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AlericTX
Reviews
The Box (2009)
Why did I do this to myself?
Why did I put myself through this? Halfway through the film I knew I should turn it off but, like the main character in The Accountant, I have to finish.
It's entirely predictable. Human is weak and fails. Human is presented with a great mystery, human responds with "kill it."
But the final blow is the misogyny. It's a reference to original sin and Eve's role in it. It's always the wife who pushes the button and the man is "punished" for her sin.
A "featured review" IMDB presented me claims the film is
"for those who want to be challenged to think outside the normal boundaries". Except, it's not unless your goal is to entrap another victim your particular pseudoreligious narrative.
Free yourself. Avoid this film. I feel bad for the actors who were in it.
The Imitation Game (2014)
Potentially engaging slander
This movie had potential but it is marred by a historical inaccuracy, a slander, really of such magnitude as to make the movie unwatchable.
The entire espionage/blackmail subplot is a fiction created out of whole cloth. It is unnecessary to telling the story and detracts from far more interesting aspects.
Alan Turing is a historical figure guilty solely of being different. Homosexual and probably autistic. These factors along with his work on enigma and related work are more than enough to making a good story. But no, I assume some brain dead studio exec or bad writer felt a need to turn it into a police drama.
As Turning says in the movie "People like violence because it makes them feel good." This is yet another act of violence against Turing.
I feel bad for the actors involved.
Death to Smoochy (2002)
Misunderstood by the haters
This movie is dark, funny and seditious. Excellent work by all involved. Don't listen to the haters. Just watch it and decide for yourself.
Tomb Raider (2018)
Why are hollywood writers, directors, and/or producers so dumb?
Seriously, boys, do some research.
Tomb Raider started off pretty well. It established Lara as a fighter and competitor well-fit to become the adventurer she is to be. The fox hunt showed her to be intelligent as well as athletic... until the crash.
And that's when the movie crashed.
Enter the Guardian and the background story. A really, really STUPID background story.
Lara is living a life of poverty despite a vast fortune being at her fingertips. The writers have contrived a wholly unrealistic "legal" mechanism that is preventing her from accessing her wealth unless SHE declares her father dead.
Boys, we've seen this. It was Batman. Alfred inherited the Wayne estate until Bruce returned and then they reversed the process. This is not a difficult problem. Not to mention that they corporate empire she is heir to would not allow her to impede its functioning in this way. The decision would be out of her hands.
And even if it was, somehow, are we really to believe that she did not have her own trust fund to live off of? Are we really to believe that she won't go to university?
This was a lame attempt to make her a sympathetic working-class hero. Give it up boys you can't have it both ways.
Finally, when she IS about to give in and "sign the papers" she pulls back, sells her ONE momento from her father for a "mere" 8K to run off to find her father. If she were so smart, she would have signed the papers and had vast resources to use to go find him.
But, no, she's a girl and her emotions are shutting off her brain.
And that's where the rest of the movie goes. In fact, this movie with a female protagonist fails the Bechdel Test.
She is not the hero. She is a plot device that the male characters can use to move the plot forward.
In one scene, you can't help but scream "This was better in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade!" And you know what? It was! and it was BELIEVABLE in Last Crusade.
Indiana Jones was, in fact, Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones PROFESSOR of Archaelogy. Lara Croft is a heartbroken girl who has abandoned higher education and DIDN'T EVEN KNOW OF HER FATHER'S archaeological work until years after he is gone.
Oh, but she is a whiz at solving puzzles.
So, somehow, this untrained girl has in depth historical, mythical and archaeological knowledge from WHERE? It wasn't part of her education or upbringing.
Seriously, plot holes you can fly starships through.
This is movie written, directed and produced by boys for boys and frankly it's not even up to snuff for that.
Black Panther (2018)
A movie that lives up to its hype
Its not often a movie lives up to its hype. Black Panther does. It may even exceed its hype. It certainly surpassed my expectations.
For anyone complaining about the movies "politics" - How do you tell a story about a king and not have politics enter into it? There are three possibilities. 1) The complainers have never seen another Marvel Movie. 2) They aren't perceptive enough to recognize politics in most movies or 3) their racism is showing.
This was the best superhero movie I've seen and I've seen almost all of them. It had an origin story with roots that run deep into a rich mythology. It wove in a contemporary and relevant theme and the players, hero and villain alike were human in the best and worst ways.
The writing was solid and thoughtful. Superhero movies so often fall to employing A deus ex machina in the end or otherwise insult the audiences' intelligence. Black Panther did neither. It told a solid story with good action and left you with a sense of hope in the end.
Thoroughly enjoyable. I hope to see it in the theater again. I will definitely add it to my collection.
Wonder Woman (2011)
What garbage
This version of WW has turned her from fighting Nazis to being a Nazi. Call that hyperbole if you like but the fact remains that they have cast aside every shred of honor that DC heroes have with this drivel.
In the movie Hancock, Nancy Grace chastises Hancock by saying "Nobody is above the law". In this series they have her praising WW for her illegal and unconstitutional actions. When the police ask her to give over the suspect the first line we ever hear her say is "If I give him to you he will 'lawyer up'".
DC heroes never interfered with the criminal justice system. They groused about it but they realized that couldn't replace it. This version shows us a Wonder Woman who will happily adopt the Guilty-until-proved innocent, no due process approach of the Nazis she used to fight.
It sickened me to watch this garbage.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Pretty, but disappointing
The movie represents about 25% of the book. Much of it seems to presume that you have read the book. It is a sometimes choppy set of vignettes that barely cover the plot and provides the reader with some visual references for the book. The effects are gorgeous and I was pleasantly surprised by David Thewlis and Gary Oldman who brought Lupin and Black to life. I was also please by the Michael Gambon as Dumbledore, he brought a new strength the for the future.
Gone, however, are the sense of community and most of the personal relationships of the book. There obviously wasn't time for them. This book and following books can not be properly contained in 2.5 hours.