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lkpo90
Reviews
Quien a hierro mata (2019)
Think about what goes on and decide what's the best revenge.
When we look at various deeds in the film, what is the most sophisticated one, and why?
It's interesting how that happened.
The Dinner (2017)
Interesting look into mental illnesses
***Spoiler alert*** I found the film quite good. The characters apart from Richard Gere and his assistant (and the dining staff) were painful to watch, and for good reason. There are many--very many--families who try to sweep mental illness under the rug, and blame the actions of the mentally ill on others (ancestry, parenting, even on the mentally ill themselves--though clearly genetics and parenting contribute in some cases. Richard Gere's character was I felt unfairly lumped into those). At any rate, it is no small irony that Gere loses it with his brother at the end, which parallels the boys' action against the homeless woman, who clearly also had a mental illness. It also shows potentially that Gere has a tiny bit of temper himself, behind his self-control; it could be that he has a very small amount of this (or a) mental illness which he can control himself (these things are often scalar). It is probably some self-loathing on the part of the boys that they committed this atrocity. Gere loses it at the end also because, likely, he has been the anchor the whole time, and is now breaking under pressure.
The enablers (Gere's wife, a gold-digger, clearly) and Paul's wife are not helpful. They help perpetuate the problem via denial and/or self-interest. Unfortunately, this is how many families deal with mental illness: by winging it and not bothering to look up symptoms of abnormal and/or destructive behavior, and/or to consult with experts when these behaviors emerge.
I liked the idea that Gere would be calling the authorities (of some sort) at the end--he was the only one on the phone whose interlocutor was unknown. He said something to the effect of 'how many'--I'm not sure what that meant. But with the comment from someone about health care, I was imagining that he was going to at least commit the aggressors into a mental health ward (to the extent that's legal/possible). It's unclear whether when push comes to shove there, whether that conversation means he'll leave it to his health care policies. I wish I knew. I would have designed an ending with a stronger clue as to the outcome--even if it's buried in the credits.
What I was wanting was for the assistant to be clearly called on by phone at the end, for a press conference. Failing that, Gere's call was probably to the authorities. The 'how many' comment was, though, perplexing.
Watch it only if you are OK with unclear endings. I'm only giving it a 4 for this reason; I may have given it a 5 otherwise (not a bad rating for me, actually.)
By the way, I looked up 'pink pills' and saw that there are four(at least) mental illnesses associated with these: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and OCD. These things--mental illnesses--often piggyback on one another. I'd say that Paul had some sort of illness like bipolar disorder, coupled with a personality disorder such as paranoid personality disorder, and, clearly, borderline personality disorder, hence the violence. Much of this can be found on the Internet Mental Health site (which uses the DSM--Diagnostic and Statistical Manual). It makes for thoughtful reading.
La La Land (2016)
The worst movie I have seen in a long time
I have never seen such a horrible film since 2012. It had terrible acting, terrible music, and an incredibly mind-numbing plot. Emma Stone is without a doubt the most annoying actress I have ever encountered. She is so horrible that I will make sure she is not an actress in any film I watch again. I wouldn't even see her films on a bet. I would go if paid to do so, but only with earplugs and an eye-mask.
The plot is a typical boy-meets-girl-over-and-over-again til they become a 'thing'. Which is fine, if it's pulled off well. This wasn't, for the reasons I named above.
I can't believe this movie got good reviews at all. I had to walk out after 30-40 minutes. I waited until my very tiny (thankfully!) bag of popcorn and beer were finished (which I downed as quickly as possible so I could get the heck out of there), and then I got out of there like a bat out of h-e-double-toothpicks.
You might want to watch it if you don't consider Emma Stone the worst and most annoying actress ever, and/or watch Ryan Gosling desperately try to keep up with her poor acting (he had some trouble, but he managed to be a bad actor as well).
Anyway, good riddance to bad rubbish. I'm glad I got outta there and that I didn't go with a person who wanted to stay.
Find a film that isn't annoying, and go for it. Well, that's my recommendation anyway.
Kalifornia (1993)
Difficult to rate due to very inaccurate accents
It's hard to say whether the Pitt couple is good at acting, because their accents are so bad. Good gosh! Can't they hire real Southerners to play these parts? I'm amazed at how this issue keeps perpetuating itself. Over and over again, it's almost 100% bad in any movie that wants a Southern character in it. If they want a dialectal speaker, just have the actors speak in their own regional accents rather than 'newscaster English'! David Duchovny appears in stark contrast to the Pitt couple, if only for this reason (Pitt is ordinarily an excellent actor). Why didn't they make Duchovny have a Southern accent? He surely could have had one, so it seems pretty random if they have to have one couple with an accent and one without. Why do casting agents/directors/producers do this? Is it to make all Southerners look bad? Hm...
Saturday's Children (1940)
Opening poem fragment is incorrect
It should go like this: Monday's child is fair of face Tuesday's child is full of grace Wednesday's child is full of woe Thursday's child has far to go Friday's child is loving and giving Saturday's child must work for a living and the child that is born on the sabbath day is bonny and blithe and good and gay. I'm not sure why Jack Warner didn't catch this. It seems that to use the title to begin with presumes knowledge of the poem (I for one have to run through the entire thing in order to make sure myself. "Work for a living" also seems to fit better with the theme of the movie-- not that it matters though since the author came up with the title to begin with.