dissident320's Reviews

Big Eyes (I) (2014)

5/10

14 January 2018

I recently watched Ed Wood which is a biopic Tim Burton did 20 years prior to this. It's almost astounding how different they are. In Big Eyes the characters are charmless, the story is bland and even the overall look of the movie has no discernible qualities.

Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz are fine but they certainly don't elevate any of this decidedly mediocre material. Everyone appears to be coasting through this movie. The director, the cinematographer and the supporting cast are doing no more than getting the job done.

I think it did a good job of portraying that style of art becoming popular and the overall cheapening of what she was creating. But it never wants to present her as a real artist. It more treats it like a parlour trick.

It's difficult to map the exact movie where Tim Burton became mediocre but this one is a great example of why I don't usually don't make a point to watch his films anymore. They don't feel like his movies anymore right down to the stories and the set design.

Re-watch Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood or even Sleepy Hollow before you consider bothering with this.

1 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Much Ado About Nothing (I) (2012)

4/10

Backyard Shakespeare

30 September 2017

I'm not a lover of Shakespeare by any means but I do truly enjoy Kenneth Branagh's take on this play. It's fun, romantic and full of great performances (Even by Keanu Reeves!). This movie feels like it misses the point completely. Despite being one of his lighter plays it feels overly serious throughout. It's more dinner theatre than a genuine movie. I get that this was a passion project but then why make it like this? No one nails the dialogue and nobody seems like they're having any fun except for Nathan Fillion.

Lastly, I have no idea why it was black and white. If anything it just made it feel more dull and inconsequential. If you're going to do black and white give it some contrast and maybe shoot with actual film. It looked very digital with the saturation pulled out.

There's nothing new and exciting to take from this, so if you really enjoyed the 1993 version I highly doubt this one is for you. The characters are dull and unmemorable and I kept getting the men mixed up. Skip it.

1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

7/10

Close encounters of a deadbeat dad

30 September 2017

Warning: Spoilers

After doing some research I decided on the Director's cut version to be the most liked version. Spielberg himself additionally declared the Special Edition to be a mistake and included additional scenes he later did not want included.

Having waited so long to finally watch this movie, it's difficult to not see immediately that so many films over the years have drawn influence from it. I was surprised of the scope of it. This is a blockbuster of a movie with giant sets, a huge cast and many special effects. But Spielberg does manage some heart in the manic Dreyfus performance. After he sees a UFO he is changed and begins to act more and more irrationally. His family retreats from him but he undeterred from understanding what the aliens want and what he needs to do.

It's a weird movie and not that cohesive of a story but it's definitely a blueprint that many sci-fi movies have looked at such as District 9 and Arrival. It's no masterpiece when compared to the rest of Spielberg's work but it's certainly nothing to be ashamed of.

0 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Harold and Maude (1971)

8/10

A wonderful timeless film

30 September 2017

There's lots to love about this movie. Bud Cort as Harold is sad yet hilarious. Vying for his mother's attention but unable to truly express how he is feeling. There's a playful tone to all the characters but they never veer fully into comedic performances. When Maude is finally introduced it's both funny and intriguing. Harold is drawn to her but not in the usual way. Their age gap is not played for cheap laughs nor as her being a predator. It simply is. They are at different points in their lives but they instantly connect and become companions.

It's difficult to explain what makes this all work so well other than on paper it seems like it could be a disaster. Great performances, wonderful songs from Cat Stevens and beautiful to look at. A definite must see. There's nothing else like it.

4 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

The Raid: Redemption (2011)

6/10

Fantastic martial arts but not much else

27 September 2017

Visually this movie is great. The camera is always moving, it's fast and enjoyable. They do some really interesting things when they're playing the story out with action. It's when things slow down that it really started to not work for me. I didn't find these characters interesting or the story of why they were there. Each time it tried to inject more plot I was utterly bored.

The movie comes alive when anyone fights so it's a shame that there's a few dialogue scenes so late in the movie that had me bored out of my mind. It is on the whole a fairly fun movie and supposedly the second one is even better. Hopefully it won't take me five years to watch it like this one.

1 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

The Little Hours (2017)

6/10

Kinda dumb, kinda funny

24 September 2017

I think out of the gate this movie reminded me of a cruder version of something like Robin Hood: Men In Tights. Nuns swear like sailors and the director doesn't seem interested in the dialogue sounding like the period its set in. But everyone involved seems to be having a blast and it starts off quite fun. I'd say it loses some steam towards the end when it switches to a more serious tone. I wish they had just kept the stakes low and not tried so hard to have a heartfelt ending. A goofy movie like this didn't earn such a thing nor did it need it.

I still enjoyed a good chunk of it. Some standout performances from Aubrey Plaza, Alison Brie and Kate Micucci. Dave Franco is sadly underused here and has been funnier in other movies (Neighbours). There's some others that are fine but some of the roles are quite small and the characters are literally only in the first and last few minutes of the film. Overall it's worth watching if you like the cast. Otherwise there's nothing remarkable to recommend to someone who is unfamiliar with the bulk of the actors.

23 out of 34 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (1987)

2/10

Gross, unfunny, worthless

23 September 2017

There's nothing to really enjoy about this movie. It doesn't want to be lighthearted or ridiculous. It instead is crass, weird, creepy and periodically disgusting. And not in a way that I think is offensive. I would be giving this movie way too much credit if it invoked any emotion good or bad. It's all at once boring and incomprehensible.

The characters are complete nonsense. The bully is calling the protagonist creep throughout. And from as far as I can tell he's probably right. Throughout the movie he's creeping on the main girl through windows etc. The actual Garbage Pail Kids are unpleasant to look at. Their humanoid faces that barely move when they talk only draws attention to how they only look like humans in weird costumes. No one is likable in this movie and I just scowled my way through most of it.

The only joy I got was listening to the podcast 'How Did This Get Made' after and having some proper context for what they talked about. I still regret watching it and it definitely one of the worst movies I've seen simply because I couldn't even laugh at how bad it is.

1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Venus (I) (2006)

7/10

Touching story about living out the later years

23 September 2017

It's not much of a stretch to think that Peter O'Toole didn't have much difficulty playing an aging actor. Despite playing a character quite close to his real self he does imbue a lot of emotion into the role. I found his relationship with Jodie Whittaker (Jesse) to be interesting mixed with sadness. You almost get a sense that he's ashamed about having feelings for her but pursues her despite himself. Her initial feelings border on pity but he soon charms her into something more meaningful.

Overall it's a quiet movie that is boosted by strong performances throughout. It is an age that isn't shown often in movies and quite frankly probably makes many uncomfortable. But as I get older I can see that it's a reality that doesn't have to carry so much stigma and sadness. It's worth a viewing and might make you view old age in a different light.

1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Trust (1990)

7/10

Surprisingly heartfelt and unique

23 September 2017

I quite enjoyed this movie but it's difficult to explain what made it stand out to me. Despite being released in 1990 it feels like it has more 80s charm than some of those awful 90s teen movies. It has a tone to it more akin to Heathers.

There's not much in the way of plot but the actors really sell the roles without ever being reduced to caricatures. Adrienne Shelly was lovely and you buy her relationship with Martin Donovan. I doubt this movie could get made these days but him being in a relationship with a highschool girl is well-written. It is not overtly sexual and he is not made to be a predator preying on a naive teenager. If anything, she is more emotionally developed than him so the terms of their coupling seem to be dictated by her.

Lastly, this movie is impressively shot. Nicely composed shots, great use of close-ups for emotional scenes a few tracking shots that I thought were excellent.

All in all, it feels like a movie that could have been forgotten about but is well worth your while to check out.

10 out of 10 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Miami Connection (1987)

3/10

Stupidity peppered with unintentional hilarity

23 September 2017

As far as accidental bad movies go, this one has its moments. Characters aren't developed, the plot is nonsense and the acting is horrendous.

Unfortunately I found myself bored somewhere around the middle but it does have a delightful final act. That's when it just devolves into shlock and over-the-top violence. It doesn't have a consistent 'the Room' level of bizarre scenes but there's enough in there to make it a fun group watch.

1 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

The Big Sick (2017)

7/10

A good but not great dramedy

10 September 2017

Warning: Spoilers

There's lots to like about this movie. Nanjiani and Kazan have pretty good chemistry and report so it's almost a shame that they're unable to interact for a good 2/3rds of the movie. Fortunately, the interactions with her character's parents (Ray Romano and Holly Hunter) and Nanjiani work really well and helps keep the movie interesting.

I think because I know this movie could have been great I have a few criticisms. The bulk of the stand-up comedy stuff just felt like dead weight. The narrative was constantly put on hold for these scenes and they mostly consisted of them doing improv. Again it feels like the Judd Apatow way of making movies where you just riff on scenes and find them in the edit. And it's a shame because most of the dramatic scenes do feel written and they work quite well. Having that contrast of quality made it drag a lot through the final 40 minutes.

Finally, for all the realistic interactions when she finally wakes up, the ending seemed a little bit Hollywood. I had heard Kumail tell the story of the actual situation and I think them not actually breaking up would have worked fine as the difficulty stemmed more from it being such a new relationship. Having her reject his projections of progress in their closeness made sense but her ultimate 180 in the end felt cheap.

Overall, I was a little disappointed for too much of the movie being underwritten because in the end it was good instead of great.

1 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Noviembre (2003)

5/10

A bit pretentious but has some good elements

9 September 2017

It felt a bit heavy-handed with all talk of doing theatre for free and that it somehow has more value because they are doing it solely for the art. But there are some good performances in this and ultimately I don't think the message was bad, it just felt a bit on the nose. The music was quite enjoyable but overall I don't really recommend it.

0 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

About Cherry (2012)

3/10

Barely a story, barely any acting

7 September 2017

This is bad without being hilarious. There are some decent actors in this such as Dev Patel, Lily Taylor and perhaps even James Franco. But you're not seeing any good performances from them. It all feels like rehearsals or one take. There's a scene at the bar with the lead Ashley Winshaw and James Franco where I'm pretty sure she breaks and starts laughing but they just leave it in. I really doubt there was a script on this because scenes just play out they have an outline and just fill in the words. There's no subtlety whatsoever in how characters react or what happens. You feel very aware that it's just a checklist of story beats to get you to the end.

I will say there were a couple of moments where I saw a what a good movie about this subject could be. Her being in porn and dating outside of that would be a difficult thing to discuss and work through. Instead characters mostly react with disgust and there's no depth to the subject matter.

Perhaps a shame that there there are flashes of the director trying to convey a message of sorts. But this is certainly not the female version of Boogie Nights. It's just a goofy movie about a girl who wants to be in porn for no particular reason.

11 out of 15 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Swimming Pool (2003)

5/10

Good performances, mild drama

7 September 2017

It has some interesting elements and Charlotte Rampling is excellent. The story has some meta-elements of her being a mystery author and getting caught up with some of her subject matter while on a writing getaway. It's primarily about her being a voyeur and using some of these observations in her novel.

It had a decent ending which made me want to give it a little bit higher of a rating. Overall it's well-made but unremarkable.

3 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009)

5/10

Respectable thriller

6 September 2017

Warning: Spoilers

This a film that starts out really strong then slowly piles on a bit too many plot contrivances. Visually it's excellent. The opening sequence is wonderful for wordlessly setting up the story. And honestly, that's where this movie starts to have problems. When the characters start talking and you find out their backstories, it gets a bit convenient when things start to go wrong.

The performances range from good to great with Gemma Arterton being better than previous work I've seen her in.

Overall it's fairly enjoyable on visual level but plot gets a bit on the goofy/implausible side by the end.

1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Superheroes (2011)

6/10

A character study of real-life superheroes

5 September 2017

It's funny, weird and at times kind of sad. A lot of these so-called real-life superheroes don't seem to have a firm grasp on reality. One claims to draw inspiration from Batman who didn't have actual powers. Never mind that Batman is not actually real.

I'm not entirely sure what I was supposed to take away from this documentary. Most of the people are well-meaning but many seem mentally ill and may be driven by delusion rather than the greater good. Worth checking out if you can manage to eye-roll your way through some of the interviews.

0 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Dead Ringers (1988)

6/10

Good but couldn't quite connect to it

5 September 2017

Warning: Spoilers

It's an interesting story of twin doctors played by Jeremy Irons. They do some impressive technical things to have him play 2 characters in the same scene. Everyone's performance was convincing as well. I think emotionally it fell a little flat for me. When the story starts to get a bit more out there and intense, I started to feel bored. I never felt like they connected the emotional dots to really justify a descent into madness. It's an okay movie but Cronenberg has done better.

14 out of 16 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

The Loved Ones (2009)

6/10

Great for what it is

4 September 2017

I really appreciated that this movie seemed to be created by someone with a clear vision. It's not a character study, it's not about why these people are committing these horrific acts, it's just a straight up horror movie. The cast is all quite good and there's quite a bit of blood and gore. I did cringe a little at one particular scene.

Overall it's a compact horror movie with not much to it but it plays out in a unique enough way that I wasn't bored. It's not visually stunning but it's shot well and had some humour peppered throughout as to not make it a complete dour affair.

1 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Green (2011)

3/10

Good try I guess

3 September 2017

You can call it a movie I guess. This was released a bit before the mumblecore craze started to happen. It seems to be in that vein though of having a story and just riffing on scenes. The director plays a seemingly naive girl with an accent that comes and goes. I doubt anyone wanted to coach her on it so it's about as good as Tarantino's Aussie one in Django.

Get ready for lots of wide shots. Wouldn't want to have to shoot coverage. And when you do finally get in close better just pan and tilt the camera around so you don't have to do any of that annoying cutting. Also if the "actors" misspeak, you can just keep it in. They probably only did 1 or 2 takes for everything. I hope this movie came out exactly how she expected because it's barely a page of story. Boring, underwritten, poorly acted. Nothing to enjoy here. It's short at least.

11 out of 15 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Batman and Harley Quinn (2017)

2/10

An insult to fans of the Animated Series

3 September 2017

I'm actually baffled that this was released, never mind giving it a limited theatrical run as well. I think my biggest issue is that it's basically masquerading as being a part of the Animated Series universe. Because beyond the similar style this "movie" is awful. Throw in some fart jokes, sexist humour and an absolutely terrible ending and you are getting close to what this movie consists of.

The voice talent is fine but I think I lost a bit of respect for Kevin Conroy. If he read this script and then signed on then perhaps he never knew what made the Animated Series so exceptional.

A bad story, bad writing, bad dialogue and humour more juvenile than than any of the animated series or batman beyond. You co-wrote this Bruce Timm? For shame!

8 out of 21 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Wild at Heart (1990)

6/10

Great to look at but not much story

2 September 2017

I found this to not much more than pieces of movie. I enjoyed most of the scenes but never felt immersed in the story. Lynch always fills his shows and movies with interesting actors and this is no exception. Multiple people steal scenes and are never seen in the movie again. I did enjoy the parallel stories with real-life mother and daughter Diane Ladd and Laura Dern. They both give exceptional performances and Dern is captivating throughout. Nic Cage gives one of his more restrained performances and is fine but didn't impress me like Leaving Las Vegas.

It's a decent movie, but it feels as if Lynch didn't want to make it too weird or too conventional. So it sits in the middle and isn't that exciting or interesting. Watch it for the performances and hopefully the story won't disappoint as much.

1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Pay It Forward (2000)

3/10

Heavy-handed: The Movie

2 September 2017

Warning: Spoilers

I don't want to spend a lot of time thinking about this movie but oh boy is it bad. Every character is the way they are because of a tragic backstory. Alcoholism is treated as a cheap plot-point to show a character is troubled. Attempted suicide is used as an opportunity for another character's redemption. Heartfelt moments are not earned, they're just peppered throughout to help make this movie feel like it has meaning.

And don't worry about difficult characters. Kevin Spacey plays a teacher with facial burns but they're nice and subtle as to not to make the viewer uncomfortable. Helen Hunt's character practically begs to sleep with him and quite easily gets over her alcoholism so we don't have to question whether we like her. Haley Joel Osment is in this too but I won't be so harsh on him as he was still a kid and probably didn't realize what manipulative movie he was in.

This manages to feel worse than Crash (2005) and I think I might resent these actors for even taking part in this garbage.

2 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Little Evil (2017)

4/10

Pick a tone, any tone

2 September 2017

Everything is technically fine here. Good acting, surprisingly solid special effects and it looks pretty good. But the actual content of this is quite tiresome. It doesn't want to go fully goofy like Hell Baby but also doesn't want to be a full-on horror. It wants them both and that's when it started to grate on me.

This part they want to be funny, this part is supposed to be scary and then we're supposed to care about the characters. Perhaps someone could or has pulled off these tonal shifts successfully but this movie does not. It's boring, predictable and neither funny nor scary.

I'm starting to feel like Netflix wants more original scripted movies but isn't doing a very good job of deciding what is actually good. Don't watch this. It's not terrible, it's just not worth anyone's time.

72 out of 107 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Kill Your Darlings (2013)

6/10

Impressive directorial debut

1 September 2017

I had put off watching this partly because I did not like Howl at all and was worried it was going to have a similar tone to it. I was pleasantly surprised that it doesn't share much with Howl besides Ginsberg. This movie is very much about the performances and everyone does a great job. Sometime during the Harry Potter series Daniel Radcliffe learned how to act and he's excellent here as Ginsberg. Similarly Dane DeHaan, who I did not enjoy at all in Valerian, delivers a subtle and powerful turn as Allen's friend Lucien. I could go through everyone in this movie but other standouts are David Cross, Ben Foster and Jack Huston.

The cinematography and set design was excellent which made it feel like that time period. The musical choices are probably my only gripe about this movie. Set in the 40s so most of the music is jazz and some orchestral pieces. But there are a few important moments when modern music plays that I found a bit jarring and out of place. I think there's a TV on the Radio song and also a Bloc Party song. I just didn't understand their place in an otherwise tonally consistent film.

Overall it's worth seeing for the performances and the story is simple enough but quite good. It's also paced quite well so despite being a bit longer than Howl felt way shorter.

0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Tangerine (2015)

6/10

Entertaining with a touch of darkness

30 August 2017

It's immediately clear this movie doesn't fit into conventional movie genres. The way it's shot can only be described as almost fly on the wall with a touch of voyeurism. Using iPhones to shoot this really allowed for the camera float around the scenes and it always felt like it was following the action not creating it. Despite the run and gun shooting style there is still a fluidity to the how everything is shot and it didn't resort to shaky cameras to make things seem exciting.

There's isn't much to the story but it still balanced the characters well and it didn't have any boring parts. The performances are overall a bit mixed in quality. There was a bit of contrast where the 2 lead women are on their own and you can tell they're not as experienced actors as the rest of the cast. But it didn't ruin movie for me it just gave it a bit more of an amateurish feel.

It's worth checking out and shooting a movie this way is a really interesting viewing experience that felt more real and similar in style to the movie 'Kids'.

1 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

dissident320

Reviews

Tell Your Friends

Recently Viewed