max-850 Reviews

Barbie (I) (2023)

Preacher Barbie?

[4/10 · 27 August 2023]

I believe I came to this movie with an open mind. In my opinion a movie balled Barbie needs to be a comedy. And while there were pieces here and there that were funny, for the most part we (and everyone in the theater) only laughed occasionally. The production design and costumes are great. The screenplay is the weakest part. The direction is next weakest. And those two caused a great cast to overact. When this movie takes itself seriously it gets tedious. It's preachy. We are constantly being told what we are seeing and what we should think about what we are thinking. This is not engaging. Why can't we think for ourselves based on what we see? I hated being treated like a ten year old and being spoonfed the morals, thoughts and feelings. But then maybe the target audience is ten-year-olds. In any event, I thought it would never end. By the time they were talking about ordinary Barbie, all I could think was "Sanctimonious Barbie."

House of Gucci (2021)

Okay, but not very Compelling

[6/10 · 14 December 2021]

This movie has all the ingredients needed to create a great movie. Great actors, a some huge stars, good director and a true story somehow don't create any magic. Several times during the film I couldn't help thinking, this is terribly matter of fact. Might've helped to pace it a bit faster. Ang Lee said that shooting is like shopping for groceries and editing is like cooking. I think they got great groceries, but the chef didn't quite know how to cook. Lady Gaga has the goods. But it's puzzling why this movie didn't really grab me like it should. Spoiled little Italian rich kids?

The French Dispatch (2021)

SUPERFICIAL ALLEGED COMEDY NOT FUNNY OR ENGAGING

[4/10 · 31 October 2021]

I had high hopes for this movie, not because I'm a Wes Anderson fan but the story and setting was attractive. All of this movie is on the surface. My husband and I wanted to leave after 15 minutes but stuck it out through the tedium and self-indulgence until about 40 minutes and then walked. All sorts of things just happened with no apparent reason. It seemed like it was written by a half dozen giggling tweens. Ultimately, I don't believe there's any there there. I did not get involved in the story, nor did I care. It's $25 million spent on eye candy. Kudos to production design. Felt sorry for all these great actors trying to justify what they were forced to say on camera.

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Story Deserves Better

[5/10 · 24 January 2019]

I know it's a true story. How true? It's really nuts that this was how cops operated back in 197???. Bizarre. I'm a tree-hugging liberal and really wanted to like this movie but I have to say that I didn't. Got worn down by the polemicist in Spike Lee. As a screenwriter, I can't get a job, but I worked for years honing my skills. In this movie, you can see the hands of the writer and director imposing their views on everything and everyone. Didactic and much too "on the nose." The sound mix is so uneven. Music is much louder than conversation. Had to constantly adjust the sound level on my DVD. This story could have been so much better with a more organic script and a lighter touch on the directing. It seemed ridiculous that our hero would dates a woman many times and not only does sex not happen, they don't even think about it. Never comes up.

The End of the Tour (2015)

I couldn't sit through until the end of the tour

[4/10 · 16 August 2015]

I couldn't sit through all of this movie. Just had to leave. We lasted somewhere into the middle of this boring dialogue posing as a movie. Maybe it gets better in the last half. The idea is not that bad. It's just that when the actual interview starts, it's so dull and goes on and on and on. With questions and a script that might have worked in a high school play. The acting is good. I just don't understand how this is a movie. It was a novel. Maybe the adaptation was the problem. It never seems to get off the ground. Just talk, talk, talk, talk in a sort of monotony. All very affable and unengaging. No dramatic tension. I don't understand all of these reviews on here that rave about this. What's the big deal? I think I missed the point. But I wasn't going to sit through another 45 minutes of that.

Ricki and the Flash (2015)

Ricki Without Much Flash

[6/10 · 9 August 2015]

Meryl Streep, Rick Springfield, Audra McDonald and Kevin Klein are all worth watching in this predictable and sentimental movie musical. The problem really comes down to a mediocre script from Diablo Cody. I expected more from Academy Award winner Ms. Cody than this workmanlike and often tedious screenplay. The music is great and Streep is a super singer and along with Springfield, they turn in great performances. Audra McDonald is a gem who I hope to see more of in films in the future. The milieu of the sleazy bar in Tarzana where Streep and Springfield are the house band is fascinating. Too bad it all ends up to be nothing more than a tired wedding and predictable emotional resolution of a mother and her entitled children. Thank God for the music which director, Jonathan Demme, allows to play out at length - perhaps to fill in the time since the script was substandard. We all love Meryl Streep but I couldn't help but wonder, how did her daughter get that job.

Grace and Frankie (2015–2022)

Frankly Graceless

[3/10 · 10 May 2015]

Was looking forward to this disappointment. Love the cast. High hopes dashed on the rocks by terrible scripts. You would think that Marta Kaufman would have access to good writers. The dialog sounds phony most of the time and insults us constantly by stating the obvious. The writers need to be cute and show off kills any chance for us to be engaged. Sure it's a contrived concept but I could have lived with that. But the payoff never happens because the weak scripts are just not working. I'm on episode four and just about ready to throw in the towel. It's bad when you try to read a novel while watching a TV show. Sam Waterston deserves kudos for surviving these tedious scripts with some credibility. The others don't seem to do so well, appearing to deliver wooden line readings from time to time. It irks me to have to say that about Martin Sheen, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. Ouch.

Into the Woods (2014)

What is the point, really?

[6/10 · 26 December 2014]

This is an adaptation of a Broadway musical that didn't seem to work so well on Broadway so I'm not sure why they wanted to make it into a movie. That being said, if you're going to go ahead and spend millions of dollars on making it into a movie, why not fix some of the problems that existed in the play? Or adapt it in a very loose way and do something really different with it? It seems somewhat like shooting oneself in the foot. You make a sophisticated musical for adults out of children's stories or fairy tales? Who is the audience? And ultimately, what does it add up to? I'm confused. When all was said and done it was much too long and much too confused about what it was trying to be or say. Is it trying to be a comedy? There are some great funny moments like Christine Baranski's scene stealing bit and Meryl Streep's great it in it but that's not enough to call it a comedy. It needs to be really funny if it's going to be a comedy. If it's not a comedy then it is just not engaging. The mishmash of fairy tales doesn't really add up to anything. I like the music, but the script is merely workmanlike with a few good moments. That's not enough. I loved Meryl Streep and Christine Baranski but the rest of the cast was just okay with an overly expository script that dragged them down. It gets tedious. I went to see it with a group of 6 people. 4 fell asleep. Nuff said.

How to Get Away with Murder (2014–2020)

Getting Away With Television

[6/10 · 26 September 2014]

I really was excited to see this. Who doesn't LOVE Viola Davis? She is one of the best actresses working today. If you haven't seen "Doubt" then watch that just for her big scene with Meryl Streep. I really wanted to love this show. As a movie fan who has crossed over to being a cable TV fan in the last two years, I have to say, series television has gotten really good. So much so that it's hardly worth going to the movies any more when you can stay home and watch Breaking Bad, or Homeland, or Boardwalk Empire or Downton Abbey. There are many. So, in this crowded field comes along Viola Davis and the heart rises in expectation. The acting is, of course, good. The scripts are workmanlike, full of expositional sounding dialog but structure is key. And structure's not working. I always think that writers are desperate when they think they need flashbacks or when they think they voice over narration because they fear they can't tell a good story otherwise. Shonda, next time spare us the tricks please, and stop gilding the lily. Getting Away With Murder would be just fine in a plain brown wrapper.

American Horror Story (2011– )

American Horror Mess

[5/10 · 2 January 2012]

This would be a good show if not for a lack of discipline in the scripts. I don't mind all the fashionable political incorrectness. I don't mind that it's not realistic. I don't mind that it's horror movie clichés reaching and not quite arriving at a camp sensibility. A story has to have a set of rules in the universe it creates or there can be no payoff, no rewards. There are no rules here. The writers have created a situation where they can do whatever they please and anything goes. Problem is that we don't care then. I have to say, I love Jessica Lange and only watch now for her deliciously campy and brilliantly delivered personification of evil in a blonde beehive. She's a Beverly Hills Blanche DuBois, a slut with a heart of stone. The others in of the cast don't seem to understand that the only way this stylized piece works is a camp, cult classic. If only John Waters could take it over and bring Divine back from the dead, we'd have a hit on our hands. As it stands now, all it's got going for it is good production design and Jessica Lange.

2 Broke Girls (2011–2017)

2 Boring Girls

[3/10 · 2 January 2012]

I wanted to like this having been a waitress myself once. With a CBS budget why can't they find some actresses who are more attractive and funny than these two. I sympathize with them though because the dialogue is lame, obvious and without any wit. Why do people think that if they just use a lot of dirty words, body parts and feminine hygiene products that somehow it will be funny when there isn't one ounce of wit? Anybody can stand around all day and say "tampon" until they're blue in the face and it's not funny unless they can spin it into something witty. It all seems totally ungrounded and so contrived that it's just impossible to believe. And even that would be okay if it were funny.

Horrible Bosses (2011)

So Much Promise completely falls apart

[2/10 · 6 September 2011]

I was so excited about going to see this. It has all the elements. Academy Award winning actors. A promising premise. And in the first few minutes I thought it was going to be good. I even admire Jennifer Aniston playing a totally evil slut, I think it takes guts for someone in her position to take that risk. But after a few minutes the writing just fell apart. The characters all started making the most imbecilic choices. A few five-year-olds would have been smarter about planning a murder. It was just beyond stupid. After ten minutes of one ridiculous choice after another, we finally left the theater because it felt like someone was hitting us over the head with a hammer. What a waste of talent.

Another Year (2010)

A Year With Dull People

[3/10 · 20 February 2011]

It gets a 3 but only because of the actress who played Mary and for Imelda Staunton's cameo. Where to begin. This script would not pass Screen writing 101 at a third rate community college. There is no unity of theme. Whatever story there is exists with the secondary characters. It rambles and is out of focus. Oscar Wilde would call it the boring in pursuit of the mundane. The actress who plays Mary is exceptionally good and it is the only reason to see it. When I saw it many people walked out and I would have been with them except I was with a friend and I also fell asleep a couple of times. Questions. What is the point? What is it about? If it's about Mary then make it about Mary. And finally, where is the insight? It's fine if you have your characters talk about dishwashing liquid for ten minutes if something is going on in the subtext but why do I have to spend all this time with dull people talking about dishwashing liquid unless there is some insight I'm going to be given or some satisfying story or some emotional payoff. Not here. Skip it. Spend a couple of hours with a boring neighbour and save yourself the admission fee.

Breakfast with Scot (2007)

Too Cute and Contrived to be engaging

[4/10 · 15 May 2010]

I wanted to like this movie. Tom Cavanaugh is a good actor and deserves better writing. From the get go I didn't believe these two guys were a couple. There was no chemistry between them. The pathetic exchanges of affection seemed designed for an after school special. If it's a move not for kids then why make a movie suitable for kids? Seems like shooting itself in the foot. The writer seemed to be trying too hard to be cute and the obvious reaching for jokes kept it from being engaging. I didn't believe one bit of it. It was so obviously fake that I had to clean house while it played out and I hate cleaning house. The character Billy is supposed to be in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, yet customers in his store speak perfect English. The whole thing just never rang true.

Hope & Redemption: The Lena Baker Story (2008)

There Is No God Or He Would Not Let This Happen To People

[9/10 · 27 March 2010]

I am not sure if there is such a thing as a spoiler in a story that is of public record and a movie that is marketed by revealing it so that everyone knows going in how it ends, but in any event, I have dutifully checked the spoiler box in spite of it being redundant in this case. This story is incredibly moving. I can't say I enjoyed it because it just made me angry. Angry about what white people have done to black people. Lena Baker was an innocent victim of a racist culture. If there were a God he would have saved her and struck down every white man in that courtroom and in that town the day they convicted her. If there were a God he would never let an old alcoholic jerk abuse her for years. If there really were a God he deserves worse than Lena Baker got for being responsible for it. Peter Coyote did a good job on that part. I really hated him. Georgia is the slowest state in the union if it took them 60 years to pardon Lena Baker. I guess better late than never. When a character in the movie says, "Go with God," I could only think, "No, don't go with God. God did this to you."

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Sound and Fury Signifying Nothing

[4/10 · 2 January 2010]

Guy Ritchie is the kind of director who likes to show off. This doesn't always serve his story. The "entertainment" can sometimes get in the way. His Sherlock Holmes is much ado about nothing. There is lots of clever here, a big budget and great actors as well as the best tech staff one could hope for but it's curiously not engaging. I admired it from a distance, fell asleep twice and ultimately did not care for it or any of the characters in it. It's all coming at you, wowing you, pushing you back, away from itself when it should be pulling you in. But it is impossible to get pulled in when Mr. Ritchie can't stop trying to impress. Just tell the story, Mr. Ritchie, and stop trying to show me how good you are. Show off.

Get Your Stuff (2000)

The "Bad Seed" meets "Birdcage"

[10/10 · 13 June 2009]

I had a ball watching this. The bad see meets birdcage. Two great gay guys want a baby and instead get the foster kids from hell. And then the fun begins. Kimberly Scott and Elaine Hendrix really deliver on the performances. It was fun to see the Bundy kid from Married with Children in the mix too but I wish he had more to do. Same for Jim J. Bullock, so funny. Obviously a low budgeter, it looks good anyway. My favorite is the grandma. A grandma at last. Patience Cleveland. Hilarious. Where did they get that house? Love it. Some day the story of gays adopting kids will seem curious. In the meantime, there are a lot of kids in the foster care system who would be happy to have a home like this.

Se7en (1995)

Another Example of American VIolence Porn

[1/10 · 20 March 2009]

This movie is almost unwatchable because of the pornographic use of violence. There are filmmakers who use violence sparingly when necessary and then there are the ones who wallow in it like porn. This is an example of the gratuitous use of violence. The studios know that Americans and lots of foreign markets like southeast Asia LOVE violence for its own sake and so they dish it up because it sells. It sells better than sex. Religious zealots will let their kids watch violence while insisting that they avoid sex. So these kinds of movies get elevated to Academy stature. It's symptomatic of the American psyche. We would rather let our kids kill someone than have too much sex. Okay, that's overstated but you get the point. Quentin Tarantino is one of the most famous violence porn producers. David Finscher is talented but I can just imagine him and Quentin masturbating to graphic violence. They need it to get off.

Lust in the Dust (1984)

Hilarious

[9/10 · 13 March 2009]

For the guy who wrote the prior review talking about this as a John Waters movie, please tell him it's a Paul Bartel movie. Then have him go out and rent "Eating Raoul." I loved this movie. I laughed so hard. Between Lainie Kazan and Divine, I was in comedy heaven. My favorite line is when Divine says she's not going to leave until Lainie hears her sing. Lainie Kazan has to be one or our most underrated comediennes. Sad we lost Divine. Tab Hunter was lucky to be in this. I think it actually did him some good although it may have been lost on him. The hardest working burro in show business was forced to carry Divine across the Mexican desert and never complained. Loved this movie.

Into Great Silence (2005)

Belongs In A Museum Not A Theater

[2/10 · 9 February 2009]

This is not a movie it's a photo. It should be framed and hung in a gallery where it belongs. Thanks Sundance for showing your true colors. If this is what passes for a great documentary at Sundance then I hate to tell you but the emperor has no clothes. Pretentious, ponderous, sanctimonious. An art film in the worst sense of the word. It got me in touch with my spiritual side but only to pray for Borat to show up with a couple of hookers. I was so bored I can't believe people on here gave this thing high ratings. Oh, well, it takes all kinds. I'm still not sure what these monks do for their community. It seems to me they do everything for themselves.

Bedrooms and Hallways (1998)

Lots of Fun

[7/10 · 22 January 2009]

This movie was a pleasant surprise because I didn't expect much. I didn't know that some of the actors have since become bigger stars in major pix. While moving on to the Matrix is not a plus in my book (hated it), I'm sure it's a career plus for Hugo. James Purefoy is great in this and Jennifer Ehle sweet and wonderful. It seemed sometimes like a Carnaby street romp 30 years later but I enjoyed the thrift shop Janis Joplin clothes mixed up with the modern mindsets of sexual and gender blur. The real estate agent who has an erotic relationship with his listings is loads of fun. The Iron John mens' group meetings are a bit dated but I still loved them. It's a social satire sex comedy in the best way and reminds me a bit of the old "Carry On" movies. The British know how to do sex comedy and it's an old tradition, unlike the United States which is too prudish to really understand that sex is funny.

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

A Comedy Or A Drama

[10/10 · 22 January 2009]

I love Billy Wilder. This is him at his best. I would say this is my favorite movie of all time. Much like "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," one person watches and laughs while another watches and cries. I laugh all the way through. Gloria Swanson lost the Oscar that year to Judy Holiday but it was a tough year. Bette Davis was up for All About Eve as well. They all deserved it. William Holden found his way into two of those movies but his role of Joe Gilles was far superior to what he did in Born Yesterday that year. Joe Gilles lived on and found his way into Robert Altman's fabulous "The Player." This is the movie that I watch once a year just as an homage to Billy Wilder, may he dance in entertainment heaven for ever.