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pootypootwell
Reviews
The Assistant (2019)
Sit with it
I came to this film itching for a plot, which was a mistake. I kept waiting for the action, the accusations, the typical courtroom scenes. They never showed up, and felt unsatisfied.
At first. Then, after the film ended, I kept thinking about it. It was actually quite brilliant in how it portrayed this Weinstein-esque situation from the point of view of a sympathetic and ultimately powerless underling. It's more dramatic than it seemed on my first watch.
One thing to watch for -- or, really listen for -- is the sound. The sound of traffic, keyboards, ringing phones, photocopiers, elevators, footsteps, it's a cacophony of layered sounds that is as unnerving as the story itself.
Enemies of the State (2020)
Mixed messages
This is a difficult review to write, which makes sense, because it was a difficult film to watch! It was only my stubbornness that kept me watching until the end. And it's a good thing I did, because everything flipped.
I grew more and more angry as the first half unfolded. All I could think was "How can so many people be hornswoggled by this horse*&^!?" But keep with it. At the end, if you are a critical thinker and a pragmatist, you'll know who was lying, who was initially fooled but owned up to it, and who was telling the truth all along.
Papa Hemingway in Cuba (2015)
I like it more than most reviewers
I can't say this is a great movie, but I don't know why the critics were so hard on it - currently 8% on by Metacritic professional critics. Hemingway had a long and adventuresome life, and this movie captures the last year he spent at his Cuban estate, Finca Vigia. The beautiful, sprawling, gated estate had been a source of comfort for Hem through two divorces, multiple wars, and the withering of his talent. By 1959, Hem's cumulative emotional distress is mirrored in Cuba's political unrest, and the film captures that quite perfectly.
Giovanni Ribisi as Hemingway's new, young writer friend is more toned down that he is in other amped-up roles, and Adrian Sparks effectively becomes Hemingway; it's hard to believe it isn't him in many scenes. Joely Richardson was a terrific foil, moving through the turbulence of their marriage minute by minute, showing the deep love she had for him but also the anger she had at his drunken antics.
The film had some very nice touches, like the poly-dactyl cat in a very brief scene; Hemingway loved poly-dactyls in his later years.
I felt the movie was fairly well-paced and beautifully filmed. The drama around -- no spoilers -- some government issues was a little out of left field tone-wise, but otherwise I found it a rather lovely little picture, an admirable tribute to a great writer and a flawed man with a lasting legacy.
City Confidential: Palo Alto, CA: Flesh and Blood (2004)
A few missing elements....*spoilers after white space*
I lived in Palo Alto during this time and it was definitely a show-stopper for the whole city. Everyone either knew Kristine or knew someone just like her.
I think the episode portrays the city very well, but I think it left out some of the more interesting details of the crime:
** spoilers **
1. Technology brought down Kenneth Fitzhugh's fake alibi. Since he had enabled his business phone line to roll over automatically to his cell phone, the police were able to peg his whereabouts when the school secretary called him looking for Kristine. She had Ken's business line, not his cell line. If he hadn't turned on call-forwarding, that call wouldn't have gone through. Because it did, Verizon and the police were able to put him in Palo Alto near home at the time of the murder, instead of in San Mateo, 20 miles, as he claimed to be. Defense attorney Nolan tried every which way to find even a possibility the phone records could be wrong, but the Verizon executive on the stand was unshakable.
2. Sharp police work is what uncovered the motive. When the trial was already underway, one of the detectives went through his notes from his earliest interviews with Fitzhugh. When asked, "What was on your wife's mind lately?" Fitzhugh's answer was, "Well, her son was graduating," and then quickly corrected himself with "our son." The detective made a note of it in his notebook. He checked it out later, getting a DNA test. He's the one who cracked that and I think should have been recognized for it.
3. The jury was very annoyed that first degree was not an option. The prosecution was afraid a jury wouldn't find Fitzhugh guilty of first degree, so he ended up with only 15 years.