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Reviews
Volevo nascondermi (2020)
Extraordinary
Rarely do you lose view of the fact that the people in movies are actors but here, I was sure at each and every moment that I was seeing the real artist with all the subtle and extraordianry naunces that belong to an individual. Elio Germano is superb as Antonio Ligabue, simply amazing. The cast is good but this is Elio Germano's movie, pure and simple.
Beautifully filmed, the story unfolds with Antonio's hideous and abusive childhood, his lack of love, nurturing and understanding and also lack of good nutrition, leaving him a somewhat weak and distorted figure of a man and ugly.
But the artist is brilliant and his heart is good.
Many visits to asylums and infirmaries, he is unique in his expression of 'jumping into the skin' of his painted subjects, needing to become the animals and subjects he paints or sculpts.
This is a brilliant portrayal. For artists, his work is simply stupendous, his use of technique fascinating.
This movie was a work of art in itself and I'm amazed it didn't capture wider attention.
A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
Outstanding
An outstanding classic. Superb performances from a cast of acting masters and a perceptive dialogue that showcases a situation of diverse dynamics.
For interest: The writer of this play, Lorraine Hansberry, was the grand daughter of a slave. When she was 8, her own real life family moved into a white neighborhood that had a restrictive covenant, which caused violent protests among the residents, and the courts ordered the Hansberrys to move out, however, on going to the Supreme Court the order was overturned on a technicality. Her family were social activists and she carried on that pursuit strongly into life before dying quite young.
So here we have a brilliant and successful screenplay written by her.
There is just one thing that I realised wasn't really correct. In the 1960's, $10,000 was something like the equivalent of $88,000 US dollars now. A house on average, could be purchased in US for around $25,000. The money side of this movie doesn't work out and therefore, for me, sets the story somewhat askew. Other than that, I couldn't fault it.
This movie is a must watch. Heartbreaking, touching, emotional and intense.
L'amica geniale (2018)
Bored by the end of episode 4
It began by being promising and inviting. The young girls were captivating actresses, excellent. The story was showing promise and it appeared to be going somewhere.
By episode 4, I was beginning to wonder what was really going on other than me wasting my time wondering and wondering.
The older actresses that played the girls growing up were ok, Lina the better of the two. Perhaps the role of 'bad friend' was slightly more interesting but seriously a wet and dull performance of lethargy on the part of the Lemu, the storyteller; I can't believe any actress has mastered one expression for all occasions so succinctly!
The story never changed. 'We all hate each other, again and again and again.' Yes, understood, perfectly about camorra, mafia etc but this simply didn't expand... it sat like a dead pancake and simply never cooked.
First four episodes could have been told in one. Boring, with small moments of interest but only if you're Italian.
Obviously now, after watching and wondering, the many of the IMDB reviews were fake and that many of the newspaper reviews I checked were paid for and not substantial.
I think people checked in because of all the 'secrecy of author' hype and liked the first few episodes and then kept hoping it might go back to being good. To be honest, no Italian I've ever known behaves like any of these people. Another insult to injury. Horrible and inept production that probably cost too much.
La place d'une autre (2021)
A seven and three quarters.
A woman stuck in poverty and without family is at risk at any time. In 1914 there wasn't much opportunity for a woman to change her circumstances. From being a servant, a streetwalker and a fatherless child, a young woman takes the opportunity to join the red cross in 1914 during the war. She works hard in the field, a place of unimagined horrors but, one night everything changes as she sees an opportunity to change her life.
Although very pretty, I found the young woman in question to be acted just a bit too woodenly. Granted, in her situation one might be constantly treading on eggshells, but without her pretty face this would have been a leaden performance, when it might have been so much more.
The situation is one of terrible suffering on the part of both young women and in the end a wrong is righted.
Enjoyable viewing could have been a 10, loved the premise, this type of role switching is always fascinating. A good movie nonetheless.
Mass (2021)
Captivating
1 hour and 50 odd minutes flew by. Four main actors that held you there, waiting to see the outcome. Even the dreadful, obsequious woman fluttering around being a do gooder in the first 15 odd minutes - as horribly annoying as she was - seemed almost to be put there as the deliberate antithesis of events which would come when the purpose of her nervous fluttering is revealed.
It's a staggering concept. That the parents of a brutally murdered child could meet with the parents of the murderer. This meeting takes place quite some time after the event, and all the press, court cases and processes are well over, after letters have been exchanged and after a previous rather unpleasant meeting has already occurred. So these parents have been exposed to each other already.
I tried to imagine the bravery on both sides. The rawness of the meeting, if it was happening to you. The sheer difficulty of remaining rational and the reliving of the incredible levels of pain. The concept of participating in this meeting... most people just couldn't do it.
Possibly as good a viewing of how such a meeting might go as you'd get to see. It didn't look like acting. It was just too real.
All the King's Men (2006)
Good
This movie bombed at the box office simply because people don't like stories that make them think, or wonder about the politicians they vote for. And the other reason this movie wasn't popular is because the overriding message is that if you want things to change then change how you think, how you vote, how you perceive reality and the jungle we call life.
'Take responsibility' isn't what modern day movie viewers want to hear when they pop into movie-watching mode. They want fast, shiny, preferably stupid dialogue that leaves the mind to wander and wonder and contemplate the box of popcorn they're chomping on. That's why this movie bombed at the box office. And let's face it, real life is currently shoving this in our faces but wait... where's that box of crisps, we ate two minutes ago but we're starving, spoilt and dumbed-down.
No, this isn't an entirely deep thinkers movie but it has something to say and some excellent actors to say it.
This was, unlike some of the reviews which I'm convinced were about something completely other and certainly not this movie, intriguing and entertaining, well paced for the type of film it is, well filmed and the actors were excellent. Watch it unless you prefer something stupid, in which case, it's not for you.
The Last Vermeer (2019)
Entertaining
This was entertaining. But on checking further, it seems that certain elements are in the realm of historical fiction. How sad. I initially thought, silly me, that they might have stuck to the true, factual story, for a change, when making a biopic. Such a rare thing to be shown the truth. Nonetheless, entertaining, good acting, based on a true story and a real person.
In the world of art, and in fact many pursuits, it's not what you know, but who you're prepared to bend over for. That's a fact. This story mainly focuses on this: imagine that you're brilliant in some way, truly bordering genius type brilliant and because you didn't bend over, you are besmirched by the critics. Only an artist of any kind or an inventor or a badly done-by brilliance knows that feeling. And then there goes your livelihood with it. This has been a massive issue throughout art history and those who have studied that know how horribly some geniuses have been done by. Meegeren finally found a way to be seen, and it seems, profited from it. I have no idea about the rest of his journey but as he says in the movie, 'survival.' No one can ever know...
The acting is good, the pacing good, the dialogue fine and the story gripping at times. An enjoyable watch.
Hearts Beat Loud (2018)
Um.........
Well, Dad was good, I liked most of his role and acting. Daughter was on the nose, so bland I could barely watch her unless she was singing. Finally, she smiled, at the end somewhere. Lesbian thingy, ok, but boring. Small roles to famous names understated and underused. Whether it's your style or not, the music was fun and catchy and whoever played Dad's guitar was good, I enjoyed that. Basically, this began with a great impetus and I was really enjoying it and then it turned into a pancake and trundled along like a well worn trolley full of rubber balloons - you know if someone hits you with one but it doesn't have much impact. It's a shame, the first 20 minutes made me hope it might go somewhere great like 'Once'.
Qi dai (2022)
Beautiful small film
What a nice surprise not to be inundated with trash for a change.
This is a very beautiful movie. A side of the world I know little about and enjoyed seeing.
The music is absolutely evocative and wonderful, the scenery raw and powerful, and the acting simply perfect for this tale.
The gentle nurturing shown, the acceptance of knowing that kindness and compassion is the answer, the gorgeous moments of cultural magic, make this a gentle delight to watch.
There is a real peace in this movie as we're carried to a whimsical and sad, yet tranquil conclusion.
If you're tired of watching garbage and would like something that touches a space in your heart that most movies don't bother with unless it cliche and sentimental and simply bothersome, then this lovely film might just be the ticket. A rare little gem.
Rake (2010)
Not credible
Apart from the fact that the acting is terrible, cliche, outdated and stupid, this, after 5 minutes was not credible or even interesting. So, yes, something I don't really do much of... spoilers. Guy in suit on a dark night on a busy road gets out of a car with an overacting other actor who pretends to be a (cliche) criminal, who then smashes guy in suit on the nose, drawing copious blood, kicks him twice in the stomach when suit guy is down on the ground. Next scene. Some person 20 years younger is gently bathing his bloody nose and they're very romantic about it, as if... nothing like blood and goop to turn you on, eh?
Next, suit guy and daughter-aged blondie are now cheerily, yes cheerily, (guy in suit acting suave and cracking jokes,) his top off, showing his abs and biceps, nary one teeny, weeny little bruise from having just been kicked twice in the guts, and all the while daughter-aged female is gushing and obviously deeply satisfied with how suit guy has performed, because he's obviously superman, not one bit of pain after a gut kicking to hinder HIS performance of manliness. But wait, there's more. Apparently he's also a coke head and some other type of addict and, well, yes, they surely are the MOST healthy human beings on earth, all abbed-up, not one teeny weeny bit of pain or bruising after copping a gut kicking.
I couldn't watch any more.
This is the type of slosh Australia can surely pour out on its unsuspecting public but I had hoped that era was over and now we are able to accept some good drama perhaps. Trash for the simple minded with nothing better to do than munch chips and believe utter moronic television twaddle.
After the Party (2023)
Riveting
Imagine believing something so powerfully inside of you that your entire life becomes a train wreck and, to everyone else, you are a loose canon of mammoth proportions. Is it true or is it not?
This is another amazing New Zealand production, like so many of theirs.
Robyn Malcolm is sensational. The entire cast fits their roles perfectly. The scenery is stunning. I began to watch a few minutes and binge watched the entire 6 of series 1, in one afternoon and evening.
Denial, lies, the delicate balance of trust. The fragility of youth. Manipulation and control. If you are a victim of abuse I would say to watch this with caution. A must watch.
The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
Painful
A truly weird film. Not a comedy but I'm still deciding whether this painful ode to a narcissist is a very clever movie or just a mess.
The script is so bad that it's either an accident of incredible incompetence or a work of genius, I don't know and by end of this, I really didn't care.
The essence of this story is when someone who has no idea who they are, what they want or a real concept of how to deal with other people, decides they are actually intelligent, original and acceptable, when clearly, they are not. And they shift other people around and confuse others' lives so that their needs are met. A narcissist. If you're game, watch it. It left me with bitter ashes in my mouth and a sense of watching some of our politicians doing their 'best' work.
The Iron Claw (2023)
Oh dear...
Well, how to begin. Not a fan of wrestling, but still, due to the massively high rating, I erroneously believed this might be a very good quality drama. The kind that has a script and people who appear to be awake and not sleep walking.
A story that should have filled me with wanting to cheer on the battler, should have made me want to cry, should have been an emotive rollercoaster, was so poorly scripted and directed that it saddens me for the people who's lives this was based on.
I have painted walls and had more interest cutting my toe nails while the paint dried than this entire misery fest created. Hang on, at 2hrs, 3 mins and 16 seconds, it got good. Then it ended. The real tragedy is that the people who lived this life have not been showcased well in this terribly disinteresting movie.
A Most Violent Year (2014)
Slow burn, but excellent.
Many undercurrents within the characters, very realistic take on certain types of business, on marriages that work but don't feel comfortable, on setting goals and on ethics within the framework of business.
This is a relatively slow moving film. Which is possibly why it works so well. I feel if it had been faster it would have felt and looked like a classless gangster movie and it's actually a pretty classy take on the grit and determination to have success without too much muck sticking to your shoes. Great acting from actors who not only look amazing but know how to pace their work, probably under great direction. I think you need to be in the right mood for this one but it's worth it.
The Escape (2017)
Gemma Arterton does blank eyes really well...
I liked the idea and got caught up by it. Obviously there are many women who can't wait to escape a marriage and/or their children. However, let's talk about the film itself.
Not once, in what feels like a very long film, do we get introduced to any back story. Such as: Why did this woman get married in the first place? Did she really love him? Was the sex even good before they got married and had children? Why did she agree to have children?
After it ended, it occurred to me that perhaps she was just as wishy washy and unformed in character before she married the husband (that so many reviews want to disdain). Maybe she just had a beautiful face and not much going on behind it (yet,) too young, too insecure, flattered that he wanted her, needing to belong somewhere and, as the movie clearly illustrates, no communication skills whatsoever and too little confidence to know how to TALK to her husband rather than run out of the room when he actually really wants to know what's going on, rather than allowing her daily mediocrity to continue. Then when she does speak it's all done and dusted. Is she shy? Insecure? But not insecure enough to pick up a bloke in Paris and have a fling.
Well acted (considering the script has about 4 lines but lots of facial expression and lingers too long.)
What we see is a woman who is terribly unhappy. Doesn't want him, doesn't want the kids, doesn't work, (seems to never have, what a luxury), has too much spare time on her hands and absolutely no imagination on how to use it, is bored, boring to a fault, is married to a very average bloke who loves her and isn't really into anything that extends beyond the banal everyday life scenario.
I get it. The narrative of get married and have kids is not a fit for 50% of the population. So think hard before going there and if you had any courage/wits/self expression whatsoever, go do a communication skills course and learn how to unravel the dullness of your existence from the ground up. Being in a marriage with someone who won't communicated and runs out of the room is as much fun as running sandpaper around your nether regions.
Healing (2014)
An excellent piece of Australian film making
Well, here we are finally able to say that I truly enjoyed and thoroughly appreciated this very beautifully filmed Australian film. A great many ozzy films are terrible but this is not one of them.
It's a long movie and not on fast forward but it moves along and keeps you keen to see what's next.
Not too cliched, it has a stellar cast. Don Hany, utterly brilliant, would have had me fooled and thought he was that character in real life and yet he's Australian through and through. As usual, Victor Hugo, highly contained and well acted, but all the cast were perfect in their roles, each of them and it could have failed without that.
I highly recommend this movie as a gently rolling watch of humanity and spectacular, not too often seen wonderful raptors of Australia footage and understanding.
Queen of Oz (2023)
Beyond bad. Excruciatingly horrendous.
Ok. Where to begin? When episode one has a woman visiting a school and within a few moments of the show starting, manages to vomit onto school children, we know we have reached a pit so deep and so senseless that there can't be any returning back from it.
Tate is never funny. Not ever. But nonetheless, I thought this might be possibly hilarious considering the actual premise has the potential to be entertaining... if done right.
I'm sorry to say that after the first episode of vomiting on a young child in school and all over the child's project and admitting to being a drunk, my head was spinning with how utterly repulsive, vile and just plain dirty this show is. Goodbye. I will make sure never to put myself through this actress again. I read she and her partner wrote the ship wreck of a thing. Urgh.
Radioactive (2019)
Oh my gosh... boring, boring, boring.
I was so excited to see that a film about Marie Sklodowska-Curie had been made. To say that this was so irritatingly badly written that it was almost unwatchable, is an understatement.
Here we are, two of the most astonishing scientists of their day, and it's just a bland, pretending to be exciting, kind of nothing.
The actors are working so hard to make a tragically disposable script appear fascinating that they actually look a stupid doing it. It generates nothing exciting about their science and, since this is not a film for scientists, but for the public, it's just black clothes, bunches of bunsen burners and a dabble of generic romance. There is nothing of the feeling of a great team between husband and wife or the absolute excitement all of this must have generated for them. It's just facts. In boring, black clothes mode.
Bay of Fires (2023)
Violent, quirky, not my usual watch at all, but...
I hated the first episode. It was over acted and hammy. But I stuck with it. Then it became mesmerising.
For starters, there are reviewers here with a one score who have no idea what it's about. They didn't watch this because the first episode clearly explains WHO is chasing with intent to kill. (And it's not an already dead and much beloved husband. At least if you're going to review, know the story!) And for the other misinformed and hateful reviewer who never stuck it out long enough to find out whey it's called Bay of Fires despite it being about a town on the complete other side of Tasmania. At least watch a show before you make a crashing judgment on what hasn't been explained yet.
The rest of the series is an unfolding, unfurling, crazy, black semi-comedic ride. Often very violent with some seriously dark characters, believable because there are people like them 'out there', cleverly mixed with the occasional important flashback, not many, just enough. Some brilliant one liners and good expose of government handling of certain situations. And in the mix are some engaging and delightful children. The one thing that totally annoyed me was that I think if most people are in this situation, they would at least change their hair colour or wear beanies! And trust me, in about episode 7, no, that is NOT the middle of winter in the west coast wilderness and NO ONE goes camping in that area then unless they are certifiable. Middle of winter, there's ice, snow and rain. Every single day.
Tasmania's remote wilderness on the west coast is beautifully filmed with no exaggerations of how it really is; magical and also terrifyingly .... remote. Be aware that not all Tasmanian towns or people are like this!
Upper Middle Bogan (2013)
Surprised and delighted at this production's slickness and skill
Excellent actors, perfect timing, good editing, great direction. This could have been truly hideous if all of those components hadn't been darn near perfect.
Michala Banas, simply super in her role which, if handled differently would certainly have bombed. Robin Nevin, shades of people I have known, in her usual terrific style; but truly, every single member of this cast is doing their utmost to make this very funny series work. And work, it does.
Somehow, this did not go down the sloppy, vapid and tawdry road of far too many Australian shows and movies (maybe NIDA had a coach upgrade.)
I kept expecting it to go downhill but it never did. Amazing fun right to the end. I wish there was more.
Die Unsichtbaren (2017)
A lost opportunity
I looked forward to seeing this. It seemed compelling and important. It was neither.
Sadly, the splitting between 'interviews' and the 'movie' created a downdraft effect which neither allowed me to get properly involved with the characters or to truly explore the utmost of their situations.
This should have been gripping, however it appeared to be a gloss over of a series of people's lives; more of a pallid documentary without any real showing of what a horrendous stress, terror, pain and suffering the situations of these young people were.
I think this was a massive missed opportunity of something that should have been brilliant but was not.
Frayed (2019)
No, not funny, sorry.
The first couple of episodes showed promise. But I should have known that any show that begins with a husband dying with a phone up his rear end under the 'supervision' of a prostitute could only go downhill from there.
This is not a comedy.
If you like endless throwing up, old homeless men defecating in the street, really nasty, too-true-to-life vicious drug addicts, late 30's early 40's siblings, male and female fighting ugly and literally, like 10 year olds, rolling around beating each other on the ground, men snotting on the ground at a local swimming pool, schoolgirl bullying, secretary's that put their butt germs into the boss's coffee, and an endless string of lies, deceit, regrets, then you should watch this as a documentary on the vile side of human nature, but please don't mistake this waste of time for being funny. It isn't. It's a try-hard attempt to do something but I'm not sure what. It's not entertaining. Shows like this require intelligent handling. Mostly into the bin.
25 km/h (2018)
One of the very best road movies I've seen
I've seen a lot of road trip movies. Some are ok, some good, some excellent.
This very well paced film seemed unassuming enough in the write up and you feel it may be a little like so many other road trip films, where you enjoy them but forget them.
Wonderful actors, humour, talent, the totally unexpected and just the silliness of the premise are enchanting and wonderful.
Beautiful cinematography, realistic script and charming, intelligent scenes that showcase all the mixed emotions, highs and lows of the mix that makes us human and vulnerable.
The adventure is original. Two brothers and a whole lot of easy fun.
Gut gegen Nordwind (2019)
Don't waste 2 precious hours of your life
And so, it looked somewhat promising for the first half hour and then it was quiet afternoon and I forced myself to endure the remaining interminable load of never ending nothing. All in the hope that something important/useful/interesting might occur.
Nope. Just bored, bourgeois not particularly interesting/talented/inventive or motivated, utterly self absorbed people with no real problems to speak of, too comfortably off, wandering around in a blaze of nothingness, not even proper self seeking or self examination or anything else to offer the viewer. Apparently based on a book. Mills and Boon? Not enough here to waste five minutes on. Romance is NOT destroying a solid marriage on a bored person's whim. Goodbye to that load of trash.
Ah-ga-ssi (2016)
Most of this made me feel sick
Sex is the theme. And perversion. Very beautifully made with beautiful women, countryside, clothes, buildings and gardens, this is a tragic story. One filled with a theme of captivity. Raised by an uncle from the age of 5 a little girl lives in a magnificent, remote estate with servants and for a time, an aunt.
The rule of thumb is that her uncle is basically a rich tyrant who sells books of erotica.
The story begins with an entirely different precept, whereby professional thieves plot to secure the fortune of an unsuspecting heiress by having her marry one of them and then be put into an asylum so they can take her fortune. You will be stunned by the plot twists. It is quite a lavish and beautiful movie that made me feel sick. But it's worth the watch if for not other reason than the ending.