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Reviews
Lincoln (2012)
Grossly Misleading
What bothers me about the movie "Lincoln" is that it really isn't about Lincoln at all. It's about the politics involved in getting the 13th amendment ratified. There is no history of Lincoln in this film--no childhood flashbacks, nothing about how he met Mary Todd, nothing about his life before the presidency, nothing about him becoming president. In fact, the entire film's timeline takes place during a single month in 1865. The audience was even robbed of seeing any of the details of his assassination. The film should be called "Emancipation," not "Lincoln." It's grossly misleading.
That aside, the acting is top-notch and the technical aspects of the film are well-polished. Just don't expect any significant plot points.
The Unloved (2009)
Absolute Genius
I know, because this was my childhood. I have never reviewed a movie on IMDb before, but this one touched me so deeply that I had to. Every actor in this is so phenomenally good that I never once felt like I was watching an actor. The editing, the direction, the soundtrack – all superb. Everything about this film is stunningly beautiful in a melancholy kind of way. It is the artful depiction of what I would like to believe of myself: that although my childhood circumstances were dire, my reflection of them and the character I've derived from them are beautiful. Thank you, sincerely, to everyone who brought this story to life.
Tideland (2005)
Tideland - Not the Gilliam I Love
1. The girl actress was unconvincing to me. She was a little over-the-top in some of her more dramatic moments. Her clothing and hair were always "stage perfect" which kept me from seeing her as a girl who hadn't eaten, changed clothes, or washed in weeks and/or months. This is unfortunate, since this girl was carrying the lion's share of the story.
2. Dickens is a great character, and the actor performing him was perfect. His was one of the strongest cinematic characters I've ever seen and I would have preferred a story centered around him instead. Bridges was the only other actor that I thought did a great job with his/her character.
3. There were only a few beautiful cinematic moments and I had expected many, many more. In fact, the colors and sets were so great that they emphasized what I believe to be a lack of concerted artistic effort in framing the shots. The camera movements were almost interesting, but became tiresome quickly with overuse. Gilliam has lost his Brazil touch, in my opinion. Brazil had beautiful cinematic moments and revolutionary (at least, for the genre) camera movements. The images and the actions of the camera were convincing shadow boxes for the story behind the film itself. This had none of that, even though it seemed to take a pathetic stab at it.
4. The story never seemed to come together for me. It started to here-and-there, and then fell apart. For about the first 40 minutes I kept wishing something interesting and unexpected would happen, and then when it finally started to, it wasn't dramatic enough or it didn't seem to fit with what I believed to be the backbone of the story. All of this and then, like a building (or a train) suddenly exploding, it just fell apart at the end. I could relate to those people wandering around confused in the wreckage of the train. That would have been the only real attachment I felt to the story, except that even the direction of that scene seemed to be forced and cliché to me.
Coffee and Cigarettes (2003)
Characterizations vs. Plot: This One's a Winner
With the exception of two of the stories, I thought the characterizations were fantastic and the stark black and white visual representation of a stark coffee and cigarettes existence between characters equally as contrasting is brilliance at its best. Of course, there will be a number of people who "don't get it" because it is not formulaic Hollywood, but for those of us who have tired of the mundane entertainment of a money-hungry Hollywood, this film is a treasure to be treasured. Bill Murray is at his best, as is Steve Coogan. Iggy and Cate also give interesting performances. For those of us who are looking for something different and don't mind giving up plot for an interesting array of characterizations, this is a film definitely worth checking out.