nappa195 Reviews

Pam & Tommy (2022)

Never believe anything from a Rock Doc

[2/10 · 30 January 2024]

Pamala Anderson was a serial con artist that showed little or no attraction to the opposite sex. What you do is marry someone with a lot of money then you blackmail everyone involved. This was, and perhaps still is, very common in the industry.

But you can't make that movie. This would make her look like a monster, and Tommy Lee perhaps liable. Despite the idiot-shaming that the story portraits, it actually relieves from from any potential consequences.

This is why you can't take anything from a Hollywood biopic at face value. They have no reason to tell you the truth and every reason to manipulate it for more sales.

Biopics are made for fools that worship their heroes, which is why so many of them don't say anything at all. The estate is to be protected at all costs.

When you actually think about the tape, it doesn't seem like she has any actual love towards him, and is just going through the motions of a lustful engagement, as someone who's a lesbian would.

Now a story of her conning men out of their money would actually be a story worth watching.

Zeros and Ones (2021)

This movie thinks you're stupid

[1/10 · 2 May 2023]

I'm not gonna pretend I understand what goes through the minds of the people who judge these films for awards, and I ESPECIALLY don't know after watching this. I don't care about what this movie is TRYING to say, or what it "accomplished", it doesn't deserve to be dignified that way.

I've seen this movie 3 full times and I can tell you all it's gonna do is make you hate whatever its message is.

I understand that you didn't have money or the greenlight to film an actual explosion, especially during COVID restrictions. But what I don't understand is why not substitute for something clever like playing a radio report of a terrorist attack? But what you DON'T do, is play footage of the location shot, with a pixilated fireball in the foreground.

Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)

I don't miss Shai LaBeouf at all

[9/10 · 10 February 2023]

After watching this I realize just how much the stupid family subplot has robbed this franchise of its potential in the first 3 movies. This movie is way more about the Autobots and Decepticons and the moral quandary of aliens duking it out on planet Earth. This is more akin to what the cartoon would explore and somehow for 2 hours 45 minutes, the film stands up pretty well even if you have no idea what Transformers even are.

The special effects and sound design is simply better than what's at the theatres in 2022/2023. It's like how people say movies worse than 10 years ago, this is exhibit A for that argument.

Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)

more than meets the eye

[8/10 · 10 February 2023]

I think there was a lot of burnout from the series in 2014, but now watching in 2023 the film aged well and stands on its own as a decent popcorn flick for people with a proper home theatre setup. And no, I don't mean your cheesy soundbar setup, I mean a 7.1 going through a receiver setup.

I don't miss Shai LaBeouf at all or any of that family crap. This movie is the closest the film franchise got to the cartoon. It poses moral dilemmas in a way that's more thoughtful than 90% of the garbage that Marvel and Netflix could never.

For those that liked the cartoon and hated the film franchise, give this one a look.

John Q (2002)

Prophetic

[10/10 · 17 January 2023]

90% of what detractors say is "this isn't plausible". The fact that a similar event actually happened in 2015 and continues to happen has put film back on the map.

The movie isn't as nearly as preachy as critics and reviewers claimed it was back in the early 2000's. Compared to the political trash on streaming services nowadays, this film's objectivity is a masterpiece in comparison.

Its commentary is very well balanced if you look at the details. It's a world that goes through the motions. Washington is literally learning to think for himself while also recognizing the world doesn't revolve around him. His performance in this is A+ as you can almost see the conflict inside him.

The more time passes, the more Nick Cassavetes is redeemed as a legit film maker. This is not an easy popcorn flick to watch, as other Denzel movies tend to be, but compared to the Netflix trash that passes off as watchable, this is breath of quality air.

Battlefield Earth (2000)

Show me one movie as entertaining or thought-provoking that's been released on Netflix in the last half a decade

[8/10 · 6 January 2023]

This whole movie is about how crappy it is to make movies in modern times. The psychlos are Hollywood elites and the cavemen are the average Joes that make up the workforce of filmmaking.

Don't focus on the details of the world building... focus on the characters and what they learn from each other. "Education" is a big theme of this movie... it's always giving you a wink that you should be LEARNING something that you didn't expect to.

The whole thing is a hostile middle finger to Hollywood. It portrays it as elitist, greedy, unethical, anti-american.

The character development and slickness of editing is far beyond the streaming garbage permeating as quality nowadays.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022– )

Glass IS half full

[6/10 · 4 November 2022]

The list of things I don't like about this show would make this review way too long, so I'll buck the trend and describe what I LIKE about it.

The theme of the show is deception. Everything is buried, stowed away, hidden, shrouded, disguised, mislabeled, mis-introduced, etc. Even the theme of the showed is disguised. This really hammers down the PROBLEM that is Sauron. Everything he does comes with waves of deceit and he will outlive you.

I think a thing people aren't getting is that Galadriel is SUPPOSED to be insufferable. The show only reminds you 3 times an episode. Her learning about deception, and using it, is part of her character arc.

I also think people don't understand, maybe a failure to convey, that elves are superhuman. Yes, they can take out an entire platoon, escape from everything, and yes, swim for miles.

There are a lot of world-building aspects the show nails down and can help introduce non-cannon fans into learning about the world. Yes, the show has pacing, coherency, and character motivation issues. But to a casual fan of RPGs and fantasy media I think a lot of people will find this show entertaining and interesting.

Also I'd like to say no matter what, Amazon did a better job with this than what Disney would have done. It all depends on season 2.

The Salvation (2014)

A foreigner in a real western

[10/10 · 2 March 2017]

I think there are lot of reviews of people who never saw past the first 15 minutes of the film. This is not a "Danish Western", and all subtitling and Danish completely ends after the first 15 minutes.

This is a solid, simple western through and through. It doesn't dwell on evil, it dwells on good people dealing with evil. The Salvation reaches back to a better time in film-making. It's a lesson on how a western is supposed to make you feel and what you're supposed to learn.

The main protagonist is a metaphor for what a western is: a European going on with his life in a wild land, that gets hollowed out by it, and yet is the only mechanism keeping a fickle world together with the remaining good in his character.

Nevermind the setting, nevermind the accents, a western is an exploration the elemental aspects of human nature, add some gun play, then it's all wrapped up with an "into the sunset" ending. That's what's going to happen here.

Virtually everyone in this cast is a revelation. Jeffrey Dean Morgan would have been in a hundred cowboy movies in another time. Mads Mikkelsen is the perfect fit for the subdued killing machine he'll transform into, and Eva Green is the lady that does more with her eyes then all the men do with their mouths.

This film, to me, is the quintessential example of how to build a modern western, from the ground up, without looking like you're trying to be clever. Just tell a solid story of great lose, and have the audience climb out with some semblance of redemption. Then you get on your horse, ride into the sunset, credits roll.

Outlaws and Angels (2016)

Instead of a typical western path, it took the long, hot road to Hell

[2/10 · 28 February 2017]

This production nailed a few things. One, is the self-awareness that IT KNOWS that it's gone off the deep end. Every dust particle, dry shrub, and wooden panel amounts to a resounding portrait of this film's disdain of the west. The film is obsessive but subtle in its metaphorical foreshadowing and the groundwork laid out manages to prepare the audience for the 2-hour torture chamber.

The other are the unforgettable performances and chemistry (or intended lack of it). What these characters do to each other, and what they go through, transform into, is spiritually connected to the worst of the human nature we can relate to.

That's really the movie magic here. I wanted to see more of these characters, but I can assure you the meat the audience will chew off are the juicy performances of depraved humanity. There seems to be some sort of insatiable demand for this type of thing...

And now, the bad.

The blood effects are cheesy, some scenes are far too excruciating to sit through, the stereotypes feel more redneck-ish and not pioneer- ish, and the final result is a pointless exercise. I can tell the writers struggled with a satisfying ending to their half-baked escapade into nihilism.

The film could have very easily been set in the post-apocalypse. Those types of films intend to "hollow you out", westerns are supposed to "grind you down". Ask yourself, how many apocalyptic-themed films you've seen with unsatisfying ending, and how many westerns you've seen with satisfying endings? Challenge yourself to watch this film, and tell me if that distinction ISN'T clear to you.

This film reflects the losing battle the western has with Hollywood and the contempt it projects onto 19th century conservatism. This film reminded me that having characters sound like hillbillies and setting it in the desert, is not enough for it to be considered "a western". Outlaws and Angels doesn't spend enough time appreciating what made westerns special, and maybe not enough time appreciating what keeps the world together.