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Reviews
The Angel Tree (2020)
Good Movie With Poor Attention To Detail
I like Jill Wagner a lot - sweet girl, wonderful actor, always a plus - but the writers or whoever is supposed to make sure small things aren't overlooked were on vacation. Lucas' sister Zoe first underwhelmed with her heavy makeup while skyping with her son - bright red lipstick, full face makeup, all while in the field in Korea. Maybe she was influenced by the Korean business girls, but the ridiculous upside down rank insignia on her formulaic "surprise" return was the nail in the coffin for believability. Hallmark has done several movies with service members as main characters and got things basically right, but this was just too distracting for me to pay more than casual attention to it. Too bad it has to be such little things that torpedo the rest of a good movie...
Concussion (2013)
Character Study, Of Sorts
I agree with several of the reviewers about this being not about lesbians and straights, but about middle age despair at the reality of an unfulfilled life. I watched it because I really like Robin Weigert, and she was the hidden jewel in this (and was nominated for awards for her performance). It also brings to mind Diary of a Mad Housewife, where Carrie Snodgress is in an abusive, loveless marriage to a New York lawyer clawing his way to the top and treating her like dirt. She was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe for best actress. But, check it out, and you will see the similarities, along with the obvious differences. This movie has lesbian sex scenes, but I did not find them salacious or gratuitous. They fit well in Abby's (Robin Weigert) character development, and are, in my opinion, just part of our human condition, gay or straight. I would have rated it a ten, but I was a little disappointed there wasn't a "Hallmark Movies" ending, but it is most assuredly a representation of a banal and trite existence endured by many.
The Birthday Wish (2017)
Nicer One Of The Hallmark Movies
I really like Luke Macfarlane, and Jessy Schram is just lovable in this - and I choose the word advisedly. It's a fun movie, a romantic movie, and better than the usual Hallmark cookie cutter flick. This is one I might buy if it's on DVD.
Lovesong (2016)
Beautifully Understated Love Story
I haven't seen any of So Young Kim's other movies, but I am going to make an effort. I understand the varied responses of others here, and make no excuses; it is different for me, and this love story really is a Lovesong, one played in the background over several years, which rises from piano to sforzando, and back to quietness. Remarkably acted and directed, Riley Keough and Jena Malone are just perfect in the depiction of their barely suppressed love for one another. The film both delighted and depressed me, but it has become one that I will buy to keep. I do agree with a review of Lovesong by Justin Chang in "Variety" on 25 Jan 2016: "There's a remarkable truthfulness to the film's acknowledgment that people often make enormous decisions rooted not in fear so much as uncertainty, even laziness, as well as a comfort with their lives as they've lived them until the present juncture." What is left unsaid is the consequences of those decisions, that we are left to look out the window and consider. Well done.