Reviews

This film will make you question your sanity.

Dana (played to perfection by Natalie Cotter) moves into her new apartment and adopts the neighborhood cat.

Except it's not an actual cat but a scantily clad young woman dressed as a cat.

Meanwhile, her job is a joke, she's broke and her love life is . . . Well, okay, her job is only a joke because her boss holds meetings with invisible employees and her co-worker doesn't try to explain it.

And then she falls in love with the cat. And it's hot sapphic passion at first but falls into the trap of ordinary couples--is there more to this relationship outside of sex? Does Lori, the cat , want to get married or have kids? The telegrams she mysteriously is able to send before having such a conversation tells very little about her feelings. But it does explain the goings on in the neighborhood.

Trust me.

There's also a drug war going on that Dana sees on the news and apparently some mysterious being is responsible for taking out the notorious drug cartels. I won't spoil that connection, but it did make me clamor for a big budget remake starring Amy Schumer and Anna Kendrick with stunt choreography by the John Wick team.

But Hollywood needs to keep their hands off this one. It's the low budget weirdness, down to the moving chroma key background that really makes this story work.

And props to a groundbreaking performance by Socks Whitmore as a transitioning non-binary person, played perfectly straight, no pun intended. Lisa London also shines as the mom.

This is the kind of film that Cinema Epoch had been known for in its inception from Mad Cowgirl to Blue Dream. Hope they keep it up!

This is a marvelous film, an excellent docu-drama but slightly flawed. In documentary fashion, we follow the photography assignment of renowned photographer David Bellemere. To the unitiated, he indulges in the male gaze, engages in personal relationships with his models in order to get the perfect shot, his own unique vision to put on canvas while navigating the business side of commercial photography.

Which in his case is to tell his bosses to shove off.

I can respect that. I can also respect the way he works. Because from an artistic viewpoint, it isn't the male gaze at all. It's all about the way he sculpts the human body like a statue to fill the space and convey an emotion, to create an impact that the model communicates to the viewer.

There is nothing prurient in this photographs; they are sensual with a hint of sexuality coupled with a bit of innocence, given the young ages of his models.

That being said. This film gets more interesting when we see the conflict between artist and business managers. Artists vs. Models, and I would have loved to see even more of that.

Bellemere's style can be seen as objectifying and toxic in today's climate. There may be some truth to that. Sometimes I would scream, "You need a contortionist! Not a print model!"

But when it's all laid out for the talent to do her poses, we understand they had some inkling of what they were getting into.

Another flaw is the lack of diversity of the models chosen, but that is the nature of the beast. There is one curvy model but she was hardly a "plus-size" in mundane terms. There were poses that busty, "Playboy" type models would never be able to pull off, so I get it.

Is Bellemere's art beautiful? Yes. Is it impersonal? Also, yes.

Does it also show the world a realistic side of nude photography that isn't connected to adult entertainment? Absolutely. But I did wish there was more of this discussion from the model's POV.

Not since the advent of surrealist filmmaking has any auteur truly revolutionized the industry. And innovation this film has accomplished.

A biopic on a master songwriter who won the Pulitzer Prize for lyrical sonnet composition and simultaneously finding the cure for cancer is a monumental task at best, but in the words of "Weird Al" himself, "You can never have enough lime Jell-O or broccoli."

From humble roots as an online spoof, the master Yankovic takes on Lord Voldemore and his Dementors with skillful aplomb! Everyone should see this film as though it were a life or death situation. The showdown with the kaiju is worth the price of admission alone. The production values in the VR sequence is sensational.

None of these things actually happens in the film, of course, but it's a funny movie.

This film is an honest attempt to show the struggle of Christian youths in modern society at the dawn of the internet age. But watching it now in 2022, only feels like I'm watching the sad and tragic result of sexual miseducation and toxic Christianity.

The fall of organized religion hasn't made this movie age any better. But as a snapshot of what teenagers went through in the Bush era, it packs an uneasy punch.

I've also worked with the talented Wendy McColm before, and unfortunately she was completely underutilized.

There are a lot of positives in this show but first things first. In terms of timeliness and social relevance especially in the genre of superhero comic books, this show came at a great time. Mainstream America needs to examine what it means to be a hyphenated American, and this show balances Kamala's traditional world and her Americanized environment very well.

But there is a mystery, which I wished they would have raised the stakes earlier on, but it works. It helps to draw in new viewers and introduce them to this culture first. A very rich culture that we don't get to see too often. It hearkens back to the days of our collective childhood when fans of color would pick up a comic book and notice all of the minorities are either comic relief, goofy sidekicks and at worse villains. And nothing else.

This series does its best to flip that stereotype by having a minority culture take center stage.

Now the down side: we get a lot of references to the rest of the Marvel Universe, but very little in the way of villains so far and not too many challenges. The pacing could be better and as I'd mentioned before, the stakes need to be higher.

Aside from that, fantastic job pulling off what is essentially a heroine in training story.

Doom Patrol members trapped in their subconcious must face their own personal demons. Sounds simple enough and of course, it's been done many times on other shows.

But here, the actors all brought their A-game. Esp. April Bowlby who really comes into her own as Elasti-Girl. This one should be the one sent to the Emmy board.

As a child, I only watched a few episodes of this series, and even trash talked it to my classmates.

Then in my adulthood, I met some of the uncredited creators of the show.

That being said, and admittedly no bias is implied here, I was totally won over by the character of Teela. I applauded when she stood up the royal court, but no spoilers here. I love how the animation really made them look like weary, grungy warriors, and not cookie cutter characters as the original tended to do. And I'm hoping they do the Keith Giffen treatment on Orko and Cringer.

That being said, Kevin Smith crafted a fantastic script and I for one look forward to seeing how this drama plays out.

This is a terrible show, not worth reviewing. The worst of the worst was "I'm Okay, You're Really Weird," which goes against the theme of Eerie, Indiana with a message that one needs to grow up by giving up all childish things. This is essentially a children's show. What are they thinking?

And on top of that, it feels like they were making fun of a villain who is established as brain damaged, with a metal plate in his head that picks up radio stations.

On the other hand, the one good episode is "Perfect" which should play well with the child audience. It features the older sister more prominently and has a good message. Even has a nice "Twilight Zone" vibe.

But generally speaking, this is a pale shadow of the original series, underwrites all the grownups and fails to flesh out the townspeople as they are more cartoonish than the originals, making it hard to take any of this seriously --even as a children's show.

True, this film bombed at the box office. I'm living in Hawaii now, and I'm sure no one under 40 even remembers it.

That being said, to be able to see Honolulu back in the day is priceless; that shot of the Oceana Floating Chinese Restaurant was awesome.

As for the film. It's entertaining, pretty standard plot though a bit uneven because Khigh Diegh simply steals the show as the villain, leaving the peformances of such greats as Ken Mars and Ted fricking' Cassidy and Howard "Oddjob" Sakata in the dust. They just never gelled together because the tone was so uneven with these villains.

And then there's poor Donny, who's used to being portrayed as an idiot on his show, now has to be the big jerk of an older brother. This was a bad choice, but it did make Marie's character that much more likable.

And then there's the music. Bland, lifeless and a great disservice to the duo that brought us Puppy Love and Paper Roses. That "little bit county" and "little bit rocknroll" was nowhere to be found here. If only they let the Osmonds do what they do best and just make music.

This is a movie that should have been more than the sum of its parts. It should have been about young gifted artists who transcend the horrors of their environment, their upbringing (though none of them had abusive families here), and discovered either themselves or were given insight into how the world works. Especially now that we know more about police brutality and the school to prison pipeline.

But unfortunately, this doesn't happen. If we take this movie as fact, how does a young drug dealer who can't stay on beat suddenly become a rapper and perform in front of sold out crowds. And since Ice Cube (one of my favorite actors) is the one with the real talent, it doesn't show here with his penned lyrics . . . until we hear Straight Outta Compton. That was tight.

But how did he get there. After a few more songs, I didn't hear genius anymore, just a lot of repetition. Yes, his lyrics captured the reality of his environment, but that's all it did, and it did glamorize violence. It did nothing to portray the sadness, the tears, the tragedy in his life. Just a lot of banging ho's and shooting up n*ggas. I'm sorry, but I believe the real life NWA did more than that.

Unless I'm wrong. I hope not. They gave their community a voice but did little else but play into the game of police brutality and incarcerating their brothers and sisters. I only wish they had the insight to have done more in life and in fiction.

I wish I could have been a writer in those days. I loved Donald Glut's episode for his elements of world building--the Cap Marvel poster in the boys' room. The relationship between the guest star and his buddies.

This one had the most potential. What if Billy met Kathy on one of their many fishing/camping trips. They strike up a friendship, maybe a little childhood romance. After all, Billy is supposed to be in his early teens. Kathy would have to have been recast with a slightly older child actress to make it work.

In this episode, Cap already knew Kathy by name before he met her. He and Mentor seemed surprisingly familiar with the family.

So all of this could have been established with dialogue in the beginning. Now this may seem odd that I'm reviewing an episode based on things that didn't happen, but this is exactly what future writers look out for. Any child watching this series in that day and age would have read everything I'd written above, perhaps more. I can even argue that Jackson Bostwick and John Davey added a little bit of that childish persona in their portrayal. It's the simplicity that sparks the imagination of the creative mind. Ask any of the older fans, I can guarantee they remember the show being a lot more exciting than it actually was.

Simplicity and innocence doesn't go out of style but rather, inspires future stories to be made.

Everything leads up to episode 6 for the big reveal, and what a reveal it is. The Secret Origin of Hooded Justice tied to the rise of white supremacists in Tulsa and the Tulsa Riots.

This episode is one of the best origin stories of a masked vigilante that I've seen in years. The comic is dark and gritty, ultra-realistic and very pointed. This allegory of race relations and suppressed anger of a downtrodden race reaches a boiling point as translated by the conventions of a comic book television format.

Well done. This one deserves the Emmy.

I was blown away.

Bold, daring and cathartic, I was entranced by Jennifer Lawrence's performance. As this film is an allegory, I didn't pay much attention to realism. Such as why she didn't go crazy earlier, but overall, the script was very straightforward, almost predictable.

Still, the message is very clear. Mother Earths is savaged by mankind and a too forgiving God (who oddly refers to another deity in his own dialogue.)

Bible stories are after all symbolic tales, fairy tales and we need a modern telling of these tales to wake people up.

Well done.

Terrific performances from veteran local and mainland actors Tashima, Ogawa, Seki and Kahele. Admittedly, it feels at times their pidgin English is sometimes compromised. "Like dat" instead of "li'dat." But this film dramatizes a historically important event, from a unique perspective, that of a Japanese American child. Though I would have liked to have seen him become more rebellious, and experience the consequences of his actions, his character arc was weakened because of this. Further, it appears that there were no consequences to his actions. I would have liked to see him put through the ringer more.

I wasn't crazy about the child actors, especially the "cutesy" JA girls, who were only there for window dressing. My own experience with child actors in Hawaii is that they can't seem to get out of their musical theater training. Ki Sakamoto is believable and improves as the film progresses, but the script was weak and felt like a foreigner's perspective.

I could nitpick on odd inconsistencies, like Kahele's character telling the family not to speak Japanese when they never do in the first place. Or the boys that don't contribute much to the story and don't even play baseball.

You can tell which kids were raised not to speak pidgin.

But overall, what Tim Savage and D.P. Shawn Hiatt can do in re-creating 1941 Hawaii without a multi-million dollar budget was very impressive.

Tom Cruise and Catherine Zeta Jones rocks the screen on opposing sides of rock music controversy of the 1980s, making up for some weaker leads as Julianne Hough doesn't have a rock style voice and Diego Boneta, who lacks everything else.

Still, weak performances did not take me out of the movie, and it was a fun ride from beginning to end.

Unlike La La Land, there was no artistic pretension, no Oscar winning song with lyrics like "City of Stars shining ONLY JUST FOR ME????" Can you be more self-absorbed? This was your typical Hollywood fable and followed the beats precisely. It was raw, exciting and big like the 1980s.

I do agree with some critics that the treatment of women was atrocious. This film ignored female rockers all together despite using their songs.

Still, this film portrayed a male dominated industry so I give them a pass on this.

I would watch this film again and again, but that being said, I do not recommend this film for wannabe rock stars and groupies who can't stand listening to other people covering classic songs. These people should not be watching musicals let alone critiquing them. What else is a musical but a cover of every song? Hopefully, as I've read in the notes, this film can be remade by an indie company so it can adhere closer to the stage version. I never saw it but this film made me regret not doing so.

Then we will have a true Rock of Ages.

This film is not a nudist film, nor will the nudist culture embrace it because of it's dark turn in the last act.

But it's exactly what a nudist film needs to be. Honest, unflinching, raw. This is an examination of what every American Nudist goes through. (to use the title of a failed film I was forced to make).

We middle-aged nudists have to come to terms with millennials calling themselves Young Naturists, who are rewriting the rules of nudist etiquette. And while they thrive, embracing the "new hedonism" which actually is pretty mild, and naturally, beautiful realized in this film, older nude beach goers like our hero Kostis feel like a relic, who no longer fit in with the younger crowd no matter how hard they try to hang on to romantic notions of love.

Kostis, a pathetic romantic fool, ends up like every unattractive romantic fool, neglecting his professional duties and spiraling downward in some misguided attempt to recapture something he never had.

And it can only end tragically. Because ultimately, romance is selfish. Romantics are self absorbed egomaniacs who are unable to see the world as it truly is. And romantic naturists are the worst offenders.

That being said, there are some weaker moments, Some scenes are repetitive and the fight choreography was awful. I was hoping it'd be even more violent, but that's my American attitude showing.

Overall, I highly recommend this film because it's the direction that any indie filmmaker interested in using nudity in their art should go. It's bold, daring and immediately relevant to our lifestyle.

I love Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom and heard such great stuff about this film.

Boy was I wrong. Jason Schwarzmann plays an unlikable, entitled douchebag and the only reason we sympathize with him is because the film tries so hard to insist upon it.

I wanted to poke my eyes out and strangle kittens every time I see him with that teacher he basically harassed and tried to emotionally manipulate. And no one calls him on this??? Sorry, but it's taken me days to get to the end of this film and I feel like I've been watching it for weeks in five minute increments. Unforgivable long tedious minutes.

Expecting an award winning film commenting on the human condition, this film is truly a dour depressing disappointment.

I agree with other reviewers who claim this could have been three related shorts instead of a feature which felt like it was five hours long.

There were no likable, let alone relatable characters and this film only made indigenous cultures look backward, and white people arrogant shitheads.

I give it a 2 only because Brad Pitt made it a little bit palateable but he was given a bland script to work with.

I may be a bit biased, since I've worked with some of the actors in this film.

Nah, they no care what I say. And David Cunningham charged us for the lunch we 'treated' my colleagues to, but that's another story.

Suffice to say, I hated the first third of the film. Tired stereotypes of local boys bullying the poor haole guy.

And then something happened.

As soon as the jellyfish stung Roy, (not a great actor, but I stuck with it), the plot took another turn.

These local boys became real. This is where the movie should have started. Even the local girls become more interesting. The characters lived the world of this film. If only Kalani and Roy were the central characters focusing on their church life.

Kalani made up for Roy's shorcomings as an actor and was far more believable.

Props also to Daryll Bonilla, Lorenzo Callendar and Garret Sato, all friends and colleagues who cut their teeth in this production. They are the real stars of this film, and I'm sure everyone in Hawaii agrees.

I was an extra in this film, and when the hawk mascot got creamed by the basketball, I turned around to the extras and said, "Dibs on hawk soup." Course I waited 'til they yelled cut.

Watching how the scene was done was a lot of fun. Mostly with doubles and close-ups, and a guy throwing feathers around.

I'm a big fan of any movie where animals get clobbered in a humorous fashion. The child actress was great and I remember the A.D. joking about the fact that maybe she should have just said, "You @$$-hole!" It would be more method.

t.l. young

This is an amazing if bizarre film. The acting of the two little girls is superb and far surpasses those of child actors in big budget studio films.

I've read some disturbing posts accusing this film of child exploitation, particularly in the use of nudity. The nudity in this film is as innocent as a baby on a bearskin rug, but too many narrow-minded morons with internet access confuse this with pornography.

The use of nudity in this film is a bit artsy, but very natural and represents the only beauty in these girls lives. Swimming nude with their mother the only time in their lives they've experienced joy. But the religious views of Angela makes her see herself as sinful, and her sister as unclean. This film could have been improved by more nudity to show how this budding adolescent views her own body. She already has a negative view of sexuality. But it's an issue no American filmmaker would dare explore, and I don't blame them.

This is where the film becomes a near-satire of the dangers of blind faith in fear-based religions. This view of sin and uncleanliness leads Angela down a dangerous path but in her innocence, she doesn't view her actions as having negative consequences on her sister.

Without giving any spoilers, Ellie experiences true freedom at the end only by experiencing, in the director's words, "an intense emotional experience."

The only negative comment I have is I already know ahead of time how society views films of this nature. I'm surprised to see that few religious nuts who have seen this film never recognized it as a criticism of their faith. No one seems to be able to get over the sight of a naked baby to be able to do that.

tlyoung88

Sin City is nothing less than a masterpiece. It's easy to nitpick as every critic has his or her opinion, most of them ignorant and ill-informed. But looking at this film for what it is, it's simply amazing!

True this film is violent. Stories about gangsters and underworld crime often are, but this film does NOT revel in it. It stylizes violence into a beautiful symphony of visual music. We live in a culture that celebrates violence. Let's admit it. As a writer, I certainly do. I lap it up like honey.

It's cathartic and a damn well entertaining!

Critics complaining about lack of depth or characterization do not know what they are talking about, because within this violent world, characters such as Mickey Rourke's and Bruce Willis's question their choices, their role in the world.

It's about time people realize that comic books and graphic novels are not the playground exclusively for drooling, undersexed, pimply faced fan-boys. As angry as we are, we reach out for meaning in a confused chaotic world. We tell the stories we want to tell and yes, we're offended when it's dismissed as a two- dimensional male fantasy, because too many elitist stick-up-their-butt sheep-brains do not see the world we see, and refuse to believe there is such ugliness in this world. But no matter how ugly violence is, there is beauty that can be found. And that is what I took away from this film.

This super-human world Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez (with Quentin Tarantino) created represents our struggle in a "sinful" world. Here this world is stripped down to its black and white essence, beautifully realized on celluloid. This is the kind of visual storytelling filmmakers will strive to duplicate for years to come.

tlyoung88

I'm sure for its time it was very innovative, but no one took this subject matter seriously in the '50's. Take for instance the scene where Jamie O'Hara remarks how "delightful" it feels to watch her little daughter playing nude with other children, but balks when she sees other adults.

Nowadays the situation is reversed. With the proliferation of Girls Gone Wild, Hedonism and HBO & Playboy documentaries, mainstream audiences now see nudism as an adult hobby, and parents who involve their children are facing criminal investigations.

I expected more of the writer to make use of R.G. Armstrong. He's a very nice man. Met him at Dupar's four years ago. But such a talented actor who really should have been given more to do as the uptight old father figure.