cutile_a Reviews

DNA (I) (2019– )

Inaccurate representation

[28 August 2023]

There are many inaccuracies in the representation of Romania, Cluj city. The majority of the Romanian population does not live in estates/gheto type housing like the ones in the series. The actors speak with a strong Bucharest accent and don't look like the majority people living in Cluj.

It is, however, important that human trafficking is addressed in the film because it is a big issue that Western European countries exploit.

Women and children from poor countries in particular are sold either for their organs or into the sex industries. Unfortunately, there's no political willingness to stop this as it serves people in power.

WandaVision (2021– )

Casting stereotypes

[19 January 2021]

Why..oh why in 2021 the husband is played by a guy who's 49, almost 50 and the wife is played by a woman who's 31, almost 32? Why can't it be the other way around? at least once, just once? Marvel, what a missed opportunity to some good for us all, not just for women...

Soul (2020)

Heartbreakingly lazy

[10 January 2021]

It is not a bad movie. It is much worse than that.

I so wished this film was better. I had very high hopes. I thought 'this is exactly what we need during a pandemic, during political chaos even in established democracies, when we report covid deaths every day etc.' We need something to inspire us, to give us hope, to move us, to re-connect us with what we are as humans. This film - I think - tries to do that. Tries to give an inspirational message that you can recover your soul, you can live and be content even when you are in the depths of desperation.

Very sadly - and it pains me to say this because it broke my heart to hear Ayoade's and Graham Norton's voices in this film (and they are much beloved by pretty much everyone) - very sadly, the film is so lazy, so average, so un-ambitious, so predictable, so cliche that it makes me wonder: can't we make good things anymore? can't people make good movies anymore? Can't we just surprise with goodness and something truly extraordinary?

Pretend It's a City (2021)

It can't be less than a 10. It's wonderful

[10 January 2021]

What a wonderful treat this is! The concept of the film is incredibly simple. It's a conversation but really it is Fran talking. About everything, mostly about NYC and also about everything. And to see Scorsese barely saying 2 words but laughing hard almost throughout it, yet to be completely gripped is such a surprise. You hang onto Fran's every word.

My personal favourite so far, I haven't finished the series - I'm on episode 6 and don't want to finish it just yet so I can enjoy it for a bit longer - my favourite moment so far is Fran talking about believing all the women who have called out the men taking advantage of them or abusing them: the me to movement. It is so empowering and validating because, as a woman who was once a girl and a young woman, I have been through all that and think exactly like Fran. This is just a small nugget of beauty of the whole series. There are so many, many more moments like this.

And what adds to its beauty is the fact that a woman who talks about being so angry and is ranting and raging about this and that can talking about things that are so inspiring and moving and hopeful. Thank you for such a treat.

Four Seasons Lodge (2008)

Compelling, beautiful, sad testomony of a community marked by tragedy

[29 October 2020]

This is a heartbreakingly beautifully sad depiction of a community of Holocaust survivors who meet every year to spend the summers at the Four Seasons Lodge, a colony they share and try to save together. They're all in their 70s and 80s, they play cards, they dance and sing, they drink and eat and they kiss and hug.

The stories of the community and of the individual people who are interviewed are so compelling, so moving, so harrowing that most of the people cannot speak about what happened to them in the camps and can not tell the stories of what they witnessed. Yes, there is so much more than survival, there's hope, friendship, family and a love for life.

This is one of the testimonies of our humanity that everybody, all generations should watch at any age, anytime, and many times.

The Spy Who Fell to Earth (2019)

Pointless and hard to believe

[28 October 2020]

The historian behind this story is either not very clever or a grandiose crook or both. My guess is, I'm sorry to say, he might be both.

The Age of Spin: Dave Chappelle Live at the Hollywood Palladium (2017 TV Special)

I wanted it to be funny, it just wasn't

[26 August 2019]

I had heard a lot about Dave Chappelle and have watched quite a few of his videos on Youtube.

The best think I found on YouTube was his speech after Trump was elected. It was a speech about him going to the White House at the party with only black people at the party (except for Bradley Cooper - which was funny). It was a moving speech. Someone commented in the comments section on you tube that it should be a Ted talk and I agreed.

So the anticipation was high and I wanted his very expensive Netflix specials to be funny, but it just wasn't. After 11 minutes in, I didn't even sketch a smile nevermind laugh.

My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman (2018– )

Spoiler! There's a lot about Letterman 's son, a lot..

[1 June 2018]

Every episode of this is different because the guests make it their own and that's great . I'm enjoying the format, slightly frantic and hard to follow. You also learn about the entertainment industry as much as it can be told on a show like this. Tina Fey was the only woman so far. So female representation on the show doesn't look great. She also seemed the most genuinely nervous and herself. The downside was that she seemed so nervous and talked so fast, it made it quite hard to watch, which is a shame because I think she's great. The rest of the guests...I'm not sure Letterman could find more narcissistic, self -indulgent people.. You've got Obama, Clooney, Howard S., Jaz Z and Seinfeld! O And a warning.. It's a lot about his son! David Letterman 's son that is.

12 Years a Slave (2013)

A necessary testament - A must see

[9 August 2014]

There are films that make history because of their intelligence, creativity, wit found in the story, the characters, the acting, the music, the production etc.

And then there are films that are testaments of the injustice, the abuse, the cruelty and wrong- doing of the human kind.

This film is mostly the latter, although still well made. It's an extraordinary, powerful testament of the painful and terrible abuse suffered by people who were made slaves because of the colour of their skin.

It was not an easy experience to watch this film as a white woman. I felt physically sick. I wanted to cry, to scream, to hide in shame that such injustice is possible among us humans.

Even though I couldn't speak for several hours after, I'm grateful to have seen it.

Boyhood (I) (2014)

Such a disappointment

[6 August 2014]

I was looking forward to this film not only because it sounded conceptual and innovative and showing great commitment from the crew, but also because of the hype, the great reviews, the positive response from the public.

Maybe I had high expectations and maybe I thought it will be thought provoking, moving, intelligent and engaging.

Sadly, it was nothing of the sort.

I don't mind that the film has no plot, however the stories, the dialogue, the characters are simply flat - as if the products of a stoned mind. There was nothing profound nor authentic in any of the 'deep' lines served by the characters.

Some of the scenes were painfully cringing and cliché - like the one where the builder from an ethnic minority speaking with a strong accent returns at the end of the film as a manager of some restaurant (it seemed) and thanks the mum for being an inspiration.

Unfortunately, not a believable cinematic experience. Shame.

The Island (2006)

A film for all - simply excellent

[19 January 2009]

This is a film that can leave you breathless. I have watched it three times in three days and couldn't take my mind off it for a while. I remember that only Dostoievski's Crime and Punishment had had such a strong effect on me when I was a teenager. This is the story of a miserable, coward traitor who, through repentance, turns his life into an exemplary one. The acting of Pyotry Mamonov is effortless and simply superb. In my opinion, Ostrov is accessible to anyone and it is not at all a movie for the initiated in orthodoxy. As a matter of fact, I don't think it is so much about Orthodoxy itself, but rather about that encounter, that event that takes place in a human life and that can happen anywhere, anytime.