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paulolafsveen
Reviews
Road House (2024)
When I get mad I can't stop myself. I wish I could.
All the bad reviews were the exact same things said about the original; which is now considered a classic. I liked the sound track, boogie blues and the fight scenes, were well choreographed, Jake put in a gym octogon regiment to pull off what he did, and good on him. This is definitely not the worst fight movie ever made. The movie is quick paced, make no mistake, Jake's the star and he shines in this movie. Jake was solid in this roll, and I liked the Jack Reacher innuendo , Jake in a Hoodie, off to his next beat downs. It's not Casablanca but it's a rollicking good time out on the perimeter.
Reinventing Elvis: The '68 Comeback (2023)
I cried through this whole Documentary.
The King.
What could Have, and should have Been.
Yes. I'm a huge Elvis fan, I've seen the recent movie Elvis, too many times to count. I've seen all his 60's movies, all his previous documentaries, and have read twenty five or so Elvis books.
My point, Steve Binder was a God send for Elvis and his fans. The 68 special is an absolute must see for all music fans.
What really hit me about this documentary was the love from Elvis fans, who were lucky enough to be in the audience.
One woman, who was in her seventies now, talked about how it wasn't cool anymore in the late 60's to like Elvis. She sat ten feet from him and said she was overwhelmed and overcome with emotion.
The love and breakthroughs in this special, If I Can Dream." And the late 60's choreography is incredible.
For Elvis's mom to say the colonel was the devil, is absolutely spot on. But to see it shared in a binder Doc is spellbinding.
And the fact that the Colonel kept Binder away from Elvis is a crime. Right after the 68 special Elvis recorded some of his greatest hits, Burning Love, In the Ghetto and Suspicious Minds.
Just imagine what Steve Binder and Elvis could have accomplished together. It staggers the mind, and hearts and souls, of all Elvis fans.
Taken Care of Business Baby.
Hail, Caesar! (2016)
When the student is ready, the master shall appear.
Brilliant masterpiece.
I'm a huge Coen Brothers fan. But. When I first saw Hail Caesar, I was disappointed. I didn't get it. I thought it was boring and an absolute mistake of a movie.
I chose to sit down and watch it again and realized, it's a brilliant movie, within a movie.
This movie was effortless in showing his in the golden era of movies, how spectacular the actors were.
Channing Tatum's scenes were incredible, the choreography in No Dames was not only spectacular, it was hilarious.
And the way the Coen's seamlessly dealt with communism and the beginning of blacklisting, was spot on tongue in cheek, gut laugh funny.
Hail Caesar is an incredible movie, for its writing, it's commentary of Hollywood and it's history and the fantastic mechanism the Coen Brothers used to deliver this groundbreaking picture.
So so funny.
Elvis (2022)
Taking Care of Business Baby!!!
Austin Butler transformed from a California kid into the King. What the trolls who leave these ridiculous ratings fail to realize is, Austin actually sang through much of this film, knew Elvis's moves on stage and absolutely nailed the performances, not only in the 50's 60' s and 70's but captured Elvis at his best and at his worst.
Maybe movie viewers also don't realize, it was Denzel Washington that approached the director of Elvis about Austin. Butter and Denzel we're performing together in a Broadway play and Denzel heard what he thought was Elvis Presley performing "Unchained Melody" in a green room behind the Broadway stage. It was Austin on the piano rehearsing for his Elvis audition. Denzel was so impressed, he called Luhrmann himself.
It's at the end of Elvis in his last performance where they split screen his last performance of Unchained Melody and we see the incredible performance of Butler.
There are so many jaw dropping moments in Elvis that Austin Butler nailed, it begs the question if the real Elvis inhabited Austin Butler.
All's I know is, there's going to be an Oscar for best actor in the Jungle room at Grace Land. Book it.
The Curse of Oak Island (2014)
The Curse of Oak Island is watching the Curse of Oak Island.
When they first started this cluster, their kids were toddlers. They're in their 30's now. COME ON!!!! The brothers have milked this horrible show for eight years and they know it, all the viewers know it and so does the network.
These carnies have used the premise of finding something, to surround themselves with like minded community college experts to bait and switch their diminishing viewer base to somehow, fake their way into yet another painful season.
And every episode they show some made up breakthrough and then the next episode is numbnuts waddling around with a metal detector.
This show is literally the worst TV show ever and it keeps getting worse.
Queen of Hearts: A Twin Peaks Fan Film (2022)
A film that made me laugh, shout and cry in the best possible way.
Queen of Hearts. A Twin Peaks fan film, a labor of love , that I absolutely loved.
The thing I really appreciate about Queen of hearts is, Cameron has taken an interwoven storyline and made it heartfelt and honest. It's through the story's relationships and the character's obstacles they have to confront and overcome that's mind blowing.
But that's the genius of Queen of Hearts. This incredible piece of work's ability, to give resolution, clarity and answers, where before, there were none; is why, this jaw dropping body of work, is so incredible.
Great writing. A must watch for Twin Peaks fans looking for answers.
The Hangover (2009)
"Not you fat Jesus."
Drunk stories are the best stories. I mean the key words and phrases are hilarious: pretty boy, stun gun, masturbation, right in the nuts, not up in here, ride the lightening One continuous joke filled story about the worst case scenario. (Getting punched in the face by Mike Tyson???) So funny. It's hilarious because it's a dumb when I'm drunk story. All of has have the stupid hungover stories and that's why The Hangover," works. The only bad this about this movie is the tool that jumps out of the trunk of the cop car, thus starting pieces of crap TV shows like "The Masked Singer." Toilette. Seriously, The Hangover holds the secret to comedy: never take yourself seriously and say the things everyone else is afraid or not stupid enough or drunk enough to say.
Where the Crawdads Sing (2022)
A marsh is trying to be nothing but a marsh. The same as, Where the Crawdads Sing.
This is a fabulous story. It's effortless in its telling and not trying to be anything but what it is, a story about a lost girl. It's ironic how the towns people create a fork lore about "the marsh girl," in judgment of this lone child and sit in judgment of her, the same as some of the reviews of this movie as well as the book.
The criticisms of this story is it's not authentic Carolina, or that the story is predictable. I loved the story because of its emotion, a child longing to be loved.
I also loved how the girl in this story who was lost, finds her way. We all have to find our own way and carve out our own story.
I loved how the girl in "Where the Crawdads Sing," is only trying to find her way and does so through the unbounded beauty and the fluttering life of a marsh, where the marshes's beauty, the sunsets and the forest's magic is all reflected through a lost heartbroken girl.
The OA (2016)
Loved this series. I wrote a Novel with Similar story lines
I was half way through season one when I heard the phrase, "Angel Hunter." I was drawn in by the brilliance of the script and the actors. This truly is a groundbreaking series that should have had more seasons. I love The OA because it's similar to my novel.
I wrote a novel called "The Angel's Claw," which also has near death experiences but for Sociopaths, so they can feel the horror and pain they have caused.
When they're brought back to life if the near death took hold and they have remorse, they are "reclaimed," dark angels.
Their mission is to protect a homeless man with a secret: he reads souls, and is hunted by hell because he is the only one that can stop the apocalypse.
The OA has so many variables to the book I wrote except my novel is graphic and filled with absolute evil. It was the only way I could reveal the miracles from absolute spirit.
I hope another network picks up The OA because there's too many of us that are demanding it.
Nobody's Fool (1994)
I can't be the father and The Godfather.
This movie, Nobody's Fool, grows on you like the years under the bridge. At first glance it's a quasi made for television movie but, slowly, methodically, Nobody's Fool becomes a must watch every several months like a Doctor's appointment.
The character's are rich and the town in which they live, North Bath New York, is the canvas in which the characters are painted.
The script is brilliant, subtly understated in its winding thread, where through multiple levels of separation, the people in town are all one massive dysfunctional family and the ripples of the past bubble up and steer the story to resolution.
Anything in life done well is done effortlessly, those who succeed do so because they aren't trying to be anyone but themselves. This is the secret to Paul Newman.
He's absolutely an understated force in this movie. And like the drummer who played to the way Elvis moved, Nobody's Fool's soundtrack marvelously swirls through the story like a summer breeze.
I love this movie, it's blue collar and it's story is humbling in its ability to remind us the viewers, that even though we might undervalue our purpose, our heart unbeknownst to us, is taking care of business in those that make up our community.
Good Joe Bell (2020)
Such a powerful film.
I just watched Joe Bell and cried all the way through it. This movie didn't try be anything but the story that it was. The same reason people are bullied. I'm a bigger Mark Walberg fan today than I already was. The pain and anguish young people go through is worse when we're older because bullying never stops, it's rampant in every and all reasons to bully; fear. The problem is, younger people don't have the strength to deal with bullying, not alone. But we do together. Such a powerful film that reached my heart, unlike bullies.
Nobody (2021)
I came for the show.
Bob Odenkirk I phenomenal in Nobody. He earned his timing as a Stand Up and honed his acting chops on Better call Saul and Break Bad.
Bob's subtle sarcasm serves him well in Nobody, a non stop well written and well acted thriller.
This is a classic movie with a classic sound track. The music definitely propels the movie forward.
The fact that Bob's character is a bad ass in Retierment just adds this cataclysmic suburban action thriller.
We'd all like to think we could rise to the occasion when the stuff hits the fan.
We don't have to. Bob does it for us.
One Magic Christmas (1985)
Our Christmas Angel is as close as believing.
One Magic Christmas is a believable Christmas story because there's so much pain and scarcity. In other Christmas stories there's hope and festive grandiosity but, in One Magic Christmas there's a distance the story asks us to travel to see the miracles. I love this movie because I've come to realize that what we give is what we receive. The mother in this movie is frugal and scarce and stressed like we all can be at Christmas. Her Christmas Angel secretly creates the scenario where she glimpses the jewels in her situation. Watch One Magic Christmas and allow it to unfold and see the miracles in this story.
Passchendaele (2008)
Shaming. The shadow of patriotism.
I'm the son of a soldier. As a child, I thought the anger, rage, the silence and the beatings were normal. I never knew about my father's service record until after he passed; being chained to a tree and being beaten by Nazis. Twenty years after the war his sister dived under the table when she heard airplanes. War and the effects of war are soaked into those that waited for a soldier's return. All these elements are in Passchendaele. Paul Gross is fabulous in his role as a soldier suffering the effects of battle. Paul's choices as an actor was to underplay his character, telling us the most important thing to a soldier in battle is their matches. Like my father who never spoke of war but relived it every moment; Passchendaele is also subtle in its dialogue, it's choices and it's cataclysmic pain suffered by each and every character in this movie, even when they're absolutely unaware of their suffering.
Midnight Mass (2021)
Not a wasted moment.
I didn't know what to expect when I started watching Midnight Mass, now for me it's the bar that gothic stories must aspire. In your face horror amplified by the cozy island setting and the neighbourly ambiance that this demonic epic backdrop, was placed. The pacing and character development was exceptional. I have to say, for being a small Netflix series, Midnight Mass was a terrific ride.
Manhunter (1986)
This movie scared the ^#^!!! out of me.
I've never had a movie effect me the way Manhunter did. After I saw it I had to walk through my house with a bat and make sure The Tooth Ferry wasn't hiding somewhere. The reasons this movie is was so effective was none of the characters were over the top campy. The profiler who had a nervous breakdown because he had to get into the mind of serial killers to catch them and he softly tells his eleven year old son; "they're the worst thoughts." When I saw this profiling was a new phenomenon. When they slowly explained why this killer was massacring entire families and staging them like an audience to his greatness; that made the near seven foot tall infeminate psychopath even more terrifying. Love this movie. For me it's in my top five psychological thrillers.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
Die hard Star Wars fans are the resistance. Disney is the New Order. I guess I'm a Storm Trooper I like this film.
I am a writer and tell stories for a living and have since a little after the first Star Wars movie. I have learned to simply let a story be what it is instead of wishing it into something different. I love the humour in this film, the action. I love the development of good and evil, the subplots and the special affects. This notion that the business of Star Wars has to feed the hardline Star Wars fans begs a quote from Star Trek: the needs of the many far outweigh the needs of the few. Disney will keep developing Star Wars into the next generations not a Star Trek reference a fact. It's ironic that the die hard Star Wars fans are like the resistance and Disney has become the New Order. I guess I love this film because I appreciate it for what it is and not fight what it isn't.