Change Your Image
Vlad_Imirivan
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Immaculate (2024)
Utter rubbish
A large part of the inspiration for, and popularity of, a certain subgenre of the Gothic novel dealing with unseemly church life can be traced to the ever-reliable anti-Catholic prejudices of the British public from the Reformation onward. Such page turners depict hidden ecclesiastical corruption and other dark secrets with gusto.
A similar sense of blinkered rejection and smug relief may be detected in "Immaculate" (Neon), a vile piece of horror tripe from director Michael Mohan. In this case, however, the viewpoint is entirely secular rather than Protestant while the animus is more broadly anti-Christian.
Since stupidity vies with bigotry for predominance as the proceedings unfold - and since the crackpots who populate the screen bear no resemblance whatsoever to real-life Catholics, beyond the priestly and religious garb they wear - it's tempting to dismiss the whole production out of hand. The presence of a pro-abortion subtext, however, demands attention.
Sydney Sweeney plays Sister Cecilia, an American novice in a sinister Italian convent. How did she end up there? Well, her home parish closed for lack of attendance and, rather than simply go to the next church over, she felt the need to cross the Atlantic to find a new spiritual home. This is typical of the reasoning on display in Andrew Lobel's nonsensical script.
Sister Cecilia, we're informed, is a vulnerable individual, having had a near-death drowning experience in childhood. So was it really by accident that Father Sal , the nunnery's shady chaplain, reached out to her across the billowy waves? The question, of course, answers itself.
As the title hints, Lobel and his collaborators perpetuate the widespread confusion that feeds into their implicit thesis that the church hates sex and wants to control womens' bodies.
Mohan, on the other hand, doesn't mind sex at all and clearly doesn't think his viewers do either. Thus we're treated to a scene in which skimpily clad young nuns cavort in a communal bathtub as well as another in which a nude Sister Cecilia, seen in profile, gets an uncomfortable scrub down in the shower after making a break for it.
Thinking that explains What's Really Going On. Suffice it to say that, in Father Sal's humble opinion, God's first attempt at redeeming the human race didn't take, so we need Baby Jesus redux.
Well, no, as a matter of fact, we don't. Nor do we need "Immaculate."
The film contains blasphemy, sacrilegious jokes, gory violence, including torture and infanticide, grisly images, partial upper female nudity, sexual humor, at least one use of profanity, a couple of milder oaths and fleeting rough, crude and crass language.
Nefarious (2023)
Fresh Blast of talent
The killer claims to be possessed by a demon, and he further claims that the doctor will commit three murders of his own before the day is out. The demon, Nefarious, does most of the talking in the interview, but the few glimpses of the wrecked human beneath are gut-wrenching. The demon is vastly intelligent, highly manipulative, crafty, and cruel.
The actor who plays this multi-faced character so dazzlingly is Sean Patrick Flanery. If awards meant anything anymore, I'd say he was a shoo-in. He's been acting for a long time, with more than 50 films to his credit, but I'd never seen him before. Amazing, what a talent. The role could easily have been overplayed, making the demon into a caricature, but Flanery danced on a wire, flawlessly.
The young psychiatrist is played by Jordan Belfi, of Entourage and Grey's Anatomy. His is a brilliant portrayal of breakdown, his glib unbelief shattering one splinter at a time under the sly onslaught of the demon.
Tho, it drops a little near the end,
Excellent movie.
On a Wing and a Prayer (2023)
Unexpectedly good
Kinda thinking it was going to be preachy cringey flick, it surprised me.
Getting over the first half hour of 'get to know you' intro, it just cruises along at a steadily upward pace.
The kids can be annoying, but that's a bit 'stock', they wouldn't children if they weren't, What remains, as directed by Sean McNamara and written by Brian Egeston, is mostly a testament to sweating it out, muddling through and improvising. Any sense of imminent peril, moreover, gets diffused by the distracting backstories of a variety of secondary characters, like I didn't get why they included the young 'gonna be a pilot one day' girl and her lil buddy.
But... at the end of the day... this was a thoroughly enjoyable movie.
Sant'Agostino (2010)
Exceptional Masterpiece
Augustine is one of my fave saints, I've read his Confessions, and City of God.
There is some 'sexual content', but nothing 'graphic' but that's one of the things Augustine 'confessed' (publicly) in his book. "Oh, Master, make me chaste and celibate - but not yet!"
Anyway, I watched the movie with some reservation, thinking the movie would be another spaghetti Italian thing, with english subs, to which I was more than pleasantly surprised was excellently dubbed audio in english.
It's not a Hollywood job, and thank God it isn't.
Absorbing production and acting, safe for teens and older
that's it..... ENJOY.
Wyvern Hill (2021)
negative 5
What a load of 💩
Tried as a may
Best advise, ignore the 'troll' hype
there was nothing
except frustration for something to happen
and frustration wasting time.
Save your time n life
this is junk.
Nightmare Alley (2021)
L O N G story of deceit-nothingburger
Long on atmosphere but short on ethics, his journey through high places and low is not a suitable trip for most cinematic tourists.
Bradley Cooper takes on the character of Gresham's protagonist, Stanton Carlisle. A Depression-era drifter, Stanton becomes fascinated with mentalism after joining the crew of a low-rent traveling carnival run by seedy impresario Clem.
As the preceding credits make clear, there's no lack of acting talent on tap in "Nightmare Alley." Thus Dafoe ably exudes sleaziness and Strathairn is particularly fine as a conflicted, washed-up, alcoholic "seer" who warns against the kind of victimization to which Stanton eventually subjects Grindle.
Yet, given that he's an amoral huckster, it's hard to sympathize with or feel connected to Stanton - and that makes it difficult to warm to the picture as a whole. The screenplay, moreover, seems more interested in wallowing in moral sordidness than in condemning it. To that extent, the litter-strewn alley through which del Toro conducts his audience turns out to be a willfully blind one.
La naranja prohibida (2021)
Reeeeeeeedickulous
I 'loved' this movie for all the reasons a young man might.
And just love most all of Stan's movies.
But, I remember the controversy of the day, on the release and aftermath, and subsequent consequences that were accommodated by groups like Skinhead, punks etc, {if anyone remembers 1979 when the "Warriors come out to playeeeee!!")
I remember that Stan even asked Warner to withdraw the movie himself, Clockwork Orange was pulled from UK cinemas in 1973 and not officially seen in the UK again for over 25 years was down to Stan.
This is just money grab BS doco.
Kajillionaire (2020)
numbingly numbing??
Essentially a lesbian love story, is also a barren comedy mostly populated by unsympathetic characters whose eccentricities are more obnoxious than endearing and resting on underlying ideas about life and death that cannot be harmonized with revealed truth.
shoulda 'stayed in the closet'.
Widow's Point (2019)
Pointless Waste
Yep! it's one those
complete with BS score
Nothing here!
move on...
Greyhound (2020)
Coulda shoulda woulda.... DID
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie,
Tom is one of greatest cinema's actors, except when he acts a politician :-).
It was from a novel, but that doesn't mean it wasn't from a 'true story'.
I love the actual light of the courage and you know what...
discipline .... military discipline.. only one 'f' bomb
and that came with an apology, I mean, so many movies highlight the "undisciplined" abusive language used as part and par of the military life.
I'm no military person but, foul-mouthing has become such annoying distraction to any and every movie.
Anyways, kudos to that aspect..... everything else, I repeat
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie,
7500 (2019)
Intense
After the first 15min of the usual 'get to know the characters' bit,
just an intense rollercoaster ride....
very well done movie
Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth (2020)
Empty
Kid asks a whole bunch of questions
and dad gives a whole bunch of ????
nothing to spoil here
thinking here comes something about the 'big picture' from feeling lost
instead ..."there you are.. follow the North Star... and you'll never be lost.."
????
It just left me empty
Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer (2018)
repeating another's brilliant review - Thanks David
Here is the text of a message I sent to a friend of mine as well as everyone on my contacts list the day after I saw the movie:
Dude, Okay, so It's 'the morning after'. I went to see Gosnell yesterday and I feel like I'm in some sort of a recovery room myself. If you haven't heard the story, you're certainly not alone. If you have heard the story but haven't seen the film, you're not much better informed.
This movie is absolutely NOT a 'pro-life' documentary and has little to nothing to do with abortion. It does, however, reveal just how sick, twisted, vile and a-moral segments of our population have become. The media, the medical profession and the 'progressives' who control the purse strings of those industries and whose ideals have become a powerful and pervasive influence on our politics and reflected in our judicial system at all levels, is laid bare in all its glory in a low budget film that is orders of magnitude bigger than the screen upon which it was shown.
You know I am an atheist. I think you also know I absolutely support a women's right to choose to have an abortion. I think you also know that I have a working moral compass that generally points in a healthy direction. Yet I find myself sitting here this morning with that queasy feeling you got in your stomach the first time you stole some candy and got away with the crime. Remember? Even as you consumed the coveted prize, that raspberry twizzler just didn't taste quite the same. Well, that's sort of how this movie left me feeling and I have a pretty good idea that it has had a similar effect on everyone who has taken the time to go to see it (or at least I hope so).
Forget the reviews. Go and see this film. It does NOT contain graphic depictions of a medical procedure nor the gore of the by-products (I'm the guy who refused to pith a frog in honors biology and couldn't look at the color cross sections of a human body, so I know what I am talking about here). But what it DOES DO is provide a cool, calm, insightful and matter-of-fact explanation of the procedure which, taken in the context of late term abortions, makes the reason to re-visit Roe v. Wade crystal clear for me while simultaneously inducing a deep sense of shame for not having reasoned my way to that same place before.
In terms of cinematography, it's probably a 'C'. In terms of the courtroom scenes, it plays more like an episode of Judge Judy or The People's Court (it ain't no Perry Mason). However, it is billed and has been generally accepted as an accurate portrayal of the actual characters and events. Because of this fact, it stands as a strong and powerful statement about the need for all of us to check our moral compasses which clearly need to be re-calibrated on a myriad of issues.
And, possibly most importantly of all, this movie illustrates the need for everyone to vote. If it should come to pass that the majority of the creatures who inhabit this country do, in fact, support the party line of Hollywood, late-night talk show hosts, CNN, MSNBC, and all things currently 'democrat', then I'm afraid we have lost all sense of morality, justice, and common sense.
Please, go and see this movie and encourage everyone you know to do the same. If you do, and if you don't agree with my assessment of the film, I will refund your ticket price, popcorn and one (1) drink, in cash, no receipt or proof of purchase required because I trust you (as well as all the bcc's). And while I may be a hapless fool for doing so, I would like to think there is still hope for the curious little creature called 'man'.
David Platek Attorney at Law
Death of a Nation (2018)
Masterpiece of truth, ignore the trolls
Amazing, don't know how this page works,
but I swear I scrolled the whole lot of reviews
out of 292 reviews 40 were '1' n '2', the rest were "10"
Can watch and listen to this guy any time, all the time
Cutting the truth with cold hard facts
you know he is on a good thing when Hollywood, mainstream media, and trolls (like the one on this page, and Rotten tomatoes) try to cause a blackout, thinking the rest of the is incompetent.
if you don't believe anything he says, "Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."
And if you enjoyed this one, try Hillary's America.
another gem, leftards commies hate n troll
Lady Bird (2017)
Nicely Autobioed
"Lady Bird" is a sensitive autobiographical account of growing up in Sacramento, California.
Her recounting of the way she tested her boundaries with both her family and her parochial school is pleasing in some respects but teeth-grating in a couple of others.
As a result, some of its content, particularly a sexual encounter in which the title character is a bit shy of her 18th birthday, necessitates a restrictive classification. The scene is not lurid, but that's the point Gerwig is making: Nothing this girl does as she explores her limits as a daughter and student, however misguided, is capable of shocking anyone except herself.
This is particularly true at the all-girls parochial school Christine McPherson -- who insists that everyone call her Lady Bird -- attends. It's headed by the compassionate, good-humoured Sister Sarah Joan (Lois Smith), who tries to help Christine identify her talents.
When Sister Sarah Joan suggests Lady Bird has "a performative streak," she lands a part in the school musical and thinks she's found a caring boyfriend in fellow actor Danny O'Neill (Lucas Hedges). But their relationship ends abruptly when, in another uncomfortable passage of the film, she sees him kissing another boy at the cast party.
She then pursues Kyle Scheible all the way to a discreetly handled carnal moment that does not conclude the way Christine was expecting it to.
Lady Bird is eager to get out of her dull hometown, which she compares to "the Midwest of California." And she hasn't set her sights on the kind of state-subsidized university her cash-strapped family can afford, aiming instead at somewhere she imagines will be more cultured.
Even then, Sister Sarah Joan is onto her, though. Reading one of her college-application essays, she remarks, "It's clear how much you love Sacramento."
"I guess I pay attention," Lady Bird responds.
To this, the nun asks, "Don't you think they're the same thing?"
Lady Bird isn't rebellious enough to roll her skirt, but she enjoys exploring taboos. She nonchalantly snacks on Communion wafers, for instance, while gossiping with a friend in the back room of a chapel. When another student expresses understandable shock, Lady Bird assures her that the hosts are unconsecrated.
But Immaculate Heart High School does have a nonnegotiable code of deportment. So when Lady Bird interrupts a pro-life lecture with "Just because something is ugly doesn't mean it's morally wrong," she earns a brief suspension. The point isn't explored further. This is depicted as just another expression of Lady Bird's adolescent -- and, so the script's tone suggests, largely unjustified -- discontent.
Gerwig herself is not Catholic but attended a Catholic high school, and Lady Bird, although it's not made explicit, is in the same situation. She's not rebelling against church teachings, though, as much as life in general and her place in it.
Lady Bird's mother, the perpetually stressed Marion , with whom she bickers, works double shifts as a psychiatric nurse because husband Larry is out of work.
Gerwig takes care to show that Lady Bird is capable of rapid emotional shifts while willing to accept her mother's point of view. She ends one argument with Marion early in the film by hurling herself out the of the car they're driving in. Later, she stops another by cooing over a prom dress at a thrift store.
It's no spoiler to point out that the movie's conclusion, during which Lady Bird has finally achieved her dream of college in New York, shows a very strong old-school moral compass at work. It's a redeeming wrap-up. But the problematic material that precedes it requires thoughtful discernment by grown viewers well-grounded in their faith.
cc K.Jensen
The Devil and Father Amorth (2017)
Respect the Truth more than the Lie(r)
Easy to spot some of the from some of the 'possessed' critics on this page
bagging this doco, giving it a low score for no point at all but belligerence.
According to William Friedkin, however, his brief, mostly straightforward documentary includes just such a novelty: the first authorized footage of a Catholic exorcism.
That claim will serve as a selling point for some, a red flag for others. Safe to say, this is unsettling fare ill-suited to the very young or the faint of heart.
He also includes an incomplete portrait of Father Amorth that asserts but does not explore the priest's sanctity. This will be a source of disappointment for Catholics in the audience since the jaunty, compassionate clergyman -- whose sense of humor extended to constant mockery of the Evil One -- appears to warrant a more penetrating study of his personality and work.
More attention devoted to Father Amorth, moreover, would have helped to offset the inevitable grimness of the rite at the heart of the proceedings.
Voiceless (2015)
Lest we forget
Dismiss the trolls, at least they were "kind" enough to contribute '1' point out of 10. Though,.. tread carefully.
An overheated tone and characters' questionable tactics in the struggle against abortion undercut the obviously good intentions behind the pro-life drama.
While it's clearly meant to serve as a cinematic rallying cry for the protection of the innocent, the film instead runs the risk of reinforcing the stereotype of irate, crusading picketers collaring women in vulnerable situations.
Writer-director Pat Necerato's protagonist is Jesse Dean (Rusty Joiner), a former Special Forces soldier, "self-taught in theology," who runs an inner-city Philadelphia church's outreach center where he teaches boxing. A new arrival in what the movie portrays as a dysfunctional City of Brotherly Love, Jesse is understandably dismayed to find an abortion mill operating across the street.
Previously uninvolved in the political controversy, but with a personal stake in the issue shared by his wife, Julia, Jesse works to get his fellow parishioners mobilized to shutter the place.
The pastor, Gil. is opposed to this type of activism. But Jesse is spurred on by his Scottish-born neighbour, Elsie. Elsie's husband helped found the church but she has ceased to worship there because of the proximity of evil across the way.
Angry exchanges ensue. After he learns that a woman who had an abortion at the facility has committed suicide, for instance, Jesse rushes into the building, which has unrealistically ineffective security, heatedly confronting the receptionist at the front desk.
Matters escalate with an incident in which an abortion advocate turns up with a pistol, threatens everyone. Despite the heightened stakes, Jesse perseveres in his efforts, assuring Julia, "This is what God would want."
Viewers committed to the sanctity of human life will sympathize with Jesse's frustration and outrage. Yet, just as the movie centering on him seems unlikely to change the minds of the misguided about this sorrowful topic, so too his approach to the moral horror of legal killing, while admirable for its fervor and persistence, lacks reflection and prayerfulness.
Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party (2016)
Typical D'Souza The pain of Truth shows
Boy O Boy, doesn't the truth hurt!! A truly awesome piece of documentary who's only objective is to expose the truth in the character of Hilary Clinton and the Democratic Party. The same filmmaker tried the same thing before with the equally awesome "Obama's America", which impressed everyone other than rabid left- wingers. There's little to enthuse even liberal or mainstream media, biased film critics and viewers (as one can easily note here n rotted tomato etc), who would prefer to spend time in a theatre watching some mindless provoking about a complex criminal personality and the equally corrupted party.
The Tribunal (2016)
Interesting ... If you know your "Biz"
The annulment process provides the unusual courtroom setting for the romantic drama. While the movie's Catholic values are strong, they come filtered through some faulty film-making.
Divorced musician Joe pursues a decree of nullity so that he can wed his devout girlfriend, Emily. But his case requires the testimony of his estranged former band-mate and best friend, Tony.
Tony was once Emily's boyfriend, and still carries a torch for her while also harbouring resentment against Joe for stepping into his shoes after he and Emily split. But Tony has firsthand knowledge of the fact that Joe's ex, Jessie, disdained the permanence of marriage as well as the prospect of having kids.
Joe's cause is represented by Emily's father, Ben, and opposed by the tribunals' "defender of the bond," Michael. Both men are permanent deacons.
Religious themes, including the counter-cultural message that sex before marriage is a damaging mistake as well as a sin -- Tony's seduction of Emily was the eventual cause of their breakup -- will resonate with viewers of faith. But sometimes sub-par acting, an amateurish musical score and unlikely plot developments chip away at this small-scale project's credibility.
Still, the good intentions motivating screenwriter and director are as obvious as they are honourable. And moviegoers used to being immersed in the loose morals of contemporary society will find the earnest ethics surrounding this love triangle a refreshing change.
In that light, at least some parents may consider "The Tribunal" acceptable for older teens.
The Case for Christ (2017)
No BS overdone DaVinci code here, just facts.
Strobel consults a variety of experts, from archaeologist-turned- Catholic-priest Father Jose Maria Marquez to Purdue University professor of psychiatry Dr. Roberta Waters. Each knocks down one of the lines of defense that Strobel has erected to bar acceptance of Christ's return from the dead, e.g., that the 500 witnesses to it mentioned in the New Testament were suffering from a form of mass hysteria. It makes for an intelligent quest, though one that includes a detailed exploration of the medical effects of crucifixion that would be upsetting to many kids. Director Jonathan M. Gunn and screenwriter Brian Bird intertwine Strobel's intellectual journey with his involvement in a headline- grabbing criminal case -- Renell Gibbs plays the defendant, James Dixon. They also work in a low-key study of Lee and Leslie's strong bond and of the problematic relationship between Strobel and his father, Walter. While not as heavy handed as many message movies, "The Case for Christ" -- which is acceptable for a wide audience -- succeeds more as a vindication of the rationality of belief than as entertainment. On the other hand, those looking for an informal way to bolster their religious education during the holiest of seasons could hardly find a more fitting choice.
The Young Messiah (2016)
Excellently loving interpretation
This engaging dramatization remains faithful to the underlying message of scripture even as it speculates about the childhood of Jesus (played here, age 7, a topic on which the Gospels are virtually silent. As Joseph leads his family back from exile in Egypt, he and Mary struggle to understand and guide their unique son, whose supernatural identity is at least partially known to his relatives -- including his uncle Cleopas and cousin James -- and whose miraculous powers are already apparent. Danger pursues the extended clan in the person of a Roman centurion who has orders from King Herod (Jonathan Bailey) to find and kill the boy and in the figure of Satan whose presence only Jesus can sense. The director's interpretation to Anne Rice's 2005 novel "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt" sensitively explores the mystery of the Incarnation in a way that will both intrigue and entertain viewers of most ages. in short .. the story "Rocks"
Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)
50 shades of another four letter word starting with 'sh'
"Lifestyles of the Rich and Perverse" might be a more fitting title for the unusually explicit bedroom drama.
This adaptation of a trilogy of novels by E.L. James -- which features a modern-day Marquis de Sade as its male protagonist -- has a pornographically narrow focus and a potentially dangerous message.
James, whose real name is Erika Mitchell, has apparently captured the imaginations of bored housewives everywhere by tracing the unlikely romance between socially awkward college student Anastasia and intimidating business tycoon Christian Grey.
The popularity -- and notoriety -- of James' fiction is such that moviegoers know from the outset that the stumbling block tripping these two up, as they attempt to tango, will be Christian's fondness for whips and chains. Thus the duo's first interaction -- which comes about when Ana agrees to fill in for her ailing roommate Kate, a journalism major, by interviewing Christian for the campus newspaper -- is loaded down with dramatic irony.
All Ana knows is that Christian has been tapped to deliver the commencement address at her pending graduation. But we're on to this dungeon-loving Bruce Wayne's real identity. So his sly double entendres are ever so much fun.
In between the zingers, Ana and Christian fall for each other. Yet, as Ana tries to bond with her aloof new beau, she's perplexed by his total lack of hearts-and-flowers romanticism. Until, that is, she discovers that he's an obsessive sadist with an elaborately equipped "playroom" full of pain-inducing gadgets and restraints.
Though it's framed in the familiar context of a good girl's crusade to redeem a naughty boy, Ana's eventual cooperation with Christian's perversion, risks conveying the idea that all women are potentially willing victims of physical abuse and humiliation. We're also left to wonder what role Christian's helicopter and fancy penthouse pad play in rendering Ana so tractable.
While responsible viewers might sympathize with Christian's troubled background, both in childhood and beyond, as well as with his passing acknowledgement of the harmful nature of his proclivities, the intent to stir audiences by teasing a supposed taboo is unmistakable.
Sadly, but essentially (at the risk of repeating) this 'fantasy' promotes all the worst things (mostly violence) on the "person" (esp women): ie: stalk, do harm (physically n psychologically), prostitute (money), pornography upon women .. and bring down the dignity of men anyway that's my piece... the movie is -10, but the chart doesn't have that option :-)
The Giver (2014)
Excellent n meaningful
Hollywood continues to makes the future a dangerous and challenging place to be a teenager.
Arriving on the heels of "The Hunger Games" and "Divergent", another futuristic thriller, where young people find themselves running for their lives.
Based on the best-selling 1993 novel by Lois Lowry about a atheistic utopian world that, on the surface at least, is free from suffering, hunger, and violence. A daily injection of every member of "the Community" ensures that memories and emotions are suppressed, along with freedom, choice, individuality, religion -- and temptation.
"When people have the freedom to choose, they choose wrong, every single time," intones the Chief Elder (Meryl Streep).
Everything in this Orwellian world is identical and monochromatic: homes, clothes, even the family unit. Just two children per household, one boy and one girl, each genetically engineered and born to designated birth mothers.
When the children come of age, they receive their vocation, the role they are to play in the Community. The time has come for Mother and Father to present their son, Jonas.
Sensing something unusual about the teen, the Chief Elder selects Jonas to inherit the esteemed position of Receiver of Memories, a kind of repository of the past, warts and all.
The current Receiver, known as the Giver, is weary, shopworn, and ready to pass the baton. He's haunted by the failure of a recent designee, Rosemary, and is determined to succeed with Jonas.
"If you can't feel, what is the point?" he asks. That belief is reinforced by his growing love for a fellow teen, Fiona, along with the Giver's wisdom that "with faith comes love and hope."
Jonas' determination that everyone in the Community should share in his knowledge is accelerated when he uncovers a dark secret: the Elders sanction euthanasia to eliminate imperfect babies and the frail elderly.
There is a disturbing scene in "The Giver" involving child euthanasia that many upset younger viewers. For mature teens and their parents, however, it can spark a necessary conversation about the sanctity of life at all ages, winningly endorsed by this worthy film.
Still Alice (2014)
Sanitized for your protection
The real depredations of Alzheimer's disease and its toll on the families of the afflicted are not on display in the flawed drama.
"Iris," the 2001 film that starred Judi Dench as British novelist Iris Murdoch, was particularly frank about the effects of the illness, both mental and physical. It also highlighted the special tragedy when someone who has built a career as a communicator falls prey to the affliction.
"Still Alice" should, by contrast, carry the label "Sanitized for your protection." Everyone involved is highly attractive, articulate, compassionate and virtually devoid of any flaws that would mark them as human.
What's left is a sensitive and appealing performance by Moore as Alice's mind fades from early onset Alzheimer's; her character has just turned 50. As for the rest of the story, adapted by directors and co-writers Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland from Lisa Genova's 2007 novel, it has plot holes large enough to accommodate a Mack truck.
Quite sensibly, for instance, Alice's three children undergo genetic testing. Daughter Anna tests positive. That turn in the drama leads -- nowhere.
Another daughter, seems to be making bad choices both in her romantic life and as a budding stage actress. What happens next? We're not told.
Husband John bears every crisis with a preternatural calm, even when he's planning to pull up stakes from New York and move to a job at Minnesota's Mayo Clinic. Surely he must have strong emotions about his wife's illness. But, if so, they're never shown.
Having always been defined by her intellect and adept use of language, Alice is sometimes reduced to making speeches about her frustration. "Sometimes I can see the words hanging in front of me and I can't reach them, and I don't know what I'm going to lose next."
She learns to get by using her cellphone as a reminder of tasks, and the online game "Words With Friends" to shore up her vocabulary.
Alice has also made a video giving her future self instructions on how to take her own life. Her eventual attempt to do so goes awry. Yet any moral or even dramatic ramifications from this line of conduct are ignored in the movie's final -- and perhaps most glaring -- default.
The 3/10 was for the wasted acting
The Theory of Everything (2014)
Behind every great man (mind) is an even greater woman (heart)
Not one to seek out romance, but a good one is so romantic :-) Early in The Theory of Everything, the student Stephen Hawking strides across the grounds at Cambridge University in the 1960s, his face dreamy. He is lost in thought about the nature of time. A pivotal incident early in the film triggers the battery of tests and the prediction that he had only two years to live.The rest of the film follows that grim forecast. It dramatizes how he achieved renown within physics because of his ground-breaking 1970s work on black holes. As he's grown older, Hawking has become progressively weaker as his condition wasted his muscles, but his brilliant mind continued to whir. In the process, a dominant myth took shape around him, a myth that presented to wider society a misleading view of the physicist and his research. The myth was best articulated by Hélène Mialet in her book Hawking Incorporated. She noted that the cosmologist is overwhelmingly presented in popular culture as an intellect "liberated from his body and seemingly emancipated from everything that clutters the mundane mind (such as emotions, values, and prejudices)." But his film debunks this myth. By showing Hawking cracking his head on the concrete, it inverts the central idea of the myth: Hawking's mind is not free of his body, but is instead bound inextricably to it. Moreover, the film makes Hawking's support systems visible and vivid. His wife Jane Hawking dresses him, feeds him and cares for him. She and, later, nurse Elaine Mason teach him to communicate after a tracheotomy takes away his ability to speak. A system of technology then grants him a new, robotic voice. With these systems, his science has flourished. Anyway without revealing anymore, my only disappointment was the lack of a little more exposition of Hawking's inventive mind