains, then they might as well happen in a watchable, familiar environment. The watchability begins here with the perky, hot blonde in that red skirt flying around, and continues with her alter ego being bossed around by a female boss at work, while dealing with deep emotional turmoil with her sister at home.
CBS is the best right now at capturing audiences' attention, "The Good Wife" being one of the most visible examples of this, a show that continues to fascinate viewers and critics on the strength of nothing more than restrained cattiness among beautiful, sophisticated women, with a healthy dose of near pornographic lesbianism thrown in every now and then for good measure. If this show ever has the guts to send this strangely cast black Jimmy Olsen back to Metropolis, and replace him with a black or Asian girl for Kara Zor-El to be interested in, we might have something irresistible.
But for now, we'll have to make do with what we have. A pretty blonde girl in a short red skirt and red boots, lifting airplanes in the sky and slamming into trucks on the highway. All while running around in her mousy alter ego, trying to impress her sadistic female boss in the big city. How can you not watch this speeding train of a show, to see whether or not it will run or wreck in the future? But brilliantly, the pilot episode ended with enough heat to guarantee at least some future interest, when they introduced an INCREDIBLY beautiful female villain for our heroine to deal with, who is actually Supergirl's aunt from Krypton, if you can believe it. The idea of this impending woman to woman action has created a rare commodity in network television these days. Genuine watchability.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
Megan Fox deserves better...
I can't remember the last time I saw an actress rescue a project from unwatchability as completely as Megan Fox rescued this one. The turtles weren't as bad as Jar Jar Binks but that disgusting rat thing was actually worse. This was a big budget B movie in every sense of the word, and maybe, some congratulations are in order for the director, for having the skill to turn this nonsense into something that could actually pass for a movie. Michael Bay produced this chaotic, mindless mess, and it shows in every over the top tasteless turtle frame from beginning to end.
The only thing that saves this from the garbage heap (beside's Megan Fox's face and butt), is the fact that the turtles themselves have a genuine likability, so much so that they came dangerously close to being almost kid cool. The "poison the city" plot is frankly, no worse than anything we've seen in any other comic book/superhero movie, so that's not really to blame. Its just that the turtles, no matter how earnest and good hearted, are in the end just plain creepy. Megan Fox has redeemed herself for being anywhere near this project. She deserves better, and if the audience doesn't love her, the camera sure does. She photographs better than just about every other actress in Hollywood, Angelina Jolie notwithstanding. Fox's humility around this whole "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" fiasco was impressive. Hopefully, the rest of her career will be a reward for the sacrifices she has made since that unjust Transformers firing. The poor girl deserves better.
Bessie (2015)
A Basket Full of Emmys
The camera has a love affair with Queen Latifah from beginning to end in this tour de force, a performance that may have been worthy of an Oscar, let alone the Emmy she is destined to receive. The movie was co-executive produced by the late Richard Zanuck, based on a story by the late Oscar winning screenwriter Horton Foote, and their posthumous talent is impressively displayed at every level.
The screenplay was smart enough not to try and convert the audience to liking the blues, which is always an acquired taste, instead focusing on the intense drama that was this woman's personal life, from childhood traumas (i.e. being chased by her older sister with a knife), to lesbian love affairs as a grown woman. Thanks mainly to Queen Latifah's amazing performance, a basketful of Emmys should be in the future for this bold and seriously worthy TV drama.
Interstellar (2014)
It ain't Kubrik...
If Interstellar had not been directed by one of the movie gods, what would its reception have been? Its been a while since I've seen a more glaring example of a vanity project, where the director was able to literally relax and phone it in through most of the movie. The acting is an exercise in minimalism, which is fine if you're in The Shining or A Clockwork Orange or 2001: A Space Odyssey. I was about to dismiss this as a tragic wanna be mess of existentialist nonsenseuntil I saw the ending.
Aside from Hathaway's face, and McConaughey's increasingly compelling overall presence as an actor, the movie does raise some interesting philosophical questions. Are we better off just coming together here, dying together here? Or scuffling around pointlessly among the stars, trying to start all over somewhere else? Building something that won't be any better than what we have here, because of what lies in the hearts of men? Everywhere we go, we carry with us the tragedy of human existence: our fallen nature, the evil that lives inside the human heart.
By the end of the movie, I had to conclude that in his own hyperintellectual, roundabout way, Nolan has managed to relay the same disturbing, tragic message that all good fiction seems to do. That ultimately, mankind's time on earth is finite and doomed, and the only things that will save us are our reliance on a higher power for guidance, and the love that we have for each other. This ain't Kubrik, or even Zemeckis for that matter. But at least, it is Christopher Nolan.
Gunsmoke: Call Me Dodie (1962)
Gunsmoke is the best...
Episodes like "Call Me Dodie" just remind me of why Gunsmoke has been on the air for 60 years, with no signs of slowing down. Over and over again, they explore the heart of human depravity like nothing else in the history of television, fearlessly going underneath the surface of polite society to reveal the dark hearts of women and men. The relentless focus on female perversity and peril, the neverending insistence on casting beautiful, compelling actresses to play these parts, all written and directed with inspiration, make Gunsmoke the best hour long drama to have ever been on television, bar none. Test episodes like "Dodie," "The Squaw" (Season 7) and "The Cabin" (Season 3) against any so-called criticism and it will leave them crumbled and broken under the sheer power of this television program. Only Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone" was better, but it being only 30 minutes, is really in a different sphere of concern. For hour long dramas, Gunsmoke is the best of all time.