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Reviews
Victory at Sea (1954)
Nearly perfect...
This summary of the series was very good, covering most of the crucial moments in the sea-war. But I was somewhat disappointed that one of the most singular & heroic actions engaged in an extremely significant battle off Samar was completely overlooked. I get it - you can't cover everything. But the actions of a few Destroyers, Destroyer escorts and a few escort carriers - Tsffy 1, 2 & 3 - engaging a full flotilla of attacking Japanese battleships & cruisers in order to protect the marine action.ashore in Leyte which was the target of this Japanese force who thought all or Adm. Haley's ships had been draw off by a ruse. This heroic David & Goliath battle was crucial to saving thousands of lives and the very invasion operation itself. It should have been mentioned.
3 Body Problem (2024)
If you "got" Asimov you'll like this!
Old fan of the greatest Sci-Fi author of all, I found this story in the same league. This won't appeal to Trekkies and Star Wars fans I'm afraid - too "cerebral". The characters are absolutely believable and very-well cast.
I love how they worked in connected particle ideas for being able to spy on us from more than 400 light years away.
And there's that absolutely fascinating idea about how one race might attempt to solve its own existential problems at the expense of another race, and how that might play out in the REAL universe. I loved the other race using a VR game to explain to us why they had to invade our planet, as if this would make it all ok.
I also loved the invaders informing us they were coming at nearly the speed of light and would be here in 400 yrs.
So perfectly Asimovian!
Luchshe, chem lyudi: Episode Sixteen (2019)
Fair entertainment; English dubbing not great
Concept was great; characters were mostly pretty good but the translation to English seemed very stilted. I was prepared for more violence but it was pretty tame. Even the villains didn't seem all that evil. But the story has some unexpected turns that made it addictive.
I liked the notion of a robot so advanced it could tell moods and feelings of people; was a perfect lie-detector and was following it's "programming" by assuming it's job was to hold a family together.
It seems there was a third season intended, so sorry it wasn't finished.
I guess in the end they figured they'd taken the story as far as they could,
Trumbo (2015)
hagiography to a traitor?
This man is being painted as some sort of folk-hero but he was a back-stabbing communist with primary loyalty to Josef Stains Red regime. This will never be forgotten no matter how many of these phony puff-pieces Hollyweird excretes. Having said MY thoughts, there is a serious question as fair-minded person might ask themselves. Michael Bernick - who penned a great column on this man. "Why the Lies of "Trumbo" Matter" - asks how this film came to be made. The director of this film is Jay Roach, who directed Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery and Meet the Parents. The screenwriter is John McNamara, who did the TV show, Lois and Clark. Both of these gentlemen have skills in storytelling and filmmaking. But they are way out of their league in addressing a serious, complex political topic. How was such a movie greenlighted?
Great question. Maybe it required people with limited thinking skills unable to delve too deeply.
Vice (2018)
National Lampoon's take on Dick Cheney
National Lampoon's take on Dick Cheney without any of the funny stuff.
If you paid to watch this you got screwed - and remember "time is money".
Dogville (2003)
Sorry - found this movie simply unwatchable at one point
Read a lot of reviews here that rave about the ARTISTIC HEAVENS attained by Von Trier and the Oscar-worthy performances of just about everybody in the troupe. In today's Hollywood - no doubt this is all true. After all, sickness is a bonus and ugliness sells. I found the story captivating for a while, but there is only so much gruesome-ness one can stomach. Thank you, VT for showing me where MY limit was. True art isn't - in my uneducated, parochial, typical white American experience, found in delving the depths of human evil - that's something that's in the world all around us every day. Who needs an artist to show us that? I want one to show me the heights of human beauty; solid character and unlooked-for human kindness. The unexpected emergence of the "better angels". But this movie had none of that. A person with any decency will want to puke long before they ever get to whatever "thrilling conclusion" this hack writer has in store for us. That was MY take. I'm just embarrassed that I actually talked my wife into watching this trip into Von Trier's hellish vision of my country. For the record, I've never been anywhere with animals like this in residence. But then, I haven't seen a lot of Europe. Von Trier would be more familiar with those people. I'm just sorry I wasted a couple of hours of my life I can never get back. Don't you make the same mistake.
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Just watch and breathe....
There have been several reviews panning this excellent film and I think I know the problem - people are not truly watching and experiencing this movie. It's an odd-ball sort of movie - def' a little quirky - but the key is to just open your mind and watch and not "expect" anything. Let things come to you as the director sends them. You must pay attention because the images and the dialog come quickly. It is a fast-paced movie so if you're attention wanders you will miss things. But I promise you if you have an open mind, an IQ somewhere above room-temperature and any sense of humor at all, you should really enjoy this little gem. We saw this movie on a home TV and I regretted that because I'll bet this film is absolutely outstanding on a big screen. It's not meant to be anything particularly deep or meaningful, just a fun couple of hours. Relax, and enjoy. It is well worth the watching!
42 (2013)
Underrated Performance.
Generally excellent movie with very good jobs done by all except Ford, whom I believed a little mis-cast, one performance will be lost on most - John C. McGinley's Red Barber was astonishingly spot-on. It was a masterful performance by a veteran actor but Red Barber wasn't the "BACK - BACK - BACK - WAYYYYY BACK!!!!" sort of announcer. He calmly described the scene and only occasionally raised his voice. He was the master of the play-by-play and nobody has done as well since. McGinley perfectly caught his style and tone. Unfortunately it's a performance only a few old-timers will recognize and thus appreciate. Too bad. But if nobody else says it John, fabulous job! Red would be happy.
Idiocracy (2006)
I used to think this was a farce....
I used to think this was a farce, it really was hysterically funny. I laughed a LOT when I saw this. Some of the funniest dialog I've heard in years. The whole time-machine thing where every movie has the traveler waking up to sky-cars and bald-headed geniuses and fabulous technology - food at the push of a button, free transportation for those without their sky-cars handy, street-sweeper-bots that appear whenever the first piece of paper hits the sidewalk. The usual stuff. This movie turns all that on it's head. What a joke, right?
Then 2008 came around and look who the voters elected President...And look who they RE-elected President...Yeah, we're pretty much there now, I'd say. Welcome President Comacho!
Blue Steel (1990)
Painfully bad....
Yeah, I know. This is an old movie, why write a review about it now? Well, because I just saw it and I was shocked. Kathryn Bigelow did some great stuff, which is a big reason I decided to watch it. Ditto for Ron Silver. Jamie Lee? Eh... Now, I won't lay this on our girl, here, but she plays the absolute DUMBEST cop you could ever imagine. You shoot a man and neglect to secure his weapon on the floor? You shoot him SIX times? What if he'd had an unseen partner nearby? You don't make sure that witness statements are taken before leaving the scene? A man grabs you from behind and you can't think to step on his instep hard enough to distract him? Getting into uniform - with white sneakers? Going after a dangerous killer so you handcuff your partner to the cruiser? So many more - too many to count. She, and Ms. Bigelow, made police look like idiots, and I resent that. Even rookie cops aren't this dumb.
Gun the Man Down (1956)
Lost western gem
I caught this movie on TV because of the stars - James Arness & Angie Dickenson. I was pretty surprised. Expecting another western shoot-'em-up with sexy gun-moll, I saw, instead a very thoughtful story. Arness shows the acting chops that made him so successful for many years on Gunsmoke. Dickenson displayed the vague talents that pointed her to the career she enjoyed once she discovered bleach. Robert Wilke was his bad-guy best but not the truly evil character he normally plays. There's a certain "victim of circumstances" air about his character. I included a spoiler alert because I really need to talk about "plot holes". After a botched bank robbery, where a teller is shot and left for dead, one of the gang - Arness - is left behind, bleeding, for the posse to collect. But I can't understand why they never told him his cut would be waiting for him whenever he caught up with them down the road. After all, had they stayed, all would have been lost. This way, the money is saved if he (Arness) survives. I would think that would be a good deal. He couldn't ride and likely would have died if he tried. But then, there goes the whole story, I suppose. And I can't understand why Dickenson's character "takes up" with Wilke's. As "Rem Anderson's gal", Janice should have had access to a third of the loot in her own right and wouldn't need the kindness of the two remaining gang members. But then there would go THAT tension angle too. Finally, the other two gang members - Rankin & Farley - buy a saloon, but there's never anybody in it. How are they paying their rent? In fact, there's a dearth of townsfolk all around. Population appears to be about 4. Having said all that, I thought it was a great little movie. Very intriguing and excellent camera shots. Finally, one of my favorite characters may have been Emile Meyer's sheriff. Displaying all the sagacity of the old sheriff who's seen it all, and knows how best to position himself for events most likely to come. I might quarrel with his strapping on a six- shooter instead of grabbing the old sheriff's best buddy - a short-barrel shotgun, but I won't. This is one I'd watch at least a couple more times.
Comrade X (1940)
Funny movie
Clark Gable was mostly known for his he-man; lady-killer roles but he did some excellent comedy and this movie is a little-known gem. There were some great lines, too. "Well, there's some good news and some bad news. Last week all the towels were stolen. But on the other hand the water wasn't running so nobody needed the towels. Everything balances." And "Communists have ideas, but they found out you can't run a government with everybody running around having ideas". That's actually pretty true, too! People in government with "ideas" are the bane of ANY country. Loved the scene at the cemetery where the funeral procession passes by a podium carrying a coffin on its shoulders and suddenly the "corpse" sticks his head & hand out of the coffin and takes a shot at a political enemy. Curiously, the movie predicts Germany declaring war on Russia. Which in fact happened shortly after the film came out.
Funny movie - the "Kaputski Cemetery"? Excellent!!!!
The First Grader (2010)
What is the point of this movie?
First, let me say this was a very engrossing tale. It's very difficult not to be sympathetic to the lead character, an 84-year old man who wants a basic education. But my antenna went up about 1/4 of the way into the movie when they start exploring the main characters Mau-Mau past. Wasn't Barak Obama's grandfather a Mau-Mau? Why yes! I believe he was! Then about 3/4 of the way through the movie my BS alert went into overdrive when one of the "extras" excitedly mentions Michelle Obama. And I finally realized, at the end, when another tangential character (stolen from the movie "Vanishing Point; Cleavon Little's "Super Soul") asks, "What's next? A black man in the White House?" Remember -- this movie was made two full years after there WAS a black man in the White House. So there was no predicting here; just celebrating. And the point of the movie? You be the judge. But I'm guessing it was a lot less about the on-screen story than the selling of an off-screen one. Just my opinion, of course. Just remember, the movie was a production of the propaganda department - the BBC - of a socialist government.
Jane Eyre (1970)
Awful treatment of a great movie
I bought the DVD version of this movie on the recommendation of my wife who loved the version she saw aired in television. But the version put to DVD was a disaster. The lighting was poor to non-existent and entire scenes were simply excised. In one instance Adele is being put to bed, and we immediately cut to another scene - coming in in mid-sentence - where it's the next night. Characters such as Grace Poole and Mason are never even introduced, leaving one to wonder if they'd dozed off for a few minutes during the movie.
The DVD we saw was produced by Platinum Disc Corp and even at $6.32 it was robbery.
Be careful which version of this movie you buy! We're sending this one back.