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Reviews
The Power of the Dog (2021)
I really wanted to like this
Essentially an unwatchable movie. We tried twice to watch this, thinking the first time we might have not appreciated this subtle character driven movie, but as an old Hollywood producer once said, "movies need to move." I had no investment with any character, and the story line just dragged. Why this was nominated for 12 Academy Awards is a mystery. I watched The Eyes of Tammy Faye the evening before, and it was extremely well acted, it moved along, was highly entertaining, and I felt sympathetic to the main character of Tammy Faye, even though she was a flawed person. I guess in this age of Covid Movies, The Power of the Dog is they only serious film out there, but I expect more.
Extracurricular Activities (2019)
Young Dexter
This is a great little find on Amazon Prime. This really could have been a series, as it is a great dark commedy. There really is no violence as the murder of the parents is off screen and they likely dererved it as was the case with Dexter. Good acting and highly entertaining. Collin Ford has a big career in front of him - I picked out Brad Pitt 30 years ago in a small film called "Across the Tracks" - before Thelma and Louise - I think this guy is the next breakthrough actor.
Nancy (2018)
Better the next morning.
We watched this movie on DVD last evening and both my husband and I disliked it and gave it a 2. But the next morning I was still thinking about it, and decided it was a very good film deserving a much better rating. Any film, like any work of art, is subject to interpretation - (people are still trying to decide what the Mona Lisa is smiling about), and my interpretation is based on my experience and world events.
Two days before watching the movie, an item was in the press that the suicide rate and drug deaths in the USA continue to rise - especially in rural areas. Large cities have continued to prosper, but small towns (like the one depicted in this film) have continued to stagnate and offer few opportunities. Nancy is one of the victims, it seems, of a small town, a dependent mother, and a life lived out on the internet and blogs. She obviously photo-shopped pictures of a trip to North Korea to impress co-workers, and fakes a pregnancy for her blog. The one time she actually smiles in the film is when she is texting.
Although the film is not really about living ones life on a smart phone and the internet, one can see how Nancy is caught up in the media, and is actually convinced she is the kidnapped daughter of a couple she sees on TV.
The end of the movie is not unexpected, as she drives away from what might be a fulfilling relationship with a new family, because she really can't seem to communicate with real people and real situations for the long-term. We imagine Nancy going back to her desperate life and creating yet another fantasy. Sad, but very real for so many people these days - 500 Facebook friends and no one to talk with.
Great understated acting, and nice quiet direction - nothing to hit you over the head, but enough to make you think!
Dog Years (2017)
A gem of a movie
I really never appreciated Burt Reynolds until this movie came along, as it reminded me of his many great performances, especially in Deliverance. I agree with some of the other reviews, I was very affected by the movie and the performances were sincere and true to life. Maybe one has to be a bit older to appreciate this movie, but I think many young people will also like it.
Freier Fall (2013)
A very satisfying ending
I won't re-hash all that has been written here about the plot - needless to say, this is a "coming out" story, but in my mind it was more of a coming-out to life and responsibility than just being gay or straight.
We find Marc at the beginning of the movie as a bit of a slacker - he has taken the easy way most of his life - he comes from a family of police, so he joins the force, he isn't doing very well at the police academy because he just wont push or apply himself. He has a girlfriend and neither of them can commit to marriage despite the fact they are expecting a child. They have moved back in with the parents - again the easy way - and we find Marc is just "going with the flow." Along comes a gay guy who shakes things up, and in the end, forces March to examine his life.
I loved the metaphor of running in this movie - at first he can't keep up with his colleagues on the force, but at the end, he pulls ahead of the pack, and we know he is on the way to manhood and making his own life decisions. I really love movies where the characters step up to life and become strong - that is my take away here.
This Must Be the Place (2011)
A great film but not for everyone
I watched this film last evening on DVD, and it was a brilliant film which really spoke to me. Perhaps one needs to be over 50 to really understand this film - I think those who hated this film probably were younger, and just didn't get it, which is OK.
Sean Penn captured a mid-life crises better than any film made, in his character of a retired make-up wearing glam rock-star (Think Alice Cooper), who is now living in a manor house on the edge of Dublin, Ireland. He spends his day like an old man/woman carrying around a shopping cart, and hanging out a the mall with a teenage girl. The mall was a perfect metaphor, as it conveys his empty life, where the highlight seems to be sitting in his half-million dollar kitchen waiting for his micro-wave pizza to be finished.
I found all plot threads were completed in time - his visit to the grave of a young rock fan who committed suicide (likely because of the lyrics of Penn's songs), to the mother who is waiting for her run-away son to reappear. . .she sees Penn return after his adventure, a changed man, and realizes her son needed to leave in order to move on with his life (and likely he WILL return someday as Penn returned).
Penn's adventure in the US is perfect, and satisfying. The director captures the quirkiness of the US without put-downs that seem regular in European films. His view of the US (after being away for 30 years) is much like a child just taking it in without judgment. My favorite scene was with a tattoo artist sitting next to him in a bar. Penn said, "that is an interesting job." The man replies - "it is not a job, I am an artist." Penn replies, "do you notice that no one works anymore? Everyone does something artistic." (think bartenders are now "hand crafted" cocktail artisans).
At the end, Penn appears out of make-up for the first time in the film, having finally moved on to adulthood, and perhaps even as a producer for the neighborhood Irish band, The Pieces of Sh#t.
Gigli (2003)
What do you want? This is Hollywood, not France
We watched this movie on DVD recently, after reading all the negative comments. . .ok, it wasn't great, but it was an enjoyable cute, sometimes even heartwarming Hollywood movie - Boy meets girl, boy can't get girl, boy kind of gets girl. . .some fun cameo performances by Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and a very funny Lanie Kazan. The portrayal of the young mentally disabled boy was well acted, and the heartwarming heart of the movie - he did find his "Baywatch" which kind of gives hope. . .as one who was lonely in early life, I very much identified with the young boy calling the weather in Australia - I think I used to call the weather in New York City, because as a young boy I was stuck and lonely in Canton, Ohio. . .it made me feel less isolated to feel for a few moments that I was somewhere else.
As for people who wanted so much more from this movie, I just say - Hey this IS Hollywood - if you want a philosophical meaning of life movie, rent something from Europe.