Jeff's Reviews | Thoughts on every movie I've ever seen.

Les Expos Nos Amours (2003)

Reviewed on Feb 1, 2016

A dated but impressively thorough documentary of the Montreal Expos. Year by year installments chronicle the entire history of the franchise. The collection of footage and interviews is thorough, and the contemporary music for each season really helps take you back. Sutherland’s narration is a little creepy and melodramatic, and…

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Something the Lord Made (2004)

Reviewed on Jan 28, 2016

A pretty interesting story, but the race stuff is a bit on the nose, the passage of time isn’t entirely clear, and interactions between Thomas and Blalock, as confusing as they may have been in real life, are a little inconsistent here. Direction is a little too traditional and safe.…

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The Big Short (2015)

Reviewed on Jan 23, 2016

This is dramatic subject matter, but McKay, a comedy director, is all over the place. Making very complicated economic concepts fun and bouncy with celebrity cameos is irreverent and irrelevant and distracting. And all the in-camera dialogue, particularly the explanations that come out and admit that what we have seen…

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The Act of Killing (2012)

Reviewed on Jan 23, 2016

An unconventional angle on Indonesia’s brutal, genocidal history. Who knew Indonesia was this messed up, this corrupt? Oppenheimer has found dramatic subject matter that has not yet been exposed and exploited. Interesting collection of footage. It’s horrifying how proud these people are of their brutal history, and it’s even more…

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Vincent (1982)

Reviewed on Jan 13, 2016

Vintage Burton. Amazing that, in 1982, he had already established his unique style.

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The Revenant (2015)

Reviewed on Jan 13, 2016

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)

Reviewed on Jan 12, 2016

Standard Jackie Chan fare. Action is decent, but it’s not enough. Yeoh was cute.

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Predator 2 (1990)

Reviewed on Jan 11, 2016

Pretty awful. They took the original and added a shitty story, shitty characters, and shitty dialogue.

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The Apartment (1960)

Reviewed on Jan 10, 2016

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)

Reviewed on Jan 5, 2016

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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