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Reviews
MH370: The Plane That Disappeared (2023)
Freedom of Speech done right
I'm glad this was made! In the same vein as Netflix giving voices against big establishment such as Graham Hancock in Ancient Apocalypse, the series gives credit to the voice and thorough investigation of Florence, who wasn't afraid to say add up all the pieces and state that it was a US cover-up, that the FBI also tried to cover-up. And they have been known not to be trustworthy. I'm so happy we live in a day and age where they risk upsetting Americans, who will reject the theory they would ever cover up this matter or fathom the fact their elites are capable of terrible things. Do they have to spell it out? They did everything but say "IT WAS THE U. S. and then they make sure to also have a few interviewees rubbishing "conspiracy theorists" to cover their tracks, but all in all, we are getting to a point where people will start to question more of the stories they hear, and that is a good thing! Well done, Netflix for being brave.
White Noise (2022)
Engaging but falls down in the Third Act
I thought there was real potential here. The family's dynamic, dialogue and characters are intriguing at first. There's a real style to the set design, the feel of the film and the dialogue, but as it goes on, the whole plot begins to unravel until it becomes incredibly tedious and messy - abstract in a kind of stomach-churning way.
The film is split into three chapters or sections. The first of these does a really good job of introducing us to Adam Driver's father-like character and how he thinks and lives in this retro American society. The scenes comparing Elvis and Hitler are very well crafted and it does what it is clearly setting out to do - in that it proves thought-provoking. Don Cheadle is a real asset to the cast and most scenes he stars in do tend to refocus the viewing experience through his acting ability and his characters' rich philosophising upon death and other broad topics. But then, it goes on, meandering through genres and somewhat familiar parodies. The best part for me, by a long way, was the second chapter or section - The Airborne Toxic Event.
At this point, the film metamorphosises into a very thrilling Hollywood disaster film, with a cloud of toxic fumes coming ever closer to the family home. The children all react with differing levels of fear and rationality to the news as their parents act in a conditioned and inappropriate sense of calm and stoicism. The evacuation scene is a throwback to The Day After Tomorrow and Deep Impact as cars clog the roads, unable to escape the impending doom of the cloud on the horizon.
The attention to detail and scale of the production in these scenes is actually incredibly impressive, particularly as we follow Adam Driver through the carnage of the mass evacuation of one of the camps bodies, cars, feet, colours and a huge ensemble of extras flashing passed the camera is a sight to behold! But then, in the third act, my advice would be to switch off here.
Everything the movie had going for it comes crashing down in a strange plot about the wife - played by one of my least favourite actors - Greta Gerwig, with her voice constantly at that soft, almost about to crack tone that becomes so hard to listen to, confessing to her poor husband to have been sleeping with a man for pills that weren't on the market because she has a condition... What's the condition? A fear of dying.
I was groaning aloud at this point. They cry for her stupidity and then he sets out to kill this man... and at this point there is nothing left of a good film here. The dialogue is all over the place to the point of nonsense and I'm sure it's all supposed to be funny in some abstract way I'm not intellectual enough to understand but it isn't funny, it's annoying and feels more and more like it's wasting your time.
The man doesn't really die having seemed so having been shot, then they save him, then they take him to Emergency to be saved by German nuns who don't believe in God and start yelling at the couple in German... they're bewildered, we're bewildered... then the film ends shortly after and I suppose there is a palpable sense of relief that it is ending and that they didn't die in their ridiculous encounters to "kill death itself"... which always felt like a bad route for the narrative to explore.
As the children come downstairs babbling, the father smiles and says "we're out of milk", leading to a final trip to the supermarket which has been often likened to a kind of purgatory. Then there's this huge elaborate dance sequence featuring the whole cast and many extras. How this film managed to qualify for such a huge budget is beyond me. They must have had the same budget of a great war film like 1917, looking at the scale of some of these sets, the choreography and access to archived footage.
Yes, maybe the dance does connote to the insane dance that is life, maybe it's a stab at capitalism distracting us from that terrifying question that is what comes afterwards or maybe it's that there's some magical, technicoloured beauty in there not needing to be a point or a meaning to life... but either way it does not satiate the need for a good ending or a well told story, one that does not become the equivalent of a bad psychedelic trip that you really wish you'd not have begun in the first place.
Inkheart (2008)
Why is this film so annoying?
You look at the cast and the synopsis and think, "Wow! How did this one pass me by?" Big fan of Paul Bettany, Brendan Fraser, Helen Mirren and of course, this must have been just at the rise of the great Andy Serkis. But as you watch it, the film becomes more and more frustrating! I feel like the concept holds heaps of potential but somehow completely missed the mark, similar to the film 'Yesterday' - so much missed potential! I mean, imagine being able to have license to literally pull characters from great books we all know and love and pay respect to some incredible writing... but instead we get Toto, a weird sounding Prince of Persia and characters struggling to find each other, going in circles around the main problem. The main problem being they are trying to get their Mother back... who they accidentally miss the first time round and have to go back to the same place they just were, only having picked up the actual author of the book - played by the great Jim Broadbent. But this then makes the entire story collapse. You sense the plot holes appearing and then you realise why at the end. If the author can simply write whatever he wants to add then they could have just done that from the moment they met him and change everything, as is what unfolds... only it takes a long time to get there. Then there's the fact... he's not even the one writing it by the end! Just the girl, Maggie, writing it herself on her own arm and reading it... so... could anyone have done this? You feel like the whole film has been a wasted journey and it gets really cringe towards the end. They clearly didn't know how to finish Paul Bettanys' characters' storyline either, as you kind of get two endings for him striding out with a new found friend and then also being read back into the book... also why on Earth is Jennifer Connolly in this film for all of about 2 seconds and literally one line? I wanted this film to be good, but sorry, I'd say better not to waste your time.
Finding Alice (2021)
God save me
Got 2 episodes in and wished I had fallen down the stairs instead of deciding to watch this dreadfully stunted and poorly acted series. Is it supposed to be funny? Why is everyone in it so despicable and the script so gratingly slow?