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Den blomstertid nu kommer (2018)
It's Unthinkable that you would want to watch this movie...
Where to start? The movie was directed by Victor Danell under the pseudonym "Crazy Pictures". Yes, he should hide his name, and yes, you would be Crazy to watch this Picture. The movie stars Christoffer Nordenrot - and yes this movie is rotten. The movie also stars Jesper Barkselius - and yes, this movie does bark.
Somewhere in there was an idea for a disaster / apocalypse movie. Unfortunately, that idea got buried under massive exposition about things and people that who cares about them? For a significant portion of the movie, it wanders here and wanders there following several members of a family and their family dysfunction.
What does that have to do with this movie? Well, I guess for no other reason than to revisit that stuff in flashback at a certain point in the movie and suddenly make everything meaningful. Okay really, that's not the reason. They may have needed cheaply filmed filler because otherwise, they probably didn't have enough of a budget for a two-hour disaster movie. Or a plot for that matter either
There's a little bit of political conspiracy thriller thrown in to make it "topical." But blink and you will miss it.
A WORD to people considering contributing to a movie through Kickstarter - just one - DON'T. And to the poor people who funded this movie through Kickstarter (you know who you are, you're names are in the end credits) - you got taken for a ride. Hope that you didn't donate too much, because YOUR MONEY WAS WASTED.
There. See, the rest of you, I saved you from two hours wasted time. Or at least only watch the second half - there's bunches of interesting crashes and fight scenes. If you're in to those sorts of things and don't require your movies to have a coherent plot. (I'm probably talking to the superhero movie fans here.)
AND A NOTE TO SWEDEN: Stick to what you are good at - like making Ingmar Bergman films...
Petite maman (2021)
Do you have 73 free minutes?
To give away any plot to this film would be to do a grave disservice to you, the viewer. The viewer must let this film unfold as you watch it, let it build, piece by piece until all is revealed. So how to review this film?
Maybe I can talk about the films director, Céline Sciamma. Sciamma has quickly climbed to the top of French Cinema as one of the most gifted directors working today. With five films now to her credit, she has made her mark as a director of sensitive, naturalistic films about women, both young and adult. Petit Maman is no exception, but for the first time turning her direction to young children.
We can talk about the naturalistic performances she gets out of her actors, particularly the two young girls who appear in and anchor the film - it's their story, and it involves more people just than those two.
After the first film I saw by Sciamma, "Portrait de la jeune fille en feu" Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (2019), I knew she was a major directing talent who would make her mark as one of THE major women directors of the 21st century, telling the stories about women that most studios and directors aren't interested in.
I guess that's all that I want to say about this film without spoiling it for you. It's a quick view, just 73 minutes. But it's 73 minutes well worth your time. It will stay with you afterwards. And once you have seen this film, check out her the other films of Céline Sciamma. You won't regret it.
Nordsjøen (2021)
Five stars for the idea and special effects...
Another in the string of disaster movies from Norway. I can live with the cinéma vérité style of filmmaking, so often used to give even disaster movies some amount of veritas.
But after that, this movie falls apart the same way that the other Norwegian films did - by focusing too much on the emotional experiences of the characters. Aren't any of the characters - or at least the writers of these film - smart enough to make / write better decisions?
It's a overused trope when the camera keeps going to the child with the big sad eyes. I also wonder why a character is able to keep their head and rationally plan something early in the movie, only to fall apart and become a hysterical emotional wreck in the last third of the movie?
Let's not forget the standard trope of early in the movie of introducing Officer Dead Meat / Ensign Red Shirt. I figured that one out the first time I saw the character. It also boggles the mind when for one character to get rescued for another gets killed. "OH!, they saved that character!!" Yeah, but they killed off one of the rescuers in the process. The math doesn't work for me. At least in movie life. DUH.
The Orville: A Tale of Two Topas (2022)
Excellent, sensitive episode
Excellent episode that addresses a current issue that has garnered a lot of discussion in certain states in our country. I wonder how those residents would feel after watching this - would it soften their stance, or would they double down?
The Orville has been picking up the mantle from the original Star Trek. The new Star Treks have tossed in references to occasional hot topics, but they haven't done it the way The Orville is doing it.
I was originally dubious about this series early on, thought that it was too jokey. But since Season Two, they have found just right balance of serious and humor. Looking forward to Season 4 - Hulu, are you listening?
Amazing Stories: The Heat (2020)
I wasn't surprised by the quality of the User Reviews on this one.
I wasn't surprised by the quality of the User Reviews on this one.
In fact, the reviews were exactly what I expected. Everyone complains about an unoriginal story and bad acting. ETC.
You know, they are right about the unoriginal story. I have seen this story elsewhere and a number of times. What I HAVEN'T seen before, is this story told in this context of young Black women trying to get out of the life they are stuck in. I also haven't seen before a serious and sensitive story about young Black women.
If the story has been told before, it usually was about men, and probably as a bad vulgar comedy.
The young Black woman who is dead says, "I have been every kind of invisible, alive AND dead."
That is the reason for this story being told. Black women are NOT seen even more than Black men are NOT seen. Or worse, when Black women are seen, they are objectified.
And that was the entire point - we were essentially tricked into watching a serious and sensitive film about young Black women by surrounding it in a fantasy story. And hopefully having some of our stereotypes turned back on us.
I also didn't realize until the end that this is a love story. (And maybe that's one more reason for the negative reviews? I'll let you sort that one out within your own attitudes.)
Maybe the point of that revelation only at the end is that we learn it at the same time the characters realize it.
I often see films that I wish I could wipe from my memory, so that when I see it again, it's like seeing and discovering it for the first time. This episode is one of those. I was moved by the struggle of the young Black women, by their portrayal, by the life they live and also by the ending. Definitely the best Amazing Stories (original AND new) episode that I have even seen.
(And make sure to go through the other reviews and up-vote the good ones. "YES" to was this review helpful" to 8's or higher. Also, feel free to go through the 1's and 2's and so on ratings and down-vote them.)
Tenet (2020)
Director Christophen Nolan finally got me this time...
For the most part, I have enjoyed Nolan''s films, even though his tendency to exposition as people are running and jumping, necessitating me to rewind and turn on the closed captions. I even wear as a badge of honor that I "got" Inception.
But Nolan has finally succeeded in confusing me. I'm still trying to figure out what the running backwards stuff signified, other than something about going backwards in time. The final battle scene, though well-staged is a massive exercise in confusing the viewer. Maybe that was Nolan's point.
Nolan always has well executed action sequences, prior complaint about exposition included, and Tenet is no exception. I suppose that you could watch this film for it's action sequences. But without an understanding of it's murky plot? The sequences become meaningless.
Additionally, character motivations have a largely negative impact upon this film? Sator's (Kenneth Branagh) motivation for what he is doing? Weak. In addition to the apparently continuity error of occurring in the past, while everything in the present is okay? Dunno for certain on that one,
But my final analysis on this film is best summed up by Dean Martin, who in a sketch on their old 60's series, said to (Dan) Rowan and (Dick) Martin, "I lost you at the bakery." (Google it, can't add the URL.)
No Time to Die (2021)
Cut it by about 40 minutes and you will have a James Bond movie
Apart from Quantum of Solace, this is the weakest and by far the weirdest film in the James Bond series. And that's a tough one to accomplish after Spectre, and given the Broccoli's attempts to reinvent the Bond series in the years after Albert R. Broccoli's passing.
Let me start by saying that I like all of the old Bond films, even including Roger Moore. If I want high art, I'll go watch Akira Kurosawa films. But for Bond films, I want the action and adventure and ingredients that worked so well for the vast majority of Bond films.
You could cut the entire Madeline Swann story-line, replace her with another female costar - maybe even focused it on Lashana Lynch as a new 00, used her as character conflict for Bond - and the film might have actually been pretty good. (Calling all fanedits!) But this plotline adds too much baggage to the film, leaving us with it's excess running time of 163 minutes (!). It's just not all that compelling. The ideal running time for a James Bond film is 120 to 130 minutes. More than that (with the exception of OHMSS), you just have bloat. I want my James Bond films to be tight. And I want my James Bond to be mostly indestructible, not maudlin. (This film also holds the record at 20+ minutes as the longest pre-credits sequence.)
Daniel Craig wasn't bad. But his recitation of the usual Bondism's fall flat. Maybe the denouement of this film will jerk the direction of the current series out of the Kelvin Timeline and back into the regular James Bond world. I keep trying to imagine who the next candidate for playing Bond might be, but I can't think of anyone currently working. Which makes me think that it's going to be a good five years before we get another Bond film.
I will praise the action sequences. It's these sequences that make the Bond films. The sequences in this film are as good as any in the rest of the series. The attack on Saffin's complex at the end is well done. But instead of rescuing Madeline, Bond's efforts to destroy the complex could also have included rescuing Nomi. Right there, we cut a lot of fat out of the sequence and film.
Let's just hope that the next film doesn't follow this one the same way that the Ian Fleming novel "The Man With the Golden Gun" followed the novel "You Only Live Twice" - upon which elements of "No Time to Die" were based. It may have worked for the old novels. But it would be a real cop-out for the film series. Just move forward and pretend this film and it's four predecessors don't exist.
Oh, and don't even get me started on Billie Elish. Enough of this breathy, flat, toneless, melody-challenged recitations we call singing these days.
Tunnelen (2019)
It started out well enough, but went downhill as the movie went along
The film aims for realism in portraying a major fire in a tunnel, and does a good job with this part. It now occurs to me, why wasn't there any smoke from all of the fires in Sylvester Stallone's Daylight? Who knows. But there is smoke aplenty in this film, it almost becomes another character. However, this film fails in portraying realistic characters. One person runs into the tunnel to rescue others, then get stuck. Then another person runs into the tunnel to rescue the previous person, but they get stuck too. Then another person...well, you see where this is going. The stupid adds up until the entire film is preposterous. It's not really that offensive. But if you want a better disaster film, go see Daylight.
Stowaway (2021)
"The Cold Equations"?
It's too bad that short story author Tom Godwin passed away in 1980. Otherwise, he would probably be screaming to high heaven for the filmmakers plagiarizing his 1954 short story classic "The Cold Equations."
Icon (2005)
It's a shame
Frederick Forsyth's books are always so intricately plotted, with twists and turns, and usually a great surprise ending. This adaptation had none of that.
So much of what was great in the book (the history of Monk and the betrayed agents; the plot to influence the outcome of the Russian election) were completely missing in this adaptation. Instead, there's this completely new plot about bio-weapons that was a yawner.
Forsyth's protagonists always operated in the shadows, forever just slightly beyond the reach of the antagonists. The joys of his books have always been the machinations of carrying out their mission. This film resigned itself to gunfights and car chases early on.
Swayze's Monk might as well have hung a sign around his neck saying "I AM A SECRET AGENT" for all the attention that he called to himself during the film. And with all of that attention, the amount of time that it took the bad guys to catch up to him was surprising.
Granted there was some energy to this film, which is why I'm giving it a "3" instead of a "1". It was also great to see some underutilized pros like Patrick Bergin, Ben Cross, Michael York, and Barry Morse.
I hope that someday, someone will once again do justice to a Forsyth film adaptation like "Day of the Jackal" did.
King of the Corner (2004)
If you liked Crossing Delancey and Local Hero...
You'll love this one! Don't miss it!
Riegert returns in another small quirky film, which have become his strong suit as an actor. And this time he also directs and co-writes!
Leo Spivak has reached middle age. He's stuck marketing useless products to housewives; his young assistant is angling for his job; his marriage has lost it's spark; his daughter is dating a wild teenager in a souped-up car; and he has to put up with his aging, nagging father.
Riegert is perfect as Spivak, who mixes just the right hang-dog look of someone who knows his life is going nowhere mixed with sarcasm - the only way he knows to respond. How he finds the way to climb out of the hole he's in is what makes this film so delightful.
The strong talented supporting cast is rounded out by Isabella Rossellini as his wife, Eli Wallach as his father, Harris Yulin as his boss, Beverly D'Angelo as a high school flame, Jake Hoffman as his young assistant, Ashley Johnson as his daughter, Rita Moreno as his father's companion, and Eric Bogosian as a rabbi without congregation.
This is obviously a labor of love for Riegert, who is personally promoting this film from city to city. It's bound to get lost amidst the big-budget summer behemoths, yet this film is more engaging and fulfilling than ten to the summer films put together. Make sure to catch it when it arrives in your town!