nelsonrowe Reviews

Elvis (2022)

Everything you'd expect from Baz Luhrmann

[5/10 · 28 June 2022]

I'll say this about Baz Luhrman's film Elvis, it's is everything you'd expect from a Baz Luhrman film. There is an excess of visual spectacle. (One critic described as like watching a kaleidoscope in a blender). Col. Tom Parker is given a cartoonish portrayal by Tom Hanks. It plays fast and loose with facts. It goes on for about 50% longer than need be. That said, Austin Butler is captivating as Elvis, especially on stage.

Final note, for a guy who reportedly took half of what Elvis earned, the Parker on screen had a penchant for ill-fitting, drab clothing, and dime store hats.

I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)

Bleak and tedious

[4/10 · 9 September 2020]

A subtle performance by Buckley does not make up for a bleak, tedious, wandering story that seemingly never wants to end. The sly comedy of Adaptation and Malkovich are foresaken in favor of an effort to show how much of a smarty pants Kaufman can be, and why he would be a dreary person to invite to a dinner party.

Uncut Gems (2019)

Non-stop anxiety

[3/10 · 6 January 2020]

Uncut Gems is non-stop anxiety. The dialog (filled with yelling and talking over each other), the fast cuts, the score and the story itself are all designed to overwhelm the audience with sense of dread. It's like standing on the edge of a high dive platform over an empty pool in a windstorm.

If you like that sort of thing you'll love this movie. If you don't, you'll walk out of the movie with 45 minutes remaining like I did. By that point I had nothing invested in the pathetic character of Howard Ratner, and didn't care if he lived or died. I just wanted to escape the insanity.

Marriage Story (2019)

Depressing and preachy

[4/10 · 15 December 2019]

Marriage Story is a depressing tale of how divorce turns people into the worst versions of themselves. The dialog includes preachy/pedantic dialog in which the screenwriter speaks through the characters instead of letting the ideas come out more naturally. For example, her lawyer preaches about how women are treated differently in the courts, which is true, but we are left feeling as though we are at a protest rally rather than in a consultation. Similarly, his lawyer preaches about how the system is set up to make merciless adversaries of the spouses, which also may be true. In both cases these ideas could have been presented more naturally through just telling a story. While Driver and Johansson are good in their roles, the overall movie is a miserable experience.

The Young Pope (2016)

Vatican House of Cards

[3/10 · 17 January 2017]

I watched the first episode not knowing that this was a Paolo Sorrentino project. After watching the opening dream sequence I'm not surprised. Whether you will like The Young Pope largely depends on whether you like Sorrentino's style. I don't, because I think he is overrated, pretentious and emphasizes style over substance. I thought Youth was one of the worst films I saw in 2015 so you can take my review with that in mind.

The Young Pope beats a tired old story line about the rapacious Vatican cabal of power hungry Cardinals. There is no nuance or subtlety in the story telling. In this way it is much like the American version of House Of Cards. The actors are attractive and talented. The set design is lush and extravagant. Costuming is fabulous. The cinematography is beautiful. However, there is no there there, as Gertrude Stein famously said about Oakland, when it comes to the story. It's a just a boring story of craven evil. If that's your jam then go for it.

Youth (I) (2015)

Disappointment

[2/10 · 21 October 2015]

Youth is the sort of film we are supposed to like: esteemed Italian director and Academy Award winner, venerable actors, weighty subject matter. Yet, in the end it is one big disappointment. Here is why, and beware the spoilers.

1. The female characters are portrayed as weak, infantile or voiceless. Rachel Weisz has, by her own account, two jobs: daughter and assistant to her father the famous composer (which make it one job). Unable to pursue her own life, she is also afraid of heights. Although she confronts her father about his failings, we last see her being held like a baby by the bland mountaineer while hanging from the side of a mountain. Jane Fonda, in a brief cameo, berates Harvey Keitel while claiming she made her own career. Yet she is reduced to a raving mess on an airplane after learning of his suicide. The quiet masseuse, when asked why she never speaks, replies that she has nothing to say. Caine's wife is portrayed in just one scene, and she is reduced to nothing more than a catatonic silent scream.

2. Auxiliary characters such as the violin boy and the girl in the store do not emerge organically from the story. Rather they seem to be dropped into the story to mouth the thoughts of the writer/director, who apparently wants to make sure that the audience doesn't miss his intent.

3. The film is over filled with one surrealistic trope after another to the point of bursting.

4. Michael Caine's character is wrought over the realization late in life that devoting his time to his art/work came at the expense of relationships with people who mattered, namely his wife and daughter. Harvey Keitel, seeking to find a continued purpose in life by writing a new screenplay, kills himself upon realizing he can't do it. This is the stuff of a college sophomore who has taken a course in existential philosophy and became fascinated by The Stranger. There is a surface level philosophical question, but not much depth to it.

5. I could go on about the portrayal of emotionally empty sex, dining rooms filled with mute couples and mannequin like guests, people marching like automatons to the spa and so forth, all of which leave the viewer with a dismal view of life.

I give credit to Caine, Keitel and Weisz for doing the best they could with marginal material. The film itself, however, is pretty to look at and dismal to watch.