westpenn49 Reviews

Lovesong (2016)

Definition of insanity

[4/10 · 10 April 2024]

Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I watched this twice somehow expecting a story worthy of an hour and a half of my life. What I got, what you will get, is a story a sweet story at that, but not one that ultimately gives any satisfaction. Oh it comes close a couple of times, but like real life it just keeps on keeping on and the real emotions of the moment are forgotten swept away never to have to be dealt with. There is a husband in the background - he is a phantom. There is a husband to be - he will likely become a phantom. There are moments when the main characters can find each other and run away into the night. They don't.

Out at the Wedding (2007)

Don't Give Up too Early!

[8/10 · 4 April 2024]

You may say this is just dumb early on and it is in a smartly written sort of way. The dialogue is fun the set up a bit silly and the wedding a disaster of unprecedented magnitude, but around the 36 minute mark there is a breath of fresh air that will sweep you away. That breath comes in the form of Cathy DeBuono who plays Risa. Risa makes every scene better as she takes over. That is not to say that the cliched character of Jonathon isn't a hoot or that Andrea Marcellus's Alex doesn't deliver her complicated lines perfectly, because they do, but Cathy DeBuono is just in another universe.

(and do not give up at the awful horrible toast by the groom's brother, he goes away quickly never to return)

One of Them (2001)

A very worthwhile half hour. very minor spoiler

[9/10 · 28 March 2024]

This is one of the best "high School" films I have seen. There is a reality in the script in the acting that resonates well with my time during the time portrayed (2001) that rarely is seen. Yes Reggis seems over the top, but kids on the spectrum are like that, enthused beyond control over random subjects and it is scary to find that your liberal ideas are misconstrued and that you may be blind to the conditions of others. Holding hands in circles may be cliched , but I have seen similar things in real life. I especially liked how the two young women worked together and then apart when reality hit, but then the insensitive boy made the pain real for Jamie as well.

It is short, sweet and revalvant. Give it a try (and a better rating) it really is better than the numbers.

Heartland (2016)

Wine in Oklahoma what could go wrong?

[7/10 · 26 February 2024]

There is a little disconnect in Heartland. The opening, the main story (once the brother and girlfriend arrive), and the end. The three are related but a bit disjointed.especially the ending which goes off in a rather unexpected and not totally well developed, even if somehow satisfying direction.

I found the depiction of small town events to be quite convincing for the most part in particular the picnic scene and the sales pitch for a multilevel marketing product was so spot on.

The main romance section was well done and convincing as was the eventual reveal even if the aftermath will leave one head scratching and a suffering bit of whiplash. Despite that it was the right ending.

All that said it was a good effort well paced and acted.

The Affair (2019)

Too many movies

[6/10 · 21 February 2024]

The Affair. Let's start with the Title. It is misleading and confusing. To which affair does it refer? There could be several. Then there is the matter of too many English titled works with the same name. The Glass Room (Sklenený Pokoj) serves the story better as the center room of the house built for Viktor and Liesel serves as a unifier for the story. Yes, there is an affair, more than one to be sure, and one great love story which we the viewers would have loved to see more of, but in between the action becomes confused and shoppy. It is difficult to pick out the particular periods in time represented or how certain people transition. Hanna in particular seems to drift along doing whatever the script calls for without a lot of explanation. Perhaps if we were Czech we would know better, but I doubt it. One wants to like Liesel while she does her best avoid us. Viktor is almost an after thought though a stupidly reckless one at times. At the end of the day we continue to watch out of a desire for something good to happen and when it does we aren't quite sure if it was worth the wait.

Let's Go Below the Rainbow (2023)

Too Long? Surprise

[8/10 · 14 January 2024]

It seemed as though it could have been a half hour shorter right up to the last 10 minutes and then, it wasn't long enough! There is a lot of dreadful preachy dialogue from well meaning "loving" Christian family members, and yes we would have liked to see them all self immolate, but well that would be too convenient. Do I wish we knew more about Anita, sure but ultimately the movie is not about her it is about something greater and I do believe that in the end this movie delivers on its promise to be more than a titillating romance or a dreary romantic tragedy.

Louise is priceless. Yes, she is a preachy as Uncle Abe, but she brings a joie de vivre that holds things together through much of the movie. Thankfully we were spared the actual conversion therapy process and got to deal with the aftermath. If you have 2 hours take them, esp if you or someone you love is gay.

The Ultimatum: Queer Love (2023– )

Proves One Thing

[2/10 · 18 June 2023]

Gay or straight, Queer or not people can do the dumbest things in a quest for the immortality that television can offer. The premise of the show is that one member of a couple wants to get married the other doesn't. That should really be the end right there. Staying in such a relationship is self defeating behavior. Break it off and get some counseling - OR go on television and show the world.

This is reality television at its - I hesitate to say finest - but most real probably works. It does say something about us as society. Not a good something but something none the less.

Since my mother said to always try to be nice, JoAnna Garcia Swisher in a stunning green gown did manage to keep my attention. Voyeurs will disagree with my assessment and perhaps if you can submit to more than the first episode you will find something of worth - I doubt it.

Sharper (2023)

Almost great

[7/10 · 11 May 2023]

There are some truly good moments in this film, The opening sequence "tom" was quite good, but a it went the burden of keeping up with the twists and turns starts to be too great for the cast and the writers. At the end well the end plays out as if someone said , we have 10 minutes of film left let's wrap it up. The motivations for actions crumble and one starts to question and discard backstory before final reveal time. Final reveal? If you didn't see it coming, you haven't watched one of these before and even then I suspect you know a thing or two.

It is not the actors fault. To a person they carry off what they are asked to do and for the most part we are impressed, it is just that sometimes they don't act as smart as they should due to the requirements of the script.

Tidelands (2018)

Fun but not very real (aka So bad it's good)

[7/10 · 2 November 2021]

Start with girl getting out of prison. She went in as a blond 14 year old and comes out at 24 with dark hair and clothes that fit her perfectly even though no one was there with a new outfit. Never the less the local cop recognizes her instantly. You know that things are just going to be that way and yet somehow the story is fun and intriguing.

(then there is the guy in the boat in the opening scenes) He is a local and yet seems shocked by what he sees, though all the locals "know" and why is his boat rocking in the waves when the dinghy is sitting in smooth waters. Etc.)

and still we watch. The actors are all beautiful (except for the secondaries who look like real people)

Nothing is explained, not really, just go with the flow and you will find a fun if occasionally gory and often gratuitously sexy show. (Tidelanders do have fantastic bodies :) )

I stuck it to the end and felt like it was worth the price of admission. Relax folks this is purely fun and not the least bit real.

Ashley (I) (2013)

Love hate and being a troubled teen

[8/10 · 19 October 2021]

I am going to say first that there is a review that trashes Nichole Fox's acting. That reviewer is wrong. There are a lot of problems with the film but the acting except maybe just a tad from the mom is not one of them. The mother part is very poorly written, she goes into rages instantly without a whole lot of reason, but then . . .I think again of friends with troubled parents and I think, yeah ,maybe, but when it comes to teens who are withdrawn I really think that Nicole Fox nails it. Her therapy sessions are excellent if too quiet for good film making. Sometimes reality is just not exciting enough.

There aren't a lot of surprises and it is largely a downer, but it is truthful. The one thing I didn't buy was the relationship with the older girl, but that relationship does open doors and helps to take the lid off of the pressure cooker that was Ashley's life.

I have known girls like Ashley. That this one seems to make it out alive is a miracle in itself.

Acting Yes, Script Meh but the subject matter is important and for the most part handled well.

But what is with all the canned operatic music in the background. There must have been a sale because there is not tie in for the classical music to the story. It sets a tone, but oddly like having 50's Country music in a movie set in New England.

Tell It to the Bees (2018)

Difficult to address Love Hate dynamic with the film

[9/10 · 1 October 2021]

I loved this film up to the last few minutes and even not knowing the book's ending it was clear that there was a deviation. All of a sudden the characters go out of character and act as though they just stepped in from another set.

After watching the movie, I read the book and feel a bit more cheated by the movie; however without the context of the book the acting, direction and much of the writing are sensitive and full of truths.

One scene is so clear in the way that young minds work, concretely not abstract in the least. Young Charlie's friend Bobby asks Charlie if the doctor has a bath tub. He goes on to explain his reasoning for the question he had heard that the doctor is a "dirty dyke." Neither of them know what the second word means but they understand dirty and are confused because the doctor is not soiled in any real sense.

I will not divulge the ending, but suffice it to say that anyone who has lived in a small town or any isolated community will recognize the folly of decisions made by the writers and director. It is not a bittersweet ending, it is a sellout and cheap and disregards the dignity of the characters.

Why did I give it a 9 if I feel this way. Simply because the story up to that last part deserved a 10. The acting and cinematography were fantastic.

Theresa & Allison (2019)

For the record I am real, check my other reviews too all overto be troll thank you

[8/10 · 30 August 2021]

And yet I liked this movie in a perverse way. At times it was just too gory for my tastes and yet the gore wasn't totally gratuitous and yes it was preachy, but I thought the story that went with the long monologues actually scratched at some truth about the human condition. And of course there are some sexy nude shots, but again they all work together.

The Tony character gets more screen time than I would like, but then he was also the writer so you know he was going to get a juicy part.

The most annoying and least helpful character was the Russian Vampire Sakkara. While the others may have been unlikable they were watchable and had some purpose moving the story forward. Sakkara was wooden and over the top reminding me of some of my college friends who were into "Drama, Darling" and lived life as though they were Sara Bernhardt.

Never the less the film is better than it's detractors say and worth a spin. It is fun and campy at times, gory and creepy at others, but always with some intelligence even in the crazy Paisley lies a bit of truth that we might otherwise deny.

Elena Undone (2010)

After watching twice, I like this film more and more

[9/10 · 2 January 2021]

I did not like the presentation of the husband. He just didn't work as a conservative pastor or as a man. That said I thought that every other thing resonated with truth.

One aspect of love and affairs that rarely gets attention is the feelings of the third party. Peyton in this film gets to have the range of emotion, loving the individual , not knowing where exactly they fit in, not knowing when or if they will get to share their love in the open. It tears at the soul, it sows doubt and Nicole Conn gives us an inspection of that part of love, that pain. We also get the pain and doubt and confusion of the person who wasn't looking for love, but found it none the less.

It is a thoughtful film, it is a romantic film. It has some of the most sensuous love scenes that I can recall and yet nothing explicit enough to actually offend any but those who are predisposed to offence. You could watch this with your adult children and not be embarrassed.

Happiest Season (2020)

2 kinds of people

[3/10 · 28 November 2020]

One group loves this movie, the rest of us are still trying to figure out why. OK I did love the nostalgia (for me personally) of seeing the Guthrie Theater in downtown Grove City, PA (one of the more repressive villes I know of, but it is the ancestral home) otherwise there was little to like.

As with most people in my group I found Dan Levy and Aubrey Plaza to be excellent. I too felt that Abby and Riley could have found happiness together sharing their common heartbreak.

There were so many cliches, so many stereotypes, and how did I miss that Sloane and her husband resolved all their differences in the background while Harper and Abby found eternal bliss in the closing minutes? How did the kids not get into huge trouble for having set Abby up for shop lifting?

It was painful, dreadful, slow, and I was really looking forward to a thoughtful and well acted treatment of an important moment. Better luck next year.

On Chesil Beach (2017)

I wanted to love this movie (Spoilers perhaps)

[7/10 · 20 October 2018]

I wanted to love this movie, I really did. I loved the characters, their families, mostly, and the structure all worked to tell an intimate love story and yet in the end several things just didn't click.

Why was Florence so afraid of sex? Was it that Edward's anger was so much like her father's that she was afraid she couldn't please him? Had dad been abusive (more so than the emotional abuse that we see)? Why, if she was so afraid of sex, did she likely consummate a new marriage not long after the dissolution of this one? Why the tear at the end-OK she loved him and saw him, but really?

Eddie, biggest self congratulatory sulk ever. Seemed also like a bit of a stretch. From what well does this anger flow?

All of that said the first 3/4 are an intelligent and loving look at young love. The characters seem drawn to each other, seem to compliment each other, we root for for them, we love them. We are broken hearted and confused.

Below Her Mouth (2016)

Downhill from the start

[12 August 2017]

In the opening scene two women are having sex, or one is providing sex for the other "Did you come?" "Yeah, a little" Yeah a little? Honest answer would be "Not really, I'm bored" Argument follows. You've seen this guy before, but now he has flawless skin and a vagina. Everyone is beautiful otherwise . . .

Jenny's Wedding (2015)

Sweet movie, feels right anger, love and all

[8/10 · 8 March 2017]

I really liked this movie, maybe that says something about me, but I did and I cried in all the appropriate places and smiled a lot as well. Who we are and who our family wants to see are relevant even outside the gay not gay issue of the day. watching the family deal with the love versus the personal issues (what will my friends think, and don't even try to pretend that we don't all worry)

See it enjoy it, live for this movie does celebrate life, Oh yes Kathryn Heigel is in it and I thought she was wonderful. so there.

The Danish Girl (2015)

Would have liked another movie but this one was good

[9/10 · 23 May 2016]

Clearly I would have preferred the real story of Gerda and Lili. From accounts it was worthy of a film in and of itself. That said this film does work especially because of the conflicted nuances of Alicia Vikander's performance. What and who Gerda was in real life is the subject of another film. One the begs to be made. Who Gerda was in this movie is the result of Vikander's ability to show conflicted emotions, to respond to the world around her. Redmayne also does a remarkable job with what he is given.

The fault in the film, if there is one is in the translation from inspiration to script to film. Hopper, as director, bears the brunt of that responsibility and the studio advertising and promotion bears the lion's share for misrepresenting what the movie is and who it is about.

Never the less, the cinematography is divine, the acting incredible and the story, while not the true story, works on its own terms.

Boyhood (I) (2014)

High Concept movie that gets it done

[7/10 · 11 January 2015]

This is a high concept movie. The concept, or conceit, is that it follows the same characters over 12 years. We get to see the people age naturally and the story is thus the development of those characters including especially the titular boy, Mason.

When I first read about this I was afraid that the movie itself would be a long and boring rehash of the life, avoiding having to deal with the issues and pains of growing in favor of showing the inevitable march forward. The story, I thought, would need more focus. I was wrong. Linklater has found a way to encompass story and growth and for that I congratulate him. Job well done. The issue then is "Having met the goal was the total effort a triumph when judged against other film?"

To the extent that most movies have disappointed me recently Linklater succeeds. This is not however a powerful story, nor are the characters remarkable, nor are the portrayals wrenching. Polanski gets more out of 2 people in an otherwise empty theater in his high concept work Venus in Fur. Doubt, a movie from a year or so back, likewise just blows this apart in every dimension. So a good job, a good film, worth the price of admission (which says a lot these days) and a pleasant diversion for its not overlong 2 and a half hours. Truth be told I preferred Linklater's small concept film Bernie.

The Unlikely Girl (2012)

I didn't even know I liked it until the end

[8/10 · 1 September 2014]

The Unlikely Girl is a bit of an unlikely movie. If you read the description on Netflix you won't even understand that what you are seeing is the right movie until about 20 minutes in. It is confusing at times, but on second viewing, as in many great misdirection movies, things become clear(er).

The story is somewhat about the American exchange student as Netflix advertises, but she is more of a foil for the story itself and serves as a stand in for us the viewers as we live through the twists and turns of life.

The who's the what's and the why's are ours to determine but it is undeniable that Wei Ling Chang has brought a lot of talent to this effort and she largely succeeds in a compelling story, well acted (Shane Lynch's Jamie is obnoxious but grows on you and is well pretty much the girl next door and that honesty and innocence is important) The incredible thing is that the more you watch the more you discover, the more you discover the less you know . . .and yet it all works.

Bravo Wei Ling Chang. I can't wait to see what else you can do.

Under the Skin (I) (2013)

David Bowie films now seem approachable

[2/10 · 31 August 2014]

For better or worse I have been haunted by The man Who Fell to Earth for 30+ years. It was a movie of scenes that were or maybe were not supposed to make sense. Under the Skin is a movie that avoids making sense of its own. Like most of the Modern Art in the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen the dialogue with the "art" is the important thing here. I get it. Unfortunately, when the director is making wonderful observations - Scarlett Johansson is always going against the tide- unless the director also gives a little narrative, some sense of "Sitz im Leben" the viewer will fall away not so much confused as apathetic. We need just a bit more than "Aliens are people too" we need some context to decide if we care or not.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Nothing of note, nothing to justify

[1/10 · 6 April 2014]

This was about the most unredeemable movie that I can remember. The acting was over the top with only a few bit players turning in good performances Joanna Lumley as Aunt Emma comes to mind. Jordan Belfort tells his tale of excess without remorse or humor. I sincerely hope that he had a few sober moments in the late 80's and early90's where he accomplished something good, he doesn't seem to remember any of it. Most recovering addicts that I have met have tried to honestly reflect their past and turn away from it. Mr. Belfort has found a new drug in reveling in the hangover of his past. This movie is at best an extended drug flashback, one which has nothing to say about the human condition other than that Mr. Belfort and friends were degenerate. I knew that coming in and gained mo insight other than to be skeptical if I ever meet this guy in the future.

Save your money save your time even Fox News has more to offer.

And Then Came Lola (2009)

A good Friday night in for fun flick

[7/10 · 18 March 2014]

Relax kick back and let Lola do the heavy stressing. This is a fun flick that deals with coming to terms with ones own flaws and sort of letting others deal with themselves. I found it to be a healthy relationship movie when all was said and done.

Perhaps the saddest thing is that it seems most loved by young men under 18. I doubt if they have a clue, but if they get one, well so much the better.

This is not an Oscar contender but it is more tender than any of the testosterone filled flicks that disparage everyone and despite their reveling in evil get all the critical praise. This film pretty much lifts up everyone involved and brings out their best. That everyone involved is good looking is just another plus. :)

The Great Gatsby (2013)

Fantastic but only if you love Fitzgerald AND Luhrman

[10/10 · 19 May 2013]

Over the top-yes, reminiscent of Moulin Rouge, of course. Faithful to the book, yes to the extent I remember it and in all important details. Flawed, I don't really think so.

One cannot talk about this movie without deciding first of all if Baz Luhrmann's over the top style is appropriate. For the essence of the Roaring Twenties I think he was the perfect choice to direct. For the musical score i thought the hip hop rap techno captured the excess quite nicely even if it took a moment to orient myself to the music.

As in Moulin Rouge with Paris Luhrmann doesn't even come close to giving anything but a comic book view of New York City but what a comic book it was. But nothing of that matters as the real star of the show is the enigmatic Gatsby perfectly delivered by Leonardo DiCaprio.

For me it all worked the final scenes played as my memory said they should. When the credits rolled it was time to just sit in awe. Greatness at the price of a Sunday matinée.

The Ides of March (2011)

Intense thriller without the usual baggage

[9/10 · 26 January 2012]

Imagine a thriller category movie without a car chase, guns, bombs, plots to destroy the world. Difficult isn't it? and yet that is what we have in The Ides of March a thriller that is tight, intelligent and rewarding. It exceeded my expectations even though my experience with George Clooney films has given me high expectations.

The plot twists and turns like a New Zealand country road. Just when you think you know what is to happen, something else happens and yet all of the twists ring true. Some are red herrings. We suspect people of having agendas when they do not, we discover agendas where none were suspected.

In the end we are totally blown away, but even that makes perfect sense.

The writing is superb but the cast totally delivers without a false note.

Just watch, and experience. You will not see politics as usual again.

In a word, Brilliant.