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Reviews
Sugar (2024)
Could had been much better
30 min episodes a week for a slow neo-noir is wrong, makes the watching a painful experience. The whole series should have been uploaded at once. I lost interest after the 2nd episode.
The acting was solid with a promising plot, but convoluted, boring and difficult to follow.
The title implies differrent seasons: Spencer, Richer, Magnum... A better title would he been A sugar rose, or something like that, implying a limited series.
For a tv-series the characters should have been better developed. I am sure Chandler and Dashiell Hammett wouldn't have like it.
Anyway, if you are curious, wait until the last episode and bing the series in one go. As it is, I don't recommend it.
Ender's Game (2013)
Movie and book: Close match, one review
I found the books --Ender's Game "EG" and Shadow "ES"-- and the movie alluring and interesting. The movies is mainly based on EG, but it also takes a lot from ES. I would rate the books 4/5 and the movie 8/10. It is good and entertaining science fiction. The plot is good. I would suggest reading Ender's Game before watching the film.
The movie is well directed, the acting is top-notch, although perhaps the character Bonzo could have been better played by a more believable Latin bully. The special effects are excellent.
The books are well written and easy to read. Ender's Game is most about Ender and his thoughts. Ender's Shadow is more factual, describing both alien invasions. The reader quickly becomes immersed in the story. However, there were some issues that could have been better dealt (This is for you Orson):
1) It is difficult to believe that six year-old could think and talk like Ender and his colleagues, no matter how bright they are. They simply lack the life experience. 2) In the book (EG), the parallel plot of Ender's brother and sister is an unnecessary distraction, the book would have been a lot better without Peter and Valentine trying to take over the world. An alternative is that Ender in his Earth visit confronts Peter and defeats him, and Valentine joins the academy. 3) Also in the book (EG), the political rivalries on earth are infantile. It is unthinkable that nation-states or political-economic blocks would prevail after a) two alien invasions and near extinction of the human race, and b) be tremendous advance in technology and communications. 4) I liked the ending of the movie better than the wishy-washy ending of the book (EG).
None of the other books of the Ender saga, except ES, is at the same level of Ender's game; in fact, none really follows closely and logically the story of EG & ES. I don't think there is going to be a successful movie sequel, unless Scott Card writes one in a linear manner from the movie ending and not allow himself going sideways.
Overall good stuff, although I think he needs to rewrite and streamline Ender's Game taking into consideration 3 or 5 future movie sequels.
Westbrick Murders (2010)
Fine arty images and camera-work, but childish dialog and characters.
What a waste. Such good photography and arty images. Even the accompanying music is creative. But, the dialog and the overacting of the characters spoiled the film. The form is great and enduring and macabre and memorable, but the dialog is shallow and infantile. The story: A couple going on a shooting spree and an unjustly disgraced rookie cop going after them. OK, so far. What is unbelievable is policemen turning on a good rookie police officer who had recently lost his partner and wife, while going by the book. Come on, give me a break. Who can believe that! The characters are flimsy, cartoon like. A lawyer and a news anchor woman wearing black vinyl gloves. A hillbilly cameraman chewing tobacco and spitting on a hospital floor. Only Eric Roberts is true to form: Good solid acting. It feels like a cheap imitation of Sin City. The movie seems to be directed by a kid with the only culture and education of video games. All in all, what a waste!
From a Place of Darkness (2008)
Starts great and falls into confusion
The problem with this flick is the plot and dialogs.
The beginning is strong, high impact. But about a third through the movie, the story gets confusing & repetitive. The end is unbelievable even in a comic strip.
What saves the film is the acting: The actors deliver a credible performance. Savage is great as a creepy bad guy. Travis Schuldt is good as a tormented artist. And Pinchot falls easily as the slimy investor. The rest of the crew were OK.
The movie had strong fundamentals, but the director could not build upon them. It is a pity, so much potential and talent wasted.
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
This movie stands among good company: Los olvidados & Cidade de Deus
Slumdog Millionaire is a good movie, but not unique. However, it stands among very good company: Luis Buñuel's classic "Los olvidados", and Cidade de Deus. Having said that, Slumdog Millionaire introduces some original elements, specially the way the story is told. The main character is Jamal, a young Muslim boy from the slums. He enters a very popular game show: "Who Wants to be a Millionaire". Jamal is an unlikely contestant, coming from the slums and without proper schooling. He does not fit the typical demographic profile of the show's contestants. However, as he is asked the questions, Jamal remembers his various growing up experiences, having flashbacks of his past, putting together a challenging and tragic life story. The Show Host, thinks he is cheating and calls the police on him. He is tortured and while explaining how he came to the answers, he recounts his brutal life. The story is about two brothers (Jamal and Prem) and a female friend (Latika). They share cruel tragedies that mark them from a very early age, becoming orphans and having to survive in the ruthless urban slums. Jamal and his brother take different routes in life. While Jamal works, Prem becomes an enforcer for a mobster. But before the brothers separation, in typical Cain treachery, Prem takes away Jamal's female friend and only love, Latika. Throughout the movie, Jamal is obsessed with her and his attempts of trying to find Latika become an fundamental part of the story. There is some fine acting, specially by the kids. I am sure movie lovers will want to buy the DVD as soon as it comes out.
Gran Torino (2008)
An instant Clint Eastwood classic
Clint Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a typical working class hero. Kowalsky is a Korean War vet with a natural xenophobia and several racial hang-ups, but with the natural goodness all men of integrity have. His character is truly believable. It is no surprise that the movie grows in you as the plot develops. There is a progression in his character occurring in a swift and unexpected direction. Kowalski goes from racial disdain and an equal opportunity hater, to a friend and a father figure for two young Hmong teenagers. He becomes a better friend and father to two total strangers than to his own sons and grandchildren. This flick is a must-see for every movie lover.
Blindness (2008)
Blindness epidemic leads to social collapse.
This is a very interesting movie with some very fine acting. Director Fernando Meirelles makes a good adaptation of Jose Saramago's novel Blindness. It shows how humans tend to revert to primal behavior when faced with a breakdown of social structure. A blindness epidemic hits a city and the government quarantines the first affected. Bureaucracy takes over. Conferences are organized and no real solutions are offered, while the epidemic spreads rapidly. The wife of one of the first affected, an ophthalmologist, fakes blindness to accompany her husband to the high-security hospital where the infected are kept. She is the observer of how quickly the basic rules of social conduct are forgotten by the predators and strong among us, and how quickly the meek among us fall into their roles of lambs. Gael Garcia-Bernal puts on a fine performance as a bad guy and the rest of the cast are believable as blind, mean and weak. The movie gives you a real feeling of how society can rapidly collapse. It is a view of the dark side of human nature. A good movie for those who not only like to be entertained, but also like to think.
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Close to perfect
The story is powerful, the acting is on key, and the direction is stressful, which actually serves the film. If anything, Casey Affleck could have used a little more muscles and Michelle could have put more drama into her role, but overall the characters fit the plot rather well. Overall the actors were just superb. The end is not what I expected, or what I would have liked, but it is in line with the main character: A lamb among wolves, sweet inside and tough on the outside. A religious crusader: What haunts him are not his evil deeds, but the good ones. He knows people do not change, but he is willing to follow his principles rather than his common sense. Casey portraits this conflicting detective perfectly. There are few movies that make you sad when they end. This is one of them. I just wanted it to go on and on. Hell, I would like to see more movies like this one!
Apocalypto (2006)
Perhaps the best of Gibson's films!
I have seen good films and bad ones. This is certainly one or the best. It is in a language almost forgotten, with unknown actors and with a history of America most would like to forget: The Mayans and northern conquerors showing their savagery and cannibal ways. Nevertheless, the movie still captures your imagination and heart. Wow! Anybody that has lived in, or read about North America (although many still wrongly place Mexico in Central or South America) will be touched by this film. Apocalypto is probably the best film ever made about our American civilizations excesses, and quite appropriately directed by one of the most gutsy creative actors / directors of all times: Mel Gibson. The movie is amazing from beginning to end. As far as I'm concerned, it is a masterwork, with outstanding visuals and historically entrenching experiences. Some would like to forget about the human sacrifices and the gore the Amerindians practiced, but the movie is a proper reminder of that past. You become one with the film, with the history, with the hero's aim of saving his family, and with all the action. It properly ends with the Spanish arrival to America. Certainly a movie worth seeing!
Grim Reaper (2007)
This movie could have been better!
In Grim Reaper, a terror movie from director Michael Feifer, Cherish Lee plays Rachel, a surviving victim from a car crash stalked by the Grim Reaper himself who feels she should have died. In the hospital, Rachel tries to convince the staff that Death is hunting for her. Thinking her nuts, Rachel is committed to a mental health facility, where she finds herself with other inmates that have also cheated death. That night, the Grim Reaper comes for them. The movie is full of the usual terror clichés and formulas, where common sense is absent. It is a sloppy hash of a movie, poorly directed and plotted in a way that looks as if it were improvised on the spot. Feifer, who has produced over 30 independent films, could have done a better job staying closer to reality, than trying to frighten his audience at every turn. Grim Reaper feels like one cheap shot after another. Even the film's target audiences (terror junkies) are probably going to bail on this one.