mingsphinx Reviews

The Outsider (2020)

No story

[2/10 · 20 September 2020]

This gets a two because the first two episodes were good. After that, it became a whole lot of nothing. Which is more than frustrating because you just keep waiting for the story to come together but it never does. Production value also fell as the episodes progressed. You can actually feel the actors, the crew and the post-production team lose interest as the series moved tiresomely to the next episode. This being a HBO production it never actually looked shabby, but the last episode felt like it was something of an after thought.

How many of us can remain 'sane' when confronted with proof of otherworldly beings? Do you really just go back to that suburban life of tending the garden and backyard barbecues? This is my biggest peeve with this miniseries. If there is any evidence of a supernatural occurrence, would that not be far more important than pursuing whatever crime, however heinous it maybe? And having discovered this mind blowing, earth shattering truth, why would disparate individuals work as a group to cover it up?

There could have been a story here but the people at HBO have lost their mojo. Success dulls the edge and it seems that they can no longer cut it.

Unnatural Selection (2019– )

Might be one of the most important documentaries made in recent years

[10/10 · 24 October 2019]

It can be a little boring at times but if you stay with the series and see for yourself the promise of gene therapy, you will understand why public understanding of this technology is so urgently needed. Once people grasp how potent gene editing is, they are going to want it more than they would anything else. The problem is that none of us know what the consequences will be when gene therapies become widely used and accepted.

It might be one of the consequential documentaries made in recent years because Unnatural Selection chronicles the rise of the gene editing revolution. Years from now people will look back (with regret I think) at the cowboy recklessness that unleashed disaster upon the world. Changing the DNA of any organism that can reproduce could have profound implications for the world we live in, not always for the better. But if you are a biohacker, to you the world we live in is already not only unsustainable but also in deep crisis. So to them there is no reason not to try something new, even if it may have potentially catastrophic consequences, to try and make the world a better place.

That sense of grasping at a possible utopia from a paradise that has fallen seem to underlie the motivations of many of the people who were profiled. And therein lies the danger for all of us because they believe that they can make the world a better place and are willing to force the rest of us to go along with or without our consent. It is also worthwhile to look at the ignorance of some of these people and their undisguised greed for life and wealth to see why the gene editing movement is not likely to end well for all of us.

How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) (2019– )

Too American

[6/10 · 2 August 2019]

Even in German with subtitles the show felt like it was tailored specifically for an American audience. The central characters, all teenage high school kids, behaved like Americans who happen to be fluent in German. That said it is not a bad series but I wanted the show to have more German texture and flavor.

Bad Banks (2018–2020)

Interesting characters

[9/10 · 23 July 2019]

If you are familiar with international finance then you will know that the setting is unrealistic but the characters are all too recognizable. The twists and turns that swirl around the plots and counter plots can be dizzying but very fun to watch. There are no good or bad people, just winners and losers.

Dark (2017–2020)

ICH BIN DU -- butts the paradox head on

[10/10 · 23 July 2019]

Watched the first two seasons in German with subtitles and thought it was excellent. The tension just keeps building as more is revealed. It is hard to say if the creators can maintain plot discipline in the forth coming seasons, but there was definitely coherence in the first two.

Acting was outstanding and you can really feel everyone involved in the project giving it their best. Dark is the first German television series that is a global hit and it has certainly raised the international profile of all its actors and so I suppose they have good reason to commit to their roles, but I also get the sense that the actors appreciate the social and philosophical themes that are explored and regard the material to be worthwhile and meaningful.

Best if you watch the show in German and use subtitles if necessary. It was not really meant to be binged and if you are not fluent in German then it is probably best to sip it slowly.

Best in Show (2000)

Good comedy

[8/10 · 31 May 2019]

Comedy is hard and most comedies I have watched will not get more than a 6 or 7 from me. So as far as I am concerned, this movie rates among the best comedy I have watched. It was not so much a mockumentary but a parody of middle and upper middle class America. The idea of creating a show that is built around a dog show is original enough that I wondered why I did not think of it.

Watching the movie, I did not know that much of it was actually improvised and was quite impressed with the scriptwriters for writing that kind of dialogue. Knowing now that many in this great cast brought their improv talents to bear just blows me away. How did the director work with the actors to bring to life many of the characters?

It was not always laugh out loud funny, but it had its moments. Good show to help you relax and forget about your troubles.

Informer (2018)

The price of deception

[8/10 · 24 May 2019]

The twist at the end was built in because this was supposed to be a thriller. It worked with the overall theme that examines from multiple angles the price of deception and the cost of being the lie, and it was unexpected, but it was not the most engaging part of the series.

That honor belongs to Paddy Considine who manages to bring to life the strain of being a level 1 undercover agent in groups that most would consider vile and dangerous. To succeed, the infiltrator or informant must be thoroughly convincing. And the only way to be believable is to believe yourself at least some parts of the web of deception that you intend to spin. People get lost and many end up paying a terrible price.

So, this show is actually a lot more thought provoking than most TV shows. That said, it still manages to engage the audience as the plot unfolds. I also appreciated how people are depicted. There was not much of the social justice bull crap that many shows like to shove down people's throat. Any attempts at political correctness, like including an East Asian character with a speaking role and heroic actions, seems to have been done to blunt criticisms that the series gives too much credence to undesirable prejudices.

Well worth your time.

The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)

Has it flaws, but was thought provoking

[8/10 · 23 May 2019]

As a film about a movement, there was very little space in this long film to depict how the central characters were transformed by what they did or to examine their motivations. But the movie does succeed in forcing the viewer to look at the Red Army Faction (RAF) and to evaluate their goals and actions with the benefit of hindsight. What did the RAF achieve? Were they the anti-capitalists heroes they made themselves out to be or were they terrorists or perhaps even just criminals who used the cover of a political cause to steal and dispossess?

Production values were high with realistic depictions of the bombings carried out by the RAF. Performances were strong as the actors were acutely aware of the historical significance of the project. It is a long film but worth checking out if violent extremist groups interest you.

The Painted Veil (2006)

Melodramatic but enjoyable

[7/10 · 23 May 2019]

Produced by the two lead actors, their performance in this movie was definitely committed and strong. The film was beautifully framed and there was nary a scene that was not picturesque. But the sentiments expressed just felt a little too melodramatic for modern tastes and yet paradoxically unrealistic in its restraint. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable to watch this movie.

In the Fade (2017)

Felt a little rough

[6/10 · 20 May 2019]

The camera work and direction were quite uninspiring. Often the angles were poorly chosen and the decision to use natural light meant that the film was not always successful at evoking the right mood.

I thought it would be an action packed revenge flick but it turned out to be a clumsy courtroom drama that needed vigilante justice to balance the scales. Despite a good performance by Diance Kruger, the movie just did not have much of an edge. The arguments presented in court for instance lacked punch and the decision that was reached was actually kind of dumb.

Film production was clearly on a tight budget. As far as I can tell, they did not build any elaborate sets. But filming in multiple locations is expensive as the crew and equipment has to be moved around and housed. If you are going to spend the money, then it is really important to have a deep conception of the movie before you try to realize the material. In the Fade just did not have that clarity of vision. The result is a little rough and somewhat unsatisfying.

Recovery Boys (2018)

Unrealistic

[3/10 · 15 May 2019]

The underlying message is that if more addicts got the 'treatment' they needed, America's opioid crisis can be solved. The facility at Jacob's Ladder is so nice it could probably succeed as a bed and breakfast. The documentary does not delve into the cost of the program at all, but it is clearly not cheap to have nice rooms and employ support staff to help people who have multiple felony convictions. The flip side of providing a place like Jacob's Ladder to addicts is that resources are diverted from other vulnerable people. Is that fair? Is that right?

Watch this documentary to understand why America's opioid crisis will never be resolved. The filmmaker wants to be hopeful but refuses to be realistic. She wants us to hate the addiction but love the addict at any cost. The result is destruction for everyone as whole communities become slaves to the Mexican drug cartels.

Bumblebee (I) (2018)

Not really a Transformers movie

[5/10 · 12 May 2019]

The CGI was quite good and hence the 5 star rating. The teenage growing pains and coming of age angst was annoying and had nothing to do with Transformers whatsoever. The whole effort feels like a bad 80s movie with a very fake, plastic feel that was souped up with some expensive special effects.

Since this was an origin story, they really should have done more to tie in with the rest of the Transformer franchise. Perhaps this is the reason the screenwriter for Bumblebee, Christina Hodson, will not be writing the script for the next Transformer movie. Even though Transformers as a concept is a little dodgy, it does not mean you can do whatever you want with it. You have to be into Transformers, like really be deep in that world, to produce a script that satisfy the fans.

On Happiness Road (2017)

Authentic and ambitious

[9/10 · 3 May 2019]

Perhaps only people who speak the Min Nan dialect will truly understand how heartfelt this film is. The price of such authenticity is that much is lost in translation. Even a Taiwanese, many of whom do not speak Min Nan, may not fully appreciate how much of the filmmaker's soul was poured into this movie.

The thematic scope was particular in that it was a very personal point of view; but also very broad because it was a grand sweep through the many social and political upheavals that an individual would have lived through in Taiwan. The film was not only ambitious in its scope, it also tried to reach a philosophical depth that movies rarely attain. So much so that I wondered if the filmmakers had overreached? Hence a 9 instead of a 10. But I am a little ambivalent about my rating and would on a different day rate it a 10. Perhaps if they only delved a little deeper into the many thorny issues that had been thrown up... But the film is already nearly 2 hours long, so I do wonder if that is reasonable at all.

Even if you do not speak Min Nan, this film is still a valuable window into Taiwan. No matter how it is translated, you will probably will not understand all of it. Keep that in mind if you choose to watch it. And I highly recommend that you do.

Generation Wealth (2018)

A self absorbed narcissist makes a movie about self absorbed narcissism

[4/10 · 17 April 2019]

Obviously it goes nowhere because there was nothing there to begin with. The problem with this documentary is that its maker, Lauren Greenfield, is really no different from the subjects she tries to capture except that Lauren is in no way able to shimmer in the glitz. She injects herself repeatedly and often jarringly into the film even though she lacks the qualities that would make such an exposure captivating. I rated this a 4 because she does try to seem to be brutally honest, but it is an intimacy most people would not care to share. Basically, there is no reason for an audience to get to know someone like Lauren.

The topic is interesting and there were some good interviews, but the filmmaker did not have the intellectual heft to do justice to the topic. Some of her interviewees said thought provoking things which she did not pursue because she wanted to make a movie to show people how good, grounded and wholesome she was. She actually seemed to be more interested in signalling to others that she was virtuous and nonjudgmental and hence the self flagellation though a public confessional.

It is not really worth your time and it is definitely not a 10.

The Discovery (I) (2017)

Too ambitious, fails in form and substance

[5/10 · 31 March 2019]

Just reading the synopsis raised my expectations, which is perhaps why the movie fell flat for me. Instead of an exploration of an intriguing idea, the film really became a declaration of faith in what is essentially a notion that cannot be proven and thus cannot really be known. When assertions are made about the mysteries of consciousness, you either believe them or you do not.

I would have given this a higher rating just for tackling such a difficult topic but the direction, acting and even cinematography never really came together. There were plenty of big, proven names who lent their prestige to this project and yet surprisingly none of the people involved seemed willing to commit. It was like they all knew the outcome would stink but no one wanted to sully their reputations by doing a bad job.

It is worth a watch if you are fans of some of the actors as I am. The arc of the plot is not unsatisfying even though it is in many instances frustrating. A film perhaps to while away the time and put yourself in a more contemplative mood.

Unseen Enemy (2017)

Pandemics are optional?

[5/10 · 19 March 2019]

Put it down to a morbid interest in epidemics, but there was no material in this documentary I had not seen or heard before. The interviews were for most part good and I definitely enjoyed watching Dr. Moses (front line medical professional during Liberia's Ebola outbreak) say his piece, but the underlying message of needing to do more to prevent future outbreaks is actually quite illogical. How do you prevent something when you do not know what is coming down the pike? It did not help that the person they chose to hammer home the message was Peter Sands (former CEO of Standard Chartered). If Hong Kong had known that SARS was going to be a risk, do you not think that they would have done something about it? But they did not and could not have known that an outbreak of the then novel SARS virus was going to occur.

The filmmakers want to drive the point that prevention is a lot cheaper than treatment, but offer no real suggestion as to how prevention is possible or what might be done to prepare for a pandemic. Aside from giving more money and resources to public health professionals who obviously have a vested interest in promoting the idea that prevention is possible, what else do we do?

Much of the documentary is quite preachy, like the stuff on climate change. But production value was often decent and they did manage to get some of the biggest names in the field of public health to give interviews. So despite the fact that it was mostly boring and not insightful, I have given this a 5 star rating. You will not be entertained and unless you know nothing about the outbreaks of recent years, you will not learn much from watching this film.

They made a movie on an important topic that is not likely to have any impact whatsoever on public discourse. Really, a wasted opportunity.

Triple Frontier (2019)

Beyond stupid

[4/10 · 17 March 2019]

A crack pilot who tries to cross a mountain range knowing he is carrying too much weight is no crack pilot. All they had to do was to break the load down into two and nothing would have happened. They had a military grade helicopter at their disposal after all.

The first half of the movie was actually quite good and the trailer uses almost exclusively material from that half. The characters were introduced and we understand why they would be willing to undertake such a high risk heist. It is the second half where viewers are completely let down. Just about everything after the five men enter the helicopter is beyond stupid. Like trying to cross the Andes with thousands of pounds of cash strapped to the backs of mules kind of stupid. It did not occur to them to seek motorized transportation and an alternative route? You also have inexplicable character changes like people turning on one another when they had been all buddy buddy the night before. Not to mention that these were seasoned combat veterans who had been part of an elite fighting force and who would know never to turn on one another like that.

It is quite a waste. This movie could have been something but it has turned out to be less than nothing. Do not waste your time.

Peppermint (2018)

You root for her

[7/10 · 3 March 2019]

Vigilante kills bad guys with a girly mothering twist. Slathering the estrogen thickly throughout the film actually helped it along and made it work. Unlike other female action movies, Peppermint does not try to 'make a man' out of the protagonist. She remains a woman throughout the show and feminine references like using a sanitary pad as a bandage is depicted coolly as unsentimental pragmatism.

Despite the many times over the top action sequences where the hero has an inhuman ability to withstand pain and still be a functional killer even though she has leaked buckets of blood, this revenge flick works because the motive for the violence that follows is properly explained and we can understand where she is coming from.

Ben Is Back (2018)

Too optimistic, no closure

[6/10 · 1 March 2019]

The film fails to convey the true damage that drug addiction brings to families. It was jarring to watch Ben's much younger half siblings embrace him as their much loved big brother. When the addiction is so far gone that the addict has robbed people, sold his body and became a drug dealer himself to support the addiction, it is highly unlikely that anyone would be innocent to his demons. Children in particular would be wary because they have seen first hand how much pain this person has caused.

Such moments of possible redemption and forgiveness are sprinkled throughout the show. The underlying theme is to state over and over again that though the addict cannot be saved, those who love him or her should still do everything they can to pull the addict out of the abyss because the finality of death warrants such futile heroism. You will regret it if you do not try. The result is a mother who disregards all her other children and is even willing to put their safety at risk in order to 'save' her one drug addicted child.

The attempt at being upbeat and positive actually has the opposite effect. Is it wise to stay positive in the face of a junkie's cravings? Should you really take on a second mortgage to pay for rehab that did not work in the past? The fairy tale ends up creating a sour taste because you know the reality is usually much darker and sadder than what is portrayed.

The movie is watchable and the performances are credible though Julia Roberts does not quite convey the pain, anguish and anger at seeing a drug addicted child. It is a film to watch if you are interested in the issue and are willing to be provoked. Otherwise you will probably consider the material unrealistic and perhaps even irritating.

Mortal Engines (2018)

Shoot the producers

[3/10 · 28 February 2019]

How could anyone have thought that spending a hundred million dollars to make this film was a good idea? There was simply no story. But the lack of an engaging plot would be par for the course as most movies in the young adult category tend to be like that except that we are also asked to accept a very disturbing sense of morality that pervades the whole picture. Apparently, the people who cheer and delight in the destruction of other cities are innocent of wrong doing and should be accepted into the bosom of the people they had only recently tried to destroy.

The visuals were not stunning and the sets were singularly unimaginative. For the money they spent, they should really have done better.

Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers (2018)

It is about the man

[7/10 · 16 December 2018]

Some parts of the documentary were cheesy. Was there really a need for the filmmaker to express his ignorance by trying to show depth in prognosticating about the nature of reality? And production value was low as we are made to watch the director and the producer have extended telephone conversations about Bob Lazar.

That said, this documentary does feature current interviews with Bob Lazar and allows you the viewer to come to your own conclusions about the man. And the whole point of making this film was to allow viewers to judge for themselves what kind of person Bob Lazar is. He does not come across as one of those self promoting UFO types who will soak up every last drop of attention the rest of the world offers them. Instead, Lazar is presented as someone who might be your nerdy uncle - a little eccentric perhaps but otherwise like everyone else.

There were no hard questions asked in this film. For instance, Lazar says he attended MIT and Cal Tech but cannot name a single person whom he went to class with or who taught him nor has anyone stepped forward to say they remember him from his time there. The filmmakers did proffer some support by saying that they interviewed people who say that they dropped off Lazar at these institutions and makes the point that if these people were telling the truth, then either Lazar went to MIT and Cal Tech or was making one hell of a show of it. Lazar also stuck to his story in the face of a criminal conviction even though both MIT and Cal Tech have gone on record stating that Lazar never attended.

While it is possible that Lazar was ghosted in order to discredit him, it is still very odd that no one who attended MIT or Cal Tech can corroborate his claim. The point was gently raised but Lazar was never challenged and was instead allowed to brush aside the issue by asserting that the importance of what he had to reveal about Area 51 has nothing to do with his academic credentials. Lazar must have had his conditions before agreeing to the interview, not answering questions that might have been uncomfortable could have been one.

Is Robert Lazar telling the truth about aliens in S4 of Area 51? While he does not seem to be a conman, at least not one who has made a nice bundle from peddling his story, not everything he says is logically consistent. For instance, he tells us that the state of physics today does not understand how gravity is generated, which is true; and yet later in the film he goes on to speculate how the alien technology he purportedly studied uses a gravitational field to create propulsion. Does Bob Lazar know something about gravity that the best minds do not?

If you are looking for more tidbits about what Bob Lazar had to say about Area 51 then there is nothing new here. In fact, the same old footage from 1989 is used to tell viewers what he had to say. What is new is that this is a current interview of Bob Lazar and it is the closest most of us will ever get to knowing the man.

Searching (III) (2018)

Very engaging

[8/10 · 16 December 2018]

From the beginning to the end, the filmmakers tease the audience, allowing you to jump to conclusions and then shattering your assumptions with the big reveal. It has been a while since a whoddunit kind of movie has managed to hold my attention but "Searching" definitely kept me engaged throughout; due in no small part to how plausible every twist and turn was. As far as I can tell there are no major plot holes and the significance of everything that had been focused on was neatly explained as the film progressed.

The use of computer and cellphones cams often produce a movie that is borderline unwatchable, but "Searching" succeeds brilliantly in weaving a rich tapestry because of how intelligently it was put together. With outstanding storytelling, the quality of the footage becomes irrelevant as the viewer is injected into the shoes of the protagonist. So much of our lives are now lived in one screen or another your almost get the sense that this movie could be your reality.

Cam movies are cheap to produce so there will be many more to come but few are likely to match what this film has to offer. I would have rated this a 9 but took it down a peg to 8 because even though the filmmakers managed to present more information through this medium, the film itself is visually unexciting as cam movies tend to be.

If you are looking to escape and be entertained without having some message or other shoved down your throat, "Searching" is highly recommended.

The Road (I) (2009)

Unrealistic premise, but a good effort by Viggo

[6/10 · 22 October 2018]

Anyone who has ever been in a survival situation will know how difficult it can be to get the calories you need to stay alive. Without reliable access to food, the physiological changes in your body will basically make it impossible for you to move around like the protagonists in this film did. In order to keep the brain functioning, your body will start breaking itself down to provide essential nutrients to that vital organ. It is actually shocking how quickly you lose weight when that happens. As you go into starvation mode, any kind of physical effort becomes much more difficult and the **only** thing you are going to think about is food and finding food will become an all consuming obsession. Basically, it would be impossible for a man and a young boy to make the trek that the characters in the film did.

Once you find food, you would defend that food with your life because not eating is the same as dying. So the scene where the two of them abandons the bunker because they fear that someone may be on to them is essentially ridiculous. Only the well fed would prioritize escaping from potential enemies over a large stockpile of food. Anyone who has known starvation would never do that. Even if your intent is to move on, you would eat and rest and recover before doing so. This decision will be made by your body and not the frontal lobe of your brain.

The film was marred by the performance of the boy. Children who have known harsh privations are never whiny. Their sense of right and wrong are also radically different from kids who are raised with all the comforts and security of modernity. Under no circumstance would a child who has known hunger seek to share canned fruits which contain (in the scenario presented by the film) almost impossible to obtain sugars with a stranger because he wants to be one of the good guys. The boy carried much of the moral dialogue and it is here that I find the movie to be disappointingly lacking. How could a boy whose mother committed suicide and who has lived through long periods of starvation and witnessed the horrors of the kinds of violence that man can inflict on man continue to believe and espouse the sort of 'goodness' that a coddled kid from the fancy suburbs would? Some say this film is stark, but I find it simply too unrealistic.

The reason I gave this my two hours was because of Viggo and he did not disappoint. I only wish he had given the script more thought. But perhaps Viggo is himself a product of modern comforts and does not really understand what it means to fight to survive. If he had put himself into a survival situation with nothing but a few implements he could carry to find the food he needed for even just a week, I doubt if he would have agreed to this film.

The Rain (2018–2020)

Simply disappointing

[3/10 · 22 June 2018]

I watched all 8 episodes in Danish with subtitles.

The premise was interesting but the story never rose to match the funding this series received. Much of the material presented was annoying, jarring and bears little relation to reality. Spreading a virus through cloud seeding? What would be the point of setting up quarantine zones if the virus moves with the clouds? Do these people also have the ability to affect where clouds would be? If so, they truly have godlike abilities and would not need to do anything else to have the rest of the world worship at their feet.

As have been mentioned numerous times by others, the characters were all unattractive. Special mention should be given to the character Rasmus. Civilization has fallen apart, the girl you are with thinks she has become infected and the dickhead wants to have sex with her. We do not know if Beatrice died because she was exposed to rain water (probably not, others in the party were exposed too and they were fine) or her death was the result of having sex with Rasmus who is a carrier of the virus.

Much of the plot revolved around the party's quest for food. Apparently, 6 years after an apocalyptic event wipes out much of the population and with it the food production and distribution system, people would still think that food is something which comes in a package. The stupidity of this theme is just unforgivable. A few months after an apocalyptic event occurs, processed foods would basically disappear. The survivors would be looking for food the way our ancestors did - by growing or hunting it. There would be no way to survive otherwise.

The sense of selfishness and entitlement that is so infused in this show makes me feel sorry for Danes because this is their one TV program that has gotten wide distribution. The people who created this series clearly grew up in a very privileged background because they really seem to think that characters putting themselves first above all others even in the face of catastrophe for everyone else is a given. Only the very rich who were waited on hand and foot would hold such notions.

Spare some thought for Denmark, do not make another season of this.

McMafia (2018)

Good plot development but a little far fetched

[8/10 · 21 May 2018]

The negative reviews are mostly due to how Russian Jews are depicted. The series is neither dry, slow nor lacking in suspense. Quite the contrary, viewers are hooked in from the very first episode as they chase the plot to see how it unravels.

However, despite the blood and gore, much of the material presented is too tame when compared with reality, and often too far fetched. The idea that a small UK money manager can somehow rise to the top of the Russian criminal world simply by using his wits is of course ridiculous; but there are other aspects of the show which beggar belief.

For instance, Vadim (the villain) is said to be smuggling 300,000 kilos of narcotics annually and yet he would spend time and energy pursuing a counterfeit goods operation in the Czech Republic. No one who is moving that much dope would, should or even could spend any of his time doing anything else, never mind heighten his risk exposure by murdering a rival operative.

Whilst the series tries it best to depict the international nature of the criminal world by filming on multiple locations, the picture presented is still cartoonish. The reality is far messier and much more complex with numerous and unpredictable intersections between legitimate and criminal enterprises.

On the whole this was a good and ambitious effort. All 8 episodes were entertaining and for most part quite gripping.