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robtanson
Reviews
Antares (2004)
Interesting modern Austrian film
There is comedy and tragedy, and I enjoyed it. There are beautiful women, and the men are true enough to real life. Cynicism is the theme. Coincidence is the necessary gimmick for tying the three soapers. It is a deep portrayal of modern folkways and mores. Because I as an American had to read subtitles, I missed many nuances. Deceit is certainly omnipresent. Human beings are imperfect, because nothing that I know is without a downside.
It's a jungle out here.
Human wrecks and car wrecks aren't rare.
If you are happy, you ought not fool with cynically minded reviewers a la me, but thanks.
It has been an awful 2016, and our new president will soon take power--rots of ruck.
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This film is not happy ever after.
This film isn't consoling nor redemptive.
This film captures some of the absurdity of life, and that's why I like European portrayals of reality.
This film is not warm and fuzzy nor phony, and does deserve the recognition it achieved.
I am sure it bothers folks because it is so harsh.
Unfortunately life is not a fairy tale.
Warning, Hollywood corniness it ain't.
They want ten lines, so I have to be redundant, and such finagling is about our reality too.
Hell on Wheels (2011)
Bingeing On Netflix
The reason is I never watch(ed) it on AMC, is because of admittedly necessary !@#$ commercials.
The huge production is better than reading or listening to an endless novel.
Who has time & energy for thick novels: Frankly I have not read that many of them, and I concede that's not good.
Actor Anson Mount plays the major character, Cullen Bohannon.
Netflix knows how much I am enjoying it.
I am rating it as "nine."
I think I'll look real stuff up on WIKIPEDIA of some the famous parts/incidents in American history being portrayed such as Brigham Young, Credit Mobilier, and just the obviously difficulties in construction of the continental railroad.
The entire story makes history interesting, rather than academic.
I suppose many/most scholars are hyper-critical, but that's what scholars do, but the public is often turned off by the academy.
History does not have to be portrayed as a textbook's sequence of boring fact, and AMC understands the concept.
Larry Crowne (2011)
Comedy About Hometown College
Harmless comedy containing some humorous bits. I give it a "7" and am not panning it, but I might if I had not seen it last night on Netflix five years after its 2011 release. Frankly, we're today so "overly-movied" and thus to get an "A" it would take same talented actors and a "greatness element," whatever that magically means. I shall not bash as a "lame movie," but I didn't pay that usual $8--$12. So enjoy it on internet, because it's a triple but not a grand slam, while having plenty of moments. Obviously I'm not a professional critic, but try to find a Rex Reed hit piece, if he still does movie autopsies too, hint: an ancient if not elderly NY OBSERVER critic whom currently skewers the Broadway play WAITRESS. I feel bad for that play he reviews yesterday, even though I never go to plays myself, the probably last being circa 2003, not worth the $50 (whatever).