ethanarmstrong79's reviews

"Gaza" is an interesting fly-on-the-wall documentary. Most of the subjects are decent people wanting an ordinary and peaceful life. There are only a few offhand comments reflecting on the sad situation: "It's Hamas's fault", "I used to dream of growing up and killing Israeli soldiers". A Gazan physician - who struggles to help the wounded - simmers, "I hate every non-Palestinian who's breathing". But it's not a documentary showing deep reflections by Gazans on the causes of their predicament, and maybe that's the point. To the majority of Gazans and Israelis, they're not interested in the complexities of why the radicalism of the few on each side impact so many.

A physician-assisted suicide drama looks at the controversy from different angles. Anyone who's seen a loved one slowly decay over a period of time can see the appeal of a thoughtfully planned farewell. This movie is mostly well done, but lacking comic relief -- except for the presence of Rainn Wilson.

"Sound of Metal" is the tragedy of Ruben (whose hearing is a casualty of his love of music) and his girlfriend, Lou. It gives a unique insight into the sensory experience of sudden and pervasive hearing loss. It chronicles the catastrophe of his disorder's onset, and his attempt at adapting to his new condition through a deafness support community. The reaction shots, closeups, space, and acting are extraordinarily good. As film is a medium of sound and vision, we get to - in a sense (no pun intended) - experience the isolation and quietude of hearing loss first-hand.

"Happiest Season" has a lot of the hilarious awkwardness of "Meet the Parents" with the added twist of two closeted girlfriends. It's got some very funny moments, though usually farcical. In contrast to "Meet the Parents", this one is missing some credible subtleties. Would be in-laws are clueless, but dialog is less ironic when they're over-the-top, ultra-clueless.

The plantation footage is well-done. Great editing and lighting. Alex Haley's Roots writ large, but lacking the seriousness, depth, and accuracy of Roots. Characters are very one-dimensional. Only heroes, monsters, and angels; which makes for a very facile and boring story.

A group of folks connected a video rental store with the post office, and it turned into a $216 billion company. I skipped over the part where they designed the Web 1.0 application, experimented with a variety of business strategies, reconnoitered an automated mail sorter for their own use, overtook Blockbuster Video, built a sizable install base, switched to digital distribution, released their own content.

This series captures the near total cognitive impairment of adolescence. Every thought, perception, and idea that enters the heads of these kids is comically distorted, wrong-headed, or askew. The life of a teenager is a veritable Alice and Wonderland of confusion.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Similar to the "7 Up" documentary series, which follows subjects from childhood into adulthood. "Most Likely To Succeed" follows several high-schoolers through college, early career, key relationships, and into early adulthood. At times, fate seems to diverge along class (and also racial) lines among the subjects. It's also quite fascinating to witness the evolution of their personalities, as their experiences shape their view of themselves, their upbringing, privilege, hardship, and overarching life trajectory. There are some very heart-warming and inspiring moments, and is a great case study in psycho-social development.

Pretty entertaining series, with an odd mix of commentators. Sort of a pot-boiler as historical documentaries go. We know it's more Hollywood than history when Donald Trump, Mark Cuban, Donny Deutsch, Steve Wynn, Russell Simmons, Jim Cramer, and Jerry Weintraub are consulted to comment on the history of American business. Alan Greenspan, good. Jack Welch, Carly Fiorina, Steve Case -- okay. Can't go wrong with Campbell Scott narrating.

Scientists had long investigated the mechanics and statistical probabilities of simple heredity (see Gregor Mendel's copious documentation on the basic traits handed down through generations of peas). Farmers had long practiced artificial selection for the improvement of agriculture. Botanists, physicians, and biologists had worked to eliminate diseases and disorders through the discovery of therapeutic compounds. The merging of these three domains created the terrifying field of eugenics: the science of improving humanity through sterilization and euthanasia.

Were it not for the discrediting of the field by outspoken scientists, we might still be living in the dystopia shown in this documentary. Even former eugenicists had to eat crow to crack the foundations of this insidious programme. A few outrageous legal cases brought to light the shameful practice of sterilization. And finally the horrors of the Holocaust followed eugenics to its logical conclusion: large scale euthanasia and genocide.

It's is a cautionary tale. We have no guarantee that today's promise of genetic engineering will not produce an equally disastrous outcome again.

Blizzard of '78. Blackout of '77. Events that I didn't live through, but I have some vague memory of overhearing stories about them. This documentary evokes fiction like The Purge: a night of chaos. It centers around what can happen when mayhem is unleashed in an already economically compromised city. In contrast to a previous NYC black out a decade earlier, during which anarchy did not explode -- the city truly hits rock bottom during this one summer day in 1977. Thousands of criminals (and even would-be non-criminals) demolish parts of the city in an orgy of burglary, arson, and violence. Bodies arrive at blacked out hospitals with deep wounds from broken glass. 100F temperatures add to the misery.

This is a very enlightening and thought-provoking program. Good blend of sports, society, politics. Signature Ken Burn style.

It's astonishing to hear commentators of Johnson's day fearing African-American domination -- starting with boxing and gradually continuing through academia, politics, and the arts. Today, we think of Luka Doncic, Tom Brady, Lionel Messi, Roger Federer as simply athletes; not Great White Hopes. No race checkbox, e.g., Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Native American need be checked. Sometimes we need to look deeper into the past to see how far we've come. Today we look to Steph Curry, Patrick Mahomes, Lonzo Ball, Klay Thompson, or Tiger Woods to highlight the ambiguities and absurdities of racism, colorism, shadeism, and ethnocentrism. We're all people.

This was a great episode showing rare, early Pippen footage of his time at Central Arkansas. The interview of President Bill Clinton (on his fellow Arkansan), and Pippen's own amazement at his NBA draft selection -- didn't quite capture the unlikelihood of his rise to stardom. But consider that it's virtually unheard of for an NAIA player to make the NBA, let alone become a Hall-of-Famer. When he joined the Central Arkansas Bears, the probability of his eventual success in professional basketball was truly miniscule. Jerry Krause found a gem on that one.

Judy shows the tragic side of success. It's a tragedy normally obscured in the minds of workaday, middle-class folks who go to watch movies like "Judy" at the local cinema. It's hard to believe such deep despair could lurk behind the glitz, glamour, and limelight of movie stardom. This curious conundrum occasionally rears it's ugly head amongst the super-successful (see recent celebrity suicides, e.g., Kate Spade, Anthony Bourdain, Robin Williams). But everyday Joe's and Jane's can't easily empathize with the plight of the rich and famous. A movie like "Judy" shows us how.

Divorce movies don't typically capture the ambivalence of divorce. Marriage Story does. The highs and lows -- even while the agonizing process proceeds. Soon-to-be ex-spouses converse cordially one moment, and then spew bile and hatred the next. It struck a chord with me. This is The Squid and the Whale, but substitute Adam Driver for Jeff Daniels, and Scarlett Johansson for Laura Linney. The upper-classness is a bit bothersome, e.g., squabbles over the couples' New York and Los Angeles homes, his independent theater company, her acting career. Oh, those first world problems.

Amusing compendium of rom-com cliches. The funniest part of the movie is Liam Hemsworth's fiendishly counterfeit grins and quips. Crikey - heeh's ya' toll, dahk an' hain-sum goy. The movie succeeds in dissecting the delusions we all experience in romantic fantasy --- sort of a snarky, TvTropes.com-ish take on an entire genre of filmmaking.

This movie wanted to be "Memento" (a superior and more original psychological thriller), but falls into trite sisterhood tropes.