This is an outstanding documentary that covers the history of New York from the time the Dutch first set foot on Manhattan Island. So many great stories and rich history. Watching after recently spending a week in the city brought it to life even more. Only wish we had watched it before. My only criticism is that the last episode spends too much time on the "urban sprawl" and Robert Moses of the 1950s and 1960s and then rushes through the 70s and 80s in the last 15 minutes. There could have been so much more to learn about this era. The disco era. Studio 54. The clean up of the city. And it's amazing comeback. It was just a little bit of a let down at the very end. Otherwise an amazing film.
Reviews
12 Reviews
Inventing Anna
(2022)
Yawn!
5 April 2022
Couldn't even make it past the first episode. I could immediately tell this was going to be a bad show. Terrible acting, cliche characters, woke undertones, zero character development and, worst of all, the most the most ridiculous accent I have ever heard on TV! Was this some lame attempt at making Anna mysterious and exotic? If so it totally backfires. It just makes her seem illegitimate and preposterous. Why wouldn't anyone ask her "where is your accent from? Because it sounds totally fake!" I think you could get better acting in a high school play! I guess this is what happens when the content providers get desperate and productions just get commoditized. Don't waste your time with the amateur production.
Marriage Story
(2019)
Boring
8 March 2021
I wanted to turn this off after the first five minutes of melodramatic cliches and cheesy music but my wife asked me to give it more of a chance. I shouldn't have listened to her. I could only make it to about 30 mins before giving up. The characters are flat and unimaginative and as much as the movies tries to draw you in emotionally I found it impossible to connect. Rather than pulling at my heart strings is just made me want to vomit. Boring boring monologues that never end and have no point. It seemed to be a modern attempt at Kramer vs Kramer but failed miserably. I have no idea why the ratings are so high for this very banal film.
The Queen's Gambit
(2020)
Not sure what the fuss is about
1 January 2021
Everyone was telling us "you have to watch Queen's Gambit." I had a feeling from the story line that it wouldn't grab me but I eventually caved and watch the whole series. It was ok but I don't know what the fuss is all about, except perhaps that it "fits" with so many cliches and popular narratives today (woman making it in a man's world, orphan rising to greatness, etc.). There is some wonderful cinematography and I would classify it as an excellent prior piece (who doesn't like to see the 60s brought back to life) but I kept waiting for something exceptional to happen with the stories and/or characters and it never did. Some of the characters are also uncomfortably creepy. Anyway, good entertainment but if you don't see this you aren't missing anything remarkable.
The Final Year
(2017)
What?
23 July 2020
From a completely apolitical perspective, the problem I have with this film is that it is not ABOUT anything. I keep waiting for a story line which never develops. The film jumps from government official to government official without giving any context to the situation. A narration of what each of these separate stories was about would have made a big difference. I liked Obama but must admit this is just a glossy promotional piece without anything interesting or thought provoking to say.
Hot Dog... The Movie
(1983)
Classic
13 March 2020
I remember watching this as a 14 year old. I think it was then that I fell in love with skiing. Now, over 35 years later, I can still recall all the classic lines in this film. If you do t remember skiing in the 80s you won't know why this film is such a big deal. But if you do you won't ever forget it!
Downton Abbey
(2019)
Snoozer!
3 February 2020
I liked the TV series but this move is absolutely vapid! No plot. Zero character development. And the most juvenile story line. It's like the writers came up with some random words for these actors to say just to provide an excuse to bring the characters back together again in the same scenery as before. Once again it proves that good TV series do not make good feature films.
The Family Man
(2000)
One of my all time Christmas faves.
15 December 2019
Since seeing this in the theatres in 2000 we make a ritual of watching this movie almost every Christmas. It is one of my all time faves. Yes it is a little corny at times but such a great story. Cage does such a great job of his character and Teoni is absolutely stunning. I can't take my eyes of her! Our kids are now at an age (14 &12) where they have watched and enjoy the film too.
Ice Guardians
(2016)
Tough guys will love this film, but not the fans who are looking for insight
25 July 2019
I thought the preview was better than the actual film. The documentary lacks any narration and ends up being an endless stream of clips from interviews with tough guys (oh and Jay Baruchel has a lot to say though I have no idea what makes him an authority on the subject). The story drags on far too long (this could/should be a one hour film!) and the constant footage of fights gets a bit tiresome, if not gruesome, over time. I played hockey my whole life and still struggle with the role of fighting in the game. I was looking for some stimulative thought in this contentious issue but didn't get any from this film. It is very biased, effectively glorifying the enforcers of the game (albeit in a rather covert way). I didnt watch a film on fighters without expecting to see some good fights, but at the end of the day this film lacked any balance or thought provoking ideas about the issue. Just more of a celebration of violence and a subtle resentment of how the game has changed over time.
A Star Is Born
(2018)
Cliche
4 March 2019
Don't understand how this film is so highly rated unless it is just a bunch women who indiscriminately love Bradly Cooper. This film is so full of cliches and predictable turns that I could hardly finish watching it. I should have know just from the preview. Next time I will trust my intuition. Don't waste your time with this lame, cheesy film.
Into the Mind
(2013)
Into the Mindless
27 October 2013
If you are going to watch this movie make sure you do so in front of a large high def TV with the surround system on because its only redeeming features are the special visual and sound effects. This is really cool for the first five minutes but after 15 minutes it gets a little tiring and after an hour it is downright boring. Enough of the owls, waves, and old sherpa dude, this is supposed to be a ski movie! Where are the cool skiers and story line? This is purely a frivolous exercise in showing off CGI and I hope it doesn't set of a new trend of one-upmanship in the ski film world. It would be massively disappointing if the entire genre went in this direction of trying to provide some sort of deep extensional meaning to every scene. one other thing: the "chapters" to each scene are totally meaningless and nothing but a futile attempt to provide some context to a story that doesn't exist. In my opinion, if you want to watch a great ski movie pick up something from Matchstick Productions or, better yet, see Steep, which is a mesmerizing documentary on the history of big mountain skiing. That movie truly succeeds at getting Into the Mind of these daring athletes.
Margin Call
(2011)
Crap!
20 May 2012
Flat characters. mellow dramatic. Full of clichés. Slow. Don't care about any of the characters. I could go on suffice it to say this movie is brutal! I work in the financial markets and this should be right up my alley but i could not connect with this movie at all! Don't believe that the real crisis was anything like this. Whoever wrote this film knows nothing about this and over simplified events. I am surprised that so many good actors (save for demi moore) agreed to do this film--specially jeremy irons.as i watched the movie i kept waiting for something nteresting to happen. But it never did. And i know that the subject matter tried to be serious,but come on! Not a single smile in the whole movie. So one dimensional.
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