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Reviews
Minari (2020)
A gutsy concept that basically trips over its wide-ranging mediocrity
Minari ("C", which I equate here to 6/10 stars)
Nice gutsy concept for portraying Asians moving to rural USA, after apparently immigrating from South Korea to the West coast a handful of years before. And the boy is cute. But otherwise, a thoroughly underwhelming movie and a "D" the rest of the way around. Just a thoroughly underwhelming film for way too many reasons. I personally don't think it deserves to win any major awards at the Oscars.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Basically, I felt very little for any of the characters. The wife seems spoiled, the husband seems self-absorbed in his mission, the kids are also fairly spoiled, the grandma is a pushover.
The characters are all a bit sedated, aside from a slightly fiery argument between mother and father.
Some of the scenes are useless -- i.e. the scene where Will Patton's character is carrying the cross, or the scene where David is staying at his friend's house.
I don't know any Asian family that would leave their stroke-stricken grandma at home alone by herself, in order to take a multi-hour road trip to the hospital.
The conflict between the wife and husband at the end of the movie is a bit overdramatic, in the sense that both characters have little ability to empathize with the other.
I'm Asian-American, born and raised in the midwest USA (1977), and although I'm not Korean, I felt very little emotional commitment to the film's characters. (I imagine that Koreans may feel a bit more sentimental about the movie.) Somehow it's two hours of my life that I wish I could take back.
The Invasion (2007)
decent idea but stupid characters, like "Panic Room"
Saw this movie on opening night. I had heard in the past of the "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (upon which 'The Invasion' is apparently based, apparently) but didn't know its storyline. So I went into seeing this movie without any kind of expectations (i.e. expecting it to be better than that original flick).
As all the trailers show, this movie is about a female psychiatrist (Kidman) attempting to rescue herself and her son from mutant humans who have been infected by an alien virus that hitched a ride on a Space Shuttle. The shuttle crashes, the virus spreads, and many tens of millions are infected. Those who touch the virus and subsequently fall into deep sleep become emotionless and zombie-like. As all the trailers make known, those people who have not touched the virus or who don't fall asleep after infection are normal. However, unaffected individuals who show emotion are quickly identified, caught, and converted by the mutants.
Generally speaking, I thought the basic storyline was a good one. Like another IMDb reviewer, I too felt that this movie has a valuable message, especially in today's corporate world. At the very least, the movie challenges the sources of our behavior -- cognitive unfeeling sources and emotional sources. I agree with another reviewer who remarked that the movie had some genuinely tense moments, but not terrifying ones. Unlike one last reviewer, I really didn't find the car chases to be particularly exciting.
To me, the movie falls flat due to the painfully obvious stupidity exhibited by some of the characters. I don't want to reveal any spoilers. Basically there are times in the movie where I wanted to shout at Nicole Kidman's character for some stupid choices. She makes the same kind of stupid mistakes that Jodie Foster's character made in "Panic Room." So if you were disappointed with that movie, you may be disappointed with this one. (Generally I couldn't help thinking that if a MALE doctorate holder were the main character of the movie, the flick would have ended 30 minutes earlier.) 5/10
The Corporation (2003)
Good sound bites, but terribly biased
I'm a professor in a School of Management, and in preparation for a class this fall, I was looking for movie material to supplement my lectures. The first movie that I rented for this endeavor was "The Corporation." Essentially, this movie points out the corrupt inputs and detrimental results that result from corporations. The corrupt inputs include deceitful, opportunistic executives and manipulative marketers. The detrimental results covered include ethical issues like child labor and the 'patenting of life.' By the end of the movie, the uninformed viewer comes away thinking the corporation is completely despicable.
What the movie fails to mention -- leaving it noncredible -- is that corporations exist to bring together funds that otherwise would not be available to invest in the development of products or services that improve our lives. It also fails to mention that corporate growth results from competition fundamental to the search for better products and services.
If you already know why corporations are logically useful to our existence, and thus you're not apt to be manipulated by the movie's tedious message, this is a very good movie with some valuable material. However, if you don't know enough to appreciate the innovations that organizations like a Microsoft or a GE has brought to our world, then you're gonna be steered in a terrible direction by the message in this movie.
5/10
Panic Room (2002)
The movie should have ended an hour early
UNBELIEVABLY SILLY MIDDLE AND ENDING.
If the female character played by Foster had any brains, she would have opened the door to the Panic Room when she saw that the criminals were away from the door on the video screens, and gotten a good enough signal to dial out on her cell phone.
Then again, the criminals should have figured that sh*t out and waited next to the door to the Panic Room, on the other side.
There are other 'glitches' where the movie should have ended much earlier than it actually did.
Overall, the action is fine, I enjoyed the cinematography, but otherwise, I'm not sure how this movie could be getting more than 6 or 6.5 stars TOPS from these audience reviews.