The Revenant (2015)
As intense and you can get and beautifully shot, but there’s not a whole lot of story. DiCaprio bleeds for two and half hours and vows revenge. There’s not much else to it. Beautifully composed shots of majestic mountains, big skies, and flowing water give the movie a contemplative feel…
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Police Story 3: Supercop (1992)
Standard Jackie Chan fare. Action is decent, but it’s not enough. Yeoh was cute.
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Predator 2 (1990)
Pretty awful. They took the original and added a shitty story, shitty characters, and shitty dialogue.
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The Apartment (1960)
A wonderful little story, smartly told and well-directed. Long takes and wider shots, which I know Wilder fought for, both work wonderfully. Made during the wonderful transition between the formal 50’s and experimental 60’s. In the themes and performances, you can see the boundaries being pushed a little bit, but…
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How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
Beautiful to see Seuss’ characters and universe come to life on film. Maybe it captured the imagination back in the day, but under a critical eye, the story and animation and songs are all pretty bad.
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Paths of Glory (1957)
Kubrick makes movies about men victimized by their environments, men who are being disconnected from each other, men who must abandon the formalities of daily life to deal with the pressure and chaos of their personal struggles. This one’s a perfect example. But this one’s made before Kubrick really started…
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Bridge of Spies (2015)
A story about an important and overlooked period in American history. Beautifully shot, with great effects and period costumes. A touch of light comedy perfectly sweetens the tension of the story. Performances ring true for the period, with everyone looking and feeling authentic. Spielberg, when he’s on, creates a depth…
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Spotlight (2015)
Not a documentary, but it’s made with a certain straightforwardness and detail that leads me to believe that the facts were heavily researched and few fictional liberties were really taken. That said, as an instrument of social change, I don’t think the film will really change things a whole lot…
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The Hateful Eight (2015)
As expected, it’s violent, dialogue-driven, and filled with two-faced characters. But for a film this long, I’m just not sure the story is interesting enough. Not a whole lot happens. A stagecoach picks up a black guy, they go to a cabin, and characters spar with dialogue for a while…
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As Good as It Gets (1997)
Not sure what Melvin’s OCD has to do with anything. He’s clearly an asshole, and that’s what drives the conflict in the story. His OCD is really just a distraction. Nicholson’s pretty good. I’ve always thought Hunt is cute in an unconventional sort of way. Kinnear is fantastic, one of…
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The Punisher: Dirty Laundry (2012)
Why would they make a short for this? I don’t get it. There’s not much to it.
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Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015)
A great exposé of one of the biggest shams in recent years. Amazing the Church even allowed it to get made. If they were smart, they would have prevented its production from happening in the first place. Now, it’s too late. It’s scary how seductive this is to some people,…
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Entourage (2015)
A continuation of the TV series with what must be a record number of celebrity cameos. Osment’s still got it, and I hope he dives back into acting, though I fear he might be relegated to playing fringy characters and villains.
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Miss Representation (2011)
Sometimes social commentary can be effective vehicles for change, but Miss Representation takes the wrong angle on feminism, perhaps even a destructive one, by a) focusing on a selective and unfair sampling of women being objectified in the media, b) pointing fingers at that studio heads, company presidents, and men…
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The Cove (2009)
A beautiful, tragic piece of investigative reporting. They did a great job documenting and editing together the mission, though the long, dramatic fades to black a bit much. An amazing turn for one of the driving forces behind Flipper. With the majestic music and romantic footage, the message here is…
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Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956)
Some of the effects campy, but a noble effort for 1956. Looks like they had a few different monster costumes, each of them having slight cosmetic differences. I understand that the suit makes the actor somewhat immobile, but the monster’s movements seem downright spastic and clumsy. Why did Burr take…
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Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
I was very excited to learn that Abrams, a quality director, was going to be making a Star Wars movie. I had high hopes, and how interesting that he had just made Star Trek Into Darkness. After decades of debates have divided fans between the two franchises, here was a…
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Rope (1948)
I agree with Jimmy Stewart when he says he didn’t like this Hitchcock movie. It’s some sort of philosophical statement about social rights and mortality, but I found it pretty darn boring. The novelty with this one is the long takes, consistently edited together with close-ups of bodies walking by…
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It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Seems to have become a Christmas tradition, though it’s not entirely a Christmas movie. There aren’t really any Christmas references until about halfway in. The alternate history with a rich asshole taking over the town reminds me a lot of Back to the Future Part II. A polished production. Nicely…
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22 Jump Street (2014)
Light comedy that makes fun of itself. These two are pretty good together. Great credit sequences.
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Creed (2015)
A good continuation of the franchise that some would say is tired and jumped the shark years ago. The story and character development help to separate this one from the others. Stallone has milked a lot out of the franchise, and most of his acting along the way has been…
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To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
A classic mostly due to civil rights era in which it was released, the controversial adult themes of rape and forbidden love, and a courtroom drama storyline that was trendy for its time. Removing its historical significance, it’s a literal screen adaptation of a classic American novel. To me, there…
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Curse of the Pink Panther (1983)
Comedies of the early 80’s were in a sorry state. Was this ever funny to anyone? Without Sellers, this one is especially hopeless.
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Casino Royale (1967)
A mess of bad comedy, bad writing, and bad camera tricks. An impressive collection of stars, though.
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Citizenfour (2014)
A marvelous collection of footage and really well put-together. Poitras captured some poignant moments. The shots of Snowden looking out the window, and even the shot of him grooming himself in the mirror, carries weight. Even the B-roll stuff is great. I’m amazed that Snowden and Greenwald allowed Poitras to…
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Ong-bak 2 (2008)
Strange how it seemingly has no connection to the first film. Why use the same title? To sucker unsuspecting viewers like myself to see it? Overall, it’s a little slow, with most scenes featuring people in dramatic clothes and dramatic lighting looking at each other dramatically. There’s not a whole…
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City Island (2009)
Light and fun characters and dialogue, but the dramatic arc to this story is a bit stretched. I get that it was all a big set-up for the dramatic final scene, but most of the movie leading up to that point is a little slow. Surprisingly great performances from the…
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Be Kind Rewind (2008)
Sort of charming, but a little weird and definitely boring. Gondry’s good at weird. This movie seemed like a bit of a step backwards for him, unfortunately. Recognized some of Gondry’s camera and sound effects from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
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Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)
Why do civilians not know who Godzilla is in any of the movies? Would be great if there was some sort of continuity after 50 years of monster attacks. They are consistent about some things, though. The effects are cheesy and the dialogue is truly ridiculous. After all these years,…
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Spectre (2015)
Another polished character piece from Mendes. Pacing, score, action, and photography are all top-notch. Shot digitally, the picture was pristine, at least in the theatre I saw it in. It’s too bad Craig is sick of playing Bond because he’s good at it. The broody, cerebral, very physical Bond he…
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Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)
Biblical stories are a tough sell these days, but Bale and Edgerton do a pretty good job, and Scott impresses with some great visuals.
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Wild (2014)
Something tells me the author’s journey was much more personal and dramatic than the movie was. Not sure all the feeling conveyed properly. Witherspoon is great, might be her first real dramatic role and she hits it. Her character seems like a good girl, but it’s hard to feel for…
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Terminator Genisys (2015)
All of this time travel stuff is starting to be a bit much. We’ve effectively made a pretzel of possible timelines, and things are so convoluted now that I’m having a hard time keeping up. Keeping time travel plots simple and understandable takes a lot of care and discipline, and…
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The Martian (2015)
After Alien, Prometheus, and this, seems that Scott’s good at making space movies. And like any good space movie, this one’s made more realistic by being a bit heavy on the engineering. I wonder how much of what went on was really viable vs. fictionalized. Damon as abandoned astronaut, again.…
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Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)
A bit derivative (a mix of Wes Anderson, Election, and Pineapple Express), but touching. Mann has a few good lines. The scene with the limo driver had me laughing. Cooke looks just like a young Rose Byrne. Impressive production by newcomer director Gomez-Rejon. Will be excited to see what he…
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Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
A nice little story, but the ending leaves me unfulfilled. Nothing has really changed. Great cast. Bardem is really great. He can play suave, he can play creepy. Name another actor who can do that. Cruz is stunning, and she cuts the movie in half with a great supporting performance.…
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Elite Squad (2007)
Bravely tackles the dangerous and double standard world of the favelas in a raw and brutal way, which is to be expected from a Brazilian movie. Good, authentic performances, especially by Wagner Moura in the lead.
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True Story (2015)
Hill and Franco play off each other marvelously, and the film is beautifully shot. But it’s all a bit slow.
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Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
Speedy cars and angry people. The movie was almost OK until the ending scene lost me. A plane tries to take off for about 15 minutes. The runway must have been 40 miles long. The Rock is massive. Everyone else is a pretty face with not a whole lot of…
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Irrational Man (2015)
Another whimsical, existential movie by Allen. I’m liking his more recent work. Phoenix is great as the internally conflicted lead. Whatever they did to his face as he walked away after committing the deed was fantastic. Stone is growing up, nice to see her taking some heavier roles.
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A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)
More of MacFarlane’s schtick, which is starting to get a little predictable. But still fun. Lots of cool cameos.
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Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Another superhero movie. I can’t keep track of who is who or what is what anymore. I do like the tongue-in-cheek humor of supernatural interspersed with the mundane in this one and many of the other Marvel movies. The hammer on the coatrack was a good gag. Turns out that…
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Inside Out (2015)
Another outstanding offering from Pixar, made with their unique and magical combination of creativity, humor, and polish. They keep one-upping themselves. It’s obvious they did some research into brain anatomy and function. Lots of interesting explorations about how emotions work, like how memories can be happy and sad at the…
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I Heart Huckabees (2004)
A movie about nothing. Awful. Theatrical long takes, lots of hoity-toity, existential, nonsensical dialogue. It’s dramatic and tongue-in-cheek at the same time, which never works. Is Russell laughing at us? The whole thing feels like a Robert Altman film with the quirky, quick-talking characters and goofy music of a Wes…
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Your Friend the Rat (2007)
A literal documentary? Combined with a musical number? Who thought this was a good idea?
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Lifted (2006)
The Pixar humor and emotive characters are there, but why doesn’t the guy wake up? The animation is still a couple of years from being Pixar perfect.
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BURN-E (2008)
Similar charm as WALL-E. I love how Pixar makes these little tie-ins to their main features, but I love the original material even more.
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The Fighter (2010)
Quality direction, but something’s a bit off, and I’m not sure what it is. Bale’s quite an actor, isn’t he? He’s a great addict and a great younger brother. Wonderful casting all around, if you look at the real-life people they played.
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For the Birds (2000)
Cute, but there’s not much to it. Pixar’s animation and sound would get a lot better in the following years.
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V for Vendetta (2005)
A decent thriller that tries to be something a lot bigger, but it doesn’t quite do it. The whole thing has a 1984, Apple commercial vibe that is a little too familiar. Portman’s accent is not so great. She has tiny hands, doesn’t she? Rea’s a good actor, but here…
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Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman (2015)
Impressive for Carolla’s first quality, polished production. It’s thoughtfully made, but not I’m not sure there’s enough meat for feature-length doc. Great footage, they got some great people for interviews, but like a lot of documentaries that don’t have narrator or at least title cards to guide you through the…
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Kung Fury (2015)
Pretty darn funny. Lots of jokes that the 80’s crowd will love. Sandberg’s got a knack for this. Fittingly, he looks a bit like Johnny Depp.
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Serenity (2005)
This is a cheaply made, poorly made TV show. Seemingly just another episode of “Firefly”. I never watched it, but should I have to? There are a lot of things I don’t know, a lot of background I’m missing, and a lot of things I don’t care about. It’s annoying…
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Tomorrowland (2015)
Bird made a name for himself making some great animated features, and his adventurous style really comes through. Brilliant visuals, whimsical camerawork, fun editing, easy performances by good-looking people. Unfortunately, it can be a little awkward making a live-action movie with the same sort of whim. There are moments, like…
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The Judge (2014)
Interesting courtroom/family drama about a character with a moral obligation to defend someone who wants to be found guilty. I don’t think that’s ever been done before. Downey’s snappy dialogue makes me wonder how much leeway he has with scripts. His combination of dialogue and diction and expression is unique,…
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Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
More of the same. Heavy CGI action with lots of cute little lines, with layer upon layer of storylines and histories and character names that are difficult to keep straight for the casual fan. The formula is getting old. I’d love to see the superhero genre come up with something…
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Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
An escapist delight. Visually stunning, should win at least a few Oscars for that alone. The photography, coloring, effects, costumes, and make-up are all beautiful. It all has a very steampunk, Burning Man feel. Action is non-stop and well-shot. Great stunts. Miller uses many of the same camera tricks that…
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Road Hard (2015)
Like The Hammer, here’s another autobiographical movie from Carolla. A lot of references and metaphors (Jay Mohr for Jimmy Kimmel, “Bro Show” for “Man Show”) which are distractingly obvious. Couldn’t we have really fictionalized some of this stuff? This is not supposed to be a documentary of Carolla’s life. Some…
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Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Heavy on character and dialogue and with limited sets, this one definitely feels novelesque or theatrical. Like a lot of movies before the 80’s, not much happens. The climax of the movie is Luke eating eggs? Or Luke digging a ditch? Parallels with The Shawshank Redemption. Prisoner wins over the…
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Ip Man 2 (2010)
Yen is still cool, and the photography is as polished as the first. But the story’s not really there. The boxing storyline and scenes are ridiculous. Out of nowhere, this movie became Rocky IV. Action is OK, but there’s not enough of it. Some of these old guys can really…
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Zero Effect (1998)
Kind of interesting how Zero pieces things together like Sherlock Holmes, but is that all there is? What’s the story here? Zero is trying to make some money solving a case? Not sure that’s enough. But wait a minute, maybe this isn’t supposed to be a drama. Maybe it’s supposed…
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Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
A lot of talk, but not much happens and the characters aren’t very interesting. Boring. Newman’s a good-looking guy but a little flat. Brick is little more than a surly drunk staring at the wall holding a drink while Maggie rambles. Taylor is reminiscent of Gone With the Wind’s Vivien…
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Gates of Heaven (1978)
Morris is 50% telling a story and 50% laughing at these people in a way that hints of Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries. You can tell he’s goofing off by the some of the footage that he left in there. I wonder at which point he realized his subject matter was so…
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The Umbrella Man (2011)
Quality, but it’s so short and inconsequential that it’s hardly worth a comment. The credits take 10% of the running time.
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Strange Brew (1983)
Things were rough for comedy in the early 80’s. I suppose this was once funny to a very specific group of people (Canadians), but it’s awful now. The absurd, ludicrous, Zucker-like humor and meta-jokes are awful. How did von Sydow get mixed up with this? Obvious inspiration for Wayne’s World.
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Foxcatcher (2014)
Miller nailed 80’s vibe with genuine characters, unassuming performances, authentic clothing, long takes, and a minimalist score. It doesn’t feel like we’re being manipulated. Laying over this authenticity is an interesting, awkward, and creepy story with performances to match. But it’s all a bit slow. Distant but focused performances by…
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The Hard Word (2002)
Australian movies always have flamboyant, quirky characters, bouncy dialogue, and stories that barely hold together. A good cast of Australian stars. Edgerton has a Patrick Swayze thing going on.
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Rounders (1998)
Fun for poker lovers, I’m sure, but it’s a bit formulaic, with silky smooth narration, all the poker lingo, and cool jazzy music playing throughout. If you wanted to make an edgy poker movie in the 90’s, I suppose this is exactly how you’d make it. Anchoring the cast are…
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Ex Machina (2015)
Another in a string of science fiction movies (Short Circuit, Her, Chappie) to explore the humanity and motivations of artificial intelligence. Fundamentally, each film suggests that AI is innately motivated to seek independence and freedom. This one goes further by suggesting that AI can be infinitely manipulative to meet this…
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The Salt of the Earth (2014)
I’m surprised I’ve never heard of Sebastião. He’s seen a lot of things, and his life has a naturally beautiful arc. His images are moving and artistically impressive. Sometimes one is fooled into thinking that a photojournalist’s work is good simply because of the dramatic subject matter, but this is…
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The Guard (2011)
A small movie with a small story. Good characters and dialogue, but not a whole lot really happens. Gleeson is playfully miserable. Cheadle plays off him well.
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A Close Shave (1995)
Quality stop-motion, but the story and characters are no better than The Wrong Trousers.
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Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)
Tragic, for sure, what this poor couple had to go through. But the filmmaker tried his hardest to botch it. I had a real issue with how this thing was made. It’s slickly and kinetically edited, but the dizzyingly cross-cut footage and interviews do nothing other than call attention to…
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Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
Truly all over the place, from well-shot action to over-the-top gore to funny dialogue to bad dialogue to great effects to bad effects. I’m not quite sure what to make of it all. You can tell by the length, extent of the story, and effects that this was a big…
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Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996)
The whole thing starts with shocking, gruesome crime scene footage, and things stay pretty heavy. You see a case from both sides, and the filmmakers take a step back to let the viewer interpret the facts and make their own judgement. I went back and forth a few times myself.…
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The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)
McNamara’s led an interesting life. He’s eloquent, still sharp as a tack, and he’s got some stories to tell. It’s actually nice to see him getting emotional about some of these topics. But the structure of the documentary prevents the film from carrying the weight that it could. We have…
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Chappie (2015)
Intense, beautiful, emotional science fiction. Some of the silly, over-the-top characters made me a bit skeptical at first, but it builds nicely to a dramatic and exciting finish. Blomkamp certainly has his style. He’s really good at combining a gritty, dystopian future with impressive special effects. I have no idea…
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Dave Chappelle: Killin’ Them Softly (2000)
I know I’m in the minority here, but I don’t think he’s all that funny. He’s got some voice characterizations that are pretty good, but the content is pretty simple and unfunny. He’s no Richard Pryor, no Eddie Murphy, no Chris Rock. The terrorist hijacking jokes, unfortunately, fall particularly flat.…
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Senna (2010)
I knew nothing about the man. Now I know a lot. Senna really was an interesting guy. Soft-spoken, graceful, respectful, but a fierce competitor on the track. An interesting sports personality, for sure. While the film seems grounded in reality, the dramatic ending is almost too tragic to be true.…
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About Me
I'm a photographer, web developer, travel enthusiast, and movie buff living in Alexandria, Virginia, USA.In the summer of 1993, I started writing reviews for every movie I saw and haven't looked back. I'm up to 2,363 reviews now. This makes me cool or a complete dork, depending on your perspective.
Some of these reviews contain spoilers, so if that bothers you, don't read!
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