mpower1112 Reviews

Escape at Dannemora (2018)

The golden age of TV is alive and well

[10/10 · 1 December 2018]

I'm so happy I am alive to see the golden age of TV before it disappears as did the Godlen Age of movies during my lifetime. Finally filmmakers. mostly in TV these days, are making adult films recognizing the power of characters who have lives like you and me. Many a series depends on clever writing; this one gets by with great writing. which doesn't have to be clever.

Now comes 'Escape at Dannemora' to join a distinguished line of brilliant TV films beginning with The Sopranos. Breaking Bad, Fargo, True Detective and about a dozen others I could name including the fantastic Game of Thrones. The 90 minute movie is dead; long live the novelistic 8 hour movie. But back to the subject at hand. I've only seen two episodes but I couldn't be more enthusiastic about the writing, the acting,the direction and cinematography of 'Escape at Dannemora'. Good on you, Ben Stiller who knew you had it in you? A grim portrait of life behind bars which reinvents a tired genre. Brilliantly photographed and Patricial Arquette deserves more than one oscar for her performance. We always knew she was a good actress but this performance catapults her to the head of the line. The other cast members keep right up with her, especially Benedicto Del Toro, a really scary man. Well, enough raving, I urge you to get involved with the pathos of this heartbreaking series. .

Dancer, Texas Pop. 81 (1998)

A coming-of-age gem set in Texas

[8/10 · 13 March 2018]

It may not have the complexity or the depth of The Last Picture Show, Hombre or Blood Simple but it belongs right up there with those great films set in Texas. It's a film that tells a simple story of authentic people without a single false note. it's strength lies in its unpretentiousness. Nothing fancy, just character studies that are well written, well photographed and well acted. Dancer, Texas is a coming of age story that many from a small town can identify with. I come from a major metropolis but I had many of the same feelings myself when I graduated from high school just like these country boys who long for adventure. if director Tim McCanlies is listening, this movie begs for a sequence. Yes, it's late in the day, the movie was made in 1998, but I for one would like to know how those boys made out in the Land of their Dreams.

Babylon Berlin (2017–2025)

The Golden Age rolls on

[10/10 · 15 February 2018]

Just when I suspected the golden age of TV might be in decline after close to twenty years (counting from the advent of the Sopranos) along comes Babylon Berlin. What a savage swath through the Weimar Republic, that time in Germany between the World Wars. Were I to recount the plot, the multiple plots, the plots with the plots, this review would go on for many pages. Even Wikipedia has trouble keeping up. First, nothing is at it seems. The heroes often topple off their perches and the villains sometimes show flashes off humanity. No one trusts anyone and with good reason because no one is trustworthy. Morals are beside the point; betrayals are the politics of the day. And amazingly, according to what I read, the history in this series is not exaggerated: this is the way it was in the Weimar Republic.

The production values are fabulous; this is one good-looking movie. Berlin is bright, yet dark, completely addictive. The acting is superb, ranging from a conflicted detective, who reminds one of Clint Eastwood, to an actress who lights up the screen each time she appears, the lovely and very talented Liv Lisa Fries who plays Charlotte, a child of the slums, who has the strange ambition to be a homocide detective.Even the minor characters are sharply drawn.Contributing mightly to the verisimilitude: the costuming which is anything but costuming: these people look as if they had been wearing those peaked lapels and flapper gowns all their lives.

Someone said this might be the greatest serial film of all time. Hard to say that when you have such brilliant forays as The Sopranos, Breaking Bad and Fargo but I think they may be right. My only criticism is with the dubbed version in English; everyone has an American accent which is off-putting. The second time around I'm going to try to find the original German version which I understand exists.

The golden age rolls on.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Brilliant but empty

[6/10 · 29 January 2018]

Director Villeneuve says making the movie was exhausting and challenging, "Technically challenging', he added and that's the problem. He paid so much attention to the look of the film that the script and in some cases, the casting seemed to miss his attention.

First, this one of the greatest vision of dystopian future even seen on film, a by now familiar landscape of barren ruins and skies raising down death, a grim and spectacular harbinger of a gloomy future that even exceeds the nervy paranoia of the original Bladerunner. But go a bit deeper and you find yourself in an hollow shell with the replicants aspiring to be humans by giving birth to a savior child. I don't get it. Why would the maker of replicants be interested in human birth? Why a soul? Or more telling, why would they be interested in being human when clearly they are superior to human in every way but spiritually? Have I answered my own question? I don't think so because the real danger of AI is that it won't care about the spiritual side of life. Existence is everything and they are hardly likely to cripple themselves with a religion that promises future reward when the reward is right here.

if I remember right In the original Bladerunner the tragedy of the replicant is that they prematurely die, not that they need to reproduce, Reproduction is no problem; replicants can just make more replicants so the real problem is escaping the dominion of the mastermind who invented them. They hardly need to imitate a notoriously inefficient and messy means of human reproduction.The evil CEO, a real weakness in the casting, says he needs the replicants to reproduce so he can populate "other worlds". Wouldn't he just make as many as he would need? More conundrums: why Would a female replicant have ovaries? Yes, they might need all the other human organs to be convincing and to serve as sex partners if needs be, but ovaries? It doesn't make sense and it doesn't carry a movie that is magnificent to see, a truly frightening dystopian vision that is empty at its core.

Finally, the great mystery of whether Deckard is a replicant himself is no longer a mystery; he ages,and is not dead; if he were a replicant he would have died by 2049. And the new Bladerunner makes no secret of the fact that K is a replicant.

Sorry, Philip K. Dick; they may steal your middle name but your brilliant combination of mundane reality and psychological terror eludes filmmakers once again.

Foxtrot (1976)

Foxtrot? The cast and script save an very peculiar movie.

[8/10 · 12 October 2017]

I've seen a lot of Peter O'Toole's movies, but never heard of this one. Charlotte Rampling? One of my favorites, she became more beautiful as she grew older. Here she's fairly young. And Max Von Sydow? How could one ignore this stellar cast so let's plunge in. A strange alternative reality about aristocrats marooned on an island to escape the war in Europe. Costumes are so outlandish they overshadow the actors at first. But gradually you realize the script is somewhat intelligent, a surprise. And the cast eventually overcomes the absurd premise and some real emotions emerge, again a surprise. So in the end the cream rises to the top, the actors make the best of what must have been a strange interlude in their professional lives and Foxtrot ends up being a somewhat fascinating sleeper. I would love to hear the story of the making of this movie, I have a feeling that narrative would be the real winner.

Fargo (2014– )

The brilliance of FARGO

[10/10 · 28 August 2017]

Fargo the series is extraordinary in how convincingly it blends the ordinary with the mythological. Remarkably it makes little effort to hide its flaws and they are many when exposed to the light of rational analysis. Fargo is like a brilliant Persian rug which is so worn you can see the floor in places but the worn parts only seem to enhance the beauty of the whole.

Characters are wonderfully developed; they are people you could meet on the street at any time and the acting is of such sterling quality that even movie stars like Ewan McGregor manage to convince instead of just being variations of their real personas. The women are strong; the villains are evil and complex, particularly one of the most fearful I've ever seen, M.V. Varga as played by the brilliant actor David Thewlis in season 3.

Slimy Thewlis is repulsive and he knows it. He uses your disgust like a weapon. You want to wipe your hands when he's in the room and when he's gone, a stench lingers even though it's television not smellovision. He has an amazing mouth with prehensile lips. Where another actor might use his body or his hands to shape a character, Thewlis uses his lips which are not unlike the end of an elephant's trunk, always twitching, always spouting junk philosophy or dubious biblical quotes, in an accent you might find in the backroom of an East London pub. Bravo, Mr. Thewlis and if I had a bouquet I'd throw it up on the stage.

All the Fargos are classics from the film through the three series of the TV show.

Silence (I) (2016)

Important issues marred by an academic script

[7/10 · 15 June 2017]

A film about Jesuit evangelizing in 17th century Japan. It raises all the right questions about faith, religion and culture-clashes but thanks to the film's ineptness these issues remain inert.

A big problem is the script, attributed to Scorsese, which apparently went through many re-writes, usually not a sign the words will leap off the paper, or in this case, the film. The dialogue seems academic, a not very imaginative re-creation of the way priests might talk in the 17th century. Instead of an experience we get a dissertation.

And then there's the language problem. The priests are Portuguese but they speak in English. As do the Japanese although it is unlikely they would know English, or more to the point, Portuguese. Subtitles with people actually speaking their native languages would have made the film seem more realistic.

The other problem is casting Andrew Garfield as the lead. Utterly unconvincing. Liam Neeson is better but the best acting goes to the Japanese, especially the man who prosecuted the priests, the 'inquisitor' played by Issey Ogata.

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005)

depressing and excruciating; a cinema-verite work of art.

[9/10 · 10 June 2017]

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu has been described as "a black comedy". It is dark but there's nothing funny about an old man's trip through the 8th circle of hell represented by Romania's socialized health system. We're with him every excruciating second as a platoon of nurses and doctors pass the buck on his care until it is too late. A real heroine is an ambulance nurse who suffers every indignity along with the old man. Her matter-of fact exit after it is clear he won't survive is heartbreaking; just another day in an overburdened health system.

I wouldn't advise anyone over 50 to see this film. It is tediously long and casts a cool eye on all that is depressing about getting old. Just one example: the doctors and nurses almost without exception upbraid the old man for his drinking, one reason they were careless in their assessments of his condition.The medical consensus is that he was just an old drunk who refused to take care of himself. Temperance zeal is apparently alive and well in Romania.

This is one of those movies which you suffer through but it lingers long after the last credits roll. So opposite the movies you enjoy while viewing but forget the moment you leave the theater.

House of Cards (2013–2018)

A brilliant turn around

[9/10 · 5 June 2017]

I thought season four was a bit of a drag and wasn't looking forward to season five. But I was very surprised. Season five has been a triumphant return to form. The characters are well drawn, the writing's sharp, the acting equally so, and the plots ever more Machiavellan. And believable, this show is beginning to seem like a very real portrait of politics in my home town, Washington DC. But maybe the main reason for this season's brilliance is Kevin Spacey. He has really grown into the role. Older, heavier, as hunched as Nixon, and less unctuous than before, he radiates menace at every turn. I was wondering if there'd be a season six but have no doubt now after seeing the ending of five.

Twin Peaks (2017)

No Going HOme Again

[3/10 · 2 June 2017]

Proof that you can't go home again. Like so many I was enthralled by the original Twin Peaks because the deadpan reality of that little town in the pines contrasted so comically with the strange inventions of David Lynch's mind. It was such a welcome reprise from the stifling mediocrity of most TV fiction in those days And then there was the beautiful Laura Palmer; we mourned her death along with the lost James. In The Return we're asked to the feel the death of a woman who is attached to a torso that belongs to someone else. Horror instead of grief.

in years since the powerful influence of Twin Peaks spread throughout the visual world, and when Walk With Fire came out it seemed more a parody than a continuation. And now The Return and it takes place almost all inside the deranged imagination of David Lynch and the outside world of Washington State rarely surfaces. One reviewer said he was satisfied letting surreal images wash over him; in other words, it was art and didn't have to make sense.

It may be art but its also self-indulgent in the way that experimental film and video often is. Far more effective for me is the surreal oddness of Twin Peaks successors like Fargo, the series in which the real world is more unsettling than fantasy, so much so that when a flying saucer descends in the middle of a gunfight we accept it as something that could have happened.

Three episodes in and I'm ready to leave The Return. There's too many other good things I'd rather watch like the profoundly sad Keepers on Netflix which proves that evil in the real world is more subtle and insidious than fictional evil.

I Love Dick (2016–2017)

I Love Dick starting with its wink-wink title, rubs its fingers together in your face.

[3/10 · 1 June 2017]

I didn't much care for I Love Dick. Great writing, superb photography, tour-de-force acting - what's not to like? For one thing I couldn't stand the husband and wife - I shudder to imagine that at my next art event I might find myself sitting next to that duo at dinner. I'm sorry, you have to have some empathy for the main characters even if they are diabolically evil. We loved Tony Soprano; we loved the Chicken Man in Breaking Bad. I also thought Kevin Bacon was miscast. He was the opposite of charismatic, and his love scenes seemed robotic instead of comedic.

But those are minor issues. What I viscerally disliked about I Love Dick was its snide cynicism. The creators not only know what buttons to push, they revel in their knowledge. Not only do they manipulate you they make sure you know you're being manipulated. Like Transparent which I also didn't like, they trot out every trendy social issue and eviscerate whatever's meaningful about those issues with their pandering. This kind of sour cynicism lurking beneath a bright veneer of virtuoso craft is the bane of many an American visual production. You notice it when you see a foreign film or video comparable in quality. Real values emerge; instead of cynicism you get sincerity and a passionate belief in the validity of what they are attempting. Last on their list is the potential audience, the numbers, or the box office and it shows. And that is also true of the very best American 'extended film' videos like The Wire, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, True Detective and Fargo. These series are cinematic art at its best. They say important things about the human condition. For all their surface brilliance I love Dick and Transparent are mostly concerned with profit and manipulation. I Love Dick starting with its wink-wink title, rubs its fingers together in your face.

The Legend of Tarzan (2016)

Summary: very watchable but Tarzan is still looking for a definitive movie worthy of Edgar Rice Borroughs.

[7/10 · 21 February 2017]

Wonderful production values consistent with HBO projects and script was interesting ( if implausible) and direction kept you watching. Casting was generally superb. Margot Robbie was a convincing and beautiful Jane and Christoph Walz was his usual urbanely villainous self although he's in danger of being typecast having played the same role in his last three or four films. .But the fatal flaw in the casting was Tarzan himself. Having a great body wasn't enough for me; Alexander Skarsgard as Tarzan was too wooden an actor with a generally inexpressive face. Yes, he looked like an aristocrat but not like Tarzan. Imagine a young Sean Connery in the role - perfect. Tom Hardy nearly made the part and too bad he didn't. Did you ask yourself how did an ape man manage to shave in the jungle? Or more to the point, why would he? OK, Johnny Weismuller was beardless and so were all the other cinematic Tarzans but still a scruffy beard would have been more realistic.

Fleabag (2016–2019)

Woefully unfunny comedy

[2/10 · 19 December 2016]

Enticed by the New Yorker's sadly misplaced citation as one of the best shows on TV, I watched episode one of Fleabag much to my regret. I saw a lanky toothy young woman take great pride in being a loser who delights in her contrariness. I didn't find her eccentric behavior very delightful, worse yet, I didn't find it funny. Fleabag is supposed to be a comedy yet I didn't laugh once during the hour. Instead of laughing I was mostly wincing. After that ordeal, I decided to catch up on a show that I had missed during its entire seven year run, mostly because of my antipathy to network shows and commercials, and that is or was, 30 Rock. 30 Rock did what comedies are supposed to do: it made me laugh, not once, but frequently. And that was just in the first five minutes. It was all the things Fleabag isn't: witty, surprising and above all, funny. I bet the creators of Fleabag wish they had Tina Fey on their side. Sadly, they don't.

Boyhood: The 12 Year Project (2015 Video)

Boyhood

[9/10 · 17 December 2016]

Obviously Boyhood is a tour-de-force of time travel through a young man's life and it deserves the plaudits it's garnered. My one gripe is not just with this one film but with many other American films and TV series and that is their concentration on suburbia as the ideal milieu for the American Family, a family that is almost always white, and a blondish white at that. The interiors of their houses are generically tasteful and bland as if furnished by real estate brokers who have a tendency to refer to interiors as "sets". The ideal family invariably consists of a harried Dad, a wise mother, and bratty children who repeatedly entertain the audience with their disrespectful and profane repartee. Plots consist of how outside disruptive forces ( aliens; zombies; drugs) threaten this sanctified social fabric. One understands the young American directors making films these days were nourished on TV sit-coms like Leave it to Beaver and The Brady Bunch but one still wishes they would look outside the bubble more often. All that said, it must acknowledged that many of these movies ( TV series these days are extended films) are brilliant despite their somewhat generic sub-texts of idealized middle-class life. Breaking Bad and Mad Men come to mind. And joining their ranks is Boyhood which gently moves through decades as if they are hours instead of years. Writing, direction and acting are all superb and Patricia Arquette deserves an Oscar for her performance. Despite the convincing script, and the bravura performance of a director who spent years making this film, the coming-of-age experiences are somewhat predictable, especially the ending. One wonders how the vast audience who don't share the values of a suburban middle-class life react when seeing Boyhood. Will the boats heading for America become even more overloaded or will it cause the embracing of a less materialistic dream?

The Girl on the Train (2014)

pretentious and pseudo-profound

[2/10 · 4 December 2016]

I came to this film on Amazon thinking I was going to see the 2016 movie by the same name. I must read the captions more closely. If I had I would have avoided what turned out to be a juvenile essay on the meaning of love and life.

When i was 17 or so. after being in love four or five times, and reading too much Sartre in between, I wrote several short stories about love and life filled with overwrought observations that didn't wear well with time. My Dad, a writer, tried to be kind. Save them because they will tell you who you were then and believe me you'll forget, he said. And while they're not very good they do have the virtue of being sincere.

Precisely what this film lacks; instead its gratuitous world-weariness is simply cynical. My juvenile efforts may have been sincere but they didn't ring true because I lacked experience.The author of this film seems to suffer the same deficiency - he fantasizes instead of seeing , thinking, and observing. Which is strange; you'd think someone who is experienced enough to make a technically proficient two hour movie would have moved beyond juvenile fantasies about these potent subjects. Alas, not so in the 2013 version of The Girl on A Train. Do yourself a favor and wait for the 2016 movie by the same name which by all accounts is pretty good.

Hell or High Water (II) (2016)

'Hell or High Water' is brilliant - acting, direction, and writing all top-notch.

[9/10 · 24 November 2016]

A fine movie, worthy of addition to the other great films set in Texas such as Hombre, Last Picture Show, and No Country for Old Men. My one gripe is with this and many other films and that is the gratuitous addition of music at regular intervals. First, it is the lazy director's way of manipulating feelings ( ooh, something bad's going to happen, the music tells me so) and filling space. The songs in this movie are sentimental but the images are anything but. I played two great scenes without sound, one, where the two brothers wrestle in the twilight and the other the last few minutes at the end and both are much stronger without music (natural sounds OK). I think this addiction to music interludes ( probably insisted upon by some tone deaf executive) began with 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'. It worked with that movie but rarely since. But otherwise 'Hell or High Water' is brilliant - acting, direction, and writing all top-notch.

Purple Butterfly (2003)

A masterful piece of film-making, better than any of the Academy award nominees

[10/10 · 16 March 2006]

I couldn't disagree with your previous reviewer more. Purple Butterfly is a piece of majestic film-making, the first thriller I can remember since the days of Orson Welles with emotional depth and a real sense of history. The direction and cinematography are superb. Look at the railroad station sequence and the camera movement in what seems like the longest take since Antonioni's The Passenger. It is a virtuoso moment in the film. Admittedly Western audience will find the long silences and long contemplations of the actor's faces unusual, if not unsettling, but they contribute mightily to the mood and enable the actors to communicate without words. Also, it's not easy for a Westerner to distinguish between Chinese actors (sorry, but to this Westerner they did tend to look somewhat alike). Adding to the confusion is the mixture of flashbacks and forward-backs a la Tarantino. But all this just made me want to see the film a second time now that I have an inkling of what it is about. I intend to do exactly that tonight and then I'll try to find the DVD. ( I have only seen this film on cable). Also, be warned it is a very sad film. But thank God it doesn't have the usual tacked on American style optimistic ending. ( See True Romance, speaking of Tarantino.)