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kmoskow
Reviews
Les misérables (1934)
A period piece
I accept the generous reviews below, but in my view this is hardly a masterpiece. Many vital elements of the novel are left out (e.g., the late appearances of Thenardiers), which considerably lessen the emotional impact of the story. Yet the film lavishes attention on minor scenes in the novel, such as the Marius-Cosette wedding.
The movie is interesting for historical reasons however. France was deep in the depression in 1934, and the French film industry must have been very short on funds, yet it mounted a costly and beautiful expressionist production. (The threat from Nazi Germany must have also drawn government funds from the arts to armaments.)
I also found some of the acting melodramatic, in the silent-film era style. Young Cosette seems to be looking off-camera for direction about what to do. Yet I also found Baur occasionally wooden as Valjean.
I am not enamored of the novel because the unabridged original is vastly long-winded, redundant, and needing an editor. Still, it packs a huge emotional impact several times over 1450 pages. The only similar emotional release in this movie is when Valjean embraces Cosette at the very end, which is a cheap, largely unearned way to engage the audience.
The Post (2017)
Could use more exposition
I watched this in Japan, which makes me reject this IMDB user review language:
"the film is heavy-handed to the point of ham-fisted, from the opening scene onwards. Mr Spielberg needed to have greater faith in his audience..."
In my view, Spielberg barely tells us who McNamara, Rosenthal, Ellsberg, et al. are. I had to wonder how many Japanese viewers had the historical context, which Spielberg elided to make a faster, more dramatic story. And do even most Americans know these historical figures enough to pick up the story as it moves swiftly along?
Nevertheless, I completely enjoyed this movie.
The Shape of Water (2017)
If You Want to Be Hit o the Head...
If you remove the far-right political bias of ShipWrecks below, I think he would be close to the mark. (E.g., I see no note of self-congratulation in the movie.)
This is a loud, brutal, nasty film almost incapable of expressing tenderness. Even the fragile, voiceless heroine, who is supposed to engage our sympathy, still manages to sign "f-- you" to the comic book villain. This security official is obsessed with sex and violence, but the gay friend is not much better, with his repeated references to sex, masturbation, etc. The official's wife is also a monster. There's the thudding irony: they're worse than the "Asset." But everything in this movie is heavy-handed, just so no the under-educated masses don't miss anything. The light touch of Hitchcock, even in his intense thrillers, is very distant from this work.
To return briefly to politics, I would ask how this repellent movie is different from our vulgarian president, with his personal insults, s---hole countries, and appeals to the worst in voters? They are products of the same coarse society.
Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
Ultra-violence, Shameless Copying
Others have noted how the violence is gratuitous and excessive. The story could surely be told without this, as evidenced by so many better movies about World War II.
However, I haven't seen any discussion of why Gibson and co. shamelessly copied Kubrick's drill sergeant hazing scene from Full Metal Jacket. This is far beyond mere homage, to a lengthy repeat of the nicknames ("Joker"), war face/yell, love-for-your-rife, etc. I found this copying outrageous and boring.
On the score of tedium, that goes for most of the film. The love story is without passion, although I grant that Garfield is a talented actor. The only drama is in the final exchange between Doss and Smitty.
Does anyone really believe that a veteran or anyone could interrupt a court martial and address the presiding judge? I guess this has to fall under the heading of total suspension of disbelief.
Finally, Hacksaw Ridge as depicted in the film is pretty dramatic and resembles Banzai Cliff on Saipan. But the Maeda Escarpment in Okinawa was apparently where Doss's exploits occurred.
The Trump Effect: Deprogramming the American Mind (2017)
Pro-Trump Interview Film
I watched this because of a sincere wish to understand how any thoughtful person could support Donald Trump. I learned that Dr. Jarvik, for one, is moved by identity politics (e.g., political correctness) and other issues. The video is basically an hour-long interview with him. Some of the second half, e.g., about the style choices in a Trump hotel, have no clear relation to Trump's political agenda.
The "deprogramming" in the title, I note, is similar to the leftist term, "consciousness raising." Both assume that moderates are naive or, even worse in this case, brainwashed.