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jeffy3
Reviews
Time (2020)
Recommended with Reservations
I am mildly baffled by the over-the-moon reviews from so many critics, as I found this movie to be somewhat lacking in some regards, and most specifically details. I know this is more of a personal diary from Fox Rich and not a 60 Minutes piece, but the level of my emotional involvement in their plight was held down by details that were left out. 1) Was a gun used in the robbery? 2) Why did Rich not take the plea bargaiin? 3) Is he the father of the twins? If he has been in jail for 20 years and the twins are 18....huh? 4) Was there a prior felony record? 5) She is constantly shown on the phone badgering a judge's office for his decision but there is no explanation as to the nature of the court case. At a rather short 82 minutes couldn't the filmmakers have added an extra eight minutes of material to sort all this out for the viewer?
Still, I give this a seven because it was reasonably engaging, the family itself is very charismatic and appealing, the video diary segments were mostly moving (although it drove me nuts she and some of the kids don't wear seatbelts lol).
Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935)
Classic W.C. !
The first time I saw this on VHS I was somewhat disappointed, mainly because it isn't nearly as non-stop hilarious as IT'S A GIFT, but now that I have seen it again on the great new DVD set, I appreciate it much more. The opening scene with the burglars goes on a tad too long, but it is still quite funny, as is the classic sequence of Fields receiving several traffic tickets in a row. The character of his wife undergoes a transformation toward the end that makes no sense, and it is curious that the filmmakers and Fields didn't just kick the character to the curb, so it's not really a happy ending even though Fields gets his job back for higher pay. All in all, this is one of the better Fields vehicles as he is in pretty much every scene and there is no romantic subplot (or any other subplots) bogging things down! DVD print is fine considering the age of the material.
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Anyone Could've Made This Movie.
Anyone can make a movie showing Jesus getting beaten, whipped, and crucified over the course of two hours. It's hard not to react to any character going through what Jesus goes through in this movie (and probably in real life), but that's an easy way to get a reaction from the audience. People seem to be mistaking a realistic portrayal of Christ's condemnation and crucifixion with a good film. All this film seems to be saying is, "You think it's no big deal that Jesus died for you? Then watch and see what he went through!". Best I can say is the cinematography was good. None of the actors had much to do to really say much about their performances.