recent product reviews
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)
Like the first, lots of deep and valuable messages delivered by old people in the quirky and exotic surrounds of India. Natural acting by veteran actors. Gotta assume it’s fun for them to make these movies.
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The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
A deep, insightful look at being the unpopular kid in high school, though it got unexpectedly dark at the end. Obviously a very personal movie for Chbosky, the author and screenwriter and director of the film. It’s interesting and surprising that Chbosky’s hardly done any other directing. I wonder how…
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Sleeping with the Enemy (1991)
Aside from Roberts, who was a relatively talented and exceptionally mature young actress, acting is this movie is completely awful. Every actor moves robotically and talks as if reciting from a script. It’s ironic that Ben plays a drama teacher in the movie. And it’s not just the acting. This…
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Baby Mama (2008)
Cute with some funny lines. Fey and Poehler are pretty good, and a nice supporting cast.
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Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
Not the Will Ferrell comedy I was expecting. He doesn’t have a single funny line, playing the straight man in a borderline sad story. Was Ferrell miscast? Or was he giving drama a serious attempt? I’m not sure how his OCD fits into the story. And it’s all a bit…
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La La Land (2016)
An impressive musical, with beautiful sets, dramatic lighting, nice photography, a great score with wonderful instrumentation and original pieces, lively dance numbers, and quality performances. Perhaps most impressive are the long takes of musical numbers, executed with a degree of difficulty that is probably unappreciated by the casual viewer. There’s…
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Once (2007)
Nice, simple story. The music and talent is great, though maybe there’s a bit too much of it and not enough dialogue and character development.
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The Light Between Oceans (2016)
Gently paced, cleanly told, beautifully shot. Some of the shots are subtle but carefully chosen and metaphorical. This is a polished, smart movie. Fassbender’s performance is wonderfully restrained, and the old age make-up and performance is spot-on. Vikander, with her wonderfully expressive puppy dog eyes, puts in a great dramatic…
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I’m Here (2010)
Spike Jonze is an interesting dude, isn’t he? He’s a genius, but something’s a little off-center with him. A strange, charming but nightmarish story. Nice effects. Why English accents?
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13 Hours (2016)
This movie oozes with Bay’s visual style. Scenes are overly color-treated and contrasty, characters are all good-looking, orange, shiny, each trying to out-cool the other with macho lingo. Editing is predictably kinetic and with predictable interludes of slow-motion. Good action, though, with firefights and explosions that are intense and believable.…
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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 2,374 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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