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utkonos9
Reviews
Blue Giant (2023)
As a non-fan, it's only OK
I have not read the comic on which this is based, so I am not really the target audience. Anyway, I watched it and it was Ok.
Good: some of the animation; the piano playing; the characters.
Average: the music (I prefer the less noodly style of jazz, although I do like Uehara); the story (repetitive)
Bad: mix of traditional and cgi. Looks like a video game cutscene at times. Too long (2 hrs with some repeated stuff - they build up to a big gig - perform - build up again...)
I fell asleep for a few minutes, but to its credit the movie pulled me back in. It's not as good as Whiplash, but I think a lot of people will enjoy it.
Kill Me Three Times (2014)
This film is unbelievably bad
I thought this would be OK based on the other reviews, but it's really quite awful.
About half of the cast simply cannot act. I can't act myself, so I don't know what they are doing wrong, but it sounds like they are reading lines from a script, rather than actually saying things. All the time. In every scene. It's unbearable.
Simon Pegg can act, but his performance is not enough to make this worth watching.
The script also has some major plot holes.
Live by Night (2016)
Just no.
My thought process going into this was: "It's got mixed reviews, but at least it will have cool cars and clothes and plenty of action, so how bad can it be?"
I ended up walking out 45 minutes before the end, not because it was bad, but because I just did not care what happened next. The film is empty; utterly soulless. It's like watching over somebody's shoulder while they play a computer game (especially in the CGI-heavy car- chase scene, but in the CGI-heavy rest of the film too.)
The acting is terrible. The main character has one single facial expression, and that's it. The dialogue is awful. The only good lines in the movie are lifted from "Miller's Crossing" and the only actor who seems to have any emotions at all is Messina.
Scene follows scene, but there's no reason to care. Things happen, but completely at random, as though the screenwriter is playing a dadaist game with cut-up Boardwalk Empire scripts. Characters are introduced, and then blown off the screen a couple of scenes later, never to be seen again.
Historical accuracy does not seem to be a priority, but the filmmakers don't seem to be going for all-out historical inaccuracy (in the style of Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby) either; they just seem to be incompetent. Salsa dancing in the 1920s? Really? 1970s pantsuits? I suppose I can't blame them for not caring.
I don't care either. I don't care if you see this film or not. I just wanted to warn you how utterly meaningless it is. To paraphrase Dr. Narcisse (a memorable gangster character with cool dialogue played by a great actor): Go and see it. Or don't. Your choice.
Duelyant (2016)
Great, but bloody
Saw it at TIFF 2016.
The sets and costumes are great and the story is engrossing, but be warned that this film is *extremely* violent in places. "Onegin" this is not!
Also, when they are speaking German, there is a Soviet-style voice-over instead of subtitles, so you can't actually hear what the actors are saying.
Overall, it was a very interesting experience!
I recommend seeing it if you are at all interested in Russian culture, but sadly this film is likely to be too lowbrow to meet the approval of the art-house crowd.