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Survive the Night (2020)
I've not seen this but already know it's terrible
When you've seen movies as much as I have you develop a sixth sense, this one stinks to high heaven. Heavy dose of melodrama, all made possible by some bad guy pointing a gun at a good guy, or good guys family. It's the trope of bad writers to get characters to do non characteristic things because someone with a gun threatens them. So the film starts with a weak premise and builds on that. it's not worth seeing.... and yet there will be people who still like it. Go figure!
The Expanse: Subduction (2019)
fast forwarding helps you get through this episode
Though I love the show in general, this last few episodes have been really grinding and grinding my gears. The plot has slowed down a lot and there are some throwaway plot twists that does not move the story forward and some scenes that are way longer than they need to be. This is the point when the writers start writing for their paychecks. Not as bad as some other shows mind you, but slow none the less. While the actors make up for lack of good dialogue by screaming out their lines very loud. Sounds like they all went to the drama school that Catherine O'Hara's character ran at the end of Waiting for Guffman.
If you have made it this far, stick with it, it's worth it.
American Gods: Donar the Great (2019)
Written by the Second Unit Writing Team
In movie productions, there is a First Unit, which comprises of the Director who shoots all the scenes featuring the lead actors and the Second Unit shoots the scenes that the stars are not in and it shot by a different director. It feels like this whole season was written by lesser writers while the ones who wrote the first season relax or recover.
This episode more than any of the second season of American Gods can be skipped and you won't loose anything in the story line. This episode does not advance the plot in any significant way plus, what's worse is that it has Nazis!
The whole second season of AG feels like one drawn out Second Act of a play, heavy on character development but low on plot. Except in this case, it feels like we are watching a different show, one without the bite and
tang of the first season. We suffer the second act as we wait for the final act where the pace picks up and all the plot lines come together. However, if you consider that this is the second to last episode of season 2 and it's a snoozer. then we fear that American Gods may not have a third season at all. I probably won't watch it, like I didn't watch the last season of Game of Thrones. The producers of these second rate episodes need to learn their lesson. Either go the British way and make fewer episodes or risk bad reviews on IMDB!
lol
Gisaengchung (2019)
Suspense like Hitchcock
I don't want to say too much to give away the plot, but suffice it to say that I have seen lots of films and this one had me at the edge of my seat with my jaw on the floor for most of the movie! I hope you get to see it
Kiss Me First (2018)
It looks like a Gem but it turns to be a messy piece of coal
I though I found a great gem of SciFi that mixed Virtually Reality world with some suspense, but by the 3 episode it goes to s..t!
The series Starts out as a story of a strange loner girl names Leila who is invited to a secret world in the a very popular VR game she plays. Here she meets a misfit set of players lead by a mysterious figure that feel not too unlike a cult leader. Soon she is sucked into this world which ends up consuming her life. Things start going dark, as they do, and Leila decides to save everyone in this cult and challenge the creator of this world. This is when things go from SciFi to Gothic thriller very fast. In great w first episodes The story switches from the VR world to Real Life often but by episode 3 it is mostly RL and things go south from there. Characters come in and leave without explanation. There is a chase and Leila struggles for her life all to save the life of this girl that she only just met! WHY?! Character motivation is very weak to say the least.
You can kinda guess how it's going to end, but it takes soooo long to get there... and when we reach final episode we are presented with an ending that has so many loose ends it feels like it was written one one weekend. I still have questions about what exactly happened to her teacher? Who had kidnapped her exactly and why bring her to her home town? How does the creator of Zania witness the conversation without entering the VR world? Anyway, it's a really bad series even though it looked very promising.
Pride (2014)
Pride is about a rarely examined part of the history of the Gay and Lesbian movement
First I'd say everything you saw in the trailer for Pride is there, no one does heartwarming feel good movies in the midst of bleakness like the Brits do... but there is something completely different about this Pride: it's the Birth of Gay Pride Movement in the most inhospitable of environments.. a repressive Thatcher Regime, a burgeoning queer identity that has so much internalized Homophobia that they can hardly keep a committee going much less advancing a cause, and a shifting economic system that rewards self- centredness as opposed to communal well being.
This after is a true story
What this movie chronicles is the evolution of a few people who armed within nothing more than sheer will and the support of the suppressed to start a movement that will change the world by communing around their shared suffering to galvanize a nation.
There are many themes that run through this movie, but the characters themselves are the ones that get the best treatment. It helps to have amazing actors playing roles that seem to have been written for them, and a soundtrack that will get you moving and shaking, but mostly it's the strength of the writing to capture a time in history where Unions mattered and they could change the world.
This movie, like Harvey Milk, needs to be part of the curriculum of any queer history exam.
The Invisible Chronicles (2009)
Insivisble through and through
Don't bother...seriously! The only reason you'd want to watch this movie is for the brief flashes of skin, but no one has to sit thought one hour plus of this kind of story. If you want to support queer filmmaking, then check out the shorts coming out of France. Invisible Chronicle's premise is so predictable, and down right crude, that if this were a short film, it would have exposed the hollow nature of the premise. Why do I give it a two out of ten then? the sound editing is good - not great, but good and that shows that there was some craftsmanship behind this movie, but again, I stress, the story has no redeeming qualities to it unless you find the actors palatable.
Twoyoungmen, UT. (2009)
Beautiful Gem in the rough background of Utah countryside
This little jewel of a film really covers a lot ground, literally, it's a road movie that takes place in the back country of Utah where two young men are heading to some clandestine rave. Road trips are great and it's even better when it's a buddy film that goes gay. But first I should cover the look and feel and the tolerability of it outside of a queer film festival screening. Twoyoungmen, UT is a beautiful shot and well written story. The dialogue is sparkling despite some moments when you can see that actors are reaching a little too much, but short films are supposed to be about trying something that is hard to do. Kudos to everyone involved with this flick. This movie is worth watching because it has heart..it'll surprise you.
Arrested Development: S.O.B.s (2006)
Why S.O.B is so called: the Blake Edwards homage
S.O.B whose title is meant to be a play on "S.O.B" which stands for Save Our Bluthes, besides being an obvious joke, also refers to a movie of that same name by Blake Edwards - the mega Hollywood comedic director who created the Pink Panther series with "A Shot In the Dark" ( a line which is quoted in another episode by Tobais).
S.O.B was Blake Edwards's scathing rebuke of the Hollywood film industry that prefers glitz over content and forces artists to beg for money and pander to the lowest common denominator or the latest fad. Many previous reviewers have picked up on Arrested Development's criticism of the Hollywood funding machinery and how it effects the from and content of this episode- hence the 3D scene and the Live stream ending. What the creators of this show were doing was adding another lense/layer to see the episode through. Like a fine Old Masters painting, Arrested Development is made up of layers upon layers of transparent references that can be seen and stay invisible at the same time depending on its viewer: this is Semiotics at its best folks! How Meta this show gets is as far as your knowledge and imagination can take you! S.O.B is also an anagram for Standard Operational Bulls..t. BRILLIANT!!
Empire (2005)
pretty but ugly - a truly bloody and fantastic story is sanitized for TV
I am a huge fan of classical history and relish any opportunities to indulge in some good ole fashion stories about the fascinating times. The events that led to the fall of a Roman Republic and the rise of an Empire that ruled over a thousand year does not require embellishment or sexing up. It but does demands some rigorous attention to detail while keeping a historical perspective that does not dive into soap operatics. The story of the rise of Octavius, one of the geniuses of the classical times, from pretender to a throne to a God who sired a dynasty never before seen is told through the lens of a freed gladiator slave. First Mistake! of all the different ways of telling this story, why pick such a weak narrator as a noble fighter - this gladiator, though played with genuine intentions could just as easily be a hero in any mid-summer blockbuster movie. His presence does not make the story easier to tell, it just cheapens it. Second huge mistake is the Casting: everyone looks like they were selected from a catalogue: totally archetypal features yet still pretty enough to sell sweaters or insurance.
Lastly, the story: it is based on a true story, but only as much as Christian cartoons are based on what life was in the year 00. I am not sure if you will learn much from this story, except a few dates and places, which can easily be found in a 5th grader's history textbook. Despite the huge amount of archaeological and archival documents available to filmmakers nowadays which when properly combined can almost make you "smell" Rome, that city of a Million people which was the centre of the known world. Rome was the modem day equivalent of New York, Paris and Hong Kong combined. Instead what we get is a dirty village scenes, that could easily have been leftover from the set of Stargate, filled with a very homogeneous Italian looking set of extras living in huge well lit homes. I would give The Empire a pass. Instead check out Caligula, or Gladiator or even the old classic Fall of the Riman Empire.
Flight (2012)
Good but not great.
Good but not great. The parts of the movie in the air plane are quite cinematic; the rest of the film feels a bit like a biblical story of redemption. IF it weren't for the in-flight sequences, I think this movie could have been a made for TV drama. I'm not sure if I'm doing justice to the movie with this review here, but it's a big movie and many critics probably have written a lot about the acting the directing the suspense, and yes the disappointments as well. Overall I felt the movie overshoots it's script by trying to cover a very complex issue in a very abridged way. Much like what my review is doing to the movie. Don't get me wrong, Flight is not a waste of time at all, but not the best vehicle for some of the great actors driving the movie...to me this film never quite manages to take Flight.
Private Romeo (2011)
Honoring Shakespeare
I am but 5 minutes Private Romeo watching and find myself wholly enthralled! There is true inspiration and crafty artists at work here... I feel I have hit upon a Jewel of the Bard. I will, a full review, compose later Anon! Alas, IMDb does not permit my premature prose of this work of fantastic marriage. I must twice five lines of words write before the auditor will allow a go. A promise I leave here to fill these blank boxes with words of wonder. To honor the integrity of this site, I will complete the rest of the review in quick verse, only to be revisited shortly with well paced praise. Why you ask I praise so highly a piece I have hardly held? When what you seek is true beauty in the art form, you need be but blind to not see the essence of that beauty which flares from this film, even if shadows on the wall is all you are treated to. This is Romeo and Juliet told in verse, in towels, in locker rooms and English classrooms, at a military academy for a few fair lass' in love. The script is superb and the words are Shakespeare - I don't want it to end
eCupid (2011)
Me: Siri, Why has eCupid won so many GLBT Festival recognition?
Siri: Sorry Vye-ken, I can't find a reason "why eCupid has won so many GLBT Festival recognitions" may I suggest you look at the poster.
I honestly don't understand why this movie has so many laurel wreaths cradling "Best Picture", "Official Selection" awards from tiny American Queer Film Festivals on its poster. A crown made from laurel leaves used to mean that the recipient was an outstanding specimen of its kind and were raised to Olympian status. In movie terms it was an emblem of having made it to the Cannes movie festival. Instead, it appears people figured out that laurel wreaths can easily be made by stringing together a few bay leaves, who are the least popular and versatile members of our spice rack, and mislead many to mistake the movie for a good one.
eCupid is not a great movie, it's not even a good movie.
It is a cutesy little magical reality (the kind of stories your grandmother told you) flick that never should have made it out of the spell book. At least not without a lot more chanting and agonizing magic making - and maybe an eye of newt thrown in - to make the movie magic work. As it stands, eCupid doesn't really take off and left this reviewer feeling a little bruised. The story is predictable, with mediocre acting and such sad sets that make you want to make a donation to the filmmakers. It has all the essential - read predictable - ingredients: a cute male model type lead with a hug-able boyfriend, care-bearable friends and hot tamale one-night-stands. What it lacks is any reason to remember the movie once the credits start rolling...that is IF you end up staying till the end - because you don't need to at all, instead you may be able to catch another festival movie playing in the theater next door.
However, if you do tough it to the end, you will get to see Morgan Fairchild play a - wait for it - a country diner waitress. Shocking right?! All I remember from that scene is thinking how much more plastic can that women get before she starts melting under the movie lights!
Going Down in LA-LA Land (2011)
Sexy smart and going places
I'll say this first: this movie, despite all it's qualities may not make it outside of the queer festival circuit. That said, any Gay and Lesbian festival that gets this Going Down in La-La Land will be doing it's audience a huge favour. I'll let others review the plot and socio-significance of the characters and such, what I will tell you is how well it's made and how successful it is in telling a story - even if it is just a fairy tale. What you need to know before you choose this American made movie over the growing stable of gay themed titles, is that this film will not give you nausea or make you regret not renting porn instead. It's Hollywood quality filmmaking with some great characters in a story that moves at a nice click. One of my favourite things about this movie is Candy, played by Allison Lane, who plays our hero's struggling-actor-best-friend-mentor. She holds her own despite the fierce competition by the lead's porn actor good looks - and the rest of the cast. Rare are female roles in gay male dominated films that don't fall sharply into soapoperatics. So watch this and see what you think and how it makes you feel... this move is safe.
Once Upon a Time (2011)
Hopeful
Once Upon a Time has the makings of a top notch TV series, but only if they don't go shallow like Desperate Housewives but dig in like Twin Peaks or the first two seasons of LOST - and avoid the interminable scenes where people hold guns to each others' heads but never shoot! That said, LOST tried some great narrative acrobatics and I can see Once Upon a Time poised for similar dramatics. Usually I can decide in the first few minutes if the work is worth it or not. let s just say it's an overdeveloped sensitivity to cheapness - but at this point, I'm still not ready to write this show off. It's got potential, huge potential! I'd love to know where the writers are seeing this story go. The cinematography is solid too as it the casting - but not spectacular. What I'm most worried about is how little they are venturing to go into the dark side with the lighting, the child actor and the rather less than real world setting of Storybrook Maine, (alias Vancouver) instead of a thriving metropolis where there is so much room for new characters or situations to bring in new interest or dissolve a washed up storyline. I'm looking forward to seeing the next few episodes, but I have reservations. If they spice up the characters, darken the mood and avoid fairy tale endings (yes, I know, I know - the irony!) then we've got the makings of a few good seasons.
Cappuccino (2010)
Une petite delice
A very short short about a teenage boy who is discovering his sexuality and his mother who is also doing the same.
There is no need for a summary of Cappuccino... suffice it to it's a delectable piece of French and Spanish film making.
Imagine Pedro Almodovar meets "Pierre et Gilles". The result is melodrama and gay sexuality with ripe and intense emotions seductively splashed on the screen.
The Script is tight and minimal while the acting is tense and high pitch: perfectly appropriate. There is lots of maturing going on for these characters in between cigarette drags.
Garçon stupide (2004)
surprising, disturbing and real
I must admit the word "stupid" has been grabbing a lot of my attention recently. Wikipedia describes it as someone who initiates actions that they are aware will cause damage to themselves - my brief summary. It does not necessarily denote lack of intelligence - though it does beg the question a little - but rather, it focuses on the cognitive ability to understand the consequences clearly in light of destructive behaviour. Wiki does introduce Hanlon's Razor which states "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity" I have been fascinated by this topic a lot since my study into the workings of the human brain and the various neurological disorder (or whatever u wanna call them) that effect people's personalities and lives.
This movie captivated me thoroughly. Not just because it draws a good portrayal of this young quasi-hustler gay man in the middle of France who is going through life aimlessly self-destructively, but also because it tells his story in such a subjective way which forces the audiences perception of him to verge on apathy and empathy. In some ways the this movies is a bit My Own Private Idaho and a bit Dancer in the Dark. I only wish it explored the psychological conditions he was suffering from a little more.
Wonderful directing and cinematography, the acting is superb given the difficulty of the characters.
Oh...and it's very similar to the movie The Stranger in US which I've reviewed earlier, though a much, much better exploration of gay mens' fascination with lost youth.
The Stranger in Us (2010)
Stranger than fiction, but less interesting
I just watches The Stranger in Us, and I'm thoroughly disappointing. I should say that it's not so annoying that I had to walk out of the movie, it is in fact clever in the way the story is told. However, once the movie ended, I wish I had left the theatre earlier.
Here's everything you need to know about The Stranger in Us: it appears to be a biographical story of a rather naive handsome, Southern man from the who met - and fell for - a hustler on the streets of San Fransisco after leaving an abusive relationship. The film has a bizarre narrative, made unnecessary complicated by jumping around time lines. It's the filmmakers directing skills and that clever narrative that keep you from really seeing the movie. Were it not for this cheap TV trick, no one would stand it. Overall I feel ripped off by this movie.
I should say though, that despite hating the movie, I do wish the filmmaker all the best in finding his little friend and getting things sorted out, because that is clearly the sole purpose of the film... so good luck! Films can function like postcards or souvenirs of a time and place or people that carry special feelings that the audience can experience and share. But if you use the medium as an explanation or a - "this is what I meant to say but never got a chance to" - you better make sure that what you have to say is worth listening to.
For anyone who is looking to this movie to be able to peer into interesting gay relationship dynamics or experience the life of the night-walkers of San Fransisco, well, you have to wait for the next movie. Don't be fooled by the graphics of posters, there is no movie here.
The High Cost of Living (2010)
High life in the depths of Montreal
I'm ever so grateful for the good things Air Canada does, and it would be great to honour that company for it's successes. The individual touch operated free video monitor in front of each seat, is not a common feature in many other airlines - you won't find them in any US Airlines, i was sad to learn. What it provided is a large selection of movies, TV shows, news, from a variety of sources that you can watch, pause, stop and come back to it later in the flight. One one flight from Vancouver to LA, I saw "The High Cost of Living" in the Canadiana movies folder. Having been a great fan of Zach Braff from Scrubs, then Garden State, I was excited to give it a try. I was so happy I did. It was a jewel of a film, shot in Montreal, with a bilingual - sometimes trilingual - cast who, hold their own, but don't overshadow the Hollywood star. This movie could be seen as Zach's Apocalypse now, where the terrible circumstances the film portrays allows the actor to show some good depth. It's not a feel good movie, and Zach is not a hero. He is looking like a man who is nearing middle age and who feels the best parts of his life are already behind him. In fact, Zach's chuteness (Charm and Cuteness) from his previous works, fits in perfectly with the story to draw the portrait of a man who is truly pathetic - a broken man who is living on the drudges of society spiraling down. Until in one terrible night he runs over a beautiful and caring pregnant woman and does a hit and run. It's a clash of cultures and lifestyles. What ensues is a sometimes uncomfortable pursuit of a guilt ridden man trying to atone for his cowardice. Despite the dire picture I painted above, it's still quite a funny movie but never straying to far from sadness, though it's hard not to feel good after the movie ends, well at least, grateful that you are not them. Watch this movie!
Priest (2011)
Hollow Priest
The rating of 4/10 is only for the cinematography. A stunning movie, but without any narrative.
All I could see was the waste of talent, the money the energy. I'm even wondering if Priest shot to be a 3 hour epic, but was hacked down to a feature length in post production - it would explain the lack of coherence in the pacing. It's essentially a Western, with a very studied homage to the genre in all it's incarnation, the moody film noir beginning to the cowboy epics to the spaghetti westerns and all the back to the post-modernist Blade Runner. But that's really the only thing going for this movie: the rest is really not worth my words or your time. Don't pay to watch this film, but if you do make sure you have something else to do while the film is playing - it won't be a total waste.
In This World (2002)
A very unique road movie from Peshawar to London
A very unique road movie, In This World is the story of two young illegal immigrants' clandestine trek from Peshawar to London.
Too poor to fly, the sixteen year old Jamal and his older cousin Enayat, leave their native village in Pakistan to travel by land to England as illegal refugees. Using the underground network of human smugglers, through the back roads of the Middle East and Europe, they follow the path of millions of other people who risk life and limb for a chance for a better tomorrow. They start off in Pakistan and off to Afghanistan then to Iran and follow the land road over the mountain passes to Turkey then over the Mediterranean to land in Italy, then on to France to finally Cross the Channel latched on to the chassis of a trailer. It's a kaleidoscope of the sights and sounds of the international hubs of human smuggling where man and machine test each other's limits.
Shot completely with a digital camera in a loosely held `cinema verite' style, In This World is the jagged crescendo of industrialization from Pakistan to England. You can almost smell the dust and the diesel of the changing landscape and the chaos of mass transportation systems in the developing world.
Michael Winterbottom manages to depict, very graphically, the challenges that illegal migrants face in crossing the borders of the - unwelcoming - host countries each day. Fear, starvation, persecution, and even death are the daily risks that over a million people take every year in the hands of people smugglers. This film is a testament to the struggles of the hardiest of human transplants.
However, the film does little else than depict the hardships of refugees, it doesn't ask the deeper philosophical questions which is such a political hot button nowadays. Winterbottom unfortunately steers clear of the social/political sphere which makes In This World more of a travelogue of a refugee. It feels more like news reporting for TV than a work of fiction. Though the migration of refugees has made good fodder for quite a few of the developing world's film industries. Many previous films (El Norte, Yol, The Road just to name a few...) have dealt with the same topic and all have won international awards.
The only way this film distinguishes itself from the pack is that it is directed by a well known British director with infinite resources! It smacks a bit of self indulgence if you ask me. In This World just doesn't cut it as a great art film. It lacks the drama of a good fiction film, while being too contrived to be a documentary.
The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)
Only Morris could show the humanity of one of the most vilified technocrats in recent US history
Errol Morris' The Fog of War is the life and times of Robert McNamara - the Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam Era - and arguably one of the most vilified characters of US history. This hour and a half long interview with the 85 year old statesman is intercut with archival material and a soundtrack by Philip Glass. It's a follow up to McNamara's book In Retrospect (1995), where he lays out his `11 rules of war' which are the lessons he has learned from the escalating disaster that was the Vietnam War, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the bombings of Japan which killed over 1 million civilians BEFORE the two atomic bombs were dropped.
Fog of War is like an insider's play by play of US foreign policy debacles of the 40's 50's 60's. Using some newly declassified material from the Oval Office, we see how close we actually did come to nuclear annihilation with Cuba. We learn how much McNamara was influenced by the character of his superiors rather than his own convictions. He also discusses his involvement in the bombings of Tokyo that killed over 100 000 civilians in one night. This last fact - even he admits - could have had them convicted as war criminals had the war not ended in their favor. This from the man whose first memory is of the armistice of 1918 which was supposed to be the war to end all wars.
The film is not an exoneration of McNamara by far. In fact McNamara doesn't even seem to apologize for his acts. The media savvy diplomat essentially says he was just doing his job. But old age and hindsight has given McNamara a philosophical outlook. He says people make mistakes and sometimes people make the same mistakes 5, 6 times before they learn from them- such is human nature. He says it is better to learn from the mistakes than make accusations. This one must admit is a privilege reserved only for the winners of a war, the losers don't get a chance to learn from their mistakes - they get the firing squad.
Morris doesn't seem to mind this inconsistency too much; even tough he himself had marched in protest against McNamara during the Vietnam Era. Instead he portrays him as an articulate and confident technocrat. McNamara's success is clearly accredited to his propensity for analytical thinking and practicality. His only ideology seems to be driven by the mechanics of efficiency. Morris, whose previous film Cheap, Fast and Out of control which was an exploration of the workings of the exceptional mind, seems fascinated with McNamara. Particularly his rationalisations of the events of his life.
What Morris does challenge McNamara on however is his conscious? Was this walking living computer aware of the effects of his actions on the world? Where does the question of right and wrong fit in to the cost/benefit equation of waging wars. It is one thing to be calculating the efficiency of seatbelts for Ford, but quite another for dropping bombs on people's heads. Yet this man did both in his capacity as an executive at Ford where he implemented the collapsible steering rod and mandatory seat belts - which has saved thousands of lives, AND as the Secretary of Defence where he introduced the use of Agent Orange - which still claims countless lives to this day . Same man - different results. Therein lies the mystery that is the nature of a man.
Fog of war also lends itself to different interpretation depending on your perspective. For those who want to see proof of American imperialism as an uncontrollable evil empire that has no possibility of redemption, then this film will give them more ammo in the arsenal against Americana. McNamara really represents the United States Psyche: confident, efficient and ruthlessly pragmatic. The timing of the film is also very a propos even though the film was started before 9/11. The parallels with the current US administration are uncanny - almost verbatim. LBJ had once said the US wants to `win the hearts and minds' of the Vietnamese.
For fans of Morris who are used to deciphering the complexities of the mind, this movie offers great proof of the infallibility of the human condition. It is a fascinating portrayal of sophisticated societies still relying on archaic methods of resolving conflict. McNamara says war is part of human nature; that our DNA has not changed much from the 50 000 years ago when we were fighting for fruits in the jungle. But one thing has changed. With our modern weaponry we now have the ability to destroy all of civilisation. A chilling warning from - the man who was once - the `Minister of War'.