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Lincoln (2012)
Spielberg's bad films are better than other director's great films
I think that this movie was an interesting exploration of a forgotten time in American politics. The story revolves around the fight to gain the approval for the 13th Amendment in the United States. If you don't remember, the 13th Amendment is the one that abolishes slavery, except for as a punishment for a crime. The backdrop of this fight is the end of the Civil War, and Lincoln's search for a way to end the conflict permanently. It's pretty clear that some of the things that people suggest to him would just cause another civil war in 10 years, in 20 years. The film does a great job of recreating the world of politics of that time, the style of political speech to the way the House of Representatives sat and how they conducted their business. It's all very interesting. And one of the surprising discoveries for me was the character of Thaddeus Stevens. He had such an interesting life but ended up being an Ardent abolitionist. I think his life would also make an interesting movie, but in this movie he is very much a side character to the drama of Lincoln. Daniel Day-Lewis of course does a great job portraying Lincoln as he seems to have been. An aw shucks kind of politician, but one who had great depths and wisdom and even a bit of Darkness inside of him, which was necessary for the role he had at that time. What is also great is how the characters in the film react to him, they don't see him as Lincoln this great man they really interact with him as a human being and not somebody who's been on the penny for a hundred years, there's this great scene where he is summoned to the telegraph office to get reports on a military operation he has ordered, and they're waiting for news and his minister of war is very upset, and he just starts to tell this random story about George Washington's portrait and the minister of War just freaks out and yells at Lincoln saying something like I'm not going to listen to your stupid stories right now. It's great because Lincoln wasn't telling the story to assuage the minister of war is feelings, he was doing it for everyone else in the room and when the minister of War stormed off Lincoln wasn't mad at all, so it's a very unique way of doing politics.
Another great aspect of this film is Sally Fields acting as Mary Todd. Mary Todd if you don't know was the Lincoln's wife, and she was for a Time considered to be one of the worst First Wives in history because she had mental problems, and she was not a supportive wife at all times. But Sally Field plays her in a way which is not moving, but understandable. Mary Todd is a person who was incredibly difficult both to like and to love. Sally Field is not someone who gets as much credit as Daniel Day-Lewis does as an actress, but in this film they complement each other perfectly.
The last thing is to talk about the directing. Steven Spielberg I think is one of the greatest filmmakers of his generation, and I don't think that anyone would argue with that. This is not a film that blows you away with stunning shots or an Incredible story, but it does manage to be captivating because it pulls back the curtain and lets you see this very specific time in American history and these very specific individuals and now these individuals seem larger than life, but they were real people and this film does a good job of showing that.
The Raccoons (1985)
A part of my childhood
As multiple other reviewers have mentioned, this show was a part of my childhood. I don't think I particularly liked it, but I am of the generation that didn't really have a choice when it came to what to watch for entertainment. We either had to watch what our parents wanted, or what was on the three channels or go do something else. So I did watch this a lot. I recently saw that it was on one of the streaming sites that I am subscribed to, so I watched it my 13 year old son. It's not bad, but not great also. The plots are pretty simplistic, and it's hard to understand where the enchanted forest is supposed to be, why are there aardvarks? The animation of the main characters is pretty ugly, the backgrounds have a level of detail that is absent from modern animated series aimed at children. Also the soundtrack is used in such a way that is lacking in modern animation. By which I mean, the soundtrack is clearly the star of the show just as much as the plot and the characters. I think young children might like this, if you can find it, which is why I rate it so highly.
Deo jinieoseu (2013)
Extremely Clever
I'm not as big a fan of game shows as I used to be but this show is a combination of psychological strategy and very difficult puzzles. I think the Korean version does a much better job of building the intrigue around the concept than the British version. In the Korean version, if a contest is sent to prison, they need to stay in a small room for the night and are isolated. But in the British version, they are stuck it a very flimsy golden cage in the centre of the room. It's very interesting from a strategy point of view. In the season that I watched, the Koreans are trying to build this atmosphere of teamwork, even though only one person can win, and in the British one, the knives are out from the beginning.
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Doesn't hold up
When I watched this movie when it came out, my first girlfriend wanted me to get a haircut in the style of Hugh Grant, because she thought it was cute. I remember vaguely liking this film and thinking it was funny. When I rewatched it a few nights ago, nothing about it was fun. It's the story of a man who is so smitten with a casual relationship that he plunges into a wedding when he realizes he can't have her. It's kind of cliche now, but this whole 'he's so nervous he can't communicate properly yet he's really cute is the whole vibe of the movie. Hugh Grant's character is adorkable, and yet there's nothing else about him in the film to make him likeable. We know he has a deaf brother, a few very close friends and multiple ex girlfriends (who all appear at the same wedding, which is the funniest moment of the film). Annie has no reason to choose him. Although likewise, there's nothing interesting or unique about Annie, unless being American was much more sexy for the British back then. And Andie MacDowell is clearly very attractive, but in this she just looks like a dork. I did realise watching this that this film had a large impact on how I swear. But apart from that, there's nothing to recommend this to anyone.
Bee Movie (2007)
Barely a 'B" Movie
The title is pun for a second rate film, this is not even a third or fourth rate film. The plot is very strange, a bee falls in love with a human (which is not what the movie focuses on) and then discovers that humans are stealing bees' honey, then sues them to get control of the honey back, does not realize that bees also pollinate flowers (which is odd because the movies spends a long time on this process), then recuses the entire planet with one parade float of flowers, because any pollen is the same as all pollen I guess? Apart from the human-insect romance, the plot makes very little sense, even for a kid's movie. The movie is also marred by Jerry Seinfield's performance. He cannot act, there is no distinction between his natural voice and this bee, so the movies sounds like a fever dream of a Seinfield episode. Mathew Broderick also gives line readings in a George Constanza like way so I seriously think Seinfield went into this movie thinking that this adult style of humour would translate to a kids movie. It's bizarre, but not bizarre enough to interesting. A movies with a bizarre premise which manages to be extremely boring.
The Littlest Outlaw (1955)
For all the horse people
This movie is full of great shots of horses, and stunts with horses. I also thought when I started to watch it that it might have been full of Mexican stereotypes, but the truth is all of the actors were billingual, and this film was shot in both English and Spanish. It was filmed in Mexico, and gives us a glimpse of what that country was like nearly 70 years ago. The story itself is quite simple, a boy bravely and somewhat misguidedly tries to rescue a horse destined to be killed. There are parts in it, which are probably going to uncomfortable for animals lovers, as Bull fighting is a prominent part of the story. Also, I would say it's highly probably that animals were hurt in the filming of the movie, as there were a lot of extreme stunts. The film also has a richness, and by that I mean the literal film it was shot on. I don't think they can make movies look that way nowadays, sadly. But despite the film looking great, I did find it a bit boring, and while it is admirable that they used actual Mexican actors speaking English, I think it would have been easier to follow in Spanish with subtitles.
Superman & Lois (2021)
Bad writing fails the characters and actors
I love the character of Superman, and I think the reasons I have always loved it is because while it is an allegory for immigration, and the Jewish experience in America, it is also a paen to family values. I don't mean family values in the way it has been perverted by modern politics. Clark is who is his because he had a good family, and a good community to raise him. Clark's struggle in this series is that he wants to accepted for who he truly is, but has hidden his identity for all of his life. This journey of his, had the potential to make this series a great one, especially because of the dichotomy between his secret life and the love of his life's mission for the truth. While I did enjoy watching the character of Superman, and Lois, and the friends and family that surround them, this show, sadly fails to tell any meaningful story. It starts out the first two seasons strong, but the writing, while never perfect, becomes atrocious in seasons 3-4.
There are some stunningly beautiful shots, one is where Clark, as Superman proposes to Lois and they are backlit by the Sun. There is another one, which is also an odd choice to make so beautiful, but it is, when Superman punches Lex out of his suit and all of the pieces of the suit fly behind him, and Lex is just a tiny human stuck in space for a split second.
There is one minor thing that bothered me, and it is tiny compared to what I will complain about later, but Lois is treated as a physically beautiful goddess in this show. Clark thinks that Lois is one of the most beautiful women in the world, fair enough, she's the love of his life, but we as the audience don't need to think that. And we don't, because she isn't. There is this meet cute scene where Clark is stunned by her beauty and we are supposed to stunned as well, but we aren't. And in Clark's death bed scene she appears in this red dress and is also supposed to be some goddess of beauty. But that red dress is not a symbol of how Lois actually looks, it's a symbol of the love Clark has for her. So she could have just been dressed as she normally would be and carrying the dress. This is no fault of the actress, she does an amazing job with what she is given, but she is not a sex goddess.
The actors who play Louis and Clark have amazing chemistry and it is great to see them in more normal moments. But time and time again, they are let down both as characters and as actors by bad writing. Lois is diagnosed with cancer in the 3rd season, and the show missed the opportunity to show the conflict between mortality and a reluctant god. What would that feel like having the potential to lose someone so important to you when you have to go on? Superman does die of old age in this series, but that comes later, at that moment he is practically immortal and the writers never have him address that question. Not only is he helpless to prevent the cancer, he is also a slave to time in an even crueller way than humans are. He can not die like us, even if he would want to.
Jordan, one of Clark and Lois's twin sons, is put through some strange things. He gets his first girlfriend and they seem like a cute couple in the beginning of the series. In the second season, she seems distant and it turns out that she kissed a girl at summer camp. That's a completely realistic thing to have happen. But the way everyone around them reacts to this is bizarre. Sarah's parents say this is no big deal and that Jordan should forgive her because she's way out of his league. What a weird thing to say to your own child. This is ironic because later it is revealed that her father, Kyle has had an affair and this is treated like the worst thing in the world and destroys their marriage. Kissing someone else, and having a affair are different, but isn't it a matter of degree? No one tells Lana, the mother, that she should forgive Kyle because he's 'out of her league'. That's just Sarah's parents though. Superman and Louis Lane are no better. They never acknowledge the hurt that this must of caused to their son. It's again, Sarah is so great that you need to forgive her and move on because this is so small and by the way you are also lying by not telling her you have powers, but don't you dare tell her you have powers. Then because Lana is threatened Superman reveals his true identity to her. So it seems like the secret can be revealed when it's convenient to Clark, but not his children. Jordan's torment in this series doesn't stop with that, though. When he gets his powers, it's the equivalent of body horror. He is suffering, he can see through people, and the show does a good job of showing the consequences that these powers have. His twin, Jonathan just randomly gets all of the same powers one day without any of the problems that his brother has. This is to show that Jonathan is the more mature twin. Louis and Clark may love them both equally, but it is clear that the writers did not. I think by the time Jonathan got his powers the writing on the show was atrociously bad, but this can't really be forgiven. So Jordan is the first one with powers, and he is struggling with it, and then Sarah dumps him. When she finds out he has powers, her feelings don't change, but then Jordan is made out to be this weirdo because he can't handle being friends with his first love. There's even a scene where some kid says that someone else may have powers and everyone is making fun of him, and Jordan says, yes that's possible, which everyone around him takes horribly because they are supposed to be hiding his secret. But what's a better way of hiding the secret, 100% denying facts or by selecting agreeing with them so you don't seem like a flat earther? There's also this horrible moment where Louis is called by Lex Luthor and given the choice to save one twin or the other, and Louis choses Jonathan. I think that decision is so out of character for her, she wouldn't have made any choice, because she probably would have run out of time. This is rightly devastating to Jordan, and again the writers of the show just hand wave it away by acting like Jordan is just being his angsty self again. Jordan is the victim of this show, but so is Sara. She is a complex person, but the choices the writer have her make seem like a harpy.
Jonathan, the other twin, also doesn't come out of this series unscathed. In the first two seasons he was an interesting character, but the actor playing him quit due to personal issues, and it seems like after that they were so terrified that the second actor playing the character would also quit so they made him into a 'golden boy' with no flaws or personality whatsoever.
The show while technically not part of the Arrowverse has some of the major problems of that franchise. The first is that every season has a 'big bad', so that every season feels completely distinct from the others, although the last two attempt to tell a unified story. The villains are surprising well written and acted. Tal Rho, John Irons, Bizarro Superman, and Bruno Manheim all have reasonable (for them) motivations and after they are stopped most become allies. I think that is a pretty unique and respectable thing this show did. Superman doesn't want to destroy his enemies, he wants to redeem them. Lex Luthor is played in a manical, menancing way which I think is actually the best depiction of the character that I have ever seen. Most depictions lean into the fact that he is a billionaire, and weak, and not into his sadism. This Lex is someone who built a commercial empire not on purpose, but as a side effect of building a criminal empire. And he does not care about his money at all. His motivations are a bit insane, but they are clear. He has a very rigid view of the world, if you don't 100% support him, he will destroy you. And the actor playing him is great, he's a hulking gnarled middle aged man. This is what you would expect after 17 years in prison. The villain that falls flat for me is Doomsday. Partly it's because the character from the comic doesn't have a lot of development, it just gets stronger every time it dies, but it's partly because of the systematic writing problems this series has. So Doomsday is created by Lex when he discovers that Bruno Manheim has been injecting Bizarro Superman with Superman's blood in an attempt to create a cure for his wife, who is suffering from cancer. Bizarro Superman is Superman from another world, his biology seems to be the same as Superman's, at least it seems to work in a similar way. Superman's blood should either do nothing to Bizarro Superman or heal him. It shouldn't make him it a mindless killing machine. And the CGI version of Doomsday looks so bad, and the fight with Superman also looks so bad. There are few moments where there is a good shot of Doomsday, but the graphics on the video games that the twins sometimes play in the show look better.
The ending of the show is one of the worst in the history of television. I've run out of space, but trust me. But I would still say that the show is worth watching if you are a fan of Superman.
Atlas (2024)
A Surprisingly Good Film
This film is good because it does not follow the trends of a lot of current sci-fi. There is no planet threatening disaster (at least not in the beginning of the film) and how that disaster unfolds makes perfect sense in the movie. Also, in many current films the main character clearly acts as a sort of messiah figure, you know, the one appointed by the universe to save it. In this, the reason why the main character plays the role that she does grows out of her character and her place in the story. The save the world plot is.supplementary to the story of a woman learning to trust again, and finally finding a real friend in an unexpected place. There are some things that don't make a lot of sense, for example, they travel to another galaxy and don't explain how....(it would take millions of years to travel across ours) but this are minor points. Jennifer Lopez is also great in this playing her character with a festering rage. If you like Sci-Fi, you'll probably like this.
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)
A Fun Take on the Original
This movie is a fun take on the first, the animation is good, and the bigger story of the film, that not everything can be awesome is an important one. The plot of the film itself is a bit of a mess and doesn't really hold up if you think about it for too long. The colours are shiny. It reminds me of this exchange from DS9:Quark: I want you to try something for me. Take a sip of this.
Garak: What is it?
Quark: A human drink; it's called root beer.
Garak: I dunno...
Quark: Come on. Aren't you just a little bit curious?
Garak takes a sip, wincing as he tastes it.
Quark: What do you think?
Garak: It's vile!
Quark: I know. It's so bubbly, cloying...and happy.
Garak: Just like the Federation.
Quark: And you know what's really frightening? If you drink enough of it, you begin to like it.
Garak: It's insidious.
Quark: Just like the Federation.
But of course, instead of the Federation, substitute this movie.
Angel (1999)
Fun but a failure
I have just finished watching this, and I have a lot of thoughts about it. My first thought is why has there never been a film franchise based on the Buffyverse? This universe really helped internet fan culture to grow, and now the people who grew up watching it are middle-aged with money to spend. And it combines the campiness of classic Star Trek, with its exploration of morality. Angel, is so far, Buffy's only spinoff in television or film. It is clearly a second thought, which is a shame, because it had potential. The story of Buffy was the story of a person growing up, she has more and more responsibility thrust on her, and loses her dreams, loses her parents, becomes a parent and ultimately sacrifices herself for the world. (Then she gets resurrected, because the show was too popular to kill at that moment). Angel starts out as a sort of mirror of that, from a parent's perspective. It's the story of the sacrifices you have to make as a parent....or it least that seems to have been the intention. It doesn't quite tell this story. Things outside the world dictated what happened inside of it. In the first season, there is a character named Doyle who is Irish, and because the titular character Angel is supposed to be Irish, Doyle was killed off. Probably also because he wasn't that popular. The character of Cordelia was very popular both in Buffy and in this, but the actress got pregnant, which was unacceptable to the producer it seems. Her character arc up until that point had been her proving that her shallowness was in fact superficial, and that she was a brave and superficial woman, and then all of this character development was thrown out the window and the story had her be the dupe, and the villain in a major story arc. There isn't anything wrong with turning a major character, a fan favorite into a villain, in fact this was done with Willow in the original series. But Willow had legitimate reasons to turn evil, and that plot line was all about her succumbing to her elemental power. With Cordelia, the problem clearly was that the producers did not like the actress any more. This detracted from the story of the main character. Another problem that the series has, which is a problem for many sci-fi/fantasy/horror films, is the problem of stakes that are escalated so high and so often that they are ultimately meaningless. All stories need high stakes, which is what keeps the viewer interested. In Buffy, one of the plot lines was the fight for Angel's soul. But after Buffy sacrificed herself, the stories high stakes are ultimately the end of the universe, again and again. It gets boring after a while, and I can see why this series was cancelled. If the series is a failure, is it worth watching? I would say yes....it never reaches the brilliant sci-fi/horror heights or dramatic heights of the original, but there are moments that are chilling. When Angel locks a roomful of human lawyers in with a pair of sadistic vampires, or when Lorne, the sweet-natural joker of the group, coldly murders a human by shooting him. That last example is especially chilling because the series only shows him defending himself usually. That gave his character a fitting end. Wesley's development is also handled well. The main character is also delightful to watch, a brooder with a wry sense of humour. In the original, Angelus was chilling, and you could understand how he was considered to be the evillest vampire of all time, but in this series he just became silly, which was a mistake. So if you liked Buffy, this is worth a watch.
Spaceman (2024)
Good and Bad Sci-fi
Adam Sandler does a great job portraying the loneliness of someone stuck in space for a long time, his interactions with the spider creature are also for the most part full of heart, I also liked the Post-Soviet touches that the film imagines a Czech space program would have, which are aesthetically pleasing, but make no sense as Czechia hasn't been part of the Soviet Bloc for 34 years. I thought the relationship with Lenka, and the conclusion of the movie were trite. Why would a space spider from deep space care at all about the human nature of love? One must either accept that the movie is telling the truth, or that its main character went space-mad. I would recommend this film, but it is a frustrating watch.
What Jennifer Did (2024)
Done Better on Youtube
As others have said, this topic was much better covered by a Youtuber called JCS Psychology, and I think that the reason for this is the nature of how the police solved the case. They did so largely on their interrogations of Jennifer and others in the case, so it makes sense to analysis those and explore how they were done. This wasn't a forensic heavy case so making a documentary about it seems a bit like a waste of time. As to her motivations in the crime itself, it seems like she was about to be caught in a lie, and she didn't want to face the consequences, and she couldn't imagine being independent-of course none of that would ever be a sufficient justification of what she did.
The Antisocial Network (2024)
Not a Great Documentary
But it managed to be educational and present its thesis quite well. The thesis is that the infamous 4chan led to such social movements as OccupyWallstreet, Anonymous, Gamergate, and the rise of Donald Trump and finally, to January 6th. It showed how these groups morphed together and separated. It shows very clearly how the alt-right latched onto meme culture and tried to hijack the political discourse. I was never on 4chan, but remember seeing their productions out in the wild. It's a cautionary tale about two things, the first about how just because you create something, that does not mean you can control it as the creator of 4chan discovered, and the second is never to underestimate the stupidity of the masses. They will beieve anything as long as its in a visual form with some white text.
West of Memphis (2012)
Victims of the Satanic Panic
This is a good documentary because it shows the mockery of justice the original trial was. The cops coerced a developmentally delayed individual to confess, and then manipulated the confession until he said what they wanted him to say. Forensic evidence was misinterpreted and lied about, all to frame this killing as the result of a satanic cult. Why people would believe that is a fascinating story by itself, (look up Satanic Panic) , but out of the scope of this review. Two boys were sent to prison for the rest of their lives, and a third to death row. For some reason, the case attracted the attention of famous people like Peter Jackson and Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam. Eventually they did enough investigation to establish very credibly that he boys were innocent. In, the end, the boys were innocent and left out of prison, but the true killer is still out there. Maybe it would be a goo didea if criminal cases were periodically reviewed to see if the prosecutions original theory holds up, because we all know just because you convict someone doesn't mean you have convicted the correct individual.
Three Identical Strangers (2018)
How is no one in prison?
Imagine having a great unexpected thing happening to you, which is amazing and great. Then imagine that this unexpected thing is tarnished and slimed by a great darkness. Three boys at the age of 19 discover that they are twins, and find some similarities and try to rebuild a relationship with each other. Later they discover that they are at the center of a remarkably unethical experiment-they have been separated at birth and placed in homes which had been picked due to their different parenting styles. They dealt with this in various ways, and suffered a new tragedy. But what I don't understand is how no one was punished for this.....surely human experimentation without consent is illegal? A good documentary about a horrible story.
Monk (2002)
A Great Show Despite Itself
When this show came out I watched a few episodes and fell for the superficiality of the premise-look at that man with a mental disorder-how funny! It falls into the same trap as Big Bang Theory, where someone who clearly has a different brain is made fun off by his friends for it, and in this case, is the cause of frustration to all who know him. But beneath this veneer of low comedy, there's a compelling portrayal of a very troubled man. There's one episode where you can see how deeply unhappy he is, and usually his suffering is a joke in the series. It was well acted and written,. There's another time a culprit that Monk catches says, 'are you happy now?' and he says, No, but this is as good as it gets. There's another scence where he is tortured at the dentist that is chlling. I think you could do cut of the series without the quirky music and it would work as a thriller.
Nimona (2023)
One of the Best Animated Films in a while
I think while the creators of this file definitely have an agenda, it stands on its own as a great work of art. The animation is excellent, and the world building is solid. A lot of films for children do not do a great job at establishing the universe that the characters live in, but this one does. The movie is full of some things that are shocking for a kid's film (and I don't mean two men dating)-the twists are unexpected. It's great story telling. I can see why Disney dropped it, they had a much weaker film, Buzz Lightyear banned in China because two same sex characters held hands. This would definitely not receive a wide release in China, which is a shame because it is a great movie.
Ozark (2017)
Dull and Bleak
I can get why this show has an appeal for some, but I did not like it. I don't like my fiction to be so bleak. I get that life is sometimes dark and no fun, but this show is completely without fun, and slow. It's hard to sympathize with the main character, who was money-laundering for the cartel. It is a victim of the Skylar syndrome. Skylar is the wife of Walt in Breaking Bad, and when that series came out, many criticized her character for being shrill and unpleasant, when of course that would be natural behaviour if you found out your husband became a drug lord. Marty's wife had no idea about his money laundering ways, but that's okay because she was having an affair. This is a bleak, depressing waste of time.
The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping (2024)
A Personal Look at a horrifying industry
There have been a slew of documentaries recently about the troubled teen industry, but this is the first that was made by survivors of one particularly bad institution. This industry feeds off of the idea that parents have made the mistake of coddling their children and some 'tough love' will turn their lives around. Who knows if this method could work in the hands of experts? The problem is that most people who start these kinds of programs have no educational qualifications, and they hire people with no educational qualifications because it is cheaper. They charge much more than traditional private schools because of this 'special' program-it's a scam. Not only that, the lack of outside supervision makes these places rife with abuse. And for what? A damaged beyond repair relationship with parents and, in this case, a phoney high school diploma. Yeah, the diploma from the school feature in this documentary was not recognized by the State of New York, so the people who did graduate could not use this "qualification" to attend further education. The tone of the series is a lot more personal than what is usually presented on Netflix, it reminds me of some of the best work of Michael Moore, like Bowling for Columbine. It is one of those documentaries that makes you more knowledgeable about the world after you watch it.
Resident Alien (2021)
A Fun Watch
Not a great show, but it certainly has its moments of fun. An alien is sent to Earth on a secret mission, and it does not go well. He attempts to blend in by taking over the life of a doctor with a cabin in a small town, and his lack of knowledge of humanity leads to funny encounters. The best part of the show is the relationship between the alien, Harry, and Max a young boy who can see his true self. It is perfect for those people who have always felt a bit like a fish out of water, and makes you think that you might be or someone you know might be an alien. Not the best show to watch, but if you like science fiction, it's a fun watch.
Outreau: Un cauchemar français (2024)
Focusses too much on the scandal, and not the aftermath
This series shows why it is important that the legal system is run by professionals with the highest level of competence and integrity. The documentary focuses on a scandal that erupted after an investigation involving paedophilia in one family in Outreau, France. The children in this family were one hundred percent victims of this horrible crime. Unfortunately, their mother, apart from being an enabler of abuse, was a pathological liar, and this led to many innocent people being accused of this crime. When word of this got out, it sparked a scandal in France, and many of the accused were cleared of any wrong-doing. Perhaps prematurely (which the documentary does not address). Three people who were cleared were subsequently charged and convicted of crimes against children. The trail itself was a sham....child victims were subjected to hours of testimony in public court, which is not something that is good for them, or conducive to the interest of justice. The defence lawyers were permitted to ruin the character of children. If a child is required to testify about such a matter, it should happen behind closed doors, with no cross-examination. My conclusion is that such investigations should not be reported to the public until a verdict is reached.
Homicide (2024)
An Uninspired True-Crime Series
This is a written and directed by the numbers true crime series from Netflix. It's not bad, but it is not especially compelling. It focuses on the same group of investigators who deal with serious crimes in New York City. It does offer an interesting glimpse into that world, where the top investigators in one of the largest cities in the world do know each other. Many of these stories, however, begin like so-New York was really violent back then, but you'd never imagine a business owner being gunned down in their own business. Which seems like an odd thing to say....as if business owners were immune from violent crime in a violent city. Not that interesting, but maybe if you like the history of crime in New York, it's worth a watch.
The Monuments Men (2014)
Just does not work as a film
This movie was a waste of time. It tried to construct a narrative around the mission of the 'Monument Men' and it failed. Films have a beginning, middle and end, or at least they have a 'story' which is greater than their plot. This has neither. The characters in it seem to be larping at war, which would have been a strange attitude for people alive to have. One other thing that was off-putting was the principle message of the film, that this was the fight to save civilization from the dark forces of Nazidom. This elevates material culture to the position of being the only thing that represent civilization, and ignores the fact that the Nazis didn't take these things because they wanted to destroy them, in fact they fell into the same trap as seeing material objects as the only representation of civilization. Also, Americans in the film talk about the priceless works of European art as "our culture" it seems a bit Nazi thinking to me. But apart from the weird message, the film is just boring.
Ford v Ferrari (2019)
Great for Racing fans, a car wreck for everyone else
This is not a good movie, but it is a compelling one. It tells the story of the Ford motor company's quest to unseat Ferrari's dominance in the legendary 24 hours of Le Mans race. It does this through the lens of the relationship between Colby Shelby, race car builder, and Ken Miles, race car driver. The race scenes are well done, and exciting. The acting, and writing, are a bit.....much. I have seen Christian Bale and Matt Damon, who play Miles and Shelby respectively, in much better performances, but watching their performances in this is like watching a car crash. You just can't take your eyes off of them. They make weird choices.....like Damon's chewing gum in pivotal scenes of the film, which I guess is to display the character's nervousness or something, but just comes off as gross, or Bale's cartoonish impersonation of a British man from the 1960's. I see on his Wikipedia page that Bale is British, but the insults he uses to other drivers in the film, are very British and not universal.....for example, I don't think he uses the 'f' word once. Two kinds of people will like this movie, racing fans, and fans of good bad movies.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)
Seasons 1-5 are perfect.....you can forget the rest
I have so many thoughts about Buffy, so I won't structure this as a normal review but use bullet points.
Buffy, at least the first five seasons, is the Star Trek of my generation. It is the perfect combination of camp, camp action, comedy, and creepiness and terror.
The character of Willow was revolutionary-she not only had a lesbian kiss, but she had multiple relationships with women. However, she is clearly a bisexual, even if the writers of Buffy did not know such a thing existed. She was attracted to men, had a relationship with one. In fact, her being attracted to a woman comes completely out of left field, and her previous attraction to men is thrown out.
In the earlier seasons, the show was a perfect balance of the creepy and the comedic, but after season five it lost its steam.....I think the problem was the invention of the Big Bad story arc, which was also revolutionary, but it became predictable in this series, and similar series that followed, like the Flash.
The scariest episode of the entire run of Buffy does not deal with a supernatural event, but with the death of her mother by completely natural causes. I haven't seen a death of a character handled so well. Buffy says when she finds her mother dead, Mom, Mom......and then finally Mommy. It's so powerful. It's a realistic examination of the reaction people have to death. It ties in the story of the show, the plot of the show is a Slayer fighting evil, but the story of the show is about Buffy's coming of age. She does all the things you need to do as you grow older, fall in love, lose your parents (either through death or distance) and have adult responsibilities thrust on you. That's why the second two seasons fail, because they contribute nothing to this story.
Also, if the story had ended at the end of season 5, Xander and Anya would have had the happy ending that they deserved. Later on Xander leaves her as he is afraid that he would become his parents, which is a legitimate fear....but maybe get some therapy? Work on yourself? And he says at the end of the series that he still loves he but when he finds out that she died, he treats it like a joke. Xander started the series off as a sort of author surrogate and a way that the audience can relate to the world of Buffy. He's annoying and self-centered, but he matures, finds out that he does have a talent for something and believes in himself. This character development is thrown away. I think an honest last episode should have had him crying like a baby......which would be understandable all things considered.
Buffy suddenly has a sister in season 5 and this is dealt with in a very good way.....at first you are surprised that they added the character and just expect you to accept it, but there's a twist. But after this, they turn the character of Buffy's dad into a deadbeat, which he was not. One of the plots of the early episodes was a situation where all your nightmares come true....and people had various nightmares, but Buffy's was that her dad would reject her. And in the end of the episode, it's revealed that her Dad cares a lot about her. Which is the case when he is mentioned until season 5 (apart from one cancellation, but things happen). After season 5, due to the invention of Dawn, he becomes a deadbeat. I think it's explained by the magic of the monks that created Dawn, but I think in reality it's poor writing....they wanted Buffy to be thrust in this world where she has to take care of her sister (who she's had for 3 months) without any help whatsoever, but I think it did a disservice to her dad.
I don't know if anyone would bother watching the whole run of the series in this day and age, but the early seasons are definitely gold.