Just because the ingredients are all there for a soulful, beautiful, thoughtful movie it is missing a pulse. The same mistake made over and over by filmmakers with semi-mute characters: you need more interesting moments than walking. All the cinematography in the world can't save the idea that there isn't much meat on the bone here.
It's a new version of A History of Violence for no reason at all. There's hardly plot, character development, or reason for it to exist. Just nothing for nothing's sake. Stupid.
It was a satire on pretentiousness, folks. If nothing else, The Menu is unique. I couldn't help but feel it should be a comedy instead of horror. For something to be truly horrifying the audience would have to care about the characters. Their back stories were hazy at best, and I found myself not caring about their fates. Not a bad flick all in all.
It's actually kind of funny how bad this movie is. A pretentious bowl of dialog stew that the actors try to act their way out of while leaving the audience to wonder "What does any of this mean?" The kids are of course the geniuses - a nauseating movie trend these days. I'll admit, I did not make it all the way through. Unless I was handed a check for 100k at the end, there is just no saving this piece of garbage.
I think it thinks it's more clever and funny than it really is. The humor is really for the easily-amused Leno crowd. This menagerie of dunces will impress your parents but to me it's just dull.
Now THIS is a movie. Hot bods, unaffordable cars, little bit of the bump n' grind, eh gov'na? But seriously folks, new Star Wars and Avengers movies churn out every few months and they all **** because its a total recycle job. Viewers give them decent reviews because our society is devoid of ideas or too scared to take a risk on new things. 365 Days of hot sweaty garbage makes me pleased that this critic buttheads had to sit through it. I haven't seen it yet but I can GUARANTEE you it's bad enough to be funny.
A cornucopia of colorful, self-absorbed, misbehaved characters. Lady Gaga was very very good. Jared Leto, however, gives a performance for the ages. I am a believer in his stock now and for the future. The negative reviews of this movie missed the point. It wasn't about crime and punishment so much as it was a character study of people from a different planet.
I was a little confused why the characters were made to be so grating. As if they were defying you to like them. They kept each other at arms length the whole time as if they knew no one else could stand them. And I can't explain why sometimes I like characters like that and why I didn't this time. Maybe because they were never self-effacing in their faults or were enriched by any back story. This movie will win awards because the awards people ignored PTA's awesome stuff. This will be a make-good.
The utter stylishness of the Novice will generate a lot of buzz but that's ultimately it's biggest downfall. I love movies that want to go someplace raw and not hold back. The Novice goes there but with so much frenetic camerawork and montage after montage it seems more like a music video. Movies like this actually end up suffocating it's characters rather than fleshing them out completely. Alex's dialogue is great but she rarely gets to speak or have conversations. The overabundance of cuts never lets a scene speak for itself, constantly only giving the audience flashes. Unfortunately it seems like a lot of b-roll. The ending sputters as if to say "We've put you through the ringer already. Roll credits."
I'm bored with children who are wise beyond their years talking and talking and never really doing much of anything. Movies like this just end at some point without the audiences realizing they've been through a climax which is exactly what this dull movie does.
Brutally stagnant and soulless storytelling from someone so obsessed with maintaining a certain style that characters are not allowed to move lest they wrinkle their costumes. Fans are so enamored with character and scenario that they no longer care if the movie is populated by corpses.
I'm just not impressed with the pot shots at average people being dismissed as fat, stupid, and deluded. The arrogance of the script is so loud it's deafening. I'd love to make a rebuttal but that's the nature of movies - you have to sit and watch. Captain Fantastic was torture.
The ingredients were right but the outcome was dull and a bit puzzling. The characters weren't fleshed out, they were simply picked up and sent off, so it was hard to invest yourself. And for three guys with guns, they were really soft-spoken on the job.
A good reason for Danny's behavior may have been poverty but it's not a good excuse to beat women and play with guns. Tekashi's self-centered, violent, obnoxious persona takes the magic out of the story. The documentary is comprehensive and informative - but no amount of film editing can make this guy a decent person.
A convoluted mess of a departure from the original classic story. Burton tries to direct his way out of the creative sidecars with heavy action scenes like a Schwarzenegger film. The beginning of Burton's mishandled attempts to remake classic stories. It just doesn't work.
Sandler is phoning in his ten (?) picture deal with Netflix using the same gags where everyone is either stupid or mean. Why does he keep giving himself the same moronic slurred accent and three brain cells? Why are older people in his movies always written so dumb? Why are kids made to be either mean or pure of heart? Easy: he has no ideas. He's tired of making movies. Writing a good script is hard but even if it isn't good he still gets paid. The sets may change but his movies are populated by the same people going through the same motions, living out the same plot formulas.
Period-correct eyeglasses and settings are all you need to stimulate critics, but the baffling absence of any point had me dumbfounded. Some of the scenes were fixed shots that lasted so long I wondered if there was anything I missed - either from sheer boredom or the mesmerizing effect of watching someone in the same position for minutes on end. The script plods on in linear fashion, meeting a few new people along the way whom add incredibly dull monologues that never tie into the plot - a plot that was simply missing. It's like dumping air into an empty canyon. All actions and conversations amount to zero meaning or consequence. It was pretty amazing how terrible it was.
Packed wall to wall with famous, talented actors whom are completely suffocated by the rigidity of the direction of the film. No scenes are allowed to breath and let people be themselves. They are on a constant stopwatch of when they are allowed to speak and when they are not; when they are allowed to move and when they must hold in place. Most camera shots are are taken head-on and when actors move on screen they do so in straight lines. It's so unnatural that it makes me nauseous. I hate the **** intro that doesn't get to the actual story without introducing us to a few oddball characters first. Andersen's films are always populated by the most random strange characters that don't work. That's what kills me so much about the quirky characters is that they are completely random when they should be in a spectrum - relating to one another but even employees of a hotel are all in a totally different mindset from one another as if they grew up in all corners of the world. That sounds fun on paper but in a movie its so jerky in your mind and gives the impression that the filmmaker doesn't care about cohesion at all. He's just populating a world with whomever and letting them say whatever. Edward Norton both in Moonrise and GBH takes a marked step away from masculine which is off-putting. It comes off as a step back. None of these characters seem foreign either. It really does seem like a bunch of Americans just saying their lines. Of course it wouldn't be a Wes Andersen movie without some weird under-age sexual attraction that completely distances me. I'm tired of mustaches, for gods sake. Mustaches do not make a character interesting. Sometimes, like most elements in this movie, it just seems tacked on in the hopes that it adds depth. Suffice to say I hated this movie.
Quite simply, one of the great movies of our generation. Rife with great humor and idiosyncrasy, Ed wood is the perfect homage to the eponymous director and anyone whoever chased a dream.
An incredibly flawed journey into a huge creative undertaking that came off as earnest. Disaster Artist reiterates a fact of life that bears repeating, perhaps because it is so feared by humanity, that the path to success is paved with failure and that creative visions take courage. Wiseau isn't perfect by any means, but his transgressions are relatable, amplified by their rawness, whether we want to admit it to ourselves or not. This was a good picture with a lot of vision and soul.
An absolute brilliant piece of acting by Cranston and Stuhlbarg is about as rock solid a performer as you can find these days. Trumbo translated the struggle of the period perfectly. I have no idea where the reviews claiming it was an iffy script with spotty performances. I thought it was the exact opposite. Terribly underrated picture.
A Serious Man is tremendous in creating a world that all of us live in. A world where we are tossed about in search of answers and getting very few. Basically its perfection in movie making: it's original, its funny, its poignant, and the cinematography is flawless and beautiful.
Frances is relatable and likable. Densely packed with funny and often awkward dialogue, she switches between self-absorbed and earnest. But even when Frances is sabotaging herself, her friendships, or relationships it still seems understandable because none of us are perfect. That's what this film translates so well.
Great cinematography. Devoid of entertainment value. Terrified to step up the pace. It's an extreme challenge to take dialogue away from a main character by making them quiet by nature. Moonlight leans into it. Little dialogue, slow pace, frustratingly dull picture.
An intimate and well-acted film about a journey from marriage to divorce that isn't really more than a high-end documentary. Marriage Story aspires to show the viewer the real emotions and situations of what can actually happens in divorce so you're not going to get a plot twist. The movie essentially sides with the wife as they add the unforgivable bombshell that he has cheated on her. It also never lets him respond to the allegations that he is a smothering, self-involved idiot. She is portrayed as completely justified in blowing up the marriage and dude has to **** on the pain. It's mostly depressing. Any joy or comedy is quickly snuffed out with a new sorrowful revelation. Marriage Story revolves around the emotions and I cannot help but forever process the reasons and details which seemed one-sided and flaky.
Family has a young girl with a nut allergy and they keep forgetting epi-pens everywhere they go. There. I just saved you two hours. Of course, it's not a modern horror movie without minute-long shots of gray, dour faces and minute-long shots of their uninteresting actions such as walking down a hallway and having a dull conversation about breakfast. I don't know why the lowest note on a cello is supposed to give me the willies. That note is freaking hammered upon in Hereditary. I want to kiss the inventor of the fast-forward button. You saved me once again.
A fun and enjoyable movie about a man living the life I could easily see myself living. Korine of course dots the screenplay with outlandish moments of supreme wackiness but it only adds to the fun. The Beach Bum is never too emotionally heavy and never too dull.
Conversations in the movie are interrupted about twenty times by a phone ringing or someone walking in to the room by accident. It became hilarious how often this happened. Yesterday is the kind of movie that is so poorly written and trite that it takes an act of will to make it through. The only reason plot lines aren't sewn up quickly is because the main character is made to stutter when trying to express himself. If he, or anyone else, is about to say something meaningful they're interrupted. Yesterday takes the easy, predictable route at every turn. This was a concept in the ledger of a corporate studio exec, thrown out to a group of staff writers who cranked it out never daring to touch a risk, introspection, or explain much of anything.
Mid90s went to the intense places I hoped it would. You could feel the scary lows and the exhilarating highs of the teenage years. I wish the main character had more dialogue but nevertheless, the film worked and was gripped anyone who could even somewhat relate.
Booksmart is a clinic in overacting to prop up cliched material instead of inventing something new. Nearly the entire supporting cast was a cringe-worthy caricature that blared the stereotype to obnoxious levels. I could not figure out why for all smart hype of the film did it take such predictable and worn-out paths using 2-3 braincell supporting characters. The filmmaker may have updated the time period but really offered nothing new in terms of coming-of-age insights. It's sad because I was kind of excited to see this.
There is a movie coming out soon called Loqueesha that uses this exact same concept with the races reversed and it's getting absolutely torched for racial insensitivity. It seems to me that if a black project doesn't stereotype white people in some way then it's considered to not be doing it's job. I don't think its brave, funny, or original in any way.
Alex Honnold is one of the least charismatic subjects I've ever seen central to a documentary. He scoffs at the notion of happiness and how it's not valuable because "happiness is available to everyone." Perhaps on the autism spectrum, he is mostly devoid of emotion and, by extension, perspective. His girlfriend tries desperately to coax any care, love or simple reaction from him. The relationship began after she saw him at a book signing so she didn't really know who he was. If he wasn't driven and successful, it would be fun to clock her exit speed out the door. Honnold actually wanted to break up with her at one point because she made a climbing mistake that led to an injury of his. This pathetic relationship, devoid of warmth from his end, totally envelopes the documentary. It's very difficult to watch as his girlfriend pretends that they could be normal one day. The cliffs themselves serve merely as a possible solution to Alex's detachment from understanding himself and the vibrant world around him. It's obvious that the filmmakers would have much rather portrayed Alex as an insightful thrill-seeker with a philosophical, spiritual mind and playful nature. The inspiration they/we were all hoping for and expecting. They are forced to show him for what he is: a ghost whom risks his life in search of his own humanity. That said, the feat itself, taking about ten minutes to show, was impressive. At the summit of El Capitan he is irritated that the phone call with his girlfriend is taking so long as she congratulates him.
Like it or lump it, Rebel Wilson is endearing in a way. I went with my girlfriend to see this and found a few laughs here and there. It's not groundbreaking but I thought it was fun and somewhat enjoyable.
Three Billboards talks about three billboards for ages and they're not all that shocking and only mildly interesting to begin with - hammering its title-turned-premise into submission. The first forty minutes is a dense, blue-gray daze with dialogue that is far too snappy to be rural Missouri. I assume the next hour is the same way because I did not make it after that. It would've taken an alien attack ala Ridley Scott to redeem this absolute bore.
Molly's Game hammers out details through lightning quick dialogue and camera cuts. It is a dense picture with an interesting central figure. In a world of high end gambling, Michael Cera remained his shambling self but with the same dense, light-speed dialogue. There was an effort to make the whole thing rigid, as if to tell the viewer to sit up straight and pay attention. I was reasonably entertained by this world I knew nothing about (other than the poker of course) but at times I think slowing action down and letting scenes breathe would've immersed me further instead of feeling I was being read a novel in a limited amount of time.
The main character is modeled after Juno, but the film does speak for itself. It's derivative in nature but is still heartfelt in it's own way. Enjoyable picture.
Each character stays a monochromatic stereotype of their initial concept from the beginning of the movie to the very end. That's why it's so awkward, not because life is actually this awkward, (even jerks and morons change their expressions and social strategies sometimes), but because I'm supposed to see an impression of reality here and don't. It feels like a fan script version of Welcome to the Dollhouse, one of the greatest coming of age movies of all time.
Movies like this and the Hangover, etc, look to take common life situations and amplify them for comedy's sake. The Break-Up comes off as cruel. A couple chuckles can't save the fact that both these characters were written either mean or dumb. Vaughn, for some baffling reason, portrays a mentally abusive creep who, to the rational, semi-experienced boyfriend, comes off as utterly tone deaf. He goes from zero to out of his damn mind in no time flat. This movie was horrible.
It's always interesting to see a movie about someone who let's go of societal norms, starts living for themselves, telling people what they really think with reckless abandon. We all daydream about acting like that. What really turns me off about American Beauty is the way every antagonist is portrayed as a complete idiot. There's no subtlety to anyone's character. The guy who hates gay people is **** and his wife is a mute. Jane's friend isn't promiscuous, she's a total ****. Their friendship is baffling. Lester's wife is so materialistic that she shoots him in the head. Everything is over the top and trying to hold the mirror to society in one breath. It comes off as really preachy and righteous.
An interesting slice of life about growing pains in an alternative family. Gave it a low score because I thought the two main characters had such grating personalities. Emotional deluges around every corner. Just wasn't for me.
Gambling movies have a decision to make: success or failure at the tables. A good movie makes a third choice. Mississippi Grind has all the right elements in place. Decent acting, interesting local spots up and down the Mississippi river, and an earnest, low-production style. Unfortunately it makes one of two choices for it's ending and that's that. As the ending gets near, the pace seems to slow as if it knows nothing more is going to happen.
I imagine the book read better as the entire worth of this movie is in the dialogue from David Foster Wallace. The End of the Tour's screenplay maintains a slow heartbeat but it really is the perception of DFW that is interesting. There is little to no action to speak of and barely any interaction with other people – at least no action of any consequence. The film's worth is the conversation material. I found the interviewer, whether it was Eisenberg's calm acting or the actual part, to be just a catalyst to get a legend to speak.
It kinda killed me how the oldest daughter turned from burn-out to the most savvy, precocious teenager from one scene to the next. She was eager and equipped with social skills to help her father out in very adult situations, meanwhile letting her friend, the world's most moronic beach boy, tag along for some reason. The Descendants is the model of an overrated picture: stripped of the beautiful scenery and beautiful actors, it's nothing more than a Hallmark movie about loss. Teen girls may think it's meaningful, but it's almost entirely void of details and insight that make something special.
I'll admit I did not make it all the way through. I couldn't imagine why, right off the bat, the two younger boys goaded their dads into fighting one another and then tried to stop it. Another bad idea translates to diluted comedy.
A unique picture with great comedic writing and acting. There is finally no waiting for scenes to set up. Each character that hits the screen adds a new, original voice and different humorous lines.
The technical brilliance of these indie films can't make up for how detached they make the viewer feel as the main character breathes, pumps gas, drinks water, lies in bed, etc. You Were Never Really Here is a strange mixture of frenetic and molasses-slow filmmaking. It's an interesting way to create an art picture and takes a lot of time and attention to weave together the details and cuts. But the lack of dialogue, general slowness, and how little we really know about the characters makes me lose interest.
A slow, quiet, albeit honest journey of a young man's struggle to make it back to the rodeo scene after his accident. Many films take this path of bordering reality television recently: walking cameras, breathy close-ups. I didn't think it was as introspective as it postures to be. It's hard to make an impact when a story barely raises it's pulse.
Hoffman is no doubt one of the finest actors of our generation and Owning Mahowny is no different. This is about as close to the manic/depressive sweat to problem gambling as a movie can get. I just don't often return to stories that bleed out slow and sure until the inevitable corpse is shown just before the credits roll.
Adding gunplay to a movie sometimes will cripple it for cleverness and this very much applies to In Bruges. Not funny enough to be a dark comedy, eventually In Bruges chooses to shoot it's way into conclusions. This movie is about a European city and a few guns. Trying to inject humor and suspense and whatever else seemed an afterthought.
