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Only Murders in the Building (2021)
Over-rated but I'm still watching it
This show has a great premise, talented people and a good setting. Unfortunately, the writing could have been better. You get the feeling there was a lot of improvisation. A lot of the bits could have been brilliant but went another way. It's still worth watching. I've watched five episodes and will watch the rest.
As far as where to watch it, these are options as of late January 2022. It's a Hulu original series so you could subscribe and watch it there, but they ask for your birthday and gender. Your birthday is sensitive information and none of their business. Once I gave a fake birthday to another nosy company. They reported it to a credit bureau and caused some issues.
Due to this, I tried subscribing to Disney+ because they said they had this series. That was a waste of time. First it was hard to tell which subscriptions had it. I guessed. AFTER they got my money I learned I had to download an app. Then I still had to sign up for Hulu. The Hulu sign up process malfunctioned. It might have demanded my gender and birthday but I never got that far.
Amazon doesn't currently have this series. That would have been my preference and to watch it on a browser/internet instead of downloading. And no App.
Brittany Runs a Marathon (2019)
Not bad but not good either
Considering what is out there, this may suffice for a popcorn movie for some. It's a little like Trainwreck or I Feel Pretty but more refined. Like those movies, the main character's behavior can be be hard to sympathize with and may not make sense. Also like those movies, this might be an attempt to normalize self-destructive promiscuity and substance abuse. Somewhat like I Feel Pretty, Brittany Runs A Marathon sees a woman being 50 pounds overweight as a tragedy that means she is worthless and somehow genderless.
Only when she loses weight do those things change. Really? This seems to be a true story written by a male friend of the main character. Those behind the film seem to have learned very little about women and weight in the last few decades.
The main character is supposed to be very witty, but that doesn't necessarily come off.
Still, considering what's out there, this movie may be good enough for some people.
There is a sex scene that I could have done without. It's not super graphic but I didn't think it was necessary. Drug use is implied. Alcohol abuse happens but is relatively restrained.
Overall, I think that the people who greenlight "chick flicks" have an agenda that isn't mine. I want to go to the movies and enjoy myself. Why is that so difficult?
Netemo sametemo (2018)
There's No There There
The main character doesn't seem like a real person. Towards the end of the movie, her actions are wrenching for everyone. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to any particular reason for them.
Other than this, the movie can be boring. There's no reason it could not have been 90 minutes instead of two hours.
Earlier in the movie there was an awkward scene at a party that I could have done without.
I've seen hundreds of Japanese movies. Too often they are depressing and/or harrowing. Lately, opaque characters who are randomly destructive are cropping up.
WARNING: If you do see this movie at a theater, it looks like it might have no previews and starts right on time.
Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019)
Meandering
The writing isn't very good. The movie meanders. There's no reason for the 2 hour 40 minute running time. Still, I wasn't sorry I saw it. I share the director's affection for this time and place. Looking at Brad Pitt for three hours is never a bad thing. He gave a very good performance as a stunt man who didn't take crap from anyone, but you have to be disturbed that his character might have killed his wife and gotten away with it.
I could have done without a lot of the violence in the movie, which sometimes had a horror movie quality.
Strangely, Manson and his followers looked more like actors than the actors playing them. At times the aesthetic of the late sixties was captured perfectly, like Tarantino's homage to LA's neon signs. The way people talked and acted was sometimes portrayed faithfully, at other times not.
Overall, a lot of people would be glad to see this film, but it can be amateurish and undisciplined.
Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love (2019)
Slow and Boring
I'm interested in the Sixties and Greek Islands, but I walked out of this movie. I'm aware of Leonard Cohen as the writer of "Hallelulah" and other songs. I wanted to like this movie, but it was just too boring. Several other people walked out too.
Watching it was like listening to people in real life who were kind of important in the sixties talk about it for two hours and show you photographs.
Ultimately, Cohen appears to be a commitment phobe who left a black hole where he should have been. Marianne must have had a few issues too. Some songs and astonishing letters came out of it, but they were probably better suited to a magazine article than a two hour twenty minute movie.
I didn't really feel that the golden light of that era showed through in this telling. The footage of the Greek island that I saw was faded and so so. The principals were wildly attractive to each other, but it's hard for us to see what they saw from these photos and film clips.
Instant Family (2018)
Reviews are true: good and worth seeing
I wondered if the many rave customer reviews of this movie here were fraudulent, cause that happens. It seems they could be real. Based on a true story, this movie is heart-warming in a modern way without being cloying. The story is absorbing. Although it has some difficult parts, this is still an enjoyable movie compared to your other options. The PG-13 rating seems accurate.
Instant Family tells the story of a prosperous white couple who impulsively decide to take in a foster child. The child they selected is one of a group of three siblings. Mistakes happen, but so do a lot of other things. If this movie has a message it could be that you don't have to be perfect and that love, care and persistence could eventually matter more than anything else.
I like the editing: the movie moves along. There were outstanding performances by Isabela Moner as the oldest foster child and Margo Martindale as the foster grandmother who is a force of nature. Actually all the child and teen actors did great jobs because I forgot they were acting. Julianna Gamiz and Gustavo Quiroz played the younger foster children perfectly. Carson Holmes was compelling as a high school student who has a memorable encounter with some of the main characters. Rose Bryne rang true as the foster mom.
Obviously when this many performances go well, director Sean Anders did a good job. The story is supposed to be based on his life.
If this movie has a fault, I'd say that it looks like there was too much improv. When the foster parents support group ridicules some parents for laughs, it made me cringe. I hope that did not happen in real life. A cameo by Joan Cusack looked like it got out of hand, like when characters keep trying to top each other, and everything gets out of control.
Although about two hours, I didn't find this movie to be overly long.
I'm a tough customer, and I'm no shill.
I Feel Pretty (2018)
Reviews Too Harsh: OK Popcorn Movie For Some
This is an OK popcorn movie for some women considering what else is out there. I like the premise; the heroine hits her head and believes she looks like a supermodel. The writing could have been better, but the acting is good. You do have to suspend disbelief. We are to believe no one has ever asked for Amy Schumer's character's phone number and she never got a free drink. Supposedly she is so fat she breaks an exercise bike and splits her pants. Just not true. The writers can have a pretty childish view of the world. Yes, there's some unnecessary toilet humor etc., like ALL movies now. ALL movies are now designed to make us squirm. This one has a theme that a lot of women can relate to and some interesting characters and good acting. People seemed to enjoy the movie.
Ô Rûshî! (2017)
Don't Fall For It: Dark, Upsetting, Not A Comedy
Don't believe the reviews of this movie. This movie shocks and upsets the audience repeatedly. The main character is unlikable. Her actions are inexplicable. Several times she goes out of her way to try to destroy people for no particular reason. The rest of the time she seems withdrawn and empty.
The main character is a forty-ish woman in Tokyo who takes an English class where she has to don a crazy blond wig and adopt an American name. Josh Hartnett plays the English teacher. Not a bad premise, but it is surrounded by darkness.
FROM HERE ON THIS REVIEW IS FULL OF SPOILERS
In the beginning of the movie someone jumps to their death in a train station. The main character, "Lucy" lives in a hoarded up apartment, and seems largely empty when she is not destroying someone for no reason. She horribly insults a heavy, older co-worker at that woman's retirement party. The woman has worked for the company for forty years. Lucy tells her, apropos of nothing, that she is a fat loser and the other workers say she is delusional behind her back.
The English teacher is Lucy's niece's boyfriend. Apropos of very little, Lucy decides to follow him to California and try to steal him. It's hard to see what is driving this character, who seems empty, vacant, and devoid of humanity and feminity.
The one sex scene is devoid of sensuality. Lucy basically sexually assaults Josh Hartnett's character while he is stuck in a car seat. Then more happens. In keeping with the rules for movie sex scenes, this one is devoid of foreplay. This from an artsy female director.
Josh Hartnett's character and Lucy's niece have matching tattoos of the word "Love" on their forearms. Although he would like to forget their car encounter, after it Lucy goes out and gets a duplicate of this tattoo on HER forearm.
Lucy, her sister, and the English teacher catch up with the niece in San Diego where she fled to escape problems in her relationship that predated Lucy. Lucy and her niece find an unusually precarious sea cliff to sit and talk. It is here that Lucy chooses to reveal that she has slept with her young niece's boyfriend. The young woman jumps from the cliff and appears to have died.
Later you see she is alive but seriously messed up.
Back in Tokyo Lucy attempts suicide by taking pills from a blister pack after being fired from her job. Presumably she was fired for her abusive outburst against her older co-worker. She is saved by a fellow student from her English class who comes by her apartment. Miraculously he cures her overdose by shooting water into her mouth from a shower attachment, cause apparently that's how that works in Japan. Then she vomits. Then she tries to get it on with him, but he says, "You're not yourself right now." That's the end.