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Reviews
Barbie (2023)
I thought it was pretty to look at but super clunky
I had no idea what to expect but did not expect what I saw .
I go to a few movies a week and always try to enjoy them based on their merits . I mean , not everything can The Godfather.
I expected a movie that was just dumb fun, but it was not that .
I thought the movie started ok and got interesting when Barbi went into the real world . I think the tried and true fish out of water concept would have been really worth exploring more in this movie .
I thought casting was fine , Margot Robbie owns the screen and Gosling was ok . But you are only as good as the script you are given .
The cinematography was fine. Barbiland was bright and colourful as you'd expect. No complaints there .
I felt the agenda and messaging was way too heavy handed. A missed opportunity for nuance and balance . What the writers were trying to say was just super clunky and the victim of this was good story telling .
I can't imagine children caring about what they were trying to say . What was advertised as a light hearted and breezy movie is really an attempt to be a social commentary. I think it's false marketing .
Movie 4/10
Marketing 10/10.
11.22.63 (2016)
I was really disappointed. A missed opportunity for a great series
I was very excited when this came out. I am a Stephen King reader and this was (IMO) his best book since The Stand. With all of the outstanding television shows, I had high hopes this would be a great TV series. I mean, how could you go wrong, you have a great book with a unique story with the usual Stephen King ordinary person thrust into a unusual situation with the usual cast of really good and really bad characters.
It started with promise in the first episode, it was staying faithful, was looking good and then went steadily downhill from there.
Let me Say, I do not judge Movies or TV shows in relation to how faithful they are too the book. I love The Walking Dead for example.
What disappointed me about this series was that it suffered badly by deviating from Kings excellent book.
They missed the opportunity for the character development and the relationships with those characters. The Shawshank Redemption is a good example of a great adaption of a novel. They also missed the chance to explore what it was like to step back to a simpler time with the good and bad that the early 60s was. Also the relationship to the towns and cities.
I didn't mind the key characters. I did not think Sadie was cast correctly though.
Overall, I would simply say the whole series was simply a missed opportunity. It could have been soooo good.
It's probably not a bad show if you are watching it with no expectations of have not read the book.
Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage (2010)
Great Doco about a iconic band and 3 great friends.
Firstly, I am not a hardcore Rush fan.They are a great band and I always marveled at their sheer musicianship.
This doc covers the early years with their struggles on the club circuit, getting signed, early tours etc. The things you would expect from a Rock Doc that is covered in other reviews here.
What I liked so much about this were the people. Geddy is interesting and articulate and has that nice ability to tell a story ( a bit like Alice Cooper can.) Alex who is funny and well, pretty normal. And of course the intensely private Neal who has been a Demigod in drumming circles for decades who is intelligent, and surprisingly engaging for a guy with a surly reputation.
In addition to that, you could feel on the screen what great friends these guys were and was especially punctuated towards the end of the film when they were discussing Neils tragedies. To me personally this had two stories, one about a band called Rush and the other story about three great friends overcoming the odds over the years. The other interesting thing is their manager seems to have been with them the whole time which says a lot.
Billy Corgen offered the most celebrity insight, and I found his observations really good.
I liked some of commentary by Geddy about bands they had toured with like Kiss, they are not the type to put people down because they are superior musicians.
I have never given anything a 10, but this was really good. My wife even liked it and she was not familiar with them at all.
I just wish it was a bit longer.