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Reviews
I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
Bizarre Piece of "Art"
I'm not really sure what to make of this film or why it seems to have captivated so many critics. It's bizarre without being particularly interesting.
The film starts well, along the path of teenagers' alienation, grief, and loneliness and the cast is outstanding. But somewhere along that path, the whole thing careens right into the ditch and seems to run out of ideas.
And it has the classic flaw of many an interesting set of ideas: how to wrap the whole thing up. I found the resolution, if one can call it that, to be a failure. Others may disagree.
That said, I commend Cinemark for giving this film a screen for a few days. Not every "art" film is so lucky.
No One Will Save You (2023)
Kaitlyn Dever is Outstanding
This is an interesting new take on the aliens-infiltrating-humanity theme that kept me glued to it throughout.
The key to this film is the absolutely outstanding performance by. Kaitlyn Dever, who is in nearly every scene and has essentially zero dialogue. She's been outstanding in many of her previous roles, but this entire film is on her shoulders and she is completely up to the task.
The film creates great tension almost from the first scenes. As the story moves ahead, we're filled in on the main character's tragic backstory in a way that could have been heavy-handed but had just the right touch and, fortunately, the perfect actor for the role.
Talk to Me (2022)
Yet Another Vastly Overpraised Retread
Once again, we have a horror film that doesn't have a single new or interesting idea and yet it's praised to the heavens. It's as if the critics haven't actually seen enough horror films to recognize that everything in this film has been done before and done much better.
Once again, we have a group of sarcastic partying teens (or thereabouts) who manage, through their own stupidity, to summon evil visions followed by actual evil deeds. That they each experience horrifying results from what is passed off as a party game does not deter them in the least.
Two sentences are thrown in to take a stab at explaining the evil porcelain hand and then it's off to the races. Where did it come from? What might explain its effects? What's the basis for the ritual that makes it work? Who knows? Not the filmmakers, apparently.
The leads are appealing actors but their efforts are wasted in this mess.
Fans of mindless brutality may find something of interest here because it's nothing if not brutal. But everyone else should wait until it streams if they feel the need to see it.
M3GAN (2022)
Completely By-the-Numbers Schlock
I do not understand the gushing praise of this thing. There's not an original idea in the entire film.
If you've seen Ex Machina - a good film - or any of the Chucky movies - none of which are good films - you've seen this movie.
Corporate greed is thrown into the mix, giving the great Ronny Chieng some of the dumbest lines in recent memory.
But it's not only his character. Every character is required to do and say things that are ridiculous and required only to keep the wreck of a script rolling along.
No character talks this way outside of bad movies. None continue to make the wrong decision in every circumstance in good horror films.
Watch Get Out or It Follows again and skip this one.
You're Killing Me (2023)
Forgot to Write an Ending - Again
This teenagers-gone-wild story was interesting enough, though not really much different from dozens of others on the same theme except for the performance by McKaley Miller, who holds the whole thing together right until the end.
At that point, the two main characters are looking at each other with "What Just Happened?" expressions. My reaction was the same. And the script apparently provides no answers for anyone. Just move onto the credits and invent your own ending, I guess.
Another case of a script that is essentially only an idea and the parties complete the undertaking without having a couple more discussions to cover how they to wrap the whole thing up.
2nd Chance (2022)
Nearly Flawless Documentary on Niche Business
This excellent film is primarily the biography of a very odd man who was a giant in the specialty business of designing, manufacturing, and promoting body armor for police and military forces.
But the film also deftly addresses the hubris of business management and promotion coupled with the vital importance of the products produced, which, if they work properly, save lives and which, if they don't, have deadly consequences.
The filmmaker treats his subjects with great respect and compassion while leaving no questions un-asked. The film is very funny in spots, given the oddball main character's deadpan responses and homemade promotional videos, and heartbreaking in others.
The tests of a great documentary, in my view, are whether the subject is consistently compelling, no matter how obscure, and whether I leave the theater with issues I believe have been minimized or ignored by the filmmakers, whether due to poor editing, poor preparation, lack of follow-up, bias, or cowardice
This film is both compelling and complete. Well done.
The Evers (2020)
Moving documentary about one of the giants of the Civil Rights Movement.
This is a moving and often gut-wrenching set of interviews with scholars and members of Mr. Evers' immediate family about his life, his loving relationships with his wife and children, his activism and the personal risks inherent with it in that time and place, and his murder by the racist and cowardly White Citizens' Council of Jackson, Mississippi.
Men (2022)
Claptrap. Pure and simple. Don't waste your time.
Ex Machina was a great film. Annihilation was an interesting failure. Men is a ridiculous waste of time. Alex Garland is headed in the wrong direction.
The excellent and otherwise very talented cast is completely wasted. A horror film that is not remotely scary. Watch It Follows again and don't waste your money on this mess.
Halloween Kills (2021)
The same old recycled crap! Enough!
Not one original thought or scene in this entire mess! Just another fleecing of movie-goers. Another major disappointment in a series that has never come near matching the original. Haven't you made enough to fund your retirement, Ms. Curtis?
Reacher (2022)
So Much Better Than Tiny Tommy Cruise
A very good adaptation of Lee Child's first Reacher book. Far better than either of the earlier attempts to film these books starring Tom Cruise. As nearly everyone has commented, Cruise was simply too small and not nearly menacing enough to play Reacher. Moreover, the revisions to those great book for the film script were bizarre.
The cast here is solid, especially Willa Fitzgerald, Malcolm Goodwin, and Maria Sten. Bruce McGill is also good and oily as the corrupt local, a feature of many Reacher books.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)
Hucksters 101
This is the most idiotic of the series and that's really saying something. To watch this mess you, of course, you must suppress what is well-known about the Warrens: they were hucksters viewed even in the most-favorable light.
By the time your get to the ridiculous court hearings, you realize, again, that these movies don't work at all as "scary" and aren't even worth watching for the unintended laughs.
Don't waste your time. If you believe in demonic possession and exorcism as a remedy therefor, you should watch The Exorcist again. At least it's a truly scary movie.
For All Mankind (2019)
Just Lowered My Rating
The first season of this program was both interesting and thought-provoking. As the second season progressed, it's become more and more ridiculous. The soap-opera side stories are simply rehashed from the bad-movie-drama vault. The Cold-War-in-Space portions are slightly better but the silly expositive dialogue is cring-worthy. We will skip the next season.
Super Frenchie (2020)
If You Enjoyed Free Solo, This Documentary is forYou
Super Frenchie is a very good film that documents the efforts of base jumper/ski-base jumper Matthias Giraud to find ever-more-challenging cliffs to ski off.
The film spends some time addressing the inherent selfishness of extreme athletes like Mr. Giraud, for whom family and friends must take second place to the "need" of the athletes to challenge themselves to the rush of close brushes with death.
A serious injury coincides with the birth of Mr. Giraud's son and, very briefly, he seems to embrace that responsibility over the call of the steep cliffs. But, predictably, he's soon back on the hunt for the adrenaline highs of nature at its roughest.
The film seems less-personal than the recent Free Solo's examination of Alex Honnold's parallel pursuit of free-climbing challenges, but its seen-from-numerous-angles action sequences are just as nerve-wracking.
The Colorado (2016)
Spectacular images - odd soundtrack
The photography and the narration are first rate in this documentary on the history of the wonderful Colorado River. My primary issue is the soundtrack. During the narration, it's first rate as it accompanies the story and pictures. But, during the sequences with no narration, the music is so loud as to overwhelm the spectacular film.
Your Honor (2020)
Ridiculous on nearly every level
The plot holes in this well-intentioned mess are substantial. The legal processes are dramatic at a Perry Mason level with almost no connection to anything that would actually happen. And the "what comes around, goes around" ending is ludicrous.
Numerous outstanding performances are wasted in this mess.
The House in the Middle (1954)
Unintentionally Hilarious Home Maintenance Tips
Made with the utmost sincerity, with a stirring score to match, they forget to mention that fixing up and tidying your house and yard won't help all that much when your irradiated. But a new coat of paint may help leave the house in good shape for the cockroaches that survive.
Another great reason to check out TCM late nights.