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jsagafi
Reviews
Licorice Pizza (2021)
Not a love story; just wanders
I love a great portrait of a person or time (which need not have much plot), and while this is a charming period piece of the early 70s, the characters feel flat, there's no real plot, and still there's also no depiction of interesting characters to balance the looseness of the plot. The male lead is very flat - the movie seems to want to tell us he's Really Charming without showing us his charm, and his early profession of love for the female lead is lifeless, beyond some tepid banter. The female lead's draw to him is then hard to fathom - why be interested in this random kid?
The Penn & Cooper (especially) cameos are a fun diversion.
Normally I love this director but here the film just kind of ... drifted.
1883 (2021)
Slow start then BAM! Powerful, poetic.
The first episode or two focusing on Sam Elliott's surly red meat "manly" character were strong but a bit monochromatic. Then the protagonist emerges with a magnetic combination of youthful enthusiasm and poetic soulfulness. The depiction of various immigrants (including the Anglos) and native peoples is nuanced and fairly diverse. The cinematography is gorgeous, capturing the harshness and beauty of the land. I would love to see more of this.
Fisherman's Friends (2019)
cute, fun movie with horrible casting of Danny
Loved this movie but the Hollywood formula of romance between schlumpy guy and beautiful woman was really distracting. The Danny character would work as "burglar #3" in a Home Alone remake, or something similarly comic and hapless (sorry to be harsh to the actor), but not as a love interest for Alwyn (Tuppence Middleton). There is NO way Alwyn would fall for him.
Why oh why does Hollywood (and now an indie label too???) need to pair beauty with the beast so often? Jesus.
Would've been a 7- or 8-star review if that actor had been better looking or Alwyn had been played by someone significantly less attractive.
Promising Young Woman (2020)
Magnificently executed mirror of our darkness
Beautifully written, acted, and shot. Sparkling dialog. Creative genre-stretching. Powerfully thought-provoking. Grapples with a deep wound in modern society so deftly, with humor even. Amazing. Every man should see this. (He said, with sadness and hope in his heart.)
Here's to you, brett kavanagh.
If Anything Happens I Love You (2020)
Elegant, cutting, beautiful
As the dad of a 9 y/o, I was shattered by this. But it also manages to be beautiful and even hopeful.
It is so sad, infuriating, and embarrassing that we Americans, 20-50x more than any other nation, continually invite a lethal cocktail of toxic masculinity, extreme right-wing/corporatist political dominance, and socially complacent inertia to invite the conditions that lead to daily mass murders (overwhelmingly by fragile men who tragically misunderstand what it means to be a man). We keep opening the door for men to kill our sisters and brothers and children. Let's have some courage and stand up to the NRA and stop this primitive nonsense.
Marwencol (2010)
Inspiring, beautiful, pair of stories lovingly made (by the director and the subject)
This is a beautiful, respectful, modest treatment of a delicate subject Mark H. -- the victim of a barroom attack by several youths who is left in a coma, forgets his past, and must gradually relearn how to walk, speak, and function. He remains damaged, but creates his own form of therapy in the form of creating an intricate world of action figures living out a detailed story of WWII action. He is an inspiring, creative, charismatic yet fragile protagonist.
The movie follows the parallel worlds of Mark's reality and his storytelling, which reflect each other and progress with effective pacing. It is an inspiring tale of self-initiated psychological rehabilitation, where a person who might be pitied reinvents himself and finds redemption and what appears to be a "better" version of himself.
There are also very interesting sub-currents of sexuality, sexual identity, justice, catharsis, normalcy, and power struggles in the dual narratives.
The movie makers lovingly capture Mark's meticulously created art (including his excellent photography) with beautiful cinematography.
Inspiring, beautiful movie.
Match Point (2005)
pitiful - Woody, stick to what you know
Booooring. Poorly written, wooden acting, boring plot, and I ended up not caring which way the twist would resolve at the end. having loved several Woody Allen movies and Bend It Like Bekham, this was a real disappointment.
I started wondering if I had rented the wrong movie.
Our two sexy leads can't act their way out of a paper bag. I just didn't care about the character. Too bad.
Maybe I've been spoiled by 6 Feet Under and V for Vendetta and other thoughtful, rich pieces.
Woody, come home!
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
quentin loves himself too much
this was LAME. pointless (and typically graphic) violence (though somewhat comic), none of the interesting plot turns of reservoir dogs & pulp fiction, just straight-ahead action boringness. and normally i am all down for violent action movie stuff.
i think quentin fell in love with the samurai genre (assuming there's room in his heart for another besides himself) and is doing some kind of homage, and it's just weak. i have to say i'm not planning to see vol ii. so sad.