Reviews

This really is a movie that requires patience and a secon viewing. I think most of the reviewers are looking for some sort of story about a twisted relationship in its later years ending with a definite conclusion. May December isn't about the couple. Focus on Natalie Portman's character as a picture of method acting gone wrong. Elizabeth will do anything, including seducing her husband, to get into. Gracie's head and be her in her movie. Pay attention to the change in Natalie Portman's voice before and after she seduces Joe. If that change in tone doesn't creep you out, nothing will.

Everybody who dissed this movie should watch it again for what is really happening.

I can tolerate a chick flick or any other genre if the film is well done. Even if you, like me, loathe horror films, you probably liked Get Out because it was a good film. Pieces of a Woman is not a good film.

Maybe it's only me but why make Sean use an obsolete 35 mm camera when he has just fetched his smartphone to call 911? Who takes pictures with 35 mm these days when digital is so much more convenient? Does living in an early 20th century house make you that nostalgic? Where do you find anyone to develop 35 mm these days, never mind black and white film. Amazing.

Technical problems aside, I was also put off by Vanessa Kirby's overblown emotions later in the film. In fact, nobody in this film seems to portray anyone likeable with the possible exception of the bit actors, like the book seller. Where do you find a book store these days also?

Maybe I expect too much of filmmakers in these days of COVID?

I liked Giri/Haji, not for the violence,which caused my wife to give a thumbs down. Other than that, G/H is tightly written, a fascinating mixture of cop show, dark humour and McGuffin movie. Notice that I didn't mention sex. There is visible sexual tension between Sarah and Kendo from episode 1 but they don't make it until late in episode 7. Kendo is married and fidelity seems to be the last virtue he still possesses. Even when IT finally happens, the sex is depicted mostly through a glass window obscured from the rain. I guess that means I'll need to own up to spoilers.

Speaking of Sarah, I thought that a Good Jewish Girl with a strong Scottish accent was an impossibility. Then I discovered that there are plenty of synagogues in Glasgow to serve what must be a thriving Jewish community. Score one for casting authenticity.

If it's symbolism in film that fascinates you, wait for the end when it appears that Sarah and Kendo will be arrested. In a flashback ending, Kendo Sarah and Taki, Kendo's daughter are in a cafeteria. Taki's last words to her father are "It is finished" or Jesus' last words from the cross.

In summary, an intriguing series requiring some thought

Having met Norwegians in Norway and in the diaspora, my conclusion was that this must be the most serious, task-oriented nation on earth. After watching Norsemen/Vikingane, I must revise this conclusion. This comedy series proves that, under that mask of sobriety, Norwegians have a wicked sense of humour. Others have summarized the unique premise of this show. The only comparison I can think of is if the Flintstones were transplanted to an X-rated Viking environment. This is definitely not children's entertainment with reference to Norse gods, looting, pillaging and raping. The English dialogue alternates between potty-mouth and psychobabble. The looting, pillaging and raping is graphically shown, which makes the humour too dark for children and the overly sensitive.

We are just starting the third season, which is a prequel. That has the advantage of bringing back characters who were killed off in the first two seasons but still requires watching the first two seasons to understand the joke. Enjoy

Please ignore the multiple one-line reviews that are attempting to downgrade the ratings of this wonderful documentary. These holocaust deniers are attempting to whitewash the fact that Treblinka and Sobibor were well within the borders of pre-war Poland. In fact, they are still in Post-war Poland close to the borders of Belarus and Ukraine. Will these deniers next claim that Oswiecim (Auschwitz) lies in some country other than Poland? Full marks to the makers of the documentary for historical accuracy. At no point in the movie was Polish collaboration mentioned, likely because the slaughter of Jews in Jadwabne is irrelevant to the story being told in The Devil Next Door.

That story is about the role of Ukrainian collaborators at Treblinka and Sobibor and one collaborator in particular, John Demjanjuk. The movie, through archival footage and present day interviews with the family, attorneys, judges and survivors, puts forward a balanced picture of the evidence for and against the accusation that John Demjanjuk was or was not the notorious gas chamber operator Ivan the Terrible. The Supreme Court in Israel ultimately came to the right conclusion, that the evidence was not conclusive enough to convict Demjanjuk of the particular crime he was accused of. The German court also came to the right conclusion, that John Demjanjuk was a Nazi collaborator during the war.

The evidence unfolds in such a dramatic and balanced manner that the viewer's head will spin and bounce between convict and acquit conclusions. That's the problem with real life - There are no simple answers to real problems. I recommend this movie to anyone who is under the illusion that there are.

As far as I know, no pornographer thinks/claims they are doing something culturally significant like snooty artists. So when pornography masquerades as art, I get upset. This preciously cute pair of siblings are into incest big-time. Am I missing something but is incest OK in Israel? In addition to incest, the insufferably cute brother also masturbates openly on a public beach and is getting it on with his teacher as well. Besides her brother, the girl seems to be making it with another girl. Yet she has the chutzpah to tell their shrink that her brother is the one with the problem.

Confused by all that hanky-panky? The long soliloquies won't help at all to turn watching Urban Tale into time well spent. On the other hand, if you're into dirty movies with lots of boring dreck between the dirty parts, perhaps this is just for you.

The capture and execution of Eli Cohen was a traumatic event in Israel at the time, less so outside of the Middle East. Given the importance of Eli Cohen to the mythology of the Mossad, Eli Cohen's story deserves to be told by Israelis in Hebrew and Arabic. There are plenty of talented actors in Israel that speak both Hebrew and Arabic fluently. Gideon Raff is an Israeli, after all. Possibly the problem is Sacha Baron Cohen, who speaks passable Hebrew but may not speak Arabic. It's incredible that Netflix insists on inauthentic falsely accented English instead of the original languages with subtitles.

Instead, we have a French production in English where Paris substitutes for both Damascus and Tel Aviv. Of course, Damascus is a dangerous shambles these days. But there are plenty of crummy streets in today's Tel Aviv that could have been used as backdrops to the story instead of crummy streets in Paris. The period vehicles in both Syria and Israel seem to be over-represented by Renaults, Simcas Peugeots and Citroens. Possibly these vehicles were imported into Syria at the time but they were very scarce in Israel.

These limitations in language and geography turn what could have been a great story into a merely mediocre one.

I won't go over the same ground as other reviewers and try and retell an amazing story in 100 words or less. Read the book about this improbable story about an African rescue that's less well known than Entebbe. This is a good movie but not great. How could it have been better?

First of all, despite employing an Israeli director (Gideon Raff) and a large contingent of Israelis in the production, the Hebrew language is invisible except for a few signs on the wall at Mossad headquarters. We do hear the Sudanese and the Ethiopians speak Arabic and Amharic, duly subtitled. If we can read that many subtitles, why can't the Israeli roles speak Hebrew with English subtitles. Come on Netflix - don't sacrifice authenticity to an assumption that the audience can't read at more than a grade three level.

Also, why go for English-only stars (Chris Evans, Ben Kingsley, Haley Bennet) when there are plenty of good Israeli actors in the theater community in Israel. Not only are they competent, but they speak excellent English with the proper accent, if we really must dispense with subtitles. Why not have Yehoram Gaon in Ben Kingsley's place? He's already done that part in Mossad 101.

One more word to those who decide they don't like the movie after five minutes. You missed one of moviedom's most moving moments when the actual pictures and footage is shown while Idan Raichel Project sings the dreamy Mi'Ma'amakim (Out of the Depths). Keep the Kleenex handy for that moment.

We watched the Netflix effort What/If right to the end. This series is not binge-worth watching, unless a mish-mash of old movie clichés done by a washup leading a cast of B-listers is your idea of a great binge. It's one thing to pay tribute to a classic movie by artfully incorporating a scene in some new or refreshing way. It's another matter to cobble together themes and scenes from great movies just to make money. What/If shamelessly cuts and pastes from others whatever the creators think will sell. Remember Indecent Proposal? In the first episode, we have the same struggling business but it's the wife who now trades away her hunk for $20 million. See the ingenuity here? Apparently if the wife pimps her husband, the price goes up to reflect better bargaining or inflation or maybe the supply/demand balance. That was the first rip-off but the last episode ends exactly the same way as Body Heat, without Kathleen Turner's superior legs. Not enough clichés for you? There's plenty more, so many stolen from Hitchcock that you expect the Master to make a spot appearance anytime.

Lest you think we simply play "Spot the Cliché" with bad TV, we were enticed into watching this dreck because we really like Renée Zellweger and were hoping for a better comeback from plastic surgery than a spot in Sarah Jessica Parker's ego piece "Here and Now/Blue Night". Unfortunately, Renée Zellweger simply cannot do a movie b***h. Squinty eyes, crooked curled lemon-sucking pursed lips and pseudo-husky voice do not a b***h make. This is the lovable Bridget Jones and Sonia Horowitz. She made her name playing vulnerable put-upon women and that's her shtick. Why such a great actress would wander out of her comfort zone beggars my imagination. There are so many great bitches on the screen, do we really need a second-rate movie b***h supported by a second-rate cast?

Finally, if you're still going to watch What/If on the chance that you'll see great cinematography, go ahead, if hovering overly long on aforementioned pickle lips is art for you. Give What/If a skip.

I don't know how many adaptations of books I've watched where the screen writers have lost the book's real message or turned good character development into a star's ego vehicle. Thankfully, The Wife is better in some ways than the book. Glenn Close plays the main character dominantly (the book is written in the first person) but shares the screen with her cast. Max Irons' and Christian Slater's characters are given larger roles than in the book, which actually improves the film. The minor character that deserved more development is Elizabeth McGovern's Elaine Mozell. She gets as little space as in the book but, in many ways, she is key to why Joan Castleman makes her Faustian bargain with her husband. Jonathan Pryce channels Joseph Castleman perfectly as the empty amoral Great Man.

One thing that will not be missed is some of the "All men are pigs" feminism that runs through Meg Wolitzer's writings. This is undoubtedly a feminist film but not a strident one. Feminists with a black and white view of gender inequality will struggle with whether Joan Castleman made the right choices to have her writing get the readership it deserved.

Overall, a satisfying book adaptation.

In Skin, Gai Nattiv continues his tradition he began with his short "Strangers" of writing and making films where the weak turn the tables on the vile bully. Too often in reality the mouthy bully wins. Life mirrors the WWE all too often. We need fantasy where poor shmucks who want to go about our business in peace are hassled by these vermin. We need therapeutic stories like Skin so we can get through the day.

Some reviewers seem to actually feel a twinge of sympathy for the father who, with his moron buddies, stomp a shopper who is buying a toy for his own son. There are two acts of justice that will bring joy to the viewer. The first is how the friends of the assaulted man retaliate. That leads to the final act of justice that the way the father has raised his son leads to his own doom. I loved the ending. While I wouldn't laugh, I don't weep for a racist gun lover receiving Biblical justice this way.

Under ordinary circumstances, I wouldn't bother watching a teen flick like To All The Boys I've Loved Before. If you've seen one, you've seen almost all the others. I made an exception after hearing Jenny Han interviewed on the radio. The interview promoted the movie, of course, but Jenny Han was so impressive that I just had to see the movie adaptation of her book. At first, we were quite impressed. This is a teen movie that adults can enjoy. There's no horror or splatter, just almost real life situations. Then I read the book and disappointment with the movie set in. Either I stop reading books or I never again watch a book adaptation because I've had this experience too many times. Therefore, I've decided to set out my instructions for screen writers, directors, producers or anyone else trying to adapt a book for the movies:

1) The book is the King James Version of the story. Don't add or subtract from the book. Another reviewer noted that Kitty's character is more likable in the book. The character development of each sister is equally important to the story. Chris is smarter than in the book and never asks Lara Jean's father when he decided to take up a career looking up women's vaginas. The book ends with Lara Jean taking the first steps to reconciliation with Peter, letting the reader use his/her imagination. The nice resolution to the hot tub incident doesn't happen in the book. Also, there's no video, just nasty gossip in the book. Lara Jean and Peter don't end up walking arm in arm on the lacrosse field off into the sunset. Movie goers can think and there's nothing wrong with leaving an author's original ending intact.

2) If an actor will only take a part on the basis that the part will be expanded to fit the size of their ego, don't hire that fool. Lara Jean's father has a much smaller but more supportive role in the book. He doesn't hand Lara Jean a package of rubber before the ski trip. After the ski trip, he reacts to the gossip as would any good father by having a talk as to whether the rumours are true and advising that Lara Jean is too young to begin having sex. All actors should use the example of Jeremy Irons who reads and studies a book as part of his acting method.

3) If the author is available to make the movie, make full use of their expertise. Jenny Han is listed as an "executive producer". Based on the radio interview, apparently her contribution was limited to ensure that the kitchen scenes included a rice cooker and that Lara Jean removed her shoes while on her bed. An author usually has better writing skills than the average screen writer and should be intimately involved in all aspects of developing the script.

My first impulse was to rate To All The Boys I've Loved Before a nine. After reading the book, I can only rate this movie a five for a very annoying book adaptation.

I like artsy films for the simple reason that they make me think. And Brownian Movement's point to ponder is, I believe, what sort of mental illness creates such a closed personality as Sandra Huller's character. At least, that's what I think it is. Such a study requires character development and dialogue that leads to discover exactly what makes the lead character tick. Instead of dialogue we are treated to long silences between characters or without characters in empty bedrooms or bathrooms. Whatever dialogue exists is in such basic English or French that it made me wonder if the scriptwriter was fluent in either language.

Any action that takes place between the sterile room or scenery shot is similarly sterile. The sex scenes are so devoid of feeling that they can only be classed as porn and not well made porn at that. The only compliment I can pay part 1, where most of the sex takes place, is that it answers a burning question that must be on every movie-goer's mind: Do German actresses have Brazilians? If Sandra Huller is a typical example, apparently not.

Not recommended unless you need to experience terminal boredom.