ArtVandelayImporterExporter's reviews

One could argue Metropolis is the most visually remarkable movies of all time, even a century after it was made. Its futurism obviously influenced the creators of Brazil and Blade Runner. On my third viewing, I even picked up on scenes that frankly looked like they informed Busby Berkely's work.

On that level, it is a must-see movie.

It's even a darn-good disastere movie in the third act.

But here's the problem. It takes nearly TWO hours to get to the action-packed, harrowing climax. There are too many drawn-out shots of people emoting that could have been edited into an hour for Acts 1 and 2 (combined).

And all that emoting is in service of what, exactly? Some kind of eco-political message? If you dare to dive into online discussions of Metropolis, people see it (variously) as an allegory of: Christianity, atheism, class warfare, marxism, communism, fascism, capitalism, I probably missed a bunch. In reality, the narrative is mostly a bunch of mumbo-jumbo that weakens the effect of the stunning visuals.

Many critics have a particular problem with the ending. By the end I barely cared about the story.

But man, the visuals will stick with you, probably for the rest of your life.

Despite being in love with Sean Young since seeing Blade Runner and Stripes (multiple times) as a teenager, I somehow never got around to seeing No Way Out just a few years later.

Why did nobody tell 1987 me that this movie contains so much Sean Young, um, in the flesh. I might have bought the VHS tape.

In any event, put Young with superstar Kevin Costner in a political thriller also starring Gene Hackman and you've got one smokin' hot movie that even Will Patton can't sink.

If I have one quibble, it's that the plausibility and tension of the first act doesn't quite hold up. Dragging witnesses through a room-by-room search of the Pentagon after leading them down all the hallways and stairwells? It's 6.7 million square feet, for gawd's sake. And that car/foot chase? Come on, now.

So what starts as a clever conspiracy thriller that wouldn't have been out of place in the early 70s devolves into a more conventional and predictable cat-and-mouse affair.

Oh well, the many glimpses of Sean Young's prodigious gifts were worth the price of admission on a random Wednesday night in 2025.

The best thing about this movie is that it proves you can put out a film on a budget that is worth less than a used Toyota Corolla. And film it in a church basement. On weekends. After bingo lets out.

In just about every scene I can see three walls. Despite every shot being a medium or closeup. The cheering crowd consists of about 14 randos. The prison costumes look home-made. The acting is on the level of summer stock. The fight choreography is amateur hour. The music is AI-generated. I could go on.

The script is directly lifted from some bad war movie. Eg. "Stay with me." "I'm glad we were a team." "Are you good?" "Yah, I'm good." "We gotta go on, man." "Let's finish thiis." Need I say more.

Poor Michael Madsen. This was among the final movies he made. He frankly looks half-dead already. I'm going to pretend he wasn't actually in this movie.

I'll be honest. I only kept watching it because it had so many terrible reviews on this site. I just had to see it for myself. I can confirm it's as bad as the terrible reviews suggest. Worse, even.

Did this unfunny, anodine drivel get distributed to theatres? Because it's softer than most of those lifeless paint-by-numbers junk films they air on Lifetime or W or Oprah Network. I'm guessing the studio said we'll give you a discount on (a good film in 2007) if you also take this dog off our hands.

It's a given that we were all sick of Hanoi Jane decades ago, but at least her last name is a brand in Hollywood. How did Lindsay Lohan get cast in movies? Was she always a wanna-be actor or was she a popstar-turned-actor? If the latter, I hope she had a really dynamic vocal range, because her acting ranges from A all the way to B.

The plot involves middle-aged mom Felicity Huffman dropping off spoiled ingrade daughter Lohan at domestically strict granny Fonda's house. Granny gets Lohan a job at a doctor's office, played by Dermott Mulroney, who inexplicably was popular about 20 years ago, but also can't act.

There are hijinks involving a couple of brats that granny babysits.

I was kinda forced to watch this while my wife told me about her day. I missed nearly an entire period of a 6-5 hockey game, which made me even less charitable toward this terrible movie.

Bill Murray dresses as a clown to sardonically rob a bank. He unloads an entire clip of funny one-liners in the first few minutes. I got my hopes up.

Unfortunately, the writers couldn't maintain that level of humor. Worse, whatever the merits of the script, the directors (of which Bill Murray was one) lacked the discipline to keep this thing tight. Did it start out as a Murray vanity project, only to get handed to the head writer to bring it home because the daily rushes were a mess? Maybe they should have called Harold Ramis. That cat knew how to helm a comedy.

Randy Quaid is the worst of the hambones here. Pretty much from his opening line of dialogue he's irritating. But super-solid actors Phil Hartman, Tony Shalhoub and Stanley Tucci are also over the top.

The only actor in the entire film who survives with his dignity is Jason Robards. By playing it straight, he ends up being the funniest character in the film. He obviously understood what made Leslie Nielsen so funny in the Airplane and N3ked G3n franchises.

I felt so grinded down by the try-hard of it all that I was relieved when it was over.

The 70s were a terrible time for NYC. Hoodlums ran rampant over honest citizens. Sadly, the mayor and the cops worried more about vigilantism than the hoodlums, and made empty speeches for the press, which then ran sensationalist headlines.

So here I am watching Death Wish for the first time in my life in 2025. It feels fresh and relevant. Ripped from the headlines, even. It even includes a scene at a c4cktail party full of liberal dooshb3hgs whining that the vigilante is racist.

The major theme is that Americans have lost the nerve to stand up for themselves. They expect impotent cops to come to their rescue. Then they whine in disappointment when it doesn't happen.

Bronson's Paul Kersey character is a Korean War vet - a conscientious objector - but he grew up a sure-shot thanks to life on a farm. Once he gets a taste of fighting back there's no stopping him. In fact, it gives him new life.

Although this is nominally a revenge flick. That seriously undersells this movie's accomplishments. It looks like it was produced on a shoestring budget. But the acting is top notch. The story moves along and makes its points without belaboring it until we feel pandered to.

And yes, it's exhilirating when Charles Bronson's character starts getting revenge on the criminals. There's no denying that. But overall it's grim, gritty and truthful.

These spaghetti Greek mytholgy movies are barely watrchable at the best of times.

Some people want to claim this isn't a straight-up entry into the genre but is actually a spoof.

I dunno. Maybe.

Either way, it's ridiculous.

Blond hero actually has b00bs, not pecs. Women are pretty hot.

Plot is ridiculous.

Back when dusk-to-dawn drive-ins were popular, I could see this one being fourth on the bill, maybe even fifth. And the only people who stayed to watch were the young couples who were too busy making out to pay attention to what was up on the screen. I can't see anyone, anywhere, taking this seriously. And it's definitely not funny.

The more Henry Fonda one watches, the more obvious it becomes he was a one-trick pony.

Talking like he's soft in the head, earnestly spouting liberal drivel that is usually decades - if not centuries - out of place for the setting of the movie.

Now combine that with director Sammy Maudlin - I mean, John Ford - who was never afraid to pour some sugar on it.

By the time Claudette Colbert is in hysterics over seeing Johnny Blue B3llz standing in her living room, I was just about asleep.

The rubes probably thought this was a fantastic movie because it was an early Technicolor. Too bad it's basically a comic book.

I had barely ever heard of this dog, and had never seen it depite being a loyal fan of TCM for about 15 years. And now I know why: It's a total snoozer.

Viewers would be hard-pressed to find another movie as stuffed full of bloated gasbags. John Wayne playing a caricature of his on-screen persona. Jimmy Stewart playing his usual bumbling doofus. Edmund O'Brien playing his usual extra-bumbling doofus. And worst of all, gooned out of his skull John Carradine playing some kind of gasbag political functionary.

That's to not even mention the gasbag who hosts the political rally in the final act, the 50-something ''school boy," and the always-irritating Andy Devine.

I won't even bother summarizing the plot because who cares. Other than to agree with other reviewers who wonder whether this claptrap was made in 1952, rather than the stated 1962.

The only actor in this entire sorry production who doesn't turn in a career low is the ultra-cool Lee Marvin. Is it a spoiler to mention he gets shot ded when it's right there in the movie title?

I don't know whether this is the worst western ever made. I'm not even sure it's the worst western John Ford ever made. But it's surely a contender in both categories.

On the plus side, the political rally is surely Mel Brooks' inspiration for the scene in Blazing Saddles where the townsfolk gather at church to discuss possible remedies for their "Mongo" problem.

Hollywood cranked out a lot of movies that were flying right along until they introduced a pointless love interest or tacked on a ridiculous ending.

Red River gets both.

We start with John Wayne and Walter Brennan, We pick up Monty Clift soon thereafter. They're driving an enormous herd of cattle from Texas to the cattle market in Missouri.

We get Indeeuhn raids, a cattle stampede, and lots of conflict, esp between The Duke and Clift.

For 85 minutes it's a classic.

Then Joanne Dru gets shoehorned into the movie. What a mistake. She wastes a solid half-hour of my life with her pointless drivel. The scene with the arrow through the shoulder might be the most laughable scene in Western history.

And she figures prominently in one of the most insultingly ridiculous endings in Hollywood history. TCM tells us that the screenwriter refused to ever again speak to director Howard Hawks for wrecking his story's ending.

It was headed to a solid 8, maybe even a 9. But Dru's appearance first undermines it, then very nearly wrecks it entirely.

Was Mae West supposed to be a s3x symbol? With that gerbil face? The protruding teeth? When she spoke she looked like she was chewing on short grass.

And then the shtick with her eyes. Was she sleepy or wacked out on heroin?

That voice is like sandpaper in my ear canal. Was that voice a put-on or did she have adenoids?

That swagger is about as s3xy as watching a Philadelphia Eagles linebacker walking back to the huddle.

Oh, this movie: Her lines are sorta funny but often indecipherable due to that goofy voice she puts on. Cary Grant is young and handsome but acts like he doesn't realize he's in a talkie. As for the story, the courtroom scenes are entirely dull.

What a snoozer.

Muddle-headed idealist Frank Capra originally brought this junk in at 6 hours. Studio honchos were having none of it, and over the years it kept getting wacked down over the years in an attempt to make it watchable.

It's not.

The TCM version is 132 minutes, which is the running time of the surviving soundtrack. The surviving motion picture is filled in with about 6 minutes of studio stills.

It's still a mess.

The opening scene of British imperialists fleeing revolutionary Chinastan is OK, I guess. But then comes a half-hour plane ride that should have taken two minutes.

When we finally get to Shangri-La we have the Dalai Lama serving dinner in what appears to be the Banff Springs Hotel.

Lots of blah blah blah.

It's basically two hours of setup, then title cards that explain - presumably - the remainder of the original story.

I've tried on numerous occasions. But I find it to be unwatchable.

At a cost of 2 million bucks in the early 30s I am surprised this didn't bankrupt the studio.

I got into Goliath based on my spouse's recommendation. I was immediately hooked, mainly due to the brilliance of Billy Bob Thornton. The challenge of S1 was that it devolved from a sharp dark comedy into a cable version of the lamentable L. A. Law, and gave us a completely implausible S1 ending.

Then we get S2, where the comic relief is almost entirely missing, there are little to no courtroom (or worse, law office) shenanigans and the series turns very dark at time.

For my money, it got way, WAY more satisfying. Billy McBride is no longer a washed-up lawyer, he's a classic film noir (flawed) "hero." He falls for the "dame." He has loyal female sidekicks. He's got family issues. And he's up against dark forces that are barely knowable, much less defeatable.

Each episode was better than the previous. The climax is arguably Ep 6 or maybe 7, with Ep 8 being a denouement. To any fan of classic cinema, it was a very satisfying ending. To anyone expecting an ending where everthing is wrapped up neatly, with a bow, of course you're gonna be disappointed. Those people are still whining about the Seinfeld finale.

For my money, S2 of Goliath was one of the tightest 8 episodes of television in the past 10 years. It is tragically under-rated by the viewers on this site, particularly this finale.

Season 2 of Goliath keeps the tension going in Ep7 with a narrative structure and dark comedic dialogue that harkens to Pulp Fiction. It also keepss the film noir arc afloat by having Billy McBride awaken in room with a working lady - ahem - and no memory of how he got there.

Billy at least knows he's being held captive by three ne'er-do-wells played by Steven Bauer as a bit of a derelict, John Savage as a talkative, frustrated writer, and Paul Ben-Victor as the surly henchman. It's a tense setup, punctuated by some darkly comedic moments.

That could have been an entire excellent episode all by itself but this is cable TV so Ep7 actually runs 65 minutes, which allows the story to unfold a bit for all the other main characters. There is some grisly violence involving the man with one mechanical arm. That guy is a formidable foe.

Let's hope Ep 8 does this season justice with a fitting finale.

S2 Ep6 of Goliath comes pretty close to achieving perfection.

The entire episode is emotional dynamite. One tense, moving scene slides into the next, barely leaving viewers time to process what they have just witnessed.

The cold opening has JT (Paul Williams) in a flashback sitting front row to witness the execution of his client, no clemency call from the governor forthcoming. This isn't a spoiler. McBride spells it out back at the offices of Cooperman in the first 10 seconds of the episode. Turns out the prosecuting attorney is none other than Martha Wallace, who of course grows up to be the judge in the Julio murder case. The condemned man speaks a few words, looks are exchanged, and we gain a tremendous amount of context to the current-day case. Paul Williams' acting in this first scene packs a nut punch and says so much - without TJ uttering a single word - that I'm surprised he wasn't nominated for an Emmy right then and there.

But that's only the beginning of the most suspenseful episode of an already-excellent S2 of Goliath.

Danny, Tom and Det Roman all have unfinished business. Gabriel is the suave psycho. The more charming he acts the scarier he is. We still don't know what Marisol's game is.

Nina Arianda has really come into her own as Patti Whatshername in S2. In this episode she completes her transformation from S1 comic relief to S2 emotional centre of the entire show.

My stomach was in knots the entire episode. Half the time I forgot to breathe.

Add in a minimalist soundtrack and some stunning exterior and interior photography and this episode could be put alongside the best episode of Breaking Bad as an example of television at its finest.

I hope the writers can bring this home in the final two episodes of S2 in a way that respects what they have accomplished in the first 6 episodes.

Here we are, getting close to the end of S2 and Goliath is firing on all cylinders.

On the surface, about the only plot development is Julio has been exonerated. But he's still in jail while the paperwork is being filed and somehow I don't feel so relaxed about his fate just yet. Mainly because if he's not the killer at the crackhouse, somebody else needs to take the fall. And that means Psycho Cartel boss Gabrielle, or as I like to call him, "The Surgeon," is in jeopardy of losing his sweet setup of getting his drugs into America via the Port of Los Angeles.

Developer Tom Wyatt needs to take action to avoid The Surgeon's angle grinder. Danny Loomis needs to take action to avoid Wyatt's wrath. And Det. Roman needs an exit strategy to avoid becoming worm food.

The episode unfolds at an appropriately languid pace, with an unsettling five-note musical bed that never resolves in a full chord, and is shot most in the dark either outside or inside. What we have here is a crackling film noir.

Let's hope they can bring S2 home in a satisfactory manner that lives up to the first five episodes.

I'll admit I hate the sight of blood but you'd have to be some kind of slasher-flick weirdo to not be revulsed by the opening flashback scene.

Nevertheless, if you can get past it, the remainder of the episode is pretty much as close to film noir as it gets on television.

Billy McBride gets a grisly warning. His buddy TJ takes to the streets to get more info. The dirty cop knows he's in too deep. Marisol finally realizes she's in too deep. And the pointless daughter character is still on the show for some reason.

I enjoyed S1 of Goliath overall, but it went from a fine conspiracy thriller to a statement about workplace politics to warmed-over L. A. Law over the course of its 8 episodes.

I don't know whether David E Kelley handed over writing in S2, or the switch of show-runner from Clyde Phillips to Lawrence Trilling changed the series, but S2 is very satisfying noir, with a grittiness a lot closer to the darkest episodes of Breaking Bad than anything from Goliath S1. And that's a great thing in my opinion. There is very little of the comic relief that we go in S1 and the characters of Patti, Britanny and Marva all seem more grounded in reality than caricature.

Lou Diamond Phillips appears to be owner-operator of the ChezJay where Billy Bob does his boozing. Turns out his two eldest sons are gang b3ngers who got killed in a DEA raid. Short time later his youngest son, an A student and cello player in the school orchestra, is arrested for the murder of a couple of crackheads. The police allege it's a revenge killing.

Lou turns to Billy Bob, who is hesitant to be the kid's lawyer, but he checks in on the kid and makes sure his public defender isn't a complete r33t4rd.

As our luck would have it, a smokin' hot Latina is running for mayor in L. A. And one of her "street kids" that she's helped over the years is - you guessed it - the young man accused of the double murder

Billy Bob's daughter makes an appearance. I've yet to figure out why she was even in S1, so I'm puzzled why they'd bother to bring her back. And we get one scene with Brittany, the h22ker with a heart of gold, or something like that. It appears Billy Bob's ex-wife has been written out of the show, which is too bad since she was pretty solid.

Looking forward to S2 Ep2.

Goliath started as a conspiracy thriller. A pretty good one, at that. Lots of moving parts. Many interesting characters played by excellent actors.

About midway through the first season it veered into warmed-over L. A. Law. No surprise, since series creator David E Kelley came to fame penning that drivel.

Instead of street-level grit and suspence, personified by the menacing Stoltz character, they started serving up courtroom shenanigans.

William Hurt's Cooperman went from mysterious and menancing to comedically monstrous. In a cheap nod to the decade's LGBBQRSTUV++2 f3tish, hard-charging lawyer Callie Senate, well, turns out she's one of those letters. Yawn.

The final day in court hinges on stunt writing. The summations wouldn't convince me either way. And the verdict left me feeling nothing. This climax, in other words, is a nothingburger.

The best scene is saved for last, where we get a face-to-face with the two former partners, turned adversaries. The clicker figures prominently.

But the rest is so implausible that viewers would be forgiven if they bailed on the show after this conclusion. Though I will continue because of Billy Bob. Always watching for Billy Bob.

The weakest part of any conspiracy thriller is when the writers have to resort to actual courtroom scenes. They are usually excuses for exposition, featuring testimony that would never be allowed in a legitimate courtroom. But it makes for big-time dramatic stakes.

So here we are, Ep 7, and the trial finally gets underway. There are some surprises along the way, of course. Both in the courtroom and in Donald Cooperman's realm. But I wouldn't exactly say the courtroom scenes are gonna make me forget Witness for the Prosecution or Anatomy of a Murder. More like a slightly grittier version of L. A. Law.

Billy Bob remains the best part of the show, as with any show he is in. Dwight Yoakum gets some extra scenes this time around. And Harold Papineau's judge character is the centre of the legal orbit.

Looking forward to Ep 8, where presumably we get a verdict.

After 5 stellar episodes to begin this series there was bound to be a filler somewhere along the way. And that's what we get here.

Cooperman and Lucy start in bed, barely talking abovve a whisper about whocares what. Then the deposition with the ded guy's wife and son. Then an encounter between McBride's ex-wife and Callie the Evil Ginger Lawyer. And on and on.

Finally picks up steam in the Third Act when Billy takes some info to the FBI hoping they can help him shake the Evil Dark guy. That's really the key to this episode but it amounts to very little content.

Looking forward to the final two episodes.

Most shows get on the air because they have cinema-quality pilot episodes. Anybody remember how good the pilot for the original CSI was? Each character was unique. There was intrigue. Grit. Sharp writing.

Then the show gets picked up as a series, the network suits get involved, and the entire thing get sanded down to middle-class suburban beige. Character become caricatures. Catch phrases appear. Becomes barely watchable.

Well not this time. Episode 2 of Goliath is every bit as great as the pilot.

Billy Bob is the lead actor, yes, But he gets tremendous support from the entire cast. He's Goliath, of course. The little guy figuratively and literally. David - aka The Giant - is Boeing , errrrrr, BoneTechIndustries, a Department of Defence contractor. Their general counsel is Billy Bob's old firm, Cooperman McBride. Now headed by Cooperman (William Hurt) who we learn has a mysterious past - millitary? Three-letter agency? Weapons? We don't know, but we get the tease.

The wrongful death suit goes to court, gets tossed, gets revived, gets tossed, gets revived again, gets tossed again. And on and on until we get a cliffhanger that made me gasp out loud.

I sure hope it holds up over the long haul because so far it's awesome.

I will watch anything with Billy Bob Thornton in it. Sometimes he's better than the show that surrounds him, as is the case with the execrable Landman.

But in Goliath, we get a tight 54-minute pilot episode with a great central character, some very interesting supporting characters, and a conspiracy plot involving Boeing, errrrrrr, BornTechIndustries, a deliciously evil contractor with the Department of Defence.

Billy Bob is a disgraced former founding partner of a global law firm. He's suing BornTech in a wrongful death case. And they're represented by his old firm. Where wouldn't you know his ex-wife is still at or near the top with the other founding partner played by William Hurt.

Mix in a h--ker with a heart of gold. A fast-talking realtor/lawyer. And a corrupt donut-eater who is fast with the taser, and you've got a crackjack start to a series.

Unapologetic landman Billy Bob Thornton is rootin' tootin' his way through the oilfields of West Texas. As always, BB is the most compelling character in the show.

Unfortunately, a show requires more than one character. Even worse, this show that's ostensibly about manly oilfields is getting wrecked by three female characters: Billy Bob's ex-wife, his daughter, and a New York lawyer.

First the ex-wife. She's a foul-mouthed sk3nk who adds nothing to the drama and she isn't funny. I was kinda hoping she'd drown in the country club pool, to be honest.

His daughter is just more T&A who adds nothing. But empty GeZ angst.

The New York lawyer, who looks like she's about 24 yet handles 9-figure liability cases, is so sheltered she doesn't know a wind turbine when she sees one. Even worse, she offers BB obnoxious GenZ lectures on workplace respect. I nearly barfed.

BB also has a son who barely survived last week's well-head blowout. He does well, paying his respects to the widows of his late crew mates.

The highlight of this episode is BB's rant about the importance of the oil industry. What a beauty.

Anyway, if this show were to focus on the male characters we might have a show worthy of all the praise it's getting. But if keeps falling back on the females it will probably be super-popular but completely empty.

I'll give it one more episode.

Any show with Billy Bob Thornton is gonna be entertaining. And Landman is entertaining.

I think it's marketed as a drama. It's a bit over-done in that regard. Lots of manufacturered situations like this week's rig blowout.

It's better as a comedy. Lots of smart-zzzery coming out of BB's mouth.

I am skeptical about any show that resorts to this amount of T&A in only Episode 2 (I missed the pilot). Speaking of which, BB's ex-wife is super-irritating. She's a foul-mouthed sk3nk who adds nothing to the show, either drama or comedy. It's usually a sign of a show that's short on content.

The daughter is barely any better, though at least she brings a level of "GenZ dypshyt" mockery.

Chick lawyer is obnoxious. I hope we don't get much of her.

My wife recommended I watch this show. But I'm not convinced.