AJBraxton Reviews

The Lake (I) (2022)

Disappointing on many levels

[4/10 · 1 September 2022]

If you are looking for a good movie to show the quality of Thai Cinema and this is not it. It's such a mess I don't know where to begin. I can't blame the English subtitles - although they are a bit strange with English culturalisms.. like the police officer acknowledging a radio call by saying "roger that." So there is this monster that apparently lives in the lake and kills scores of people. Fairly decent EFX...but the story is well, full of holes and hard to follow. And the ending.. what the? There is a side story with two university researchers...who disappear after appearing.. and then come back in the end with the answer of what the monster is looking for. And somehow they are allowed into the hospital to view records and interview patients as well as access to the police chief... because they say they want to help? Every, and I mean every, confrontation scene with the monster is overlong.

You Are Not Alone, the Musical (2013)

This is what happens when you can't stay off the stage..

[1/10 · 20 April 2022]

Why? This reeks of "how to monetize my brother's passing".... There are two Jacksons with enduring solo careers.. and one is NOT named Jermaine. Watched this on BroadwayHD (it is a musical?) while cleaning the house and doing laundry. It almost sounded like a KIDZBOP cover of Jackson tunes with a really weird song tribute to Jermaines mother with lyrics that said (If I recall correctly) that said "when you pushed me out "... in reference to the birth process.

The Jesus Music (2021)

Good at telling part of the story...

[7/10 · 9 April 2022]

Consider the source. If you are looking for a documentary that looks with thoughtful introspection at the "Jesus" music movement - this is not the one. An early indicator would be the mention of Lonnie Frisbee as the original thought leader and flash point for the inclusion of contemporary music into christian services. The film never speaks about how he was ostracized for being gay .. and yet, it does examine (all be it briefly) the challenges the industry had with racism. But.. if you, like myself, "grew up" with this music it is a nice trip down memory lane and will spark many "whatever happened to" thoughts. Minor license is taken with chronology. Keith Green's impact and death are given cursory note and out of the correct chronological sequence. This is a show that "preaches to the choir" and having been someone who was at one time very much in the choir.. I enjoyed it.

Glory (1989)

Who needs a white savior?

[4/10 · 18 December 2021]

A movie about the all black 54th n the civil war written by directed by and produced by white men. So naturally it is actually a movie about a white savior. Let's just stop making these.

Holiday Rush (2019)

Welcome Break from the Monochromatic Hallmark Movies

[10/10 · 1 December 2019]

Every Christmas I look for some good old sappy happy ending easy to digest tear inducing holiday fare with a cast a hue other than the driven snow! Thanks Netflix for adding this to my choices...that's what you get with Holiday Rush. 10 stars because it does exactly what I expected it to do...

I Am Eleven (2011)

Good Film - Too Narrow?

[7/10 · 11 October 2014]

The other reviewers here have articulated my view of this film. I went to see it because I have spent a good quarter century teaching 11 year olds and know the "magic" that they bring to the world. Want to be more optimistic about the future of humankind - hang out with some 11 year olds for a while. This film affords everyone the opportunity to do that. What I found a bit disconcerting was the film makers choice to travel to Thailand and spend the majority of the time interviewing an English speaking (British Expat) child when she could have taken the time to spend more time interviewing and seeing the life of the 11 year old Thai boy Goh. We did learn from Jack (the expat boy) that he indeed was pretty similar to all the other 11 year olds in the film, but I kept wanting to know more about Goh.

Jazz in Love (2013)

Real.. but has some distracting holes....

[8/10 · 16 March 2014]

I am rating this film an 8 out of 10 because of it's bravery and subject matter. It's not likely that there will be too many films that take this subject head on. I'm sure the story and phenomena of western men courting and marrying Filipino (or Asian or other))women has received significant study but what about men. As same sex marriage becomes more and more widely available more and more men will want to seek partners from another country. The film does an effective job of setting the scene. The director was present at the screening I saw at the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) Festival in San Francisco tonight. She stated that she wanted to make a documentary film with a narrative through-line. This is not a novel approach to documentary film making and she and her collaborators did an effective job until the end of the story when the relationship between Jazz (the young Filipino) and Theo (the noticeably older German boyfriend) seemed to come to and end with Theo abruptly going back home and not asking Jazz's parents for his hand in marriage. The viewer was left wondering why? What happened. That was left unanswered as were some other questions that could and should have been explored more deeply. What was the role of religion in Jazz's life and his self acceptance as a gay man? What was the role of cross cultural conflict in his relationship with Theo? What difference does age play in their conflicts and their coming together? Perhaps a film 20 or 20 minutes longer could have done a better job. Despite what I perceive to be a flaw in storytelling, what story is told is told well and brings into the light a part of the human experience that, as the director said in the post showing Q & A, needs "not be sensationalized - but normalized."

Tsunami: The Aftermath (2006)

Waiting for the good news....

[4/10 · 26 December 2006]

It is television after all so I kept waiting for the good news. Where was it? Certainly in this story of massive human suffering there has to be some good news. Okay... I'll give the producer/director/writer some leeway in that they wanted to tell a story about the Tsunami for a western audience so that probably accounts for the seemingly bizarre absence of any Thai person of note in the movie with the exception of hard working kitchen staff boy. Thank god for the western NGO worker to help those poor villagers who had fled to the hills . . . and then the Brits who came to the aid of the villagers. I am living in Thailand now and find that the Thai are quite capable (despite a bizarre bloodless coup of a freely elected Prime Minister to restore democracy?) of doing some really good things.. and doing quite a bit for themselves. There was an attempt to show the difference in response to this disaster on the part of the Thai (why it was o.k. for them to burn bodies w/o identification). But.. please.. where was the good news in this movie?

Girlhood (2003)

So.. have we seen this movie before?

[5/10 · 29 May 2006]

Haven't we seen this documentary before? Quick - name a Lifetime movie with the same story line. I was set up at the beginning for some sort of documentary on the alarming change in girl crime. But.. I didn't get it. The case studies did not seem to exemplify something alarming or horrifying. Perhaps it was the fact that with both girls the viewer was consistently given hope. Shanae made it. The other girl.. who knows where she is today. The movie I would like to have seen would have shown perhaps a wider variety and a lock-up facility where everyone is not a happy family and there is not violence. I have a hard time believing this is the norm.. but then again, the film maker does not say it's the norm...she just begins the movie with the premise that there is something alarming in the girl hood. We just never get to see it.

Deadly Swarm (2003)

Something Wrong With Me.. or Am I Gifted?

[7/10 · 29 May 2006]

I was looking for an easy to follow but not too absurd "rampaging mutant insects" movie and I found this one. And..... I liked it. I found the plot line easy to follow and the dialogue just narrative enough that I could mutli-task doing 14 other things while watching it and still know what was going on. I'd love to sit down with Roger Ebert's little brown book of movie clichés and see how many i could find in this movie... i'm sure the count would be close to 100 (i.e. the bad guy who spends precious escape time after wounding the hero to tell him all about the experiment gone awry and why he is really doing good for all making... not slaughtering hundreds of people - and that's just before he "gets it" from the girl). I think anyone who watches this knows what they are getting. Make a game of it and stop every 15 minutes or so and see if you can predict what's next.

Slight Fever of a 20-Year-Old (1993)

Film-making STyle

[7/10 · 13 April 2006]

I like art house films. And I take time to sit and watch them. I picked up this DVD hoping to get some in-site into the gay youth culture of Japan. I did find out that there seem to be some parallels with American youth. For example, each of the two main character's find's himself with a delightful "girlfriend." One is the stereotypical "fruit fly" in that she adores her gay friend (Shin) but doesn't have a man of her own. Sorta living the vicarious romance and roguishness of his life. And the other boy (Tatsuro) has a girl who is not quite sure if she is romantically interested in him and he does not reveal his true nature to her. She senses something just isn't right and stays away... that's a good thing. OH.. the movie.. worth a watch.. in a film festival student feature kind of thing. And I did not care for those lingering shots of "nothing but the actor" that the film maker included. I kept wanting to say to the characters "Do Something" but then realized that it was indeed creating some artistic tension.. intended or not.