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Reviews
Alpenglühen (2003)
Kitsch on TV
Predictable plot in a potboiler with an implausible premise. It's not worth your time.
The Cable Guy (1996)
A Great Movie
I usually don't like dark comedies, but this one is an exception. It is well done and actually has humor. Through exaggeration and absurdity the movie achieves psychological realism. The most biting and accurate scene is the one in which Jim Carrey's character has the family playing porno password. It is spot on.
Most of the reviewers who pan the movie simply did not understand it. Both Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick gave great performances.
Watch this movie. You may say, when the movie ends, "huh?" But the next morning you will appreciate it.
Nine out of ten stars.
The Broken Circle Breakdown (2012)
Melodrama and Pornography
This movie is not beautiful or touching. Rather, it is unsubtle melodrama -- a child with cancer -- interspersed with pornographic sex scenes.
Yes, the music is good, but as a movie, this is not worth the price of admission, even when it's free.
To fill out ten lines, I suppose I have to write some more, but the movie itself is not worth more.
Since the review app is forcing me to write more, I may as well suggest some often-overlooked movies that are worth seeing: Breaker Morant (1980); Zulu (1964); In Harm's Way (1965).
Charley Varrick (1973)
A Deeply Cynical Movie
This is a deeply cynical movie. It goes out of its way to show a rotten foundation under ordinary, average life. Notice the use of children in the movie.
The "hero" of this movie is a murderer, robber, and liar, as are most of the other characters of interest.
The movie is well made: it is skillfully plotted and several of the actors give fine performances. The movie can hold your attention, but after it is over, and you reflect on it, your reaction is likely to be "yuck." It is like a technically well done painting of a garbage dump: despite the technical excellence, few people would want to have it in their living room.
Not Without My Daughter (1991)
Engrossing, suspenseful
It sometimes happens that one's world is suddenly turned upside down: A telephone call from the police about a fatal car crash; coming home to find your home in flames, etc. This movie is about how a woman deals with a sudden life-changing event. Sally Field gives a fine performance. The movie will pull you in, you will forget about your life and your troubles, and you will be fully engaged with the drama on the screen.
This movie is much better than the (as of this writing) 5.8 rating. The reason is that 11% of the votes are 1's, probably from muslims who want to discourage people from watching this film. So, if you are not Muslim, do not be put off by the mediocre IMDb rating. The movie is excellent cinema.
Avatar (2009)
Anti-American?
Some reviewers have noted the anti-American animus of Avatar, some exultingly, some with hand-wringing. Neither the exultation nor the hand-wringing is justified. It will not take long for even young people to realize that the anti-American animus of the movie is superficial and hypocritical. Do the people who made the movie live in the remote jungles of Indochina? No, they live in big, comfortable houses in California. Do they worship Goddess? No, they worship the Almighty Dollar. Did they make the movie with the same sensibility that the Eskimos use in making a totem pole? No, they made it with the intent to achieve commercial success with all the tools of modern technological civilization.
While the people who made the movie may despise American soldiers and glorify traitorous soldierettes, they rely on those same soldiers to protect their property, their freedom of speech, their political freedoms and to protect them from Muslim terrorists.
Even if movie viewers do not consciously register these contradictions, subconsciously the contradictions are imposing. And movie viewers do realize that the movie was made in America. Movie makers in Tehran, Riyad, and Ho Chi Minh City wish they had the same freedom.
Give the movie two stars for being over-long, having a poor plot, mediocre acting and being generally most suitable for thirteen year-olds whose education has been neglected.