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alisonnic
Reviews
Modern Family: Come Fly with Me (2009)
R/C plane impact very unrealistic
I'm enjoying this show, but found this episode to be very disturbing. I can't believe anyone with half a brain would fly an R/C aircraft of that size into someone's face. And I can't believe serious injury would not be the consequence.
That airplane had to weigh at least 15 pounds, probably closer to 20, and I'd guess it was traveling at close to 50 mph, if not more. It had a motor-driven propeller spinning at high speed, with blades with sharp edges and a blunt spinner sticking out of the nose.
How could an object like that hit someone in the face and not cause serious injury? I think a broken nose would be inevitable, and I think it likely that at least one eye would be put out. The spinning propeller would likely cause serious cuts to the face, and the mass and velocity could fracture the cheekbones, upper jaw, and possibly other parts of the skull. The impact could have slammed him backward to the ground, hard. If his skull hit a paved driveway or walkway, it could have caused a serious concussion.
I just don't buy it. The resulting injuries could well be fatal. And no matter how mean Jay is, I can't believe he would do something that potentially violent to anyone, much less his daughter's husband.
Mercy's Girl (2018)
Both impressive and disappointing
I liked this movie, but I felt it was rather slow-moving, and I was disappointed that it didn't deal more with certain issues, particularly the sexual assault by the man in the bar. I think the movie - and the main characters, and their relationship - would have benefited from a discussion between them about this.
On the other hand, considering both the budget and the multitude of roles which Emily Lape undertook in the making of this movie, I think it's a very impressive achievement. The cinematography is excellent, and overall the content of the film is engaging and moving. I'm looking forward to seeing future works by Ms. Lape.
Harry & Meghan (2022)
Loved this Series
I loved this series. It brought Meghan and Harry alive to me in a way that nothing before had done. I was so excited to watch their wedding back in the day, and I've been sad to see them become victims of the tabloid press, but I didn't really understand why that happened. Now I do.
The series reveals some of the pain and sadness that Harry and Meghan have experienced as a result of the actions of the press as well as some members and employees of "the institution," but it also shows some wonderful times of joy and happiness. Watching these moments made me happy. By the end of the final episode, I was filled with a happy glow.
I'm so appreciative of the courage and commitment of Meghan, Harry, and all of those who participated in this series on their behalf. Brava, bravo, and thank you!
Anatomy of a Scandal (2022)
Loved this show!
I got hooked in the first episode and watched the whole series in one evening, something I rarely do. I found the characters fascinating and the story to be compelling. Good acting, directing, writing, camera work, IMHO.
Yes, there was a twist in episode 4, but to me it didn't seem terribly unrealistic. Cambridge has about 20k students. I went to a university with about 4k more than that, and I was constantly running into people I knew. And fiction writers are allowed a little artistic freedom, right?
Also, I have to concede that the ending was unrealistic. After all, there was no evidence of a crime other than hearsay. No way the culprits would have been arrested.
Still, I very much enjoyed it. Glad I decided to watch it!
Lovesong (2016)
Beautiful but frustrating
I very much enjoyed this film-until the end. I thought the acting was beautiful, and I liked the characters and the story. Yes, it moved slowly, but richness and texture made it engaging and worthwhile. I found myself smiling a number of times during the film.
But I was quite disappointed at the end. I felt that Mindy was not being true to herself at the end by going through with the marriage. She was clearly in love with Sarah, who was obviously in love with her. Her emotions earlier in the day, when she had to leave her room and go for a walk with Sarah, made it very clear that she was quite distressed at the idea of marrying Leif-and abandoning Sarah again.
Even if she was in love with Leif, to me it seemed dishonest-and potentially self-destructive-to marry him when she was so in love with Sarah.
Sigh. But monogamy rules, right? Even if it causes intense and long-term pain. Ditto heterosexuality.
Has anyone in Hollywood even heard of polyamory? Pansexuality? Ethical non-monogamy?
Well, anyway. Here's another tragic romance. Enjoy.
Silent Victory: The Kitty O'Neil Story (1979)
Excellent film!
I found this movie on YouTube and I very much enjoyed it. Fascinating story about a strong, determined, resourceful woman who achieved a great deal. Stockard Channing was excellent in the role of Kitty O'Neil.
It's a little strange, though, that while Channing is very pretty, she's not as beautiful as the real Kitty O'Neil, who was absolutely stunning. Interesting flipflop: the stunt woman is more gorgeous than the star! I love it!
Cicada Song (2019)
Loved this film!
Compelling story, outstanding acting, superb cinematography, gorgeous scenery. I was very moved, and felt both sad and angry, but also deep appreciation for the people who made this film.
My only unease was with the ending. Yes, it's not a "happily ever after" ending, but that's okay. The ending was appropriate to the story. I just felt it was a little abrupt, and I felt emotionally disconnected, when I so strongly wanted to feel a connection and some kind of resolution.
However, given the context and the events, perhaps the way the ending made me feel was exactly right.
Girlfriends (1993)
Stinker
Generally I love lesbian films but this is an exception. The premise sounds like it could be interesting but the execution is hugely disappointing. The acting seems amateurish, there's no real plot, and - worst of all - we get no insight at all into why these women seem to be able to murder men with absolutely no compunction or feeling.
Potentially the most interesting aspect of such a tale might be the exploration of why two women might be so angry at men that they make a career out of slaughtering them. Unfortunately, this movie completely ignores this opportunity. Instead, we see women who seem to have no feelings at all - positive or negative - about the men they kill; the men might as well be cardboard cutouts.
In good storytelling, there should be at least one character that we can root for, even identify with. But not here. In the first killing we see, the victim is a disgusting bigot, so it might be possible to feel a little bit of empathy for the women when they blow him away, but later there is another murder which is simply appalling.
I've always tried to keep an open mind about film makers working outside areas of their own experience but this movie is a really, really good argument for avoiding "lesbian" films made by men.
Die Reise nach Kafiristan (2001)
The worst Lesbian movie I've ever seen!
Usually I love Lesbian movies even when they are not very good. I'm biased, I guess!
But this one is just the pits. Yes, the scenery and the buildings are beautiful, and there is a brief but beautiful erotic interlude, but otherwise this movie is just a complete waste of time. Annamarie alternates between sulking and getting high/stoned/passing out on whatever drug or booze is handy, and Ella inexplicably puts up with this abominable behavior through the entire movie. At no time are we given any insight into why this is so, or even why Annamarie is so depressed and withdrawn.
If there had at least been some kind of closure in the (potentially romantic? we don't even know!) relationship between the two, there might have been some kind of satisfaction. But although Annamarie at one point asks Ella "why do you love me?" Ella doesn't even acknowledge this. It's never really clear whether this is anything more than an (ill-behaved) Lesbian on a boring road trip with a straight woman.
Even the interactions between the two women and the local people they meet on the journey, which could have been lively and informative, are instead flat, tedious and mostly incomprehensible.
There is one good joke in the movie, although I'm sure it was unintentional. The women travel in a two-seat Ford coupe with a middling sized trunk. Yet when they set up camp, they have an enormous tent, cots, sleeping gear, and even a table, chair, and typewriter! On top of that, when they board a ferry, we see piles of luggage, presumably theirs, presumably also carried in the little Ford's trunk!
And through the entire film, we never see one gas station, or anywhere that looks like it would actually have any place to buy gasoline. Mostly they travel through endless miles of desolate desert. So where did they get fuel?
There may not be too many Lesbian films out there, good or bad, but there are plenty that are better than this, and very few that are worse. Leave this one in the rack.
Vanishing Point (1971)
Great movie!
This is a great, great movie! Forget all the nervous nellies who are worried about plot or character development. That's not what this movie is about.
This movie is about emotion. It's about being able to live the fantasy - for an hour and a half - of what you wish you could have done every time those damn flashing blue lights appeared in your mirror. (Note that some say that this movie served as the inspiration for the great Cannonball open-road races.)
It's also about a lot of other things, like choices we make, freedom, the clash of subcultures, what constitutes good and evil - and how they can get confused, especially in a period of deep cultural change. It's about the sixties, and the question of good and bad, and how did drugs go from being the symbol and instrument of love and liberation to the destructive force they are today. It's about love, and striving, and desperation, and loss.
It's a celebration of the muscle car, and the open road, and at the same time it's about social issues of the time and of all time: it juxtaposes racism and hypocrisy in religion against gorgeous music (including gospel), compassion, integrity, and vision. It even touches on homophobia.
But mostly this is a movie about the joy of the open road and the ecstasy of a wide open throttle and the music of a big block at full song - and about a society that offered those joys with one hand and reached out with the other to try to destroy those who couldn't, or wouldn't, resist those temptations.
It's a movie about rebellion. It's a movie about soaring instead of plodding.
It's a movie about not going gently into that good night.
The Speed Merchants (1972)
The best racing movie ever made
Hollywood hasn't got a real good track record when it comes to racing. Stinkers include Days of Thunder, Bobby Deerfield, and the dreadful Driven.
Grand Prix and Le Mans are probably Hollywood's best; both have excellent racing footage but weak plots. Winning at least had a reasonable plot and decent acting, but it's far from being a world class movie.
The best racing movie ever made, IMHO, didn't come out of Hollywood. This movie, The Speed Merchants, blows the doors off Hollywood's best efforts. It's a documentary of the 1972 season of the world endurance racing championship, and it was made by a race driver/filmmaker named Michael Keyser, who drove in that championship himself while making the film.
Don't let the corny-sounding title fool you. This movie is stunning. It includes some incredibly raw, compelling in-car footage of the Targa Florio - so raw, in fact, that when I saw it in the theater in Watkins Glen after its initial release, I could hear people throwing up! Apparently the big-screen experience of whipping past stone walls and donkeys and little villages right next to the roads in Sicily was a little too real for some people!
Along with lots of footage of the Ferrari 312P (one of the most beautiful - and beautiful-sounding - race cars ever built) The Speed Merchants also has interviews with a number of great drivers throughout the 1972 season, including Mario Andretti, Vic Elford, Jacky Ickx, Helmut Marko, and Brian Redman.
A lot of very interesting things happened during the '72 season - along with a few tragic things. Hearing about them from the drivers' own perspective, in their own words, creates more drama than any fictional racing movie I've ever seen.
The movie ends with one of the most exciting races I ever saw, the 6-hour at Watkins Glen in 1972. The final hour of this race comprised a flat-out duel for the overall win between two of the Ferraris, both of them wounded - and both of them being driven absolutely on the limit, turning laps faster than their qualifying laps, repeatedly breaking the lap record.
I watched this race live, in person, and it was stunning. Keyser captures every bit of the excitement and tension of that race in this film.
Unfortunately The Speed Merchants never got wide distribution in theaters. Apparently someone bought it and used it as a tax shelter, so it was buried, and only hardcore racing fans ever even heard of it.
These days you can get this movie on DVD or VHS, although AFAIK it's still not available from major retailers like Amazon. You have to buy it from Michael Keyser himself. Just Google the name "michael keyser" and look for his autosports marketing company. Believe me, it's worth it!
BTW, Keyser also wrote several books, including a book by the same name.
Chutney Popcorn (1999)
Brilliant, hilarious, touching
This brilliant film is so funny that it had me in tears of laughter. Yet seconds after its funniest moment it has one of the most powerful and moving scenes I've ever seen on film.
This movie is all the more remarkable because it was made by two women who had essentially zero financial backing, and who had to beg, borrow or steal everything it took to make the movie. And Nisha Ganatra - the director, co-writer, and leading actor - had no previous film experience.
The story steps outside the box. Yes, it's about lesbians and it's about the sometimes uneasy mix of cultures that results from immigration, but most lesbian movies are coming-out stories, and most culture clash movies focus on the tribulations of immigrants adjusting to their new culture. This movie focuses on second-generation women caught between the traditions, practices, and world views of their Indians family and their American friends - and the coming-out part is more or less only a sidebar to the main story.
Most fundamentally, this is a story about two sisters, the desire of one to help the other after her sister suffers a major loss - and the havoc that her sometimes clumsy actions (and the mistaken assumptions her family makes about her and her actions) wreak in the lives of everyone close to them.
Ultimately it's a story about growth and change, but it steps outside the Hollywood box in another way. Unlike almost all traditional films, not only the central character but everyone around her also goes through a process of growth and change.
I loved the acting as well. Jill Hennessy is gorgeous and wonderful to watch - and her sultry voice makes listening to her a joy as well. Sakina and Madhur Jaffrey are both delightful, and Nisha Ganatra is extremely convincing as a shy, sweet, introverted and perhaps naive young woman with a generous heart.
Unlike the typical Hollywood blockbuster, watching these women made me feel like I was just hanging out with some friends - which in my mind is a sure sign of pure artistry. Nisha's performance is all the more remarkable considering she never intended to act in the movie and stepped in only at the last moment when she lost her leading lady.
This film is a remarkable achievement, and a marvelous experience.
Return to Me (2000)
I loved this movie!
This movie is sweet - not cloying, just warm-spirited and kind. I found it only mildly funny, and the premise *is* wildly improbable, but the characters are so charming (especially Minnie Driver's) that they had my full attention right from the beginning, and soon had my affection too.
Bonnie Hunt has done a great job in her directing debut, and a good job with the writing as well. I highly recommend this movie and will see it again, I'm sure.