LeBallz's Reviews

Poor Things (2023)

6/10

26 March 2024

I am one of the rare reviewers who neither loved or hated this movie but instead feel a bit of melancholy appreciation for it.

Poor things is ambitious, unique, and crafted skillfully by a director near the top of his game. There were several moments that I laughed out loud and the actors certainly understand this is a farce above all else and have fun with it accordingly.

The central message is not very profound in terms of Emma's "romantic" awakening and wagging it's finger at society's social norms and prudence. The director believes sex and romance are not intertwined and in some ways even diametrically opposed, which, while a strong POV, is a naive philosophy.

The woman in a cage trope has certainly been explored many times in film but it allows for Stone to stretch out and fully explore the depth of her character.

The steampunk aesthetic either works for you or doesn't, as does the score, and overall cinematography. I thought it was certainly original even if I wasn't taken by the overall look and feel.

In the end, this is a movie from a director who is quickly creating a unique look and feel to his movies. I suspect his cult status will grow as he adds to his misfit library of completed films.

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Anatomy of a Fall (2023)

7/10

Mostly Interesting Despite Plot Holes

26 March 2024

This movie is at it's heart a human drama about how people's lives, when under the microscope of the public, create fragments of both beauty and horror.

The central argument of the movie is that under scrutiny and in the shadow of tragedy, one can believe either murder or suicide are possible outcomes of identical circumstances. It's somewhat up to the viewer to decide even though the writers clearly have a point of view.

The acting is superb, especially the cast's ability to handle 3 spoken languages simultaneously and without challenge. Not an easy feat for any actor regardless of fluency.

The direction is muted, not very concerned with much outside the typical film school text book of framing and slightly irregular angles. You won't notice the camera much at all, so the characters are the sole focus.

The story is interesting but there are some rather major plot holes, specifically around the misguided actions of the son but I suppose the writers were trying to create a metaphor for his internal struggle.

The central question that is asked is can a person who is deeply flawed, deeply selfish, incapable of emotional empathy, be innocent of a crime regardless of their personal shortcomings. I think a slightly more interesting angle would have been the question of whether a character's actions could lead someone to take their life but the movie is preoccupied with the continuum of murder or suicide as a binary.

There are some cringe worthy elements of writers writing about writers and tropes about tortured artists and emotional souls longing for purpose, but with all of this aside, there is a compelling legal drama at the core of this movie.

Overall, definitely worth a watch for the acting if nothing else.

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Dune: Part Two (2024)

10/10

One of the Best Films of All Time

11 March 2024

I have reviewed and rated thousands of movies on IMDB and I have given out exactly three 10 star reviews during my decade on the site. Dune Part Two has earned the 4th.

This movie is the idealized standard for what movies should be. Epic, emotionally resonate, intellectually interesting, and entertaining all in equal measure. There are very few movies throughout history who have successfully straddled the ability to tell a great story, while also masterfully utilizing the big screen medium which they inhabit.

We get this type of movie once in a generation if we're lucky and I feel very fortunate to have experienced it in theaters during it's main run.

Other reviews have captured why it's so impressive in scale, scope, and execution and I'll simply say it has to be experienced to be fully appreciated. This should win the Oscar for Best Picture in 2025 for the simple reason that no other movie this year could possibly measure up to it, it's that good.

My most recurring thought while watching Dune P2 was "they just don't make movies like this anymore."

Thank goodness for David Villeneuve for proving me wrong.

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True Detective: Night Country: Part 6 (2024)

Season 4, Episode 6

2/10

If DEI Was A TV Show

1 March 2024

Warning: Spoilers

If you're going to butcher True Detective just call it something else.

The finale is so far fetched in a show that already stretched disbelief to the breaking point. Let me count the ways.

1. We're supposed to believe Navarro can at will overpower and beat up any man she encounters.

2. We're supposed to believe Navarro can attack civilians in public with witnesses and not face any consequences for this blatant abuse of power.

3. We're supposed to believe Navarro can attack another police officer in public and not face any consequences for this.

4. We're supposed to believe a mining company evades EPA regulations and required testing for years because..reasons.

5. We're supposed to believe the Chief of police knows a homocide was committed by two of his officers and ignores it for years for...reasons.

6. We're supposed to believe a group of random women evade security, evade a multitude of cameras, evade leaving multiple traces of dna evidence, know the detailed security plans of a facility and execute an abduction without leaving any trace behind.

7. We're supposed to believe these random women solve a murder mystery by looking at a random tool (a tool the police could not identify for several years despite being so specialized as to prove a murder).

8. We're supposed to believe a group of 7 men, who were able to commit a murder don't even fight back when confronted by a ragtag group of women with hunting riffles.

9. We're supposed to believe a woman falls into ice cold water, in a blizzard, comes down with severe hypothermia, and then is fine an hour later.

10. Worst of all, we're supposed to believe the two main protagonists are so corrupt that they discover all the facts about the murder of 6 people and willfully ignore it because they are alright with selective murder.

Literally monkeys on typewriters could have done better than this farce.

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You People (2023)

3/10

I No Longer Have a Dream..

27 January 2024

The entire central premise of this movie is that white and black people can never get along. That's a very depressing world view but it shapes how all of our characters interact with eachother.

The black family is particularly horrible to Jonah Hill for a single reason, his skin color. The white family is lampooned as typical limousine liberals trying to be "cool" but making fools of themselves in the process. At least they were trying to be welcoming.

This movie makes it seem like we've moved backwards as a country, more entrenched in superficial identity than ever before and that MLK's dream of judging others by their character is less achievable than ever. This movie makes it clear it thinks MLK was a fool to begin with because he believed racial harmony was not only achievable, it was inevitable.

Terrible movie, terrible message.

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Barbie (I) (2023)

2/10

Pretentious Pink Plastic

27 January 2024

So much ink already spilled for this film and the two camps firmly entrenched between those who thought it was heavy handed and those who felt emotions and therefore believe it was a masterpiece.

I'll give a third option, that the movie was well executed in terms of vision and design and that was it. The political messaging dips into 1970s third wave and the "real" world reflects these outdated moores in abundance. That will polarize any audience I suppose.

Maybe there was some deeper meaning through the parody but in reality I think emotional reasoning and cognitive bias are the real culprits of the director's world view.

This movie was cotton candy, very sweet, sort of sticky and gross, and very quick to disolve and leave your digestive track.

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May December (2023)

3/10

Neither Poignant Nor Plausible

9 December 2023

You would think that delving into one of the most controversial and disturbing true life stories about CSA would lead to a deep narrative, but this movie takes all the wrong steps and sheds little light on our main characters.

Overall the movie is extremely boring, with the cast inexplicably allowing Portman's character to wander around without notice and with very little judgement placed on an unforgivable relationship. Everyone stays quiet about explicit CA and even the abused barely registers the insanity of his predicament until he's 30 years old.

It doesn't make sense that everyone enables this situation and ultimately it comes as no surprise that the abuser is entirely in denial that what she did was wrong. She's a bad person and we see this throughout the movie. Is that supposed to be surprising?

A Teacher covered all of this thematic material in a much more interesting way and with more believable outcomes.

Bad script, okay acting, no real purpose. Neither Poignant or Plausible.

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The Bear (2022– )

9/10

This May Be The Best Show Ever Made and I Don't Say that Lightly

1 December 2023

I know the internet will endlessly debate the futile question of which show is the best ever made, but I believe The Bear deserves to be in the running.

What makes the Bear so incredible is that it is very difficult to pin down into a single genre. Is it about loss? Sometimes. Is it about family? Sometimes. Is it about the impossible pursuit of perfection? Sometimes. But what it ALWAYS is, is a deep and meaningful character study.

Every character on this show MATTERS and they are given depth and purpose, and push towards their own sense of fulfillment in their own fully realized journeys.

It's not all roses for these misfits and there are many set backs to come with the triumphs, but all of the characters of the show are bound by their profound humanity.

We all may want different things and have different definitions of happiness but each of us can recognize the glory of the pursuit as a universal truth. This show shows us that in a masterful, fully realized, authentic way.

I can only hope that Season 3 nails the landing.

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The Crown (2016–2023)

4/10

Don't Understand the Appeal

1 December 2023

Am I the only person who finds this show dreadfully boring? Season after season characters stare at each other for long periods of time while the orchestra swells to crescendo. That is the formula now for 5 full seasons of drudgery.

I'll give the technical team props as the set design, costuming, and cinematography are all excellent. The acting is fine in terms of talent although there have been several miscasts along the time jumps and the Dr. Who style of swapping out the cast every season (or other season) is distracting.

I suspect the real reason I don't connect with the show is that I have zero interest in the British monarchy. All of their problems and drama are entirely manufactured to feel like crises because of one simple reason. They know they are fighting to stay relevant in a world that has moved well beyond them. Nearly every nation has rejected monarchy, even symbolically, and it's tiring that we continue to give attention to the last prominent royal family on earth.

Thankful this show is finally coming to an end.

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Saltburn (2023)

4/10

Nepobaby Critiques Nepotism

22 November 2023

They say write what you know. What I know is this is perhaps the most ironic film I've ever seen. Many people may not know the director Emerald Fennell comes from a very wealthy family, went to private school her entire life (including Oxford), and got her start due to those private school connections. To watch her send up upper class privilege as grotesque and distorted is bizarre in its own right but even more bizzare is she is selling her satire for money.

The movie itself feels like a giant trope, more characature than human and almost cliche in its representation of money as all encompassing and all corrupting. My only theory is this film is mainly an apology from Fennell, trying to convince us she's one of the "good" privileged people for sending up the world she was raised in. But then I remember she's enriching herself by making this film, selling privilege to beget more privilege.

If there was an award for ironic film of the year, this would win hands down.

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Priscilla (2023)

2/10

Cash Grab 2.0

3 November 2023

This story could have been told at any time over the last three decades. Why, suddenly was a movie about Priscilla Presley green-lit and quickly filmed? I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that Elvis grossed $300M in the previous year.

So given this is by definition a derivative concept, the movie leans heavily into the idea that the partner that is close to fame but not famous loses their sense of identity by virtue of being with their more famous partner. The problem is this movie makes the mistake of thinking Priscilla Presley is, or ever was, inherently interesting. With that in mind Priscilla is a locum tenens for anyone in an asymmetrical relationship.

Ironically the only reason her name is even known is the fact that she was married to one of the most impactful artists of all time.

This is a cynical cash grab capitalizing on the reflected glory of the late, great, Elvis Presley. Nothing more.

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You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023)

3/10

Big on Feelings but Short on Emotion

3 September 2023

I can say definitively, this is one of the best Adam Sandler produced movies on Netflix, which is indicative how low a bar he's set.

The entire Sandler family makes an appearance in this one with the story centering around the coming of age Jewish ritual of Bat Mitzvah and his 12 year old daughter navigating 7th grade.

The story is as cliche as you'd expect, girls fighting over boys, parents struggling with the vapid narcissism of their teenage children but through a distinctly Jewish lense. Everything resolves itself exactly how you think it will. I mean it, if you sit down right now and think about how you believe this movie will go, you will be 95% right. There were 4 times I laughed out loud, spread over a nearly two hour movie. The actors are fine but left with one gaping hole.

The direction of this movie is godawful. Even basic concepts like cinematic framing and lighting are subpar to the point that it's distracting. It's funny watching Sandler and Menzel reunite in this film after being masterfully directed in Uncut Gems and be handed such an untalented production team in this one. Perhaps the biggest sin is the forced diversity of the cast, perhaps attempting to distract from the fact that Jewish Americans are one of the least ethnically diverse communities in the country. Revisionism may make the director feel better but it is entirely false.

Don't expect much if you aren't a teenage girl.

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Bros (I) (2022)

3/10

Follows The Formula But Has Nothing to Add

27 August 2023

I expected quite a bit from this movie given the people involved. I've been a fan of Billie Eichner since his early Youtube days and have enjoyed all of the movies Nicholas Stroller has directed so thought this would be an easy addition to the adult Appatowesque rom-coms of the last 20 years.

I was wrong. Instead of being a rom-com who's leads happen to be gay, the movie is a bitter grievance piece, short on laughs and long on snark in the place of comedy. The movie is so preoccupied with including every possible combination of LGBT representation that it loses the central thread of examining how modern gay relationships are mostly the same but sometimes profoundly different than heterosexual ones. Representation is not an artform in and of itself and it allows this movie to rest too much on the laurels of being novel rather than being good.

Luke MacFarlane is legitimately bad in this movie. Wooden to his core and lacking any wit or chemistry with Eichner. Eichner comes across as bitter and entitled, finally letting his mask slip when he delivers a 6 minute monolouge about how nobody is as talented as he is but he doesn't get recognition because he's gay. Effectively everyone else has a problem and his craft is perfect.

Ironically he delivered a tremendous flop for one very simple reason. The movie isn't very good.

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The Menu (2022)

6/10

I Know It's Petty

24 June 2023

Warning: Spoilers

...but it really annoyed me that Anna Taylor Joy pretended to eat the burger at the end. That was the one dish that made me truly hungry and she took a pretend bite that should infuriate even the most pliant director.

Otherwise it was a fun watch and somewhat interesting concept. Obviously the guests could have gotten away with a little more effort but that wouldn't have been as fun. Not a lot of tension and throw in a pointless cat fight or two to fill out the minutes and you can tell this was a 30 minute concept stretched paper thin to a feature release run time. Great airplane or second date movie.

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Hocus Pocus 2 (2022)

2/10

When Did Disney Become So Patronizing?

13 October 2022

You can feel Disney checking the D&I boxes as they retread every tired concept of the 90's. Nothing new was added in this rendition and much of it felt geared to a focus group more than fans of the original.

The point of D&I is to include a wider range of cultural stories and give opportunity to a wider set of Directors. Disney seems to think it simply means to copy paste characters of color into stories that have already been told. It's lazy, distracting, and ultimately feels patronizing.

This movie could have been okay if it veered away from the social engineering and trusted its audience. I guess we're well beyond that point at Disney Studios.

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Candyman (2021)

7/10

Say His Name

17 August 2022

Warning: Spoilers

A LOT of hate for this title in the reviews. Makes me wonder if IMDB has become the new battle ground of the ongoing social war or if many of the reviewers even watched the movie. As an adult you should be able to watch a movie which has politics that you disagree with fundamentally and not fly into a reactive rage but apparently this movie (or even it's existence) created quite a trigger for many viewers.

The original "Candyman" was far from a classic and the conceit at the heart of this reimagining is clever in that it links to the original story but puts it in context of a much larger tale of social vengeance. Agree with the politics or not, it is a deft reframing of a previously moribund villain.

The Good The cinematography is EXCELLENT. The fluid camera work, the transitions, the perfect display of Chicago by night, all add a fun and interesting tension to the movie and enhance rather than distract from the overall story.

The horror elements all work well without falling too far into tropes. The fact that the story slowly unveils the whole truth of Candyman and the use of shadow puppets to represent the exposition (ala the Babadook) was interesting. It's a good mix of slasher and paranormal and the motif of the mirrors works well to build tension and further the central allegory of the story. There were several scenes where the Candyman is present but not entirely obvious, leading to fun finds upon re-watching.

The acting is all pretty good and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II does well as he portrays a man who is slowly losing his grip on reality.

The Bad The social commentary is pretty heavy handed and plays to a pretty cliched view of black history. It makes sense that the producers and directors embrace what they know and write from their experience but it will turn off some viewers given how central the commentary is to the overall story.

The Acting Pt. 2 I don't intend to generalize but I've noticed that in many recent movies with social justice themes (Harriet, The Hate U Give, Wrinkle in Time, Billie Holliday) the directors seem to struggle drawing believable performances from any non POC actor. Part of it is the fact that the characters are so one dimensional and in this movie every white actor is effectively just fodder to be killed by the Candyman. It would be helpful for directors to move outside of their boxes and try to portray their characters with more empathy and beyond narrow stereotypes.

Conclusion Good horror movie with a unique style and some fun twists on horror archetypes. Would recommend for anyone looking for horror with something to say.

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The Power of the Dog (2021)

8/10

Unexpected, Haunting, and Beautiful

7 January 2022

I admit I like modern westerns as a genre and so my interest was piqued when I first saw a trailer for Power of the Dog last year. Alot of people have said this is a feminist spin on the western trope but I actually think that's a shallow interpretation of a much more interesting story.

It is a character study in the truest sense showing the duality of all of the main characters in near equal measure. Those who seem saints, become sinners, and those who are sinners are often misunderstood.

The cinematography is absolutely brilliant and worthy of the accolades it has received and Benedict Cumberbatch will almost certainly nab an Oscar for his performance here.

I recognize the slow burn is not for everyone but the final act is expertly crafted and I found myself thinking about this movie for a very long time after I watched it, piecing together all the clues that were laid for where this story was inevitably going.

A great film and a great climax.

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The Lost Daughter (2021)

6/10

A Perfect Litmus Test for Modern Hollywood

7 January 2022

What happens to this movie in the gilded halls of the Hollywood awards circuit will inevitably be more interesting than what happened in the movie itself. Here you have a first time, industry insider, female director that creates a critical darling but that average moviegoers hate. Does Hollywood become more insular and ignore the opinions of the movie going public or are they scared straight by the record low viewership of last years Nomadland award adventures? It will be an interesting spring to find out.

As for me, I found the Lost Daughter to be worthy of a watch but deeply flawed from a structure and story telling perspective. The cinematography, in as beautiful a location as the Greek Islands, is extraordinarily pedestrian, and the mashup of present day events and flashbacks works most, but not all, of the time.

What Works The characters are fully fleshed out and the tension built between Leda (Olivia Colman) and the vacationing family is very well executed. Overall I think the audience either sympathizes with Leda or is horrified by her selfishness, which in itself is telling. The actors are all checking the boxes but I didn't find any particular performance to be transcendent. We've seen Olivia Colman so much recently that you can tell she's going through the paces in this one.

What Doesn't Work The motifs and literally devices are WAY too obvious and WAY too abundant. Arizona, the oranges, the doll, it all feels like a clumsy literary adaption rather than a stand alone film. The cinematography is average at best and Maggie Gyllenhaal doesn't yet have a sense of timing and urgency that takes years to master. Many scenes linger beyond the point of being interesting and the absence of plot turns into an abundance of characters staring at each other for long stretches of time.

Bottom Line The character study is interesting and the idea that you can both love and hate being a parent at the very same time is not a new concept but is artfully brought into the open here. The movie takes patience and requires an openness to the fact that you may not particularly like any of the characters displayed. Most reviewers have said the book is leaps and bounds better than the movie. It's not hard to see why that would be...

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Don't Look Up (2021)

5/10

Blinded By the Light

7 January 2022

The best directors of any age can put up a mirror to society and reflect back at us whatever truth we need to see. Adam McKay's mirror feels like that of a funhouse, distorting the truth so grotesquely that only elements of non-fiction are recognizable. Don't Look Up tries to go after everyone, politicians, the media, social media, Hollywood, big tech, and even us dumb voters, but it fails to have the bite of a pure satire or the cogency of a social critique. You think of the great satires like Dr. Strangelove or social critiques like Full Metal Jacket and what both of them did well is they picked a direction and committed. McKay gets stuck trying to say too much, and in so doing, he says very little.

Good for people who want to chuckle a few times but aren't expecting to be challenged.

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Nomadland (2020)

6/10

Good, Not Great

4 March 2021

Certainly not deserving of the accolades it's receiving from the hive mind critics. Give a critic a blank canvas and they will rationalize it as genius. The cinematography is excellent, the story is simple and straightforward and Frances McDormand plays the same role she has played for the last 26 years (so either you like that or you don't). The "real" nomads clash horribly with the actors and are very easy to identify given how uncomfortable they are on camera. Supposedly this makes Chloe Zhang a genius to blend professional actors with genuine nomads, but in reality it breaks the forth wall more noticeably Jimmy Fallon winking into the camera during a failed sketch.

The parts that worked were the call to nature, the big questions asked of American capitalism and the crushing expectation of the American dream. All of that was interesting but this movie only raises questions and has no interest in seeking answers. I didn't find it particularly sad so much as banal but I think that was very intentional.

I am left wondering at the end of it, was the movie glamorizing the restless wanderers or showing that their choice to live without roots was just another way of running from the inevitable pain that life doles out? I think it intended the former but actually implied the latter. Worthy of a watch, not worthy of any major awards.

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Soul (2020)

9/10

The Eternal Masterwork of Our Time

17 February 2021

Like it's namesake, this film will live outside the constructs of time and space.

What a beautiful, heartfelt, touching movie. An animated movie about, of all things, the meaning of life and how purpose is more than passion. Despite the potentially heavy topic, it comes across with the airy, lighthearted humor that Pixar has perfected over the years. It will easily stand the test of time as one of their greatest works (in a crowded field of masterpieces).

I have long believed that Pixar has been slighted by the Awards circuit due to the Academy's long standing prejudice against animated movies. Soul would be more than worthy of breaking through and delivering best picture of the year. Especially now at a time that we all need to reminded that life is more than what we want it to be.

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Citizen Kane (1941)

3/10

What it Was vs. What it is

17 February 2021

Citizen Kane is a movie that lives entirely within it's zeitgeist. It WAS groundbreaking, it WAS revolutionary, it WAS a masterpiece in film-making but after the sands of time have turned, what it IS is an above average movie. If you don't know the story or inspiration by now, I won't bother to rehash it, but the simplicity isn't very interesting and Kane's self imposed downfall is quite predictable. The strangest thing about this movie is that everyone seems to really truly hate Kane, but for reasons we don't observe. People say he's unkind, but he never shows it on screen, people say he's self obsessed, but we barely see that either. Orson Wells meanders from scene to scene, entirely certain of his mastery and achievement. It sits as a greater example of Well's life and story more than Hurst's but perhaps that's why it's so beloved by the Boomers.

Old movies are not inherently good or bad and, by their very nature, have to be watched with current eyes and attitudes. The greats are able to rediscovered, generation after generation because of their timelessness and achievement. Citizen Kane has the achievement but none of the timelessness. Within a generation it will be rightfully forgotten as one of the most overrated movies of the 20th century.

Good riddance.

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Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)

9/10

A Perfect Medium for Transcendent Acting

17 February 2021

It certainly feels like a stage play throughout and instead of trying to transcend that medium ala Chicago, it embraces it's central advantage, great acting. I thought Chadwick Bozeman was good in Black Panther but here we finally see what he was capable of as a method actor. What a shame we lost him so early. Viola Davis will deservedly throw another Academy Award nomination on the pile after this one and the rest of the supporting cast does a good job bringing the wit and momentum to the story. It's a voyeuristic glimpse into the past and present Black American experience, one that embraces the humor, the pain, and the optimism that persists in the face of outright oppression. A fantastic showcase of top tier talent in the prime of their careers.

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Harriet (I) (2019)

3/10

How Do You Squander an American Hero's Story? Let Me Show You

17 February 2021

Three stars for fantastic cinematography. Harriet Tubman is one of the few universally recognized American heroes in our national pantheon. Her story is one that has inspired for generations and should be EASY, VERY EASY to get right on film. Instead, we are presented with a melodramatic, anachronistic mess of a movie that tries to strong arm its cultural significance to modern day events. It has more akin to a Tyler Perry Madea movie than a historical biopic and I really don't understand how the producers allowed that to happen. The director indulges her worst instincts while losing the thread of why Harriet was such a transformative figure. It's not just that Harriet was brave, it's not just that she inherently knew what was right and what was wrong, it was that she committed herself to action at a time when so many others were complacent. Hopefully a more skilled filmmaker will realize this vision in the future so we can forget this heap of garbage.

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The Hate U Give (2018)

5/10

If Do the Right Thing and The Fault in Our Stars Had a Baby..

10 December 2020

...It would be this movie. Overall, it's okay. It's technically fine, the acting is fine, the topicality is fine. Young adult fiction at it's most fine.

It lacks nuance, it defines it's characters as very broad caricatures, and has a surprisingly low amount of empathy for any character that doesn't fit neatly in the "good" box.

This is the first recent movie that I noticed how heavy handed direction can actually turn into audience manipulation rather than narrative enhancement. For instance, all of the scenes with white characters are shot in cold, sterile filters whereas all scenes with minority characters (even Common playing the "bad" cop uncle) are shot with warm tones and soft lighting. It seems there is a not so subtle agenda being pursued there by the director that falls well outside the main character's story arc.

What it does well is show the confusion of being trapped between two worlds. Being two people in one body, two parts of the same whole. Ultimately it's about how when those parts come into conflict, how do we decide what makes us who we are versus who we're expected to be. That's about as high concept as YA fiction gets so that's as high as our expectations should be set.

All fine.

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