sperkinz Reviews

Civil War (2024)

The last 10 minutes ruined it.

[5/10 · 24 April 2024]

I get the ambiguity of Texas and California making an alliance which would not happen in any world that we know. The movie itself was pretty interesting without having good guys and bad guys.

Kirsten Dunst is great and the war zone press scenes are good.

There is a clear right and wrong with the whole "we kill foreigners" part. Then you know that the president is trump and the bad people are the US government. Even though it's not "clear" who the bad people are. It is clear.

Then we get to DC where the president chooses to keep lights on every street and memorial like a landing strip and then hang out in the Oval Office with whatever gun for a shoot out at the OK (DC?) corral. So stupid. What a waste of film.

The Boys in the Boat (2023)

The trailer kind of sums it up.

[5/10 · 29 December 2023]

The screenwriting is terrible. Many, many lines are very hard to deliver with any kind of quality. It often felt like a hallmark movie about boats. Or a romance novel about the love of a good boat.

And the direction is terrible. Really bad. So many scenes to be cut of people on their front porch, troubled, vey troubled.

The story is ok. The movie would have been much better if there had been more of a focus on Joes past and more of each member of the crew. And much less varnishing. So much less caressing of boat undersides. Also the love story should have taken a big back seat. It was a big hit with the greatest generation crowd. Not so much with anyone younger.

All the Light We Cannot See (2023)

Mistakes from the director and adapter

[6/10 · 19 November 2023]

The cast is terrific and the acting is quite good. I started out confused that I was watching the end of the book and thought somehow I had the wrong episode.

Starting at the end and flashing back was just a gimmick and really messed up what could have been great. You get the feeling that some idiot decided that bombs needed to fall in the first ten minutes to get people to watch a book that millions of people read.

The book starts with developing the sweet interactions of the father and Marie and giving Werner a back story. Told linearly the story develops. The flash back nonsense was dumb. It was decent to watch around that but needs to be recut to be told linearly.

Idiot men and the need to show bombs as central instead of people. Also idiot Netflix for billing it as the girl and the nazi. Don't give nazis any credit. Give Werner credit for his resistance and kindness.

The Little Mermaid (I) (2023)

11 out of 10

[10/10 · 30 June 2023]

The original has terrific music. It's some of the best Disney music ever. Howard Ashman and Alan Menken wrote wonderful, memorable songs.

The remake has additional songs that are terrific and all the Ashman and Menken songs are done better. They are just like your remember them but with slightly more true feeling.

The story is better. Eric is a person, with feelings and thoughts. Finally all the problematic, she gives it all up for a piece of beefcake, is gone.

Javier Bardem is always a treat, as is Daveed Diggs. I love Lin-Manuel Miranda, Melissa McCarthy, and Awkwafina.

I'm so glad that future generations will grow up with Halle Bailey as their talented, intelligent, head strong mermaid. She's a stunning and perfect little mermaid.

Tokyo Story (1953)

What makes this a masterpiece?

[5/10 · 25 April 2023]

The movie is ok if super long. At 1.75 hours I thought when is the thing they've been foreshadowing for an hour going to happen?

The acting is fine. In parts lovely and in parts terrible as is fairly typical of 1953.

The story is fine if it had been an hour shorter. The elderly parents take a trip from the country to Tokyo to see their successful children who are busy. They see some sights and go to a spa. That's the first 1.75 hours. I won't spoil the thing that happens but you've been expecting it for an hour at that point.

The cinematography is fairly standard for a 1930s movie. There are a hundred shots down halls or through doorways where rhe action is at the end of the framing. I don't know what it's called but it's been used a ton since the 1930s and could have been cut by half. There are scenic shots. There are shots where one person is looking straight at the camera and says their line with a poignant look and then a shot of the person they are taking to responding and a poignant look and back again. This is where a lot of the acting is bad but it's hard when someone is asking you to make a face conveying your thoughts instead of actually interacting.

Nearly every scene begins or ends with someone coming or going outside and removing or putting on shoes. There were 10 too many of those scenes and that added up to 10 of the too many minutes.

I don't get it. Acting fine, story fine, cinematography non-inventive, too long by an hour. Why does anyone consider this a masterpiece?

Great Expectations (2023)

A reimagining if what's not in the book

[4/10 · 9 April 2023]

It got worse and worse. It started out ok. There were a few instances of context that are not in Dickens, references to opium and the slave trade, and there was some clunky dialogue where women explained they were not ok with second class citizenship. That was ok. I felt it was unnecessary personally but I can see the temptation to make obvious to a modern audience what is implied or inferred.

By episode three it went off into scenes that are not in the book in any way and dialogue that has nothing to do with the novel. It is also slow paced. So much plodding music and a brooding boy. Makes you wonder why it was made.

Fleishman Is in Trouble (2022–2023)

Needed more Claire Danes

[3/10 · 17 February 2023]

As other people have said the two main characters are really dislikable. They are self-centered but also really unwilling to do the obvious.

Toby should have ascertained if his wife was actually missing when he hadn't heard from her in 24 hours. What a complete dunderhead. Libby stays out overnight and through the next day without texting? She has kids. Her husband might have thought she was dead. Later when she's talking to her husband it's like they never talked about her pretty obvious depression and disappointment with her career. What couple misses this conversation?

I kept expecting that they would switch to what happened with Claire Danes and show her perspective of the dissolution of the marriage to a pretty terrible person. But no, we barely see her or understand her, and she's the only interesting and sympathetic one.

EO (2022)

People are terrible and sometimes ok

[6/10 · 2 February 2023]

The cinematography was terrific but seemed over directed in places. The flashing red for example.

Seeing the world through the eyes of the donkey was lovely. The shots of the donkey and his surroundings were stunning.

The story is on the vagaries of people and their cruelty and kindness. I certainly found parts confusing. The open sequence in the circus, I still have no idea what was going on there.

There were sweet parts and funny parts. EO ends up going from one human situation to another and he is dependent on this human vagary for what he is doing, though he often breaks free. The last section with the rich French woman and her Italian son? Well that was not something I was expecting, understood or needed to see.

Licorice Pizza (2021)

What are we nostalgic for?

[3/10 · 17 January 2022]

Like others I couldn't get past the 15-25 age gap. I was a high school teacher at 25 (also got married that year) and I had 15 year old students. It made me somewhat nauseous throughout. Since the actor was probably 20 I decided in my head that he's an 18 year old senior and she's 20-21 with a crappy job because she didn't do college. But still couldn't enjoy it. What exactly are we nostalgic for? The abusive relationships of the 70s or the fact that gay people running for office had to hide. Reminded me of la la land in the sense that Hollywood sure likes anything about themselves. No matter how awful.

C'mon C'mon (2021)

Real and insightful

[10/10 · 8 December 2021]

One of the best films I've seen in years. It's such a great story and the real kid interviews are amazing. All the interactions seemed like real experiences that the actors have had.

The Hangover (2009)

So dated

[3/10 · 13 October 2021]

I finally saw this. It's is racist, homophobic and sexist for sure. Yes Bradley Cooper is cute. It's sight gags and completely lacks witty dialogue. It does not hold up at all.

CODA (2021)

More than the preview

[8/10 · 10 October 2021]

I hesitated to see the movie because I'd seen the preview and that basically showed you to whole movie. I hate that and have no idea how this gets passed the ad team.

Although there were parts of the movie that were shown in the preview from about four minutes from the end, there was a lot of nuance to the movie, particularly humor, that they couldn't jam into a poorly done preview. It is worth seeing.

Free Guy (2021)

Perfect spoof

[9/10 · 28 September 2021]

For what this is spoofing, dumb Hollywood marvel type movies, it is perfect. Funny, witty dialogue, charming. Very funny special effects moments. Instant cult classic.

In Treatment (2008–2021)

Soap opera with bad therapy and good acting

[4/10 · 28 September 2021]

I started watching season four for Anthony Ramos and of course Uzo Aduba. They were both terrific. The psychoanalytic, Freudian perspective was not welcome, as not science based.

Then I watched three more and she's in AA, of course. I mean it's not a science based or useful response to alcoholism or drug problems, but this is Hollywood. Then the argument with her sponsor and she gave up her baby at 15 because her daddy made her and her AA sponsor reverse therapies her? I had to stop that episode for being so bad. The writing is awful and the knowledge of good CBt based therapy is non-existent.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

The moral is that women shouldn't settle

[5/10 · 8 September 2021]

Shang-Chi and the legend of Sumi Liu is gorgeous is a totally fine Marvel movie, where, like every marvel movie, someone is upset that someone kinder than them dies and even though that person told them this isn't the way, the decided to fight and kill people for revenge. Then someone else teaches them that, just like the kinder person who they are upset about said, stop using anger to solve your problems.

Apparently the moral is that women who are younger, more beautiful, smarter, more powerful, and kinder shouldn't settle. Even if their kids end up with the pretty genes, destruction will reign because their dad just isn't good enough, and clearly knows it.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

Not the best Wes Anderson

[5/10 · 14 August 2021]

The first thing that I noticed is that it's the only Wes Anderson movie I've seen that doesn't have a fully white cast. This realization is disturbing and brings down my estimation of all the other Wes Anderson's. The Bill Murray repeated references to the Jeff Goldbloom character being gay, well that's simply not funny. There were some sweet bits. I loved the David Bowie music in Portuguese.

John Wick (2014)

No plot

[3/10 · 12 August 2021]

As much as I love Keanu Reeves, there is no plot to this movie.

I had to keep changing the volume - up for dialogue, down for action.

Keanu looks good in a suit though.

Mulan (2020)

Needs to get out of the make headspace

[6/10 · 6 September 2020]

The essential problem with Mulan is that women only have value if they become men. She has extraordinary power, more so in this than in the cartoon version, and she could use it to not be trapped in stupid men's games. The war is dumb and boring. If she and Xian Lang had teamed up and had freed themselves of the men to give land back to the Nomads, give women more freedom and end the war, it wouldn't be a stupid war movie. The Uber male direction made it just a dumb war movie.

The Half of It (I) (2020)

Perfect

[10/10 · 3 September 2020]

It is hard to find a more perfect film. Lovely and lovingly written and directed, This is why representation matters.

Ex Machina (2014)

Pygmalion without a twist

[3/10 · 8 August 2020]

If you are going to redo Pygmalion, man creates perfect woman and it doesn't work out well, do something different besides making the women super sexy and naked. Come one men! Do better.

Blindspotting (2018)

Chills

[9/10 · 23 July 2020]

I wanted to see this when it came out and for whatever reason missed it. The preview was spellbinding and gave you chills. After seeing in several times I think I began to feel like it was one of those movies I'd basically seen in the preview. Although I feel like they unnecessarily showed too much in the previews thinking they had to hook the audience, in fact the whole movie still gives you chills.

Native Son (2019)

True to the book except for time

[8/10 · 20 July 2020]

It's stays very true to the book in many ways and I've always thought the book would make a great movie. I understood why they tried to make it contemporary because there is no question that racism is not gone. However certain aspect of the story don't really work very well in modern society. There were also odd choices like making the Bigger's family wealthier and him having a job at the beginning that make his choices less clear throughout.

I May Destroy You (2020)

Real life

[10/10 · 12 July 2020]

I don't know when I have seen a show that depicted real life so accurately.

Swing Time (1936)

Wonderful dancing

[7/10 · 24 April 2020]

You really wish that you could have a racism free cut of these old movies.

Waiting for Superman (2010)

Irresponsible look at schooling without understanding funding

[2/10 · 13 February 2020]

This documentary is a skewed peice that supports right wing plans to dismantle public education. It ignores the differential funding in low income schools and the fact that MOST charter schools fail kids to write a story where public school teachers and unions full of women who are underpaid for hard work are the problem. States, particularly those that are headed by republican legislatures, have cut the funding to public schools exponetially and have transeferred much of that money to Betsy Devos for-profit charter schools that have a much worse record than public schools. By cherry picking the heads of the "blame the teacher", "replace public ed with charters" GOP movement, this movie is a most piece for dismantling public education.