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Reviews
Gunned Down (2017)
Was hoping for a good heist movie, but was disappointed all around.
I like heist movies, in general... they're good fun, even if they're sorta stupid like "Oceans 11". "Heat" was good. Even "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels".
This was boring. It was like someone had seen Heat and Lock Stock, and maybe Star Wars, and tried to mix them all together, including all of their "just One Last Job" clichés, but forgot to include either the clever dialogue or twisty plot, or some intense drama.
As others have said, the acting was pretty bad. Not all of it (Craig himself was fine) but there were enough wooden performances to overshadow the rest of it.
*spoilers below* And the writing just didn't make any sense. For instance, at the Club, near the end, our hero has his sorta-nemesis at gunpoint, and the dude starts laughing at him, saying "Oh, you don't have the balls to shoot me!" He literally had just shot him twice, and killed two guys on the way in. There was NO way that is an appropriate response, given the circumstances.
The ending was horribly unsatisfying. Not just the fact that everyone was dead. How was it that Alfie ended up in the hands of gangsters in the garage? He wouldn't have gone to meet them somewhere, unless he planned to kill them. And why would anybody have known that he had found out the truth about the family? How would they know that Holley told him? And he had JUST gotten the letter in the mail himself. What a mess.
Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
A Great Story, Poorly Told
Hacksaw Ridge is ultimately a good film made about a great story that squanders much of its potential with wooden dialogue, countless clichés, and telegraphed punches rather than foreshadowing.
When I saw the movie, I didn't know much about it and somehow missed in the opening credits that it was directed by Mel Gibson, but as I watched, I remember repeatedly saying to myself, "Man, someone has a persecution complex." Doss' pacifism was a central theme; it was so integral to the plot, that nobody could have missed it if it had not been treated so heavy-handedly. This would have been much better if it had been a war movie in which the protagonist takes a philosophical stand, rather than a movie about a man being persecuted for his beliefs (often fairly) with the war going on as a sub-plot and vehicle for it.
The grisly violence portrayed in the war scenes failed to create the atmosphere of a battlefield in the same way that better directed movies did; the reliance on graphic violence served to highlight the lack of tension and fear that should have been palpable, as we've been given in Full Metal Jacket or Saving Private Ryan, for that matter.
Still, the backbone of truth in the story is strong enough to overcome many of the film's shortcomings. Though most of the characters were just cartoon sketches of real people (many of them pretty cheesy), they were hard not to like... especially Doss himself, and his broken father.
Whiplash (2014)
Simplistic, Predictable... Well Acted, Good Music
It's not as boring as 50 Shades of Grey, but it's just about as simplistic. There are two characters, plus a couple of others are hinted (at with several seconds of screen time).
I loved the music. The acting was good, but the roles were not especially nuanced.
The main problem is that within the first couple of minutes of the film, you know Andrew's goal: to be an elite drummer. Great. You also realize that his instructor is complete jerk (or worse) and is going to "challenge" Andrew. So, for the rest of the movie, all we have to wonder about is whether he'll end up overcoming the challenge and being a good drummer, or whether he'll give up.
It kept my attention, but I would never watch this movie a second time. There just wasn't enough substance to it. There was no nuance. There was nothing more to think about.
The pseudo-philosophical, pop-psychological discussion in the movie about whether abusive treatment by a teacher is justifiable by the potential for producing greatness are just pathetic and empty.
There are some shades of side-story. There's a paper-thin character of a girlfriend. She only exists to make us believe that Andrew might be giving something up by pursuing his goal, but since Andrew isn't likable at all, I didn't really care if he ended up with her.
Anyway, the movie wasn't really a 1 star... I give it a solid 6.5, but since it's been voted so high here on IMDb, I'm just trying to bring it down into the realm of reality.