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Reviews
Queen Rock Montreal (2024)
INCREDIBLE!! CATHARTIC!
I saw this in glorious IMAX on Friday 1/19. It was unbelievable! The remastered concert footage in high definition (4K I assume) was fantastic. It looks like it was filmed only recently. The sound was also out of this world. You could really feel the thundering drums and bass as if you're watching live in person. And the performance? What's there to say? Freddie Mercury was at the top of his game. An absolutely gifted performer with a beautiful voice. Brian May's guitar playing was also awesome. There were certain guitar effects that he used that would pan through out the the theater. Mezmerizing! To say that this IMAX presentation was amazing is an understatement. I was so floored by experience that my wife (who also loved it 😁) and I went back and saw it again 2 days later. Do yourself a favor. If you gat a chance to see it in IMAX, don't pass it up.
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
Way too long.
This movie was 3 hours and 26 minutes, and I felt every minute of it. I'm not kidding when I say that I fell asleep for at least a half hour at the theater, and still found the movie too long. Nevertheless, I found that the actors were awesome, the settings were good, and the cinematography was above par. However the movie just dragged, and dragged and dragged. It was needlessly long. I bet that there's a really fantastic movie in there somewhere with some good editing. I don't know if it's hubris, vanity, or plain cluelessness but Marty's last couple efforts have been completely overstuffed. At least this was better than The Irishman. There's no saving that film regardless of length.
Vampires Suck (2010)
Guilty Pleasure
I'm not gonna lie. This movie made me bust out laughing. I know, I know.... It's cheesy, It's queasy, and it's down right dumb. But man did I enjoy it. My wife made me sit through those horrible Twilight movies, so knowing that this was a spoof of the sparkly vampire teen romance garbage, I loaded the movie on one of our streaming services and made her watch without her knowing what it was about. I thought this would be my sweet revenge upon her. Much to my surprise, she thoroughly enjoyed it and was laughing harder than it was! She thought it was a great send-up of characters. Anyway, If you've seen the Twilight movies, I highly recommend (Whether you did or did not like them doesn't matter.)
Who Is Erin Carter? (2023)
Less than average soap/crime drama
Suburban mom leading a perfectly mundane, middle class life suddenly thwarts a crime in progress with her secret fighting skills where she ultimately catches the attention of some baddies. Sound familiar? Of course it does. If you want to see it done better, I recommend you watch 'A History of Violence' with Viggo Mortensen. There is nothing new to see here. The acting is fairly pedestrian. The lead actress is completely miscast and rather irritating. I don't find myself asking who Erin Carter is, but rather "Where is child protective services?" She gets in several violent confrontations and acts as if nothing happens and miraculously heals in a day or so. Some of the scene-to-scene transitions are nonsensical. Ridiculous plot lines. Avoid at all costs.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)
A Real Blast! 🚀
I saw the movie in IMAX yesterday. I highly recommend seeing it in that format. Some of the action scenes were quite spectacular. The atmos sound was thunderous and enveloping. The villains, unfortunately, were somewhat lacking in depth and character. They weren't fleshed out very well, and I hate to say it, but they were not really menacing or intimidating. However, the family dynamic between the protagonists was great to watch. Very heart felt and and likable characters. The ending could have been better (less cheese), but overall it was a great time at the movies. Again, the movie is IMAX enhanced. See it that way.
The Fabelmans (2022)
Amateur Hour.
I wanted to like this movie. I really did. However, it was a complete slog fest. Did Spielberg suddenly forget how to make movies? The direction was poor, the writing was poor, and editing was terrible. Overall, it was a completely disjointed picture. All the characters were completely underdeveloped. The Michelle Williams character, in particular, was completely irritating and irredeemable. No offense to Michelle's acting abilities, but her Performance was not worthy of an Oscar nod. Perhaps the subject matter of the movie being semi autobiographical was to much for Steven to completely put himself out there.
The Last of Us (2023)
Not a bad start.
I've watched the 2 episodes that have thus far been released. The show was highly recommended to me by several people, and my wife was very eager to watch. Therefore, I decided to give it a try. I knew nothing going in, and had no idea it was based on a video game. Can't say that I wasn't disappointed to discover that this is yet another zombie iteration. Nevertheless, the show is well done, and the actors are very good. However, I couldn't help but see the obvious parallels to Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men based an story arc (minus the zombies), cinematography, and direction. I have to assume that the producers of the show and/or video game are huge fans of the Cuaron's bleak, dystopian masterpiece. Whatever the case, give the show a try.
Ted Lasso (2020)
Here's hoping the 3rd Season returns to it's full Glory
If the 2nd season was the 1st season, I probably wouldn't get passed the 1st. But because the 1st season was so awesome, I'll tolerate the 2nd season, and pray the 3rd reclaims it's greatness.
Starman (1984)
MASTERPIECE
Quite simply. This is the best John Carpenter film hands down. It's abundantly obvious that he took extra care to give us the best film he could on a limited budget. I can't help it, but I'm a sucker for alien films with a positive message., and this is one of the best.
Out of the Wild (2019)
Disappointed - * Spoilers*
I'm very suspicious of the reviews here. The movie definitely doesn't deserve the 10s I'm seeing here. The movie is half baked. The actors were fine, but the direction, story, pacing and editing were atrocious.
When the character Jessica gets viciously attacked by the disgruntled ex-ranxh hand, Henry finds him and and punches him a couple times and tell him to get out out of town and never come back. Really that's it? WTF. This isn't the real wild west. Law enforcement should have been involved. The movie was vague whether Jessica was sexually assaulted during the attack. Whether she was or wasn't, Henry should have called an ambulance or driven her to a hospital. Instead he takes her inside and nurses her back to health by bringing her meals by the bed side. Insane. She gets all better and acts like nothing happened. Afterwards, Henry and bad guy have it out, and they ended up shooting each other out in the middle of nowhere. Bad guy presumably dies, and old man Henry has a massive upper chest gun shot wound. The scene immediately after the encounter shows Henry going back to the ranch and living happily ever after with Jessica. Lame. It probably would have taken a very long time to heal from that blast, but Henry us walking and moving around like he had stopped that bullet like Super Man. Also, wouldn't you think there would be a lengthy police investigation regarding the killing? Nope nothing. Just doesn't make any sense. Oh well. I did like the leads even though the age difference is glaring.
Hotaru no haka (1988)
Still can't shake this film years after watching
I watched this film several years ago, and to this day I still get flashbacks from this animated masterpiece. My daughter and I were great fans of Miyazaki's movies, so I searched Amazon for a box set. I was able to find a collection of Studio Ghibli DVDs for a bargain so I quickly snatched it up. There were titles on the discs that we were unfamiliar with, including Grave of the Fireflies. Needless to say, we popped the DVD in the player assuming it would be grounded in fantasy like the others. Boy was I wrong. The move left me devastated like no other. I can say with full confidence that there is no sadder film I've ever seen, animated or otherwise. I was left thinking about the movie for days, and still I get flashbacks like I have PTSD, or something. Do yourself a favor and watch it, but be prepared 😳