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j-c-mateo
Reviews
Triple Frontier (2019)
Not collectible but more forgettable.
I've just watched this on Netflix. Or tried to watch it but had to fast forward through so much of it. The idea is great. The cast is amazing and they even work together beautifully without trying to out shine each other on screen. BUT I was board. There's no real tension or fear or threat. Their characters are supposed to be the best in their field yet generally shot at and killed ordinary locals. The dialogue in places made me start to fall asleep and the action was sparse and made for tv. Even the end was creepy the way they interacted with each other. After watching this film all it made me feel was how I miss the movie 'The Losers'. It had comedy action and heart. This film had bla! Totally forgettable.
The Admirable Crichton (1957)
One of my most favourite films
This film is very simplistic! It doesn't have a clever storyline or original plot and it's very simplistic and not even that accurate on castaway survival skills. After years of being on the island it has posh plumbing and a fit team of castaways who all love life together which is obviously fantastic. BUT I love it!!!! Everyone is so nice even when they are all playing the class game of remember your place. It's lovely and comforting to watch again and again. I know it has a bitter sweet ending (which my wife hates) but it was the only realistic ending, unless you think all aristocrats prefer the 'Lady Chatterly's Lover' option. It's not a great film that everyone is talking about or reveres but it has IT! If I know it's on the box I never miss it because afterwards life and humanity always feels a bit better. Highly recommend.
Fade In (1973)
I absolutely love this film
I love the soundtrack. Both the lead actors who had real chemistry together. The obvious reality ending and the sheer sadness of it all. It is a hidden gem and really hard to find a quality copy to own better than the diabolical 'Iron Cowboy' copy available on dvd. Which is so sound and picture quality poor that they should be ashamed to have released it on sale. This film shows you how vesitile Burt is. It's a drama about movie sophisticated city folk making a film out in the sticks. With this all happening in the background one of the short term hired chauffeurs (a cowboy living on the more rural edges of town with his own ranch) falls for one of the back room film staff. A young beautiful film editor. They start a relationship which blooms so much they talk about the future and this is where the sad but inevitable happens. It's a beautiful film about love and well worth a watch.
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
A story about people who don't want to work for a living.
I found this film difficult to watch. Why? Because I've met and socialised with this species of human being and acquired nothing but contempt for them. This is a story about that special breed of young beautiful person who think they are the clever ones on the fast track to 'easy street'. All they have to do is sell their ass and everyday is a holiday. It's the story of a young gold digger and her gigolo neighbour who thinks he maybe a writer. They are both wastrels drifting through life gambling they will find themselves stinking rich and comfortable widowers one day or sooner or later have a dead end job where they use their looks to rise the carrier ladder. They all play the weak person who needs looking after with daddy and mommy issues and in this film I saw the love affair of two flakes who find love between each other and don't know how to handle it. It makes me want to scream 'get a job!. But I know so many lovers of beauty are succumbed by this film so much they can't see past the looks to the core of their soul. Don't forget who wrote it. Another fast track to fame low life who used people to aquire juicy snippets of information and gossip he could sell! But it's a beautiful film to look at, even if everyone is so flaky.
Infinity Pool (2023)
It's neither good nor bad
Synopsis: Sci-fi story about a despot dictatorship poor country with extreme punishment for most crimes (an eye for and eye) you kill you get killed etc. Which is why they keep tourists in luxurious compounds away from their own citizens. But if the worst does happen - there is an out! If you've got the money they will duplicate you. Yes they have the technology to make a clone and he/she brutally dies in your place! But as additional punishment you have to watch the execution. It's a really unsavoury experience you'd definitely remember for the rest of your life. Most normal people would get out of there asap get home and crawl into bed and have a breakdown.
Well this happens to the husband of a rich young married couple. The twist happens afterwards. It turns out there are regular guests which visit reach year and the same horrible thing has happened to them previously! They clump together as a sick group who are all damaged and morbidly excited by the experience. It gives them the power to terrorise and kill anyone they wish without consequences (as long as they pay to have a clone created to die in their place). He gets sucked into this is creepy groups thrill ride (partially because he is deeply attracted to one of the manipulative young beauties married to an older man) and they take drugs, have orgies and go on killing sprees. Collecting cremated urns of their clones ashes each time they are executed for their actions. It gets even sicker when they all turn on him and we see he has been set up and physically and mentally tortured,! The visuals are brutal and crude. This is something these three couples enjoy doing each year without any remorse or conscience to their actions. They all go home mentally unscathed as if it is all normal! But sadly for him, it leaves him an empty husk of a human being who's clearly gone into himself after the traumatic experience.
It's not titillating to watch with very little nudity or sex scenes. The violence is very explicit and graphic. The hallucinations section could effect some viewer because the imagery flashes so fast it could potentially cause someone to have a fit! The storyline is unusual and interesting because it explores how people who feel empowered to do anything will actually do everything - it a grotesque version of Groundhog Day! It's failing lies in the fact you hate the people doing such awful things. You hate the local government from taking these rich sadists money and allowing it to go on and you even don't feel sorry for the protagonists, him, the left alive victim either. There's no happy ending.
65 (2023)
So much better than the Will Smith version!
Obviously there is room for improvement but the storyline acting both had heart and told in a more realistic way. It's not Shakespeare but it is entertaining and a good twist on the castaway theme. The only thing I didn't enjoy were the monsters. I expected more species similar to jurassic Park plus then the earth was much hotter and tropical then and this environment did look like the Canadian mountains. But I did like the little hints at the beginning such as the geezers and the poison berry's where going to be used as weapons later on! Best thing of all was the little girl actress who was almost feral. Also next time guys spent as much on the special effects and robotronics as on the spaceship sets!
Black Mirror: The National Anthem (2011)
Modern artist kidnaps member of Royal family
Firstly kidnap not a chance this is an artist not highly finance terror group. Secondly live sex with pig not a chance, we don't negotiate with kidnappers. Thirdly if you don't do it we can't protect you not a chance, any hot blooded man would of punched her in the face and then fired her (or made her do it with a horse but that's my second choice). Anyway the whole thing is typical British film making of today. It's like the full Monty another super depressing watch. One more piece of negative propaganda art we can sell around the world illustrating a completely false image of the country and citizen who live here. There is always a bad episode in a series but starting with it must of halved the watch list just with this episode. The subject matter was unsavoury and the story and characters really unlikable so at best your bored and at worst hate it. I know there's been a lot of positive reviews too but I think a lot of them see what they want to see not what is actually there. I've only watched this episode so far and after noticing they are on the fifth season it must of improved. So I'm optimistic and looking forward to seeing the rest because they say when you hit the bottom you can only go up!
Living (2022)
Wrist cutting film
I think the original works better because of the atmosphere and surrounding seem to be more appropriate, the over thanking and hand gestures, plus the actor had that type of face which made you find him endearing and route for him. This film seems mechanical and the main actor far too softly spoken and down trodden. Here the over thanking etc just came away as strange and slightly creepy. At the end everybody's interpretation was different and rightly so but left you with what he was - a strange person. I didn't like his confession in the bar because it was awful to dump such a revelation on such a caring innocent young woman and more so keep such information from his son who maybe would of liked more time with him to get closure. There are great sad but moving movies in the drama genre but sadly this isn't one of them.
Crimes of the Future (2022)
A world gone mad!
I can see how this could happen and to some extent already exists. But I do think it is a form of mental illness, madness which old timers would call eccentric. I enjoyed the dialogue most when it resembled the total tosh spoken in the art world today. Obviously it had overtones of the tv series 'botched' and his film 'Crash'. Also the visual disgusting mutilation of films such as 'The Human Centipede'. To me it was an artist film makers prediction (such as the novel 1984) of were art is ultimately going if it just follows this road of intellectualising the ridiculous. The lack of detail concerning work, food, reproduction etc in this dystopian society really annoyed me because it didn't give the viewer a better insight into how society worked and so was very one dimensional and self-indulgent. It's definitely not going to be remembered as one of this directors best films. Plus I think he is very hit and miss with his entertainment which is why I don't understand why producers are so willing to finance his risky art house films so much. That being said is is very original and creative, but a 100 minutes of the crazies interacting with each other was interesting even if there was really no closure to what I watched.