tbogiatzis-552-234556 Reviews

Saison Morte (2021)

A complete disaster

[1/10 · 11 July 2023]

Impossible to watch for more than 5 minutes.

The acting is atrocious. I have seen amateur theater of much higher level. But with the material the actors were given, its hard to critisize them.

The dialogue is an exercise in cliche stupidity.

The directing is tragic at best.

And the plot... Dear Lord, the plot could have been written by a sleepy 7 year old on the bus to school. Just random stuff happening here and there for no apparent reason. Characters going back and forth and saying meaningless lines. And they threw in some random tasteless sex scenes for good measure too. What a waste of time...

The Platform (2019)

Biggest flaw with the allegory...

[7/10 · 27 March 2020]

As many have pointed out already, the movie's basic axis is the, admittedly very interesting albeit incomplete, allegory about capitalism. From a finance guy's perspective though, I would like to bring to the discussion what I see as the biggest shortcoming of that allegory: The amount of food on the table is fixed. The movie concerns itself only with the way that fixed amount is being shared while overlooking the fact that the greatest contribution of capitalism to society is the increase of the 'pie' (see amount of food). So, although capitalism creates great inequalities in the sharing part, it attempts to redeem itself by creating a much larger 'pie' to share. With that factor missing from the allegory, I am afraid that the resulting conversation is doomed to be flawed. Good movie by the way...

Brené Brown: The Call to Courage (2019)

New age self indulging ego trip

[2/10 · 12 May 2019]

Could not understand what she was talking about, could not understand why the audience was laughing, could not understand what the problem that needed to be fixed was. I mean what the... Even went back to watch her TED talk and still have no clue what she was on about.

From what I mustered, she had a problem with vulnerability, which apparently was that she wasn't vulnerable enough... Who thinks about these things? SO it took her a year of therapy to achieve more vulnerability leading to a better... I really am at a loss here.

The Heartbreak Kid (2007)

Misunderstood piece of genious that is surely to become a classic later on

[10/10 · 7 September 2018]

Wow, so much hate for this movie! People don't just not like it, they hate it with a passion. "Worst movie ever", "Absolute garbage", "I want my money-two hours back" that's the average reviewer's opinion on here. Almost unheard of for such a high production value/big budget movie. The same people probably sit through Sharknado movies, but I guess they have to draw the line here.

It's weird haw stuff works out sometimes. "The Shawshank Redemption" was a box office flop and now is sitting on tof of IMBD top rated movies list. But "The Heartbreak Kid" reminds me more of "Starship Troopers" I guess. People went in for a Sci-Fi flick and they got deep political satire but without compromising the action elements. Brilliant. A movie that both a 9 year old and his dad can watch together and get totally different readouts, if that's not art I don't know what is. "The Heartbreak Kid" does something (okay vaguely) similar with romantic comedy and a critical look on today's relationships, without compromising the laughs. There is no good and bad party here, no true love to shine through in the end, just people and there whims, weaknesses and desires. I guess the same way that people didn't want to see themselves as ruthless killers of the "bugs" in "Starship Troopers" they are also uncomfortable at going to a rom-com and not be sure who to root for.

I am waiting for this thing to mature and going to check back in a few years, hopefully to find some like-minded review here. 'Till then...

Allied (2016)

Typically lazy effort

[4/10 · 27 July 2017]

OK, I don't often write reviews but I felt compelled to, this time. I mean what a waste of talent and money! Jees... Come on people cinema is supposed to be art. You must have something to say, to convey. A story, a feeling, a thesis, something. It's not producing clothes-hangers damn it. It's not like filling a tax return (although that can get challenging...) You must put a little heart into it.

TRESPASSERS BEWARE: MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS!

Back to the case at hand. Just some of the things gone wrong in the first 15minutes:

• OK, so they decide to have the spy parachute down in the desert. Put aside that this is a bit contrived (I mean he has all the papers and acts the part good enough to fool high ranking nazi -is spellcheck really making me capitalize nazi? No thank you sir- officers couldn't he just travel like other people?) it is an impressive scene. Until you realize that it is blatantly computer generated. I mean that's expected in Transformers 4 but here it just kills the mood right of the bat. Get some sand in your shoes people!

• He meets his co-spy/pretend wife in a crowded bar with all her friends at the same table and nazi officers all around. What a great idea! Shouldn't they have met in their apartment and gotten their stories straight first? But that would kill the tension right? Well knock your heads together and come up with a more plausible idea!

• Supposedly after not having seen his young wife for months one is supposed to sleep alone on the roof following an old custom of the country he has just arrived in hours before. Otherwise we couldn't get that hushed people-might-be-listening conversation we get from the protagonists on the roof. You see where I am getting at here? Total audience manipulation. You just can't enjoy the movie when people are trying to pull your strings left and right.

• Then suddenly the movie goes all Jack Reacher on you when the spy kills a nazi silently in a cafe just feet away from whispering tea sippers. I never saw a guy fighting so weakly for his life as that pathetic nazi. Going down in seconds without even a kick or a scream? My wife fights back harder than that (and that is a proved fact)! Oh so neatly killed as to seem naturally chocked on a nut? Why not send this super spy directly after Hitler so we can get this whole WWII thing behind us already?

• The answer? Because he is the worlds best card shuffler, totally committed to his art as we see him dazzle a nazi officer in order to prove he is a card player as per his fake bio. Overzealous anyone?

• I really had to quit watching after that open air birth complete with air raids and bombs blowing up left and right. I don't know about you guys, but I have happened to witness a couple of births myself and women don't tend to make heartfelt speeches while their vaginas are being stretched out of proportion.

• I could go on and on about the acting and the historical and topographical inaccuracies etc, but other reviewers have those covered better than I could.

I give it a 4/10 for production values.