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JasonZ
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Man from Reno (2014)
Disappointing writing
Please do not read on unless you don't mind having the resolution revealed.
This movie is well shot and well acted. The music and sound were also good, and to be fair, some of the writing is good as well. There are a lot of plot turns that keep it interesting, and I liked the fact that they left it up to the viewer to keep up; each plot point was explained, but not in a way that insults your intelligence. Little details were dropped that kept things intriguing.
Unfortunately, that's what makes the broad story arc disappointing. All those details and half-completed character studies are just dropped about 2/3 of the way through. By that point, the villain's behavior has been explained, and nothing new is learned about anyone. The most interesting character reveals nothing more and the villain acts just as described. It could have been so much more, so to me the final third was a gigantic letdown.
Knives Out (2019)
Plot-centered
This movie is plot-centered. Character development is limited to what is necessary for establishing motivations and relationship dynamics among the characters. This is similar to a movie like Murder on the Orient Express, while I am not comparing the quality of the two movies.
The little details explicitly shown or mentioned in the movie are paid off by the end. There are a few times when there's a bit of a question about someone acting out of character, but they're points that can be explained away.
The big negative is the politics. One character development point involves the legal status of one character's family, so discussing that particular point is fair game. The grating yelling match about politics in the middle of the movie is not. It had nothing to do with the plot or motivations and took viewers out of the movie. But just hold on -- once it's over, the movie resumes.
It's an entertaining movie with Daniel Craig again showing he can do a believable southern accent, if you can overlook the pointless political shouting.
Men in Black: International (2019)
Lecture in Black
Decent action, but not nearly enough humor, and way too much virtue signaling. The casting forced the writers to portray the newbie agent as the capable, mature one and the veteran agent as the incompetent screwup. It didn't work. Plot holes galore, although that can be overlooked in a movie like this. Every opportunity to lecture the audience about grrl power is taken. Enjoy!
Blood Shack (1971)
The worst movie I have ever seen
This movie has the distinction of the worst movie I have ever seen. There might be worse ones out there, but I haven't seen them. The casting and acting are bad; the cinematography is bad; the audio is bad; and the writing and editing are epically bad. After seeing some of the trivia on this site, some -- but not all -- of the woeful quality of this film is explained. Namely, the movie was shot on leftover, partially exposed film stock and the production crew didn't have many resources available to them. This does not explain the nonsensical behavior of the characters or the ability of the villain to remain undetected in broad daylight.
The "director's cut" length of about 70 minutes really should be renamed the "distributor's cut" since unrelated footage of a rodeo was inserted into the movie to make it long enough to be eligible for theatrical release. If you don't know this when you watch that version, you will be mystified by what you're watching when you get to that point.
Not exciting. Not interesting. Doesn't even make sense.
This movie gets one star because I can't give it zero stars. In fact, this movie owes me some stars!
Terror in a Texas Town (1958)
This movie brings a harpoon to a gunfight.
This movie is probably most well known for the unusual choice of weapon used by the hero in the final showdown, but as fun as that is, there's more to this movie than that. The plot is not complicated or even very original, and there are slow patches, but it has enough unique elements in it to keep the viewer interested.
As in many westerns, the characters in this movie are archetypes. When confronted with a choice of action, the viewer can usually correctly predict what the characters will do. This could have been a bad thing, but the writing in this movie is intelligent enough to present the characters with choices that are not always clear-cut. For the good characters, sometimes the choice comes down to picking the lesser of two evils; interestingly, the same is true for the bad characters as well.
Despite their archetypal nature, there is room for character development. In a scene near the end of the movie with no dialogue or action, the viewer is presented with a still life of a room, and from what is shown on screen and the character development that has occurred, we can tell what happened, why, and what the situation is now for the hero.
Overall, an entertaining, non-standard western with some above average writing, and worth a viewing.
Last Exit (2003)
Give this one a pass
This movie is an ambitious project with pretty good acting, but it suffers from some writing and technical problems. First, the good things. After I watched it I learned that the budget for this was about $1500, and if that's true, then getting this project completed is an impressive feat. Shot on location, you get a good feel for the neighborhood where the story takes place. The costumes, set design, and art direction are good at conveying the proper atmosphere for the scenes, and above all the acting is good and for the most part convincing. Now for the bad things. The writing, while not horrible, has enough holes and unanswered questions that it's hard to enjoy the story; certain things were unbelievable or unexplained. The most interesting characters to me were the drug dealer and the bartender, but their philosophical points didn't get explored as much as I would have liked, which in my opinion would have made this movie more interesting. The sound was at times difficult to understand and should have been overdubbed in post production (but if the entire budget was $1500 I can understand why this wasn't done), and most importantly, it was very uneven in spaces. Sound effects and music were at times unreasonably loud. Finally, this movie had a lot of scenes, especially at the end, that were so dimly lit that it was impossible to tell what was going on. Overall, a decent effort, but there were too many script and technical problems to be overcome by the good acting.
Mildred Richards (2010)
You'll think you're watching 1940's noir !
This movie is technically brilliant. I've been a video editor for about 20 years, and I can't help but look at a movie for its production elements, and I was impressed with this one. The audio was taken from a 1940's radio drama and the actors lip synced to it, nearly flawlessly. The movie was shot on black & white film with a modern camera that had been modified to create the old aspect ratio of movies of that day. The film was then "aged" to make it match what you'd expect from a 60-year-old print. I had the pleasure of seeing it at a film festival, and the director said, after it was presented, that they tried it with the pristine, beautifully developed print, and it just didn't look as effective as the aged version. The old stock footage and shooting techniques (for example, the car interiors) added to the illusion and my enjoyment of it. Noir fans and film students will love this movie. Very well done!
Que la lumière soit (1998)
Good concept, bad execution.
This movie has an interesting premise, some good visuals, and a very nicely rendered message at the end; however, getting to this end was not a pleasant trip. In this film, getting from point A to point D sometimes entirely skipped points B and C. Nothing in it is too jarring, but overall I thought it could have been much better. Characters drift in and out of the picture with so much aimlessness that's it's very difficult to feel anything for them, which is at odds with the film's premise. On a side note, I felt the identity of the French studio chief was (unintentionally) very ironic.
The Independent (2000)
Spinal Tap of the B movie world
If you liked "This is Spinal Tap," you'll like this movie. It's shot and edited in a part documentary style, part narrative style, but the combination of styles is rarely noticeable; it's just enough to draw you into the world of Morty Fineman (Jerry Stiller). Clips from Morty's films are some of the funniest parts of the movie, and they're included liberally throughout. Cameos from Roger Corman, Ron Howard, and others (playing themselves) discussing Morty Fineman's career and influence were also good. Teaming Jerry Stiller with Janeane Garofalo worked really well, in my opinion. Their different styles of comedy fit their characters very well. To be honest, I liked "Spinal Tap" more, but this is a very close second.