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Reviews
Fargo: Blanket (2023)
Fargo falls into the cliches it used to excel at dismantling
Last episode was unbearable, it was all a dream! Laziest plot in screenwriting. And now we have the smartest character, Danish the lawyer deciding NOT to phone (why????) his boss to tell her he is about to go to the house of a very dangerous criminal all by himself and does not tell a soul about it. They even went as far as him NOT answering the phone that would have told everyone where he was. It is such lazy writing it is incredibly annoying.
Also, every single man here is either completely evil with zero redeeming qualities or an idiot, like this lawyer. Every single white middle aged man, this is. Is it not about time white middle aged men can be good or smart again? How much longer will the backlash last?
Westworld: Well Enough Alone (2022)
I hate when characters have "superpowers" and there is no consistancy
SO:
1. William fights A ROBOT with his bare hands and he is stronger than her and even ties her hands behind her back. That old man is stronger than a robot.
2. Fast forward and the SAME robot is so strong that it kills the entire FBI trained security force protecting the vice president of the USA. All by herself with her bare hands against highly trained and highly armed elite army men. But she was no match for 80yo William!
That alone is enough to stop watching. Then there are things like a robot driving with Aaron Paul, who knows she is a robot, and drinking wine from a bottle, as if she were human. Or Dolores stretching and waking up every morning, as if she were human. Or having, apparently, Dolores the killing machine with the strength of 50 men, no strength whatsoever all of a sudden.
Come on. Lazy, lazy writing. It is pathetic.
È stata la mano di Dio (2021)
Sorrentino's Amarcord
For a filmmaker that clearly follows Fellini as his muse it makes all the sense for him to make this film, same as Fellini did Amarcord. There are even very similar scenes when it comes to the sexual coming of age of the protagonist/director. It is a beautiful film, very intimate, and the way I see it the same La Grande Bellezza was Sorrentino's La Dolce Vita this is Sorrentino's Amarcord. I cannot wait for his 8 1/2!
Dead to Me: You Have to Go (2019)
Of course the man is the bad guy
That ending was pretty pathetic. It totally ruined the entire series. I am all for MeToo but that was very lazy and made no sense whatsoever.
Three Miles North of Molkom (2008)
Excellent documentary - great job
I was lucky enough to be invited to the premiere in London a few years ago and it was the first time I saw people from the audience actually falling off their seats in laughter.
The Australian protagonist is a gold mine, if you can understand his accent. This is a great example of what a good documentary one can make with a great idea, very little money and a lot of luck (if the Ozzy hadn't mistakenly ended up there, there would be no movie).
Really recommended.
I guess only on DVD at this point but well worth it.
Buy it if you can and support these guys. They made it with almost nothing.
Religulous (2008)
So sad this is the view of a minority in the US
Really, unless you are seriously brainwashed (which many unfortunately are) it is hard to finish watching this film and still have no doubts about any belief in "God". Alas, people ARE brainwashed and will not even watch it. Facts don't matter even though Bill M presents them as clearly as anybody possibly could. It is all about "faith", regardless of the facts. As if I believed the sky is green and I told those who say it is blue they see it blue or gray because they do not have enough faith.
There are hilarious scenes in this movie, but all in all it is a very serious study on religion. Unfortunately, preaching for the converted as the rest will not even bother watching it.
10/10 for his guts to make this film in a country where only 14% of the population would accept an atheist president - whatever sense that makes eludes me.
Aquí y allá (2012)
A beautifully crafted insight into the life of a returned emigrant
I was lucky enough to watch this film at its premiere in Cannes, where it won Critics' Week, and I have seen it twice since at different festivals. It is a film that stays with you. Critics said director Antonio Méndez must be a fan or Reygadas but I reckon they are wrong. It is not easy viewing at times but long after you have left the cinema you realise the film has stayed with you and you keep remembering many scenes from it.
Camera work is slow paced, but I understood it is thus because that is the way the main protagonist would see his village after returning - the camera becomes the protagonist's POV: it lingers on every object and person and situation as Pedro's POV, the returned emigrant, would. The slow pace is shown as a conscious decision from the director to make the viewer feel what Pedro would have felt. And it works.
If you like blockbusters and Transformers and terrible actors like Shia LeBouf, this is not for you. This an intimate movie full of beautiful and truthful moments and real, amazing acting.
Give it a chance to sink it and it will.
One of the movies of the year and definitely the best movie at Cannes together with Después de Lucía.
I can foresee a very bright future for its young director. We will hear from him again.
Vals Im Bashir (2008)
Great movie, shame about the propaganda
A great movie in any other aspect besides the fact it seems to have been made to tell the world Israel had nothing to do with the massacres and would have stopped them if only they knew they were going on. There is a line that says "You were the one shooting the flares, not those carrying on the massacre". And the main character claims not one Israeli soldier either participated in it or had a clue of what was going on - apart from Ariel Sharon, but it is easy blaming him now.
If you do know a bit of history and can somehow get over this, it is a great movie to watch. But it just tells one side of the story and it is a bit too obvious.