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Reviews
The Miracle Club (2023)
What is a miracle? What is healing?
This is a beautiful film, full of both pathos and humor. It's not afraid to let some spaces be filled with silence, unlike most movies which are nothing but constant sound and fury. I was afraid it would be too religious, but there are as many skeptics as there are believers.
The story line is easily understood from the trailer. Each of the main characters is looking for a miracle -- Dolly hopes her mute son Daniel will be able to speak, Eileen has a lump in her breast which terrifies her, Lily has one leg shorter than the other (but claims she doesn't care about that), and Chrissie wants... what? It all begs the question of what is a miracle, really? Is it only leaping from a wheelchair and shouting, "I'm cured!," or can it be simple peace and forgiveness?
Several high notes of the film were the fabulous mod 1960s clothes that Dolly wears, the humorous struggles of the three husbands left behind for a week, and the silent yet lovely presence of the little boy Daniel. Anyone who has a mute or autistic child in the family will be especially touched.
The only discordant note I found was the casting of Kathy Bates and Laura Linney -- both fantastic actors -- as former childhood friends and contemporaries, since there is actually such a large age difference between them.
Ambulance (2022)
Action film, or comedy spoof? YOU decide!
I thought this was a straight action film, so I settled in with my popcorn. After the first few minutes of clichés and stupid decisions, I thought "Uh oh, not good," and by the point where a character is heavily sprayed with a fire extinguisher yet is completely spotless and well-groomed (hair, skin, clothes, facial hair) two minutes later, I decided to roll with the comic stupidity.
Let me count the ways. Tons of idiotic medical goofs -- did they not have any advisers on set? The police were so inept at driving and shooting that they make the cops in "The Blues Brothers" look like defensive driving geniuses. Every character makes the most moronic choice possible in each situation. People who are shot and bleeding to death look up and talk like they just woke up from a refreshing nap, while appearing in the pink of health. Funniest of all is the EMT Cam -- she must have had a shower, a manicurist, and a makeup artist tucked somewhere in the back of the ambulance because she gets cleaner and better-looking as the film and mayhem go on. Despite being up to her wrists in blood numerous times, her nails are spotless. By the end, her mascara was absolutely PERFECT. You go, girl!
Despite the rampant idiocy, I give the film three stars for making me laugh for two hours. And Jake Gyllenhaal plays a happy psycho better than most.
The Spirit of '76 (1990)
A Spoof Before Its Time
For a good spoof to be appreciated, enough time has to have passed between the present and the time being ridiculed, or else it's just cringeworthy. When this came out in 1990, 1976 was simply not that long ago, and the 1970s in general were derided in every respect, so the film flopped.
With more decades in the rear view mirror, "Spirit of '76" can be seen for the brilliant (albeit low-budget) satire that it was. As someone actually eighteen years old in 1976, I can tell you that the costumes, hair, music, language, decor, cars, fads, and jokes are spot on. Sure, they are occasionally exaggerated, but not that much. David Cassidy and especially Leif Garrett gleefully make fun of their cheesy 1970s teen idol status. If you miss the '70s or wish you'd lived through them, watch this movie and "Take it.... easy." (peace sign)
Murdoch Mysteries: Cometh the Archer (2016)
First half great, second half ridiculous
Looked forward to this episode, as usually the last episode of each season of Murdoch Mysteries is quite good. What a disappointment -- while the first half of the show was interesting and intriguing, the second half was so preposterous that I kept waiting for the "It was just a dream" TV show cliché.
We're supposed to believe that Julia, after being shot point-blank three times, and undergoing abdominal surgery, just pops up out of her hospital bed essentially the next day or so. Then apparently no one -- and I mean no one including her doctor and everyone at Station House 4 -- seems to think it odd that she walks out of the hospital in her nightgown and coat in the winter. Then she turns into a horseback-riding superhero.
Nope, sorry. I wish it HAD been just a dream!
Useless (2020)
Montana is the real star of this slow-paced drama
The reviews so far seem to be "love it or hate it," with little actual information. I thought it was fair-to-good, realizing that as an older adult I'm not the target audience, which would seem to be horse-loving teenage girls. The acting is mostly wooden with a few exceptions, one of those being Michael Christensen as the shy but kind, nerdy college student Kyle. The pacing is slow, and more explanation of what makes barrel racing a sport could have been briefly given, because the way it's shown there seems to be hardly anything to it. The cinematography is beautiful and the shots of the snow-covered mountains and and sunsets of Montana never get old. Probably not a movie I'll ever re-watch, but some of the scenery and rodeo shots will stay with me.
The Twilight Zone: The Comedian (2019)
Classic TZ, with a few bumps
I watched this first episode with trepidation, considering that I love the original TZ and like its first reboot in the 1980s, and also because of all the negative reviews. But I found it a worthy successor. Yes, the run time was a bit long and the ending was fairly predictable, but I couldn't look away. Jordan Peele is perfect as the narrator, and Tracy Morgan is creepy as J.C. Wheeler. Watch again -- Morgan's character never blinks. The episode is also full of Easter eggs with callbacks to the original series. For example, when Samir pulls up the contacts on his phone, look at the first name under "C."
Two things brought down my rating, though. First, there is too much profanity and vulgarity, which I believe is a verbal crutch when one can't think of something witty or intelligent to say. Secondly, the rest of the series is currently only viewable on CBS All Access, and I'm not paying its fee for just one show.
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
The perfect rock biopic
I rarely do two things -- write a movie review, and rate a movie 10 stars here at IMDb. But I'm doing both for "Bohemian Rhapsody." When I left the theater my chest hurt as if I'd been at an actual rock concert, and there's not a thing I would change about the film. It's fast-paced so the 2+ hour run time goes quickly, and the acting, editing, costumes, and especially music are all perfect.
Critics don't seem to like this picture much; I think they were expecting a documentary. Or maybe they just like being critical. Theater-goers seem to love it -- at the showing I attended, most of the time you could have heard a pin drop in the crowded theater. I also heard people crying in spots. If you're not singing or humming Queen songs when you leave, check your pulse to see if you're alive. Simply the best movie of the year.
Buster's Mal Heart (2016)
Complicated, not for everyone
I think if you look at the film as being similar to a long, deep episode of The Twilight Zone, you'll get it.
Jonah is a graveyard (sad pun) shift concierge in a crappy, dead-end hotel in a crappy, dead-end town. He and his wife Marty and toddler daughter Roxy (adorable Sukha Belle Potter) live with Marty's parents in order to save money for a better life. Marty's mother is a shrill harpy and her father is silent. There is a subtle hint at one point that perhaps Roxy is not Jonah's biological daughter, which armchair geneticists will notice right away when they see her chocolate brown eyes yet her parents both have blue.
Jonah tries to stay awake while working his night shifts and watching his daughter during the day, and it's never clear when he sleeps. How much of what happens to him is real, and how much is a sleep deprivation-fueled hallucination? There are more easy-to-miss hints in the soundtrack of the movie; listen for static noises that indicate something's not quite right in Jonah's world.
Religious allusions are rampant. Obvious are the name Jonah and being "in the belly of the whale," and also the frogs that appear to rain from the sky. Look, too, for a shot where a heavily bearded Buster lies in a bathtub, arms spread wide, looking for all the world like a picture of The Crucifixion. Finally, at the end there is a cave scene that recalls the tomb of Jesus on Easter morning -- is he there or is he not? What can we believe?