panther49

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Are the critics insane? Fun movie with a lot of hilarious moments. Lots of heart.

It is amazing and I'm tired of pretending it's not. Lana is just incredible, so is Noah.

One of the best films I've ever seen. An absolute master class in film making. I still notice new things every time I watch it.

Gross, unfunny humor and hit-or-miss chemistry between the actors drag down this otherwise decent story and setup. I wouldn't care if it were "gross" as long as it were funny, but only a couple parts gave me a giggle. Lots of jokes about different kinds of people that just come across as contrived. Only one section was "heartfelt" which was nice, but it's tough to care about all the trashy characters.

What an interesting premise. I hope it's shot in traditional fashion. Oh, it's not? That's OK, the cinematography is great. Actually, I don't like the cinematography. Wait, I do. What's with this soundtrack? It's terrible. No wait, it's amazing. I want to hear that song again! Wow, the imagery is beautiful. Well wait, now it's weird. There are too many cuts. It's not making sense. Wait, now it makes sense, that's nice. Do we really need an intro for all four characters? I'm glad we had an intro for all four characters. There's another great song? That's nice but it's done now. How will this end? Oh, it ended.

Being political in nature, this will sure be a divisive movie to review. Let's just say I'm probably not the "target demographic" for the movie, but I still enjoyed it and thought it did a lot of things right. I liked the effects it used to redact information, it used an actual real-life event instead of some strawman characters, and it showed the importance of knowing your rights when interacting with law-enforcement. By the end, I didn't really find myself caring about the main character. She seems like a crappy person that was doing irresponsible things, which makes me question why this is such an important story to tell. It's definitely interesting to see a live event of this interaction, but the story behind it and, more importantly, the information shared just really isn't interesting. It does show how much one person can be fueled by the media and circumstantial events to do irrational hateful things against their own country, but it's not a movie I will be watching again.

An incredible Count of Monte Cristo story with an absolute top-notch soundtrack. Easily rewatchable as the director does not insult the audience; its non-linear approach can be difficult to follow, but there's so many details throughout the movie that demand repeated viewings. The difficult-to-watch scenes are quickly offset by scenes of revenge, satisfying baroque-style music, and excellently framed imagery. Geum-ja Lee is a powerful female character. She has many flaws and her actions vary from morally questionable to straight up murder, but there's never a doubt in her reasoning. Some cuts are kind of odd and the musical themes could have been spaced out a bit more at parts, but this remains one of my favorite films.

Infested with postmodern identity politics and transgender inclusivity (for the sake of), A Man Called Otto finds Tom Hanks as the grumpy old man with an interesting backstory begging for purpose and redemption. All other male characters besides Tom are completely emasculated to the point of disgust. Some parts of the movie are very sweet, but many are incredibly cringeworthy. I wouldn't recommend and will not be watching again.

A good, simple watch. Nice atmosphere, shot entirely in New Orleans. Doesn't do much to stand out and probably won't be the most memorable watch, but it's a good story.

A film critic on RT stated that this gave her a panic attack, so I had to watch it. I went in expecting something gruesome and difficult to stomach, given the praise from critics, but overall it was a "meh" experience. The most ironic thing about this movie is that its existence proves some of the points it attempts to condemn: that minorities in America are given special treatment and whites are demonized. I'll address this last, however. Noting the anti-feminist remarks by the main characters, their support for the nuclear family, the on-the-nose commentary regarding conservative strawman arguments, and the fact that it is tactfully released for streaming four days before US election day, I have to call this what it is: liberal propaganda. And we all know who it's targeting: conservatives. Its liberal, misinformed director, Beth de Araújo, states this rather clearly in an interview: "The idea is traditional women, traditional family models, which is the guise for saying, ‘We want strong families,’ meaning ‘We need Aryan families, Aryan Christian families." Ah, here we go again, where every conservative idea is a dog-whistle; every ideal is some thinly veiled racism. Beth seems to be ignoring conservative minorities that have traditional values when making statements like these. Maybe if you're the one that keeps hearing the dog whistle, you are the dog. The film succeeds in maintaining interest for at least the first 45 minutes, though. Its single-shot feel is highly effective until its characters begin acting just completely stupid in every action. So, for the acting and presentation I'll give the movie a few points and will rate it on the merit of filmmaking, not for its message. To address the irony of this movie, let's imagine instead a movie of black supremacist commies committing acts of violence against asians. Something that happens statistically at higher rates and is therefore more realistic - but that would be racist, wouldn't it? You couldn't release a movie like that four days before US midterms election and you know it. So instead you affirm the beliefs of white conservatives: that we are condemned and viewed as racist just for existing. Great. If you're a liberal that is afraid of white people, hate yourself, and hate whites, you will love this movie. It will be "real" and "scary" to you. But the strong points of the movie (acting/pacing) don't offset the propaganda at play.