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Reviews
Nate Bargatze: Hello World (2023)
Boring and unfunny
I don't get the 8.0 rating here. I've seen him in several specials already and while he's never great, this show is particularly boring and unfunny. I couldn't stay interested past 25 minutes and ditched it. He has a personality that seems relatable in an everyday man kind of way but his routine just meanders aimlessly and looks like he's trying to walk a fine line and not offend anyone. I don't expect to be roaring with laughter non-stop from any comic and can stay with someone whose humor derives from a long, drawn-out story, especially when the subject is one we can ALL relate to. An example would be Nick Thune, who tells a 25 minute story about his first trip to a legal weed dispensary that results in his dog ingesting a huge pot brownie and leads to an emergency trip to a vet...Or even Kevin Smith (yes, the director) who does some interesting story-telling in a similar style. Nate has done better jobs than this one but here he seems like even HE doesn't think his material is funny. I have a fairly low threshhold of laughter but this performance couldn't even get me to cross the baseline...I'd pass.
Oppenheimer (2023)
A LONG movie to sit through to be disappointed
3 hours long and it felt EVERY bit that long. First, I want to say that the sound design and sound editing was atrocious, much of the dialogue was lost through low volume by actors and the musical score overpowering it. Second, the first 30 minutes was difficult to follow as the timeline kept bouncing around (to be fair, I missed the very opening so maybe there was something there that may have helped explain it). The ensemble cast was so large that keeping all the names straight was also hard. I realize this movie was more about Oppenheimer but previous movies on the subject were better (IMO).
Enter Nowhere (2011)
Clever script and story, BAD sound design
I stumbled upon this film by accident and the trailer interested me enough to sit down and watch. I LOVE scripts that are not just retreads of "done-to-death" ideas and this one certainly gets high marks for the building of the narrative. It keeps you guessing and surprised along the way. And the key plot points are not telegraphed nor do they feel totally contrived. My main knock on the film was the sound design was HORRIBLE. Much of the dialogue was unintelligible either due to low volume on the part of the actors or music that drowned out key lines. I may watch this a second time if I can find subtitles and would probably rate it even a bit higher.
I also liked the fact that it was shot in my old stomping grounds (Eastern Suffolk County on Long Island-I KNEW it looked familiar) AND the Cinematographer was on old colleague that I worked with as a script supervisor on one of his first movies (Tom Harting) who I've also flied in a Cessna with him as pilot! Hey Tom (if you ever see this) I really enjoyed your work here!