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True Detective: Night Finds You (2015)
The Man in Black
So many criticisms and off-the-wall speculations floated around the IMDb message boards immediately following the conclusion of the first episode of the second season of this show.
There were good criticisms - Justin Lin doesn't use film and in no way will he pull off the epic job that Cary Fukunaga did in the first season. Digital photography is cheaper, and in some ways, it certainly looks cheaper. I have no qualms with this line of dissension. I do think that the aesthetic used by Justin Lin (Nigel Bluck, visually) is gritty and well-honed, despite it not being as grand as Cary's vision (pulled off by the sumptuous photography of Adam Arkapaw), thus far. If that is a big enough concern, you're in luck, as in this season, we're getting more directors and DPs, and the Lin/Bluck team only operate on the first two episodes.
Now to the remarkably effusive tripe that paraded itself as criticism - "The writing is bad," seemed to be the general consensus, and I'll bite, in the sense that it's more muddy. We don't have two generally "good" guys taking us through a serial murder case. We have a panoply of characters, all whom generally and genuinely appear to have a seedy side, and a very complex plot. "The plot doesn't make sense," was another common qualm. If you're used to simple movies, totally expecting a Season 1 Redux, or need the straight-forward pampering of an Ernest Hemingway novel, you're not going to like this season, at least so far. Fortunately, for those of us who have read Pizzolatto's "Galveston" or any of a number of other complex novels, where we're not spoon-fed story-arc-pablum, we can handle not knowing for a while. We can also handle loose threads hanging, indefinitely - who knows what happened to the crazy cult from Tuttle Ministries after they caught at least one of the killers? Could this or future seasons answer lingering questions? We're meant to believe the battle for who gets to claim God goes on - anyone paying attention to the near steady level of asinine drivel spewing from the bible belt's buckle shiners knows it goes on, and on. This series seems to deal equally harshly with the New Age movement, and rightfully so.
The writing and dialogue are on par with the first season, although there is no Ruste here. It's a more human side of writing, but it's still tight and engrossing. It's still the best writing on television.
Who is the man we've seen now, twice, who apparently wears a Raven mask and marches around with a shotgun full of Super X shotgun ammo? Who will we ultimately find that we can rally behind in this season's characters, dead or alive?
Forbidden Marriages in the Holy Land (1995)
Excellent entry into embattled area
This is an excellent film which shows that prejudice and dogmatic beliefs (in this case in social/familial matters through way of religion, mainly) exist even in the world of suicide bombers and orthodox hatemongers. Khleifi does a masterful job of showing us an unfair world within an unfair world.
This movie is a must see, also, for the fact that anyone trying to scrape up the dregs of Palestinian cinema has few options to choose from.
I'm curious why the people who have voted rated this movie like they did? One THREE, two TWOs, and three ONEs. Why?
I give this movie a 10.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Back for Christmas (1956)
10, and probably slightly misunderstood
The first comment on this seems to miss the point. Its not that the woman is so overbearing that makes this episode so great - rather, the complexity of characters and the humorous delivery of the "final solution" that really makes this episode stand out.
Of course she's not fully overbearing, nor is he fully evil. He's rather ordinary, just like her. Hitchcock always succeeds most when making the trivial and boring very lurid and shocking. "Back for Christmas" is great. Best episode in the first season.
If you're looking for archetypal characters, there are plenty of areas of viewing with which to explore them. This director doesn't deal in archetypes but in eccentric individuals.
Lost in Translation (2003)
Fairly real and the direction is superb, but is there really a point?
I'll make no bones about Sofia as a director. She sets a mood and is very skilled.
My gripe with the movie lies in the story. If I were to give this movie a grade based solely on that, I would give it a 6. It's very realistic and has some parts that made me crack a smile. I even laughed a couple of times. It's pure and believable, for the most part. Some argument has been raised on here as to whether or not it isn't, and although you could argue both ways, I think it was truthful for the most part, and not too fantastical.
Even if it isn't or is, however, what's the point? The storyline is a guy in a normal marriage looking for spice and a girl in a marriage that she is questioning start spending time together. There is an attraction beyond friendship, but both somewhat realize that there's point to delve into it. A bit of emotion, a bit of fun, and we have a weak story that really doesn't say much. It's just indulgent directing carried along by a bland but well-told story. I would have cast Murray too, as his quirky humor did lift this movie on occasion.
As for all the people who think that the humor borders on racial stereotyping, if you were in Japan, and you finally found someone you could identify with after many days of quasi-alienation, I think you'd quickly try and find a way to identify as well as you could with the only person who is willing and able to give you attention. The barrier of language is tough, and that point is made well by the movie.
However, this movie suffered from the beginning. There really is no story. It's subtle, but more because it's not really inspired; there is no contention.
I got a very Salinger-esquire feel from it, in a way. It's just a story that tries to make something out of nothing. It's not particularly aware, it's not particularly funny, it's not particularly enlightening, and yet there is a tiny piece of all of that in it.
6/10
Cabin Fever (2002)
Boy on porch = funny; Movie = not good.
This movie is really not too good. The acting is fairly solid, but the story is extremely weak and boring. If you want to see a good movie about a flesh-eating virus, please, watch 28 days later, and avoid this one.
The kid on the porch made me laugh, and having a girly to cuddle made the whole thing entirely bearable, but had I been alone, I might have made this the second movie I've ever walked out of.