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rmcdonald-3
Reviews
Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019)
A long movie with no plot
My review contains a spoiler at end.
I'm a big Tarantino fan and was really looking forward to this, but sorely disappointed with it.
I kept waiting for a bit of action to occur or a story to develop, neither of which happened, except for maybe 10 minutes in the entire film.
I thought The Hateful Eight was his worst film, but this steals that crown easily. I watched The Hateful Eight, and liked it more on a second viewing at home. I will never watch Once Upon... ever again.
Tarantino is a genius in film making, but no one is perfect and there's always a dud or few in anyone's career.
I don't know how this got 7.7 score, at the time I submitted my review, as expected a 3 point something average.
I've left my spoilers to now, so don't read on if you don't want to know about the scenes I liked, the action referred to earlier. The Bruce Lee scene was funny and the final 12 minutes had some brutal violence, which I do like in his movies, and there's often plenty of it in his films, but not here.
If you're a big fan like me, then you're going to want to watch it, and then force yourself to endure it to the bitter end. Enjoy it, if you can!
The Irishman (2019)
Nowhere near as good as Goodfellas, Casino or The Godfather
The film was bland, with very little action and way too long. I am a big fan of mobster movies, but not of this. The special effect of "youthification" works well, mostly. I was constantly looking to see how much of the film was left to see on Netflix, hoping against hope the action would be upped, like each third of the film, would improve on the last, but, sadly no.
I'm glad I watched it though, but wouldn't watch it again, in contrast to seeing those in my review title many times!
If you can spare 3 and a half hours, watch it, but it is overhyped and overlong, and maybe if the actors WERE 30 years younger, it might have been a bit better.
Running Time (1997)
Very boring and way way over-rated
Oh dear, this movie was bad for various reasons. I was expecting to see a very low score for this film and was a bit surprised by the over-all score.Sorry, but to rate this highly as many have, is a joke! Once you get past the one shot/black and white movie gimmick, which was a nice idea, the movie drags on, even at a run time of only 66 minutes. The credits sequence at the start was so annoying too!In the van the guys suffer a flat tyre and change the wheel, wow, that was needed in the story! How slow were the guys chasing and actually managing to wound Campbell?? They did not seem to bother continue chasing him...sigh..I am only too glad I got this free with a special Edition of Evil Dead!!
Saw II (2005)
A great sequel to a good first movie
Some of the reviewers haven't seen much of Becker, a superb long running comedy starring Ted Danson, or they would recognise Amanda as Linda from it...she is a great actress and plays her part well here, so it wasn't just a bit part in the first film and bigger part here...she has been around a while.
OK, the horror is all gore, no suspense and with no scenes to make you jump. Whenever a character had a "way out" it was obvious a nasty surprise awaited him or her. The Sixth Sense had these qualities- my favourite film for sudden scares, and my favourite film of all time actually...
The ending leads the way to Saw III and it couldn't be worked out by anyone, I imagine, because it seems a bit ridiculous, but hey, you have to leave your reality sense at the door anyway!
If you liked Saw I then this is a film to watch, every bit as good, if not better.
Birth (2004)
Very disjointed film
I'm not going to say anything regarding the story but I found the film seemed to jump from one scene to another, making us wonder, how did we get here? It was like the editor, at times, got the scenes and then shuffled them around, with no real lead on to the next scene - In other words the continuity was very poor.
There was a lot of music in the film, a little too much tho - but hey, who is going to buy the soundtrack without it?
I can't say anything bad about Nicole Kidman's acting - she is always good, it's the script too that is bad.
Honestly, one of the worst films I have ever seen, and I am a big film fan. I was shocked by how many seemed to like it.(I never heard of it until it came onto our movie channel).
Oh and oh so boring too! You people who scored this highly...how sad! Sorry if I seem to say I am right and you are wrong, but really, you are so so wrong giving this a good score!!
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Very good update of the film
Apparently Roald Dahl's widow was pleased with this version and it has been said that her late husband hated the 1971 original.
I liked both of the films almost equally with the newest one having a slight edge... but the old one has the Oompa Loompa Doobedy Doo song which I really wanted to see again in the new one..how sad am I??
Did anyone else notice the similarity with Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka and Michael Jackson.....or was it just me...??? As an older "kid" of 39,does anyone remember Charlie's Grandad as the man who played the 1 armed servant in the 1970's comedy with Richard O' Sullivan, Robin's Nest I think...or was it Man about the House..think the former..
Anyway, not much of a review, more of a reminisce for which I'm sorry, but go see the film, great for kids of all ages from 7 to 77...