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Reviews
The Big Nailed It Baking Challenge (2023)
An absolute mess
The producers seem to have decided to take what makes the Great British Baking Show series charming and enjoyable - and do the exact opposite whenever possible. Consequently, the show is not entertaining; it's just dumb. The contestants make fools of themselves and the hosts just keep saying stupid things while they watch the contestants try to out-perform each other for who is the most ridiculous - and of course they are all competing for a big payday because it's not really a baking show at all it's a game show pitting needy contestants against one another. This belongs on Nickelodeon - not Netflix.
Oni srazhalis za rodinu (1975)
A classic Soviet era war movie with a common soldier's view
It's clearly a Soviet era film but the gritty perspectives of common soldiers tell a much more complex story of everyday life in war in an era long before computer generated effects could do the story telling. While some movies produced in Soviet times tend to over simplify in the name of patriotism Soviet style- this film utilizes the unambiguous "defense of country" theme not to glorify the fight but to ennoble the common soldiers fighting the every day fight on a small scale while struggling as well just to survive. The camaraderie of these guys carries the fairly long run time of the film and makes it worth the watching in the end.
Doroga na Berlin (2015)
Friendship collides with duty
A surprise gem. While Russian movies about the "Great Patriotic War" are sometimes a bit like the John Wayne version or our American WW II movies here, against the backdrop of the chaos in 1942 on the Russian front an interesting story plays out as two unlikely heros trek across the Steppe while the Germans advance and the Russian Army defends stubbornly if not successfully all the time. The two main characters' roles develop slowly but not in a tedious way. While they both prove noble it doesn't start out that way and each of them rise to their respective challenges only slowly. Lots of well acted minor characters fill out a beautifully filmed and paced story set in some quiet scenes intermixed with battles and pictures of ordinary like fit citizens caught in the crossfire. Worth a look to be sure.
Mai wei (2011)
A jumbled mess with good parts interapersed
Good acting, some very good characters, and pretty well done effects can't completely compensate for choppy editing and an overall implausible premise that requires some really weird transitions - the weirdest of which has the two main characters ... well you watch and see if you can buy how they end up going from the Russian front to the beach at Normandy on D-Day via three different armies of warring nations. The presentation of historic Korean - Japanese problems was understandably used to drive the main theme against the two main characters' conflict but ultimately that very interesting problem was solved in a way that seemed too easy and simplistic.
The Power of the Dog (2021)
A ponderous journey by unhappy people going through beautiful scenery
I don't get Sam Elliott's violent reaction now that I've watched it. But frankly I also don't get all the adulation. It wanders. It's deliberately disjointed. Plot is sacrificed for mood way too much. Kind of a "Faulkner goes west" treatment of a Hemingwayesque story that was too contrived for my taste as someone who has lived in the southwest my whole life. Elliott got that part right. It's very inauthentic. It suffers in a different way from the same sins as the infamous Spaghetti Westerns made by total strangers to the region - but in fairness this isn't really a western at all - it's more of a sequel to "Giant" about a bunch of unhappy people on a big ranch. But the ranch and the "west" is just a backdrop for all the unhappy people to do their thing. Same story has been told in every imaginable setting. Great movies connect the setting to the story. This one doesn't really even try. It just uses the pretty pictures to keep your attention while the characters meander through the rudderless story.
The Cuba Libre Story (2015)
Interesting subject presented with middle school simplicity
I thought this would be interesting as the subject of Cuban history from Cuba's perspective is unusual in the US. Sadly, the presentation was highly simplistic and superficial with little real insights. Wasn't looking for a particular political perspective and didn't care if it was pro or anti US, but the treatments of various events were really dumbed down and that made for a disappointing watch.