JayMalcolm

My wife and I got about halfway through this mess before giving up. There are clever bits, but nobody to like. The early characters seems hard-up for wits and their friends and families range from sad to contemptible. Picked apart, there's material for a half-dozen tragicomedies, but all together it felt overwhelmingly foolish. As a country boy, I was offended by its portrayal of small-town folk as witless perverts. City folks will probably eat it up!

A child turning 11 and her father turning 31 spend time together on holiday, and one winds up wondering who was the adult member of this odd couple. The accents make the dialog difficult for some of us, and the visuals are often jittery and opaque. It's nice to see a film that doesn't trivialize its subjects, but it would be nicer if there were some economy of narrative.

The lesson of this movie, movingly communicated, seems to be that brutalism is more than an architectural style; it can also be a lifestyle, one that persists into the present era. Perhaps it is fundamental to human nature that some individuals consider the end goal more important than how one gets there. I would love to make a lasting contribution to humanity's collection of precious objects, but not if the path is littered with drugs, alcohol, broken relationships, ruined dreams, and a total unwillingness to compromise. Sadly, many of those at the helm seem to be brutalists by nature. The rest of us can only gape at the slaughter, or, perhaps, lie down in front of the bulldozers.

This is a very innovative and impressive anti-war epic, though condensed. It starts slowly and builds relentlessly. The cartoons paradoxically allow more realism than you could get with CGI and live actors. Highly recommended for adult audiences. Some sex scenes which might disturb younger viewers, and enough violence to disturb almost anybody else.

My wife and I found this movie a real downer. It focuses relentlessly on everything that can go wrong in a young man's life, or a mother's life. To the extent that there's any hint of redemption at the end, it seems too abbreviated to have much emotional impact. One can only hope that this story was all lies, but the election of DJT in the background makes clear that whatever can go wrong will.

I smiled all the way through this one! So did the wife. It's in Spanish with English subtitles but that doesn't hurt the film for non-Hispanic viewers. It was filmed in Mexico with Mexican actors and gives us a look at parts of Mexico City most gringos have never seen. Basically it's a family dramedy that works on every level. As a minor spoiler, it contains a brilliant performance by a trans woman playing a male character. Blew my mind!

Very creative, colorful, fun, and profound look at the battle of the genders. Don't miss it!

Yes, it's a stark and moving indictment of all that can go wrong in a capitalist economy. It's a bit over-the-top in its characterizations, and rather unpleasant on the whole. And it avoids the classic idea that capitalism is the worst economic system except for all the others that have been tried. It's loosely based on a book by Upton Sinclair, who "had been a member of the Socialist Party from 1902 to 1934, when he became a Democrat, though always considering himself a socialist in spirit." (Wikipedia) His career and personal life were nearly as messy as those portrayed in the film.

A heart-rending story about the sadness and tension of life in a repressive police-state. The writer/director/star was imprisoned for his efforts but the movie received high praise and won a prestigious award.

This is by far my favorite movie of the year, out of more than fifty I've watched. Where to begin? And how to proceed without spoiling the thing? One of the attractions of this movie is that I totally couldn't tell where it was going, or even whom to root for. Some of the plot gimmicks were so totally unexpected and yet, by the end, so RIGHT! You owe it to yourself to study this film.

It's difficult to even begin discussing this film without spoiling the whole thing. It is cunningly contrived and splendidly set in a time and place long ago and far away. You might need subtitles to follow some of the dialog. It's worth watching!

This is Sandrine Kiberlain's first film and it shows. In a way, the story of an average French Jew who goes unwitting into that dark night of 1942 is very affecting, but I think it could have been told in half the time and with much less emoting by the star, Rebecca Marder. This film is mostly in French with good English subtitles and has some interesting musical moments. It also gives us a feel for what life was like in a middle-class French family of the time. Rather a sad film about a sad time, I would say.

As a comedy, this is too dark for my taste. There's immense talent on display in all departments, and it's easy to feel sorry for many of the characters... or should I say caricatures... in this film. It was also VERY long, which is perhaps the point. Some lives go on way too long!

This is not a narrative. It is a long, leisurely look at a man sinking into... something. It is certainly the longest that most of us will look at third world lifestyles. You will feel more at home in Saigon than anyplace else you see here. Perhaps the message is that our busy lifestyles prevent us from truly seeing and feeling everything that's around us. There are so many small details we're missing, and all the time in the world to miss them in. Perhaps this movie is about finding and then letting go of all that.

I'm a doctor, and I vividly recall my first exposure to dissection of a human cadaver in medical school. Medicine has progressed remarkably since those days, but at what cost? This film asks how doctors, nurses, and other staff can keep their humanity in the face of the endless ugliness of our insides. The final scene presents a grotesque escape from thinking about the reality of being human.

This was a very nice film with an original story that was moving and hard to look away from. Unfortunately, there was a BIG problem with the subtitles. We needed translations of the Korean dialog but we sure didn't need every little bit of background noise explained nor did we need English translations of the English dialog. It seems somebody is catering to the less than 1% of watchers who are totally deaf, which is nice of you... but do you have a clue how distracting all that clutter is to the rest of us? We can hear the music, the background chatter, the birds and the traffic, so we don't need all those things explained. We just need the Korean dialog translated.

This is a very entertaining romp, a bit like a heist film crossed with The Lord of the Rings. For anybody familiar with the D&D genre, lots will feel familiar. For those unwilling to actually indulge in fantasy role-playing games, this will at least give you a feel for the genre -- the over-the-top adventure and the campy humor. Worth watching!

This is a beautifully filmed and affecting story of two men and a woman in love. My only unhappiness was the subtitles, which progressively fell behind the action until there was a lag of 5-6 seconds between reading and hearing the lines. This disconnected the acting from the words and sometimes you'd hear one character talking while reading the other one's words.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

If you're looking for entertainment, look elsewhere. Lin Manuel Miranda and a cast of largely unknown Africans have put together a work of cinematic art that will likely become a classic of this century, exploring a wide variety of themes. If you don't know how Africans are still being exploited on their own continent to benefit the wealthier, paler inhabitants of other continents, the images in this film will stay with you. The dances and music are of hallucinogenic intensity, and the plotting is involved enough to warrant a second look. Pay special attention to the yearning for a savior whose initials might be "MLK".

This is a lovely little movie that digs deep into human nature and the costs of modernity. The scenery is breathtaking. There's a satisfying story arc with some character development over time. The female lead is a very accomplished singer whose ornamentation cannot be beaten. Highly recommended family film.

This LONG show has some good actors but they don't get to do much because the characters are all cardboard cutouts. The film gives you an affecting survey of the worst circumstances in medieval life, in case you thought slavery was an American invention. Very gory, loud, and raunchy throughout! Not recommended for young people.

I'm not sure why this gem has garnered mediocre reviews. It's a satirical look at adventure film tropes with magnificent animations, lots of color, and a wicked sense of humor. If the ending is simplistic and naive, it's also very upbeat. This seems like a good time for upbeat entertainment, doesn't it?

Beautiful but sad. Perhaps more meaningful to those of us who were of age to remember Van Morrison and the original Star Trek TV series and the premieres of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and High Noon, not to mention Rachel Welch in One Million Years BC. My wife and I have an additional personal connection with this material because as young marrieds we hosted various Belfast Tweens for several summers, sent by their parents for their safety and to learn that there was a place on the planet where Catholics and Protestants got along, intermarried, and visited each other's churches. It's also a cautionary tale, illustrating where America could be headed if we don't get our act together.