Reviews

This is a prime example how NOT to make an anthology. What this obviously needs is a framework. Think either Sherezades 1002 nigh structure, where a tale teller tells a listener: "Prick up your ears for these five stories i've heard", or someone could find a log book on an abandoned space ship, the last remains of a (not so?) great culture called Homo Sapiens. This would have made it more palatable. Now, by suggesting that there's a connection, while there actually isn't one, it results only in annoyed viewers. I agree that the Asian cyberpunk story was the best, if only for the daring production decision to shoot on the sttreets of Tokyo, using the unwitting public as unaware extras. And it has truly unnerving body modifications on top of that.

PS The framework, at its cheapest could be just a voice over....

5 oth 10 The Melancholic Alcoholic.

... the filmmakers provided us with a great movie, a work of art. This is a story about a hand, a boy and love? It is very moving.

It starts when we see a severed hand, which can move on it's own, and it escapes some sort of facility, a lab, a hospital? Who knows? This is the story-line of the present: the hand is looking for the rest of its body. Through flashbacks we're presented with two other story lines, one of the recent past, which is about Naoufel, a young man who leads a miserable life as a pizza delivery guy, in a big city, Paris most likely. Slowly we see how his life has developed, through the second flash back, which is the story line of the distant past, which starts when he is a young boy of around 8-10 years old.

One night, at yet another delivery gone wrong, Naoufel encounters a young woman, Gabrielle. He finds out where she works and takes a carpentry internship with her dying uncle to get close to her. Meanwhile, we see the odyssey of the hand, travelling toward its body.

How it all comes together, you have view it for yourself

Pay heed to the painfully beautiful musical theme.

9 oth 10

The Melancholic Alcoholic.

So, I got this one, purely for the poster and the title. But right away I realized this was a low budget, no production value kinda movie. Don't get me wrong, the acting is good to middling, the story is ... half good, the direction is shoddy. In general, this movies exumes low production values, but there is some budget, the exterior scenes e.g. In the restaurant and the class room are pretty okay.

It took some time to get used to an actor with a speech impediment, but once you do, you see that he is the best actor of them all. A lot feels 2nd rate, like the protagonists sisters, they weren't exactly "aesthetically pleasing", but the acting was okay. Except for the Dad, who does a lot of Incoherent yelling and screaming, everyone acting is within parameters.

It's a weird movie and the story feels plot-holish. What is weird is why the ghost would wait this long to do it's business??? Why not do what you wanna do anyways???

4 oth 10 The Melancholic Alcoholic.

No doubt there's a whole lot more wrong with this film, but what stood out to me was: Why, oh why does Standard Issue Hot Girl Mary (Ellie Bamber) fall for Loner Geek Weirdo Boy Reagan, Colin Ford??? It's true, she's steadfast in her yearning for him, and from the beginning, too. But why would she want him? There's a lack of BFF for Mary, to whom she could have told exactly WHY she falls for the Phoneless Weirdo. What doubled down on the lack of credibility was his displayed UNinterestedness in her. Yes, yes, sure, he plays hard to get, perhaps to keep her interested. But that crap just doesn't fly.

I get it, this is a movie predominantly about a Lone Wolf Hero Entrepeneur who is outsmarting the Dumbo Cop Who Peaked In High School.... eeer ""the Adderall Case" than about the believability of the background romance, but since she is kind of essential to the plot, it would have been wise to make her role credible.

The óther thing which wasn't credible: How quickly the detective suspected Colin Ford. There was no clever detecting, no sudden insight, nothing.

You almost hope that this used to be a 110 minute movie, which was horrendously butchered because of "speed" or whatever. If the writer was forced to downsize the script, Woe unto them. If they did that themselves: Lousy writing!

I liked the police commissioner/chief, good strong role. Thát was about the only thing truly credible about this movie.

Ford isn't a bad actor, if his role had been like the one in Daybreak, it would've improved the movie. I'm not sure if "Detached Emotionless Genius" is totally his thing.

By the way: "Reagan" is a dumb name for a "hero". It's the 3rd reason to think this might've been written by a right-winger, the other 2 being the Lone Wolf glorification and the absence of morals: is it okay to kill people for being basically unkind awholes? Movie says yes.

5,5 oth 10, rounded off 5 (2,5 of those points go to the hawtness of Ellie Bamber, who should get commended, always, since she showed her 18 year old b---tock in Nocturnal Animals.... Those British lassies!!!) The Melancholic Alcoholic.

Aftersun (its title is never explained) is an excellent debut feature film by Wells, who did make three shorts previously, of which "Tuesday (2015)" also explored the father-daughter relationship. This film about a divorced father and his 11 year old daughter going on their traditional holiday together explores how memory can distort and be mixed with perhaps false memories, or wish fullfilment. Did all of it really happen, or was it just how an 11 year old interprets things she didn't have the maturity yet to fully understand? The style of filming however, is somewhat of a burden to a viewer. It consists of mainly close ups of the protagonists faces, clearly to emphasize that the movie is solely about a father and his daughter.

This is contrasted by wide shots where father and daughter are barely visible and not recognizable. The other characters in the film, (the teens, hotel personnel, other holiday makers) are hardly in frame, barely have lines. Only the 12 year old boy Sophie kisses is clearly visible. Aftersun is also clearly a film of it's age, when it comes how the young actress is shot. Even though it plays in a holiday resort, and Sophie is dressed accordingly and in swim wear, any and all salaciousness is carefully avoided. She's never shown in a bikini, but rather in a full, dark colored bathing suit. The one time there's a three -quarter shot of Sophie underwater, she wears a t-shirt. The kiss between her and Micheal is filmed from behind his head, so it's pretty clear there was no physical contact whatsoever between the actors.

While the direction and acting is in general wonderful, there are times when Sophie smiles too much. When child actors smile too much and inappropriately, they do that out cluelessness, embarrassment of shyness. In general it means they're bad at acting, but since Corio also had good acting moments, I suspect she was directed to smile, which tells us the direction wasn't up to par.

This is a minor flaw in an on the whole, lovely debut.

7 oth 10

The Melancholic Alcoholic.

Avoid this at all cost, its gonna be 90 min you can't get back.

Why is this so bad? Let us count the ways: It's un-original: a rip off of the excellent Korean series Squid Games, which dóés have normal to high production values. One can always do a re-make, but then it has to have something extra, which sets it apart. This ... has nót that.

Because character development is always harder in a film than in a TV series, because there's less time in which to do so, it has to be done well. It is not.

While there is nothing overtly wrong with the sets they still feel cheap.

The villain, JayPox, with his bleached face and face tattoo had nothing likable whatsoever. Villains DO have to have something likable. This is a rookie mistake.

An ensemble film with 11 main roles and they're all white, bar one? Please.

The story line is very predictable, from the beginning it's clear who the last 2 contestants would be and who would win in the end. With real names like ''Ad Cock'' and ''Hard Sell", it was to be expected.

The only good thing about this was that fairly unknown actors got a shot and hopefully, had a good time.

1 oth 10.

The Melancholic Alcholic.

29 year old Leigh, a former valedictiorian, (33 year old Kristen Bell), is disappointed in her city reporter job for the Associated Press, not clear is why and goes home to her small hometown in Connecticut. There, she reconnects with her father, her old school mates Mel (now vice principal) and Todd (closeted gay man, working at a gallery, but not her mother. Her return sparks a summerly return to their teen years for the 3 friends, who start to hang out with three 16 year olds on the basis of mutual benefits: the adults buy the beer and the teens bring weed.

Leigh starts a relationship with brooding teen Jason (19 year old David Lambert), Mel, who quit smoking and drinking in order to get pregnant picks that up again when realizes that her responsible life as vice-principal is rather hard, which her husband John resents and Todd makes googly eyes at Matt, Jason's buddy.

This is a movie about the loss of youth, the unwillingness to grow up and the nostalgia of it all. It's "The Tin Drum' (1979)'' but without the war and set in Connecticut rather than post war Germany ;-)

The best part of the film is Leighs and Jasons relationship because it is credibly dramatized, we can really emphatize with her. They make it credible that a 29 year old woman can have a meaningful, non-exploitative, relationship with a 16 year old boy. And it even makes one wonder if the same can be said for a 29 year old male and a 16 year old girl. Even though the two situations are not the same but gender reversed: it's kind of hard to see a 200 lbs 6 foot 4 male being abused by a 100 lbs. 5''5 female. And men have a bigger credibility and are more sexually permitted than females.

The reaction of Mel when she finds out, then, seems a little over the top, but from her position as VP, it's understandable. Equally understandable is that nothing comes of it, the teens father doesn't wanna "name names" and he's worried far more about "real problems" and Mels boss doesn't wanna fire her. And to be honest, Mels responsiblity is very limited.

What the three 30 year olds go through is quite recognizable, especially for starting teachers: suddenly, you're back in high school and all the archtypes surround you once more: the hot jocks, the ungettable chearleader types or the interesting intellectual counter culture classmates. Pretty much every young teacher falls in love with a student at least once, even the happily married ones, but 99.9% don't act on it. Or, they start relationships after they come of age...

There are some flaws with this film, like, it's not clear why Mels husband is so unlikeable and harsh. Nor why Leigh is so unhappy, or why Todd is still in the closet. I get the feeling that the two hour version which the makers rejected because of speed and pace, would not feel so chopped off, as if we're watching the movie through smoked glass. Great acting performances, also by Bell, who is perhaps the epitome of Whitey McWhite actresses. It's a pity she doesn't do more real drama but tends to get stuck in fantasy and comedic thriller roles.

A 7, but seeing all the negative stuff, I've upped it to an 8 oth 10

The Melancholic Alcoholic.

A young Kate Beckinsale barely 20 years old during principal photography (which began one week after her 20th birthday, 2 august 1993), stars as the ingenue protagonist in this light murder mystery. We immediately and easily glean that this is indeed inténded to be a light hearted lowbrow movie, from the cheery musical score which is incessant and at times quite annoying.

Beckinsale plays Julia Darro, a restorer of paintings in Barcelona, who gets a job to restore a 500 year old painting, by the fictitious painter Van Huys (sounds like Van Nuys .... from the boulevard ... get it?) from Flanders, so, not a true Dutch Master but something close to it. She discovers that the painting contains a hidden, painted over message in Latin: "Quis Necavit Equitem" or "Who Killed the Knight?". What unfolds is a who-dunnit with some plot twists, but since they eventually kill off all possible suspects, when we get near the end, it's pretty clear who is the culprit.

Now, miss Beckinsale bravely shows some skin in this movie but, there have been numerous women who done that before her and at a younger age at that. Of the 260+ actresses in this 18-21 age group, Amber Heard, Barbara Capell, Charlotte Alexandra, Charlotte Walior, Clémence Poésy, Donna Wilkes, Georgina Cates, Hayley Mills, Heather Langenkamp, Helena Bonham Carter, Jacqueline Byers, Katie Holmes, Lizzie Brocheré, Mathilda May, Melanie Griffith, Odile Michel, Romane Bohringer, Tamara Mello come to mind, and those are just the ones that were of legal, non-Brooke Shields age, so to speak. But what makes her truly braver than her younger collegueas, are two things that stand out: She has the lips of Art Malik touching her breasts and ... she shows some truly hairy armpits somewhat later .... I found that last one to be especially shocking, since "even" French actressess haven't done that since the 70s. And they dó get a bad rep on the whole hairy armpits thing anyway.

The lightness of the movie is fully intentional, so much of the whining that it doesn't do the book justice is wholly irrelevant. And I get the feeling that much of the negative reviews come from .... let's call them ... the "Cesar Belvedere"-side of the spectrum. Which is odd, because John Wood (what's in a name) is actually one of the excellent aspects of this movie. Even.

Oh well. This movie is like Back to the Future, and all JCVD movies: they are excellent in their respective genres. So, don't go comparing this to "They shoot horses, don't they?" That's nonsensical. If you think this movie hurts the book, get the funding and make one yourself.

7/10.

The Melancholic Alcholic.

This movie has become sort of a secret hero to the fascist crowds, because they think it says something about black people, which It. Does. Not. Right wing extremists have been known to get things wrong, in fact, most things they get wrong. Sadly, that gets a lot of people hurt, or, you know... killed. No, it doesn't "tell the uncomfortable truth about immigrantion".

This film is a little more subtle than that. This movie is about fitting in, or not fitting in. The main character, Ante, an excellent role by Kingsford Siayor, tries to fit into (some sort of village in) Norway. The Saami people ("Laplanders") try to fit into Norwegian society and succeed to varying degrees.

In an example of method acting, or perhaps in an effort to follow the infamous "Dogme 95" edicts, the actors didn't bathe nor shower during the entire time they were on location, filming the movie, which was weeks, rather than days.

I got to this movie because after watching Gunslinger Girls, I found a list of "girls-with-guns" movies. This was on that list.

Zero Woman 2 is about this cop called Rei, from the Zero Division from the Tokyo Police Dept. Why Zero? IDK. Is because it's an undercover division and officially doesn't exist? Or is named after the famous Japanese World War 2 era fighter planes? Perhaps.

The movie begins when the cop, Rei, tries to stop a Chinese trio of small time crooks from robbing a mob boss. She fails, and the crooks get away with 100 million yen in stocks. But they expected money, so they don't know what they have. The rest of the movie is about the hunt for the stolen goods.

Rei's boss forces her to work with a partner from the normal police, who seems to have ties with organized crime.

What's somewhat a nice surprise about this movie is that the direction, camera work, cinematography is quite good. You can see that they really put an effort into all that. The acting is not remarkable, but it's not bad either. It fits the movie. Natsuki Ozawa, who plays Rei, has a superior and excellent upper torso, it almost seems enhanced, which is apparently why she disrobes quite frequently. But this is only so in the first half hour. After that, she remains fully clothed, there's only a brief scene where Anne, a victim of the criminals, is exposed.

Where the movie fails is in some of the martial arts scenes, where the actors themselves are involved. Not all scenes are bad, but some are clearly amateurish. The movie has decent production values, despite what some here want you to believe. This is especially visible in the scene where Rei's cop partner removes a bullet from her thigh. It's so realistic looking, you almost wonder if it's not real. Perhaps not her leg, but someone elses?

And at times the story seems so jump around a bit too much from one character or storyline to another. And of course, it has the suspend your belief moments of all action movies: Letting someone poke around in your THIGH?? That's clearly crazy, if you knick the artery, you can bleed out in less than a minute. And all the guns vs swords scenes also beggar believe. Which make this movie similar to all the "Taken" and "Mission Impossible" movies where senior citizens over 60 do the most amazing action stuff....

All in all, this is well worth watching. What's remarkable about the lead is that she got her start as 15 year old in youth drama/comedy, then disappeared for 5 years, then did this, and from 1997-2004 made 8 or so porn movies, and then was gone again. She's 50 now, so I doubt we will see her again. What a waste.

6 oth 10. The Melancholic Alcoholic.

Drama about a young woman who accidentally gets drawn into a life of crime. Kiki and her sister Stacey are down on their luck, when Kiki, an Uber driver suddenly gets a customer in her car who overpays her for one ride alone. He then offers her $7000 if she transports a bag from Atlanta to Texas.

Look, sure, the sound quality is very bad, but that's why they have this spanking new invention called subtitles.... I was surprised by the quality of the acting, the script and the visuals. This a no-to-low budget show, and yes, that shows.

The sound is the only thing that's actually horrendous, no argument there. But the story line, while not new, is too captivating. Especially the 2nd story line of a serial killer is clever.

Also, the acting, from the leads is up to par. Especially supporting actress Michelle Lamb stands out as upcoming drugs-Czarina.

I don't agree with their wardrobe choices, but that's part of that culture, it would be weird if they dressed like nebraska soccer moms. Like the Pope said, who are we to criticize all that? And sure, the actresses do not adhere to the boilerplate mainstream beauty norms. Then again: this is the age of body positivity. And no-one complains about Danny Devito, Jim Belushi being ugly and fat AF.

8 oth 10. Added 1 point for all the racist sexism in the other comments and another point because how far they got, working on a shoestring budget

The Melancholic Alcoholic.

This short wants to be a vapid cheerleader of the idea that Nature is stronger than Nurture. The rich couple took in a poor lad, but alas! Despite the advantages of his surroundings, he's not any good any way. But since they've reared him for 15 years or more, it actually shows that THEIR spoiling of the boy made him act irresponsible, NOT his "nature".

Incidentally, it also drives home the "Undeserving poor" myth: the poor are poor because of their innate nature, not because of their surroundings. This has proven to be nonsense by history, in America alone, the Irish, Italians, Asians, have proven that, when not confronted with huge barriers of discrimination, they can thrive. If they had been innately doomed to fail, they wouldn't be as successful as they are now.

In the West, we think of ourselves as treating women with the utmost respect, and we think of Islam as a culture which treats women as second rate citizens. But "Cusp" shows clearly that American culture, isn't all that different from Islam. Or, what Westerners like to tell themselves Islamic culture does to women.

"Cusp" follows three 15-16 year old Texan girls (Brittney, Autumn and Aaloni), on the cusp of womanhood. It seems that the filmmakers met these three teens through a sexual assault group therapy for teens in rural Texas. Both Brittney and Autumn are part of the 85-90% group of rape victims: they have been raped by people they knew: family friends, who were friends with one or both of their parents. Autumn was raped by her mother's best friend, a man, and this is the reason her parents have split up and she lives with her father. Brittney has been raped by her father's childhood buddy. The relationship between the two men isn't made entirely clear, or, I've missed it. Aaloni has an absentee father, who is in the military and who has been in Afghanistan for many years. The problem here is that when he gets back, he wants to completely lord over his family, and Aaloni doesn't accept that no more. Things come to ahead during her sisters 13th birthday when her dad (who's never shown) tells her sister that her bare midriff shirt is too revealing. Aaloni explodes: who does this man think he is? We get the impression her father acts more like a dictator who orders his family around than a parent who protects and listens. Aaloni's relationship with boys her own age isn't that much better: "You can say no to boys all you want, but in the end they're gonna get their way" she says. When asked why that is, she replies "boys are very powerful". Autumn, equally, is disappointed by her older boyfriend who promised her to not have sex with her but "I guess, apparently that one time, he forgot all about his promise."

The impression this documentary leaves of how American teen girls are threated is pretty bleak. They are subject to either outright rape, or forced into having unwanted sex before they are ready to do that, often with boys they consider their boyfriends. One might claim they are an exception, but recent news stories of white men who get away with rape, either because they're rich, in a position of power over those women or well known or all three, are seeping through to the media. Like trump, Larry Nassar (raped American gold medal gymnast girls) and SCOTUS judge B. Kavanaugh, we get the distinct impression these cases go underreported. It's almost as if the American patriarchy/meda complex doesn't like to report about (white) males who rape the girls who are part of their own family or in their circle of friends.

And the 10 previous reviews here don't make me hopeful this American culture will change anytime soon.

In that sense, the ending of "Cusp", a glossy MTV-styled quick montage of happy flashes of the good times the girls dó have, and which also shows their friendship with each other and with other female adults, seems somewhat out of touch. I guess the filmmaker wanted to end on a positive note and give the viewer with a bit of optimism.

8 oth 10.

The Melancholic Alcoholic.

A lot of the negative reviewers here (deliberately?) mistake this movie for a comedy, and then diss it on the notion that it doesn't make them laugh, most likely because it doesn't have the same-old-same-old overly used jokes they're used to.

But this is a satire, and a satire doesn't need to be funny, it needs to satirize, and this movie does that excellently. It satirizes the US political system, and shows the deep and endemic corruption within it. So, on the surface this is a disaster movie, about an asteroid hitting the planet which will end all life on Earth. But in fact it's about how trump handled the corona crisis, with the corrupt denialism to curry political favor and #DrinkBleachDonald's attempt to profit from the disaster via selling various medical drugs, amongst other a horse medicinal drug. It might've started as a critique on the science denialism of climate change, but it's more about the corona crisis, because that's even starker an example of denying what's right in front of you. Probably McKay thought: what would be even MORE in-your-face facts than millions of people dying? Yup, a meteorite! But as it turns out, even THAT isn't enough to convince people to face the naked facts confirmed by hard science. In all actuality, they deliberately turn AWAY from the problem, just like they do now from COVID and climate change. Hence, the title: "Don't look up!". Not looking (up) or looking away is the ESSENCE of reichwing politics since decades, acerbated by trump. Look away from endemic racism, police brutality, Big Corp buying up government, gun violence (The CDC can't even do RESEARCH into all the death and mayhem caused by lax gun laws and twisted gun culture, forbidden by reichwingers). Look away from poisoned lakes and rivers, asbestos and lead ridden buildings, and of course climate change.

That is what this movie is truly about, not JUST the politicians who are bought and sold by extreme rich people, but about the VOTERS who KEEP voting to keep this system in place. In any other rational country, Big Corp which exports your job and poisons your surroundings, and causes global warming would have been voted out long ago, but in the real world, not so much.

Watch until the very end, the satire is even more biting than when it starts.

9/10 The Melancholic Alcoholic.

This is your standard -"Oh-my-God-why-does-everybody-hate-Americans-while-we're-trying-to-help-you? Movie.

Jack Dwyer, an engineer and failed entrepeneur get's hired to build a water infrastructure in one of Vietnams neigbouring countries. He moves his family, wife and two kids to this country. Immediately upon arrival, a coup occurs and the government that hired him, falls. The rebels start killing EVERY foreigner they can get their hands on. Which is, to put it mildly, NOT the way of the world. What follows is their attempts to escape to nearby Viet Nam.

What's really bad about this movie is that it paints the indigenous population as stereotypes: They're either murderous thugs who are just "Evul" or clueless superficial followers of the former government. This gets quite horrible. Yes, at the end, the Mercenary/covert operative explains that the really villains are the Western nations who suck Third World countries dry, but that was such an afterthought. Almost as if they put that sequence in months after the initial shoot.

This is an action movie where the tensity is decent, but the underlying messaging is fully Circle-The-Wagons-Against-The-Mongol-Hordes Bad.

4 oth 10 The Melancholic Alcoholic.

Gunpowder Milkshake, a title which isn't directly explained in the movie, is an action movie which borders on the action-comedy, but it doesn't cross that line entirely.

It's about a gun-for-hire woman, Sam(antha), who gets her kill orders from a mysterious organization with the terribly unimaginative name "The Firm (and this lack of imagination is also the movies only flaw). The rest of this film is pretty flawless. Sam gets two assignments. During the first one, she kills a mob boss' son, which induces revenge actions. During the 2nd one, she kills an accountant, who was forced to steal from The Firm because someone kidnapped his 8 year old daughter. Or, as the little girl repeatedly insists, eight and three quarters. The 2nd kill is accidental-ish, and it makes her feel guilty because she too, lost her mother at a young age. So, hilarity ensues.

What makes this movie stand out, are the action sequences, which are highly stylized affairs, which remind us of the choreography of John Woo flicks and the soundtrack, which unapologetically 'borrows' from Ennio Morricone's work for the Sergio Leone movies. What's especially satisfying about the action sequences is that the women, who do the punching and the stabbing and the kicking and the shooting are doing so very convincingly. This wasn't so 20 years ago. Then "She hits like a girl" was both pejorative and a real thing, still. These days, not so much. Of course, this isn't the first movie where women do convincing fight scenes and such. But still, here they are not only amongst the best, male or female, but they are top 5, top 3 of the most aesthetically pleasing. They are just really pretty to look at. It's more ballet with guns than anything else.

Aside from that, while the story line isn't terribly inventive or unpredictable (it's actually very predictable) the acting is very good, also from the child/teen actor, and the direction, and the production values are solid.

So, 8 oth 10.

The Melancholic Alcoholic.

I found this on my HDD as I download loads of crap, and then years later, watch them. Sometimes. So, not knowing anything about it, not even genre, I started watching it. And the first 5 minutes, I'm like, 'W. T. F. Is thís?' but then it really gets better, good CGI, story builds, and on hindsight, I shouldn't be surprised to find high production values in a movie from an über- rich country like Australia.

This is about a man who grew up in foster homes, unaware of who his parents were. Then, because his friend/co-worker downloads and uses a strange phone-app, it turns out he can see ghosts. He meets a man and his two daughters, who tell him that he's not a real orphan but actually the last in a long line of demon hunters, hidden by his father in the foster system to keep him safe...

I can really recommend this. It's excellent in it's genre, acting is solid, CGI and production value are excellent. Epine Bob Savea as Rangi definitely deserves more work.

The romantic sideline isn't well worked out, but other than that, this is good entertainment.

8 oth 10. The Melancholic Alcoholic.

The special effects are shoddy and cheap. They actually pull that trick of shooting a scifi/futuristic movie in a forest, because hey, forests in the future and in the past always stay the same: loads of trees standing up straight. But then, they also wanna convince us that after four or five centuries in the future, warehouses still look like they did in the 90s?

Goo ole' Brucie, a self confessed Reich!!!Winger, who even openly admitted he voted for the chief Babies-in-Cages-Stuffer #DrinkBleachDonnie is on a losing streak of movies, but he goes even beyond the gutter that Charlie Sheen went.

And no, it's not because of his politics. This is just a bad, lousy scripted movie, of which Frank Grillo should be ashamed of. The production values are so low, one thinks about Death Valley. Or the Mariana Trench.

This is what you get if an actor turns to the Dark Side and supports a teen-girl-groping inject-bleach-adviser like trump: puke worthy crap. It's sad, more than anything. Let's all recommend Samuel L. Jackson for being magnanimous.

1 oth 10 The Melancholic Alcoholic.

Yes, even *I* can't come up with a good punning title to this review. What is it? The wooden acting of Ruby Rose? Her complete lack of attractiveness? The stiff acting of Freeman (one of his few leads)? The fact that everyone shoots at a woman on a bike, but everyone misses? The lack of a good support cast or the lack of story line and/or decent scripting? Even the little girl, which is usually a sure-fire winner, cos you know.... Kids Equals Always Cute, is disappointing because there's no spark from her, no zip, nothing, nada, nix, zippo, zilch.

Ruby Rose has all the attractiveness of the Ford Edsel. And there's one thing about women not fulfilling the patriarchal cliche ideals (which I am wholeheartedly support), but there's also that undefinable 'Je-ne-sais-quoi'. Which Ruby Rose lacks.

I suppose the idea was decent, but the execution was so bad....

6 oth 10, because we like strong female lead.

The Melancholic Alcoholic.

First off, nope, this NOT any type of sexploitation movie. And it's not a feminist film neither. It's a is a movie from the female perspective, refreshing, since it doesn't feature women as accessories to Men-Dealing-With-Stuff, as most films still are. Secondly, the acting and production values are above par, as can be seen in the crowd shots of Barbara Leigh. Thirdly, the moments of nudity are very sparse and modest, so this is a great seventies movie, from the first high quality period of American film making, in the vein of "Lolly-Madonna", "They shoot horses don't they?", Butch Cassidy", "The Parallax View" and "Zabriskie Point". It was like the director thought: "I wanna tell a story from the female PoV, bút it's still a man's world, so it'll only happen if I can lure them in with a sexploitative title.....hence "The Student Nurses" The plot is simply the life and times of four young women, at a turning point in their life's. It's also very contemporary, so you will get a good idea of how life was back then. It seems police brutality was even worse back then, but the police wasn't militarized yet.

8/10 The Melancholic Alcoholic.

Look, this is not the best of movies, but the effort is really great. Yes, the acting is that of some student in Junior High trying to convince teach the dog really ate her homework: inflection, expression is okay, but at the same time, unconvincing AF. This shows that African-American movies can be mediocre too, just like (the bulk of) the white ones. No longer are black filmakers required to be twice as good as white ones in order to get their movies made. When you think about it, this is one of the most emancipating things that can happen, I'm only half kidding.

Yes, the storyline is somewhat predictable, except at the end. But it performs the basics, there are no great plot holes, especially considering the budget.

The lead actress is the biggest problem, acting two roles, Innocent Maxine and Evil Maxine. And because she's got the biggest role, it seems as if the acting is really bad, but truly, the other actors aren't half bad.

The production value is passable, it uses the daytime soap tactic of never doing outdoor shots, which gets annoying. But the aerials of Atlanta are great, although they might've been taken from stock footage.

Also, what's nice, is that the story doesn't stuff itself in the straight jacket of happy endings. It's not the Lilywhite-Goody-Two-Shoes-Ins-Out-In-The-End frame. What I liked too, was the micro role of the white cop. It was so tiny, it kind of rubbed it in even more.

So: Acting by the lead actress: 4 Rest of the cast: 7.5 Montage: 9 Storyline: 7 Location scouting: 8 Production value: 6.5

The Melancholic Alcoholic.

This is film is the epitomy of Hallmark movies, it's super sacharine, so sweet it will give you diabetes.

This one is a classic upstairs-downstairs movie of the same sort that made Downton Abbey so popular, with all the usual suspects. There we have Middle-Class Mary (Danica McKellar), dashing off to work for Aloof Upper Class Ant (Bledsoe), a grandson, which of course leads towards a Predictable Romance we can see coming from miles, nay, light-years away. A love triangle is made complete by Overly Amical Playa Brother Grasshopper, his brother and the other grandson. Of course there's the Evil Godmother, this time disguised as a Grumpy Grandma, who's threatening to throw sand-in-the-works of the Machinery of Romance. And there's the Stiff Upper Lip Butler, as well as the Friendly Housekeeper (an African-American actress, this in the way of a daring twist «/sarc») Both grandsons will try to win the heart (and presumably, other body parts) of Middle-Class Mary.

The story starts when Middle-Class Mary gets hired by Aloof Upper Class Ant to throw a Christmas Ball for his Grumpy Grandma, who does her utmost to show her elitist disdain for Middle-Class Mary. But the enthusiasm of the latter for the whole of Christmas appears to be the key to soften Grumpier Grandma's heart. She even gives Middle-Class Mary a Christmas dress to wear the Christmas Ball. At the ball, there's the Classic Misunderstanding when grandson Aloof Ant overhears and mishears a conversation between Middle-Class Mary and grandson Player Grasshopper and mistakes her gentle rejection for a declaration of love. That'll show him for eavesdropping. But of course Grumpy Grandma intervenes to set grandson Aloof straight, and they will live happily ever after.

To pay homage to Girl Power and Feminism and all that, Middle-Class Mary gets a job offer for party planning (while sporting an inoffensive-to-the-patriarchy degree of Art History), so we won't feel so sorry for her lowly status.

What drew me in was The Wonder Years nostalgia and the crush I had on McKellar's Winnie Cooper. Who, by some standards, aged well, and by others, like those who judge on the size of jawline and broadness of face .... not. Her career isn't exactly rife with quality acting jobs, but she still works. Sort of.

2 oth 10

The Melancholic Alcoholic.

This is a very good drama film, about a young man, trying to get his family home back. Jimmie Nails, played by Jimmy Nails had been kicked out of his family home in an erstwhile Black neighborhood in San Francisco. It used to be an Asian neighborhood, until 1940, when all the Asians were interned in US concentration camps.

This a very nice, low key, movie which is supported by just 3 A-list actors who have cameo roles: Danny Glover, Mike Epps and Mae Whitman.

It also highlights that if someone chase a dream, they can achieve a lot.

10/10 ~ The Melancholic Alcoholic.