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Reviews
Mayor of Kingstown: The Lie of the Truth (2022)
Writing went from 10 to 1 with this episode
I started this series based on Sheridan's involvement. His movie scripts are always intelligent and surprising. Up until this episode, I felt the same about this series. Aside from some (necessary?) coincidences and shortcuts, the writing has had a level of authenticity and originality I was grooving on.
Until this. The way this episode unfolded was so far from what would and could happen in the real world that I sat there with my jaw on the floor.
It wasn't only the impossible prison break that was annoying, it was the way they rubbed our noses in it by first showing the care taken in prepping the prisoner. But the thing that really pushed my buttons was the reliance on the hoary old "2 days from retirement" cliche. Sheridan has always relied on genre tropes to pull us in, but then takes our expectations and subverts them. This time he just went with the trope, and the series suffered for it.
Kajillionaire (2020)
Too many Hollywood movies have ruined people for film
This movie says so much, yet so many reviewers are saying it's about nothing.
It's unfathomable to me that people can't see these depths.
A Wilderness of Error: Should the Jury Find... (2020)
Bias and cheating
The recreations are bad enough, but showing a juror sleeping? When there is no testimony or interview stating that happened?
And Morris being upset that the judge wouldn't allow hearsay evidence? No judge would allow it.
This show is nuts.
Life on Mars: Episode #2.2 (2007)
Deeply offensive
White man has to tell black man to be a good role model?
This show is pretty damn silly, but couldn't it have a better minority representation than one magical black guy (the bartender) and one black cop who is so pathetic that a white guy has to smack him into shape?
Brochevarevarura (2019)
The Telugu scene must have a very low bar
This movie was painfully amateur. Do not confuse Telugu movies with Bollywood movies, or you will be quite let down.
Right before the intermission, something interesting FINALLY happened. Then, after intermission, it was completely dropped and never addressed again.
Enormously painful to watch, I consider it a badge of honor that I made it through the nearly 3-hour running time.
The Tents (2012)
Self-congratulatory nonsense
I watch a lot of documentaries, but this is the first I can remember that I had to turn off before finishing. The amount of bragging that goes on is almost comical, and indeed could result in quite a drinking game.
Apparently the greatest achievement of the 20th century wasn't the moon landing, but the fashion tents in Bryant Park. Who knew?
The highlight for me was hearing Tommy Hilfiger confiding that it was he who injected "glamour into the runway," because really, before him, all those models and lights and music and celebrity were just so drab.
What a brilliant brilliant man. We're all lucky he looked around and saw what was lacking in fashion shows: glamour!
Anyway, I guess it's good for a laugh or two.
La voix de l'araignée (1995)
Badfly!
I saw this film at the Seattle International Film Festival back in '95 (I think), where it was voted one of the worst of the fest by the full season pass-holders. I personally LOVED it, and voted it one of the best. It was sad, funny, deep, and overall exceedingly strange. It's been over a decade since I've seen it, and I still think of it often.
Oh, won't someone release it on video?!?!? This and Akumulátor 1 by Jan Sverak are two of the best films I ever saw at SIFF, and neither one has ever been released on video (in the US at least).
Other faves that finally did get released to DVD: Careful by Guy Maddin and The Kingdom by Lars von Trier.
Ginga-tetsudô no yoru (1985)
Christian film ... and a dark one at that.
I was very surprised to find, as I watched this with my young daughter, that it is full of dark themes (VERY dark for a small child) and a kind of messed-up (at least from a North American perspective) take on Christianity. Someone had recommended it to me based on our love for Studio Ghibli films like Kiki's Delivery Service and Whisper of the Heart. It's not at ALL like those. It is religious (of a sort) and contains themes of loss and death.
That being said, I would have enjoyed the film had I been watching on my own. I like films about loss and death.
It's beautiful and strange.
Just dark.
Progeny (1998)
Come for the perversion stay for the suspense
I put in the DVD expecting camp perversion from the creators of Society and Re-Animator, and was quite surprised to become involved in an authentically suspenseful tale. Acting was top-notch (nice to see Vosloo in a protagonist role after a long string of villains), the storyline involving, and the few twists fairly surprising. I figured I would fast forward through much of it to get to the abduction scenes, but instead watched it through, only being let down at the very end.
Maybe I'm being too lenient, but as I stated before, I wasn't expecting much more than alien sex. Of course, if you ARE looking for some hot alien sex, you will be let down. It was mostly quick-cut exam table nonsense with a blink-and-you'll-miss-it glimpse of an interesting 'impregnator' alien.
Epic Movie (2007)
trapped in a spoof-spiral
Yes, I knew it would be stupid. But stupid CAN be funny. I won't go into depth about just how stupid and unfunny it was; i don't want to restate the obvious. The snake is eating its own tail when it comes to these spoofs. However, there are some things I expected to get from this movie other than laughs:
1. Impersonations of at least "Saturday Night Live" quality (not that that's asking too much). -Um. No. This movie even made Darrell Hammond look like an amateur (and I think he's a pretty gifted comedian). What the heck was up with 'Samuel L. Jackson'?
2. Topicality. The previews showed scenes borrowed from some pretty recent flicks. -Er... Punk'd? Scarface? 'I just saved money on my car insurance'? What, no Tom Cruise jumping on a couch?
3. Touchstone cameos by 'real' celebrities, ala Dr. Phil in Scary Movie 4. -Nope. Nada. Zilch. Unless you count Crispin Glover doing a bad Johnny Depp doing a bad Johnny De... wait, see, I told you these spoofs were eating their tails.
4. Alright, I'll admit it, I expected LAUGHS. STUPID laughs, but SOMETHING!!!! Where there ANY laughs? -I did chuckle at some of Jayma Mays' (Lucy) reactions. I'd like to see her in another movie. Any other movie. Any OTHER movie.
Okay, I've officially wasted enough of my life on this stupid, pointless, sub-Date Movie flick. I resolve never to speak of it again.
Sod Sisters (1969)
Not great art, but good trash
If you don't "like seeing sex between unattractive people (not to mention stupid jokes)", then why watch something called "Moonshine Love" in the first place? Did you really think it would be A-level entertainment? While this flick is not up there with Sarno or Meyer, it is good (un)clean fun.
I enjoyed this film for the same reason I enjoy others of its ilk: 1. Semi-kinky yet somehow chaste nudity; 2. Lack of polish; 3. Historical perspective. If you are interested in the period of the 60s after the time nudity was first popping up (so to speak) but before full-blown porn, I highly recommend the book "Sleazoid Express" which discusses in length, from firsthand reporting, the rise and fall of 42nd street in New York.