evetston Reviews

Wonder Woman (2017)

A decent superhero movie

[6/10 · 4 June 2017]

I saw WW this evening with a group of friends. J really enjoyed it. I thought it was better than most superhero movies, but that bar is set pretty low. As with seemingly every other superhero movie ever made, the ending is a tedious escalation of good versus bad (guess who wins). That part was almost insultingly predictable and unimaginative, which is why I can't see this type of movie too often. So, it was fun in pieces but mediocre on the whole.

Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret (2014)

Informative, but narrow in scope

[6/10 · 6 September 2016]

There is no doubt that an animal based diet has a greater ecological footprint than does a vegetarian diet. Of course you don't have to choose one or the other. It's a continuum, and eating fewer animal products is an improvement. My problem with this documentary is that he portrays a vegetarian diet as the fix for our environmental woes. A vegetarian United States will still be *far* from sustainable. Our consumer-oriented lifestyle is unsustainable in many ways, and food production is just one of them. That doesn't mean we should just do nothing. Less meat in our diet would be helpful, but it's foolish to simply ignore the underlying cause of most of our problems: Overpopulation. It's not a popular topic for discussion or policy. It's really not that interesting. The message never changes, and there's no emotional upside for having fewer children (or none). It's a somewhat cold reality, and not one that stirs passion, but ultimately the only lifestyle choice one can make that reduces our impact on our planet's ecosystem to the point of sustainability is to reduce our vast numbers. Follow Cowspiracy's message and alter your diet, too, but don't ignore the cause of our predicament and the real solution for it.

Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)

Revisited

[8/10 · 24 May 2016]

I watched this movie for a second time this evening, the first being at least 25 years ago. I had forgotten the details of the story, and I didn't find myself trying to fill in the blanks like I sometimes do when memories are revisited in an extended session (whatever the running time of the film). It impressed me that I simply wanted to watch the performances and experience the flow of the film. I think it has aged remarkably well. Some of that is due to the acting, which is really quite good, but there's also not much of the story that is rooted in time. If anything, having such video footage is probably more commonplace today.

Anomalisa (2015)

More memorable than enjoyable

[7/10 · 14 March 2016]

It has been over a month since I say Anomalisa with a few friends. All of us felt a little disappointed with the overall feeling we had at the end of the movie. I think it seemed like an animated short that was too long. The stop-motion figures were slightly distracting at first, but it didn't take too long to start seeing them as real actors. The overall visual effect was at times quite amazing, and even the sex scene felt more real than simply animated. One thing I will say is that this is a film that has remained fairly clear in my memory as time has passed, and in that sense it was impressive. If it shows up on Netflix I might watch it again to get another impression.

Brooklyn (2015)

It had its moments

[6/10 · 27 November 2015]

I saw this film earlier today, and it is already slipping from my memory. There were a few scenes I liked, but overall it is somewhat forgettable. A fair number of scenes were not very satisfying, and the sum was perhaps even less than the parts. Saoirse Ronan has a nice screen presence and seems to be quite talented. Actually I liked the casting in general; It was the writing and maybe the editing that were less impressive. The attempts to trigger emotional response felt forced most of the time. After one such dramatic peak, a number of people in the audience gasped, like a sorrowful equivalent of a laugh-track. Amanda and I looked at each other and laughed quietly.

The Imitation Game (2014)

Less than it could have been

[6/10 · 1 January 2015]

I'm not sure if it's possible to write a spoiler for a historical account, but I checked the spoiler alert box just in case. I think I give lower reviews to movies for which I had high expectations (usually from overly generous ratings on IMDb), but I think I would have been somewhat disappointed regardless. There is seemingly a very interesting story to be told of Turing's life, but this movie gets a bit lost. The whole police interview as narration that starts at the beginning ultimately seems flat. It provides an interesting segue to the scene of his ultimate demise, but too little time is spent on what happened to him after the end of the war, or even after the initial success in breaking the code. Instead, the filmmakers seemed more interested in showing how difficult it was to spend time with him until he discovered the value of friendship with Keira Knightley's help. The writing in those parts just felt kind of boilerplate Hollywood. I did think the scenes of Alan as a boy were quite nicely done.

The One I Love (2014)

A little different

[8/10 · 1 January 2015]

A friend and I watched this on a whim without knowing much about it. I think I enjoyed it more than she did, but she's still thinking about it. One of the things she didn't like was that it almost felt a little scary at times. I do think there was a kind of suspense, but I think that's just a consequence of the odd setting they created for the story. I think the story line is one that could *easily* have been mishandled, and maybe that's what I appreciate most. The movie reminded me a bit of a Twilight Zone episode in that it felt small, with the outside world represented by a few voice mails and the limited interaction with their psychologist, but they had more time to develop the characters.

Interstellar (2014)

High expectations lead to disappointment

[6/10 · 17 November 2014]

This was not a bad movie, but it's average at best, and certainly nothing like the 9/10 rating on here. Some scenes were nicely done and the acting was solid, but the movie was overly moody and melodramatic, with emotions often being *hammered* home with a screaming music score. The science seemed arbitrary, implausible, and sometimes laughable. They were able to travel through wormholes and put humans into long term hibernation, but they somehow couldn't manage blight-resistant crops. The launch vehicle silo at the secret NASA site appeared to be mixed in with cubicles and offices. The black hole science is so flawed that it isn't worth discussing. There were also too many big stars in this film. I started to wonder who was going to make a cameo appearance next. And finally, the who story line is a familiar time loop plot, albeit with additional dimensions thrown into the mix. The more I write, the lower I want to rate this movie. Reexamination is not recommended.

Before Sunset (2004)

Still great

[10/10 · 3 August 2014]

It has been many years since I first saw the Sunrise/Sunset films, but Sunset in particular remains clear in my mind as one of my favorite movies. I truly enjoyed the acting and writing. Though it was made with a relatively small budget, it does not feel technically confining at all. In fact the cinematography is very impressive. There are long uncut scenes that must have been quite difficult for the Steadicam crew, but the results are quietly amazing. The focus on the characters is simultaneously intense and relaxed, and I don't know if I've ever felt so close to both the characters and their environment at the same time. The closing scene is wonderful.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

For me, a bit tiresome

[6/10 · 25 April 2014]

A friend invited me to see this. I wasn't aware this was a Wes Anderson film at first (busy lately, a bit behind on current events), but it was immediately apparent once the film started. Some of the visuals are really quite nice, but the pacing made the film kind of numbing. The humor felt flat and detached, and I was often more aware of the actors rather than the characters they played. That's not to say the performances were off, but more that some of them were a little distracting. This often happens (for me)when a large number of famous actors play small parts. I might have been more interested and entertained if the feel of the movie wasn't so predictably stylized.