Reviews

The discovery itself is quite interesting. However, that's about 20 minutes' worth of info that is stretched out to another hour of awful speculative introspection, and personal wishes for "what may have been". The documentary focuses on the dream of making "the big discovery"; not a focus on actual, hard SCIENCE or refining the evidence rationally. This, to me negates the impact of the discovery itself.

This becomes a documentary trying to portray "The Find of the Century", or perhaps even "The Find of the History of Humankind and Beyond". It has little else to say, except through emotional platitudes and speculation.

When I first started watching this, it reminded me a lot of a few Stephen King short stories in which his version of hell is repetition (he brings that up a lot in many of his books). There is a particular short story in which a couple are trapped in the same town, forced to experience the same events repeatedly. Add that along with "Children of the Corn" (a couple stuck in an out of the way town with a dark presence), and "Salem's Lot" and you kind of have the premise for "From".

The first few episodes were interesting, but by the last three or four episodes of season 1, I kind of felt it would have been better serviced if this was a one season mini-series. The conclusion of season 1 was underwhelming at best.

Then comes season 2... and it is pretty awful. Characters do nonsensical things. There is a LOT of vapid time-padding dialog and subplots that lead to nothing. Very little story progression, and the mysteries introduced have no answers yet. Also, there are more questions of logic and the "mythology" of the events that lead to more pointless meandering.

Too bad season 2 fell so far from the POTENTIAL of what season 1 provided. There is one episode left for this season, but I think I'm done. I can't stand these awful, pointless conversations and many of the characters' forced conflicts and stupid decisions just so the show can keep treading water. At this point, the water is up to its nostrils, and there is no life vest nearby to save them.

Yeah sure, this is loosely based on the life and childhood of Steven Spielberg, the man himself. But every scene is so dramatically presented, and forcefully formulaic that it makes it hard for me to care about the family he establishes. Are there moments of real drama? Perhaps, if all those scenes before and after weren't so "Hollywood" and overwrought. If you're tired of Spielberg's dramatic overreaching from his material over the last 20 years, this will not make you think he's "matured" in any way.

It breaks my heart to see the "Love Letter" of his past become victim to the melodrama and conveniently simplistic nature of his movie-making behaviors. Even today. Darnit, that's a shame. Why can't this guy pay attention to how false his movies are, once you get past nicely presented cinematography and predictable story arcs?

If you are tired of his "schtick" up to this point, this movie won't make you think differently. However, if you love Spielberg now and forever before, then watch it. This will be great.

When I read this short story, I felt it was a "middling" story that didn't need any more time than was given to it. Finding out that it would be a movie, I thought "Hey, that doesn't seem like something that would warrant a compelling story that lasts longer than a 45 minute episode for a TV show". But I thought I'd give it a chance.

It turns out, I feel the same after watching it. I enjoyed the first 30 minutes, but that's mostly because it's fun to watch Donald Sutherland. In anything. But soon after, when the more "supernatural" elements of the story unfold, there's very little to say, and almost no need for an hour to conclude the tale. Also, most of the characters are a representation of a simple title ("The Bully", "The Kind Teacher", "The Loving Dad"), and there isn't much ingenuity in the writing to allow the cast to dig into their performances.

Overall, it's not that great of a movie, due mostly to the length. This would have been a fine episode in a TV storytelling series. As a full length motion picture, there is too much listless filler and not enough meat to make it worth consumption.

Need another remake/reboot/reimagining of a classic horror movie that was effective because of the timing of its release... and deserves to keep its legendary status for the rest of time." Then I saw that it was 2.5 hours, and I was like "OMG, what?!" Then I watched it, and I was like "OMG, what?!" I think I'm going to watch it again, because I wasn't paying attention a lot of the time. However, this is one of those remakes/reboots/reimaginings that I respect. Why? Because it takes the CONCEPT of the original, and spins everything about, swirls and twirls it, then flips it up into itself, turning into a completely faithful representation of the term "REIMAGINING". I respect SUSPIRIA 2018. Granted, some of the makeup effects were pretty bad (especially the "old man", which I don't really think was necessary; and the silly makeup for one of the "old ladies" in the final act, which was worse). It is a little long in the tooth. It tries perhaps a little too hard to be artsy-fartsy... But it grabbed me. It pressed its filthy, dirty fingers on my windpipe in parts, and gently squeezed with wrathful intimacy. I felt dirty, yet couldn't help but feel enthralled in parts.

I will say, though, that even if this movie was a complete FAILURE of a horror remake, I will gladly praise the fact that it tried to be its own thing. It wasn't a shameless ripoff. It really, truly IS a reimagining. We just don't get enough of those these days.

"The Man from Earth" is one of my favorite movies. It is a masterful story, and David Lee Smith's portrayal of a man who was ultimately looking for a debate with other scholars held me fast. It is, however, a standalone film that has no need for a sequel.

Cut to "The Man from Earth: Holocene", which can be forgiven for the no-budget presentation (heck, the first movie looked worse), and even though the actors typically have dialog that isn't insultingly bad, their lack of physical investment in WHAT they are saying truly IS bad. It can be frustrating to watch actors talking, while their arms are wrapped around their torso awkwardly, or they stand around with their arms at their sides, with body language that negates what is being SAID.

Worst of all, this movie takes one of the more uninteresting aspects of John Oldman's debates about his past, and decides to dedicate an entire movie to that single concept of who he was, or what he did during a small sliver of time. Near the halfway point of this movie, it goes from "I don't get why this movie is being made, but fine, whatever" to "Oh hell naw! No you DIDN'T!"

John ends up being forced to debate with one of his students, in a predicament that John shouldn't have been put into in the first place. This half hour is dreadful. It makes those who might be in the student's favor look like idiots. Whether or not I believe with either party's opinion, I think the third act should only have been considered during a rough draft discussion, then laughed off and tossed aside. never to be written into a screenplay. The "debate" and discussion that proceeds for most of the rest of the movie manages to delve deeper into a downward spiral of insipid immaturity, and every character makes the WRONG decision when it's time to act. My initial impression about a sequel to "The Man from Earth" could not have been more right: Just Let It Be. Don't Touch It. Instead, this sequel was made, and ended up puking on the unique storytelling mastery of the first movie. Skip it. Watch the first one again.

• As a bonus, there's a mid-credit scene that hints at a sequel. One that is guaranteed to dive deeper into that hole in which rabbits probably poop into.

Having been a Vietnamese linguist for several years now, and going to the country several times and putting forth effort to know about the history and the culture, this movie might have affected me more than most white folks in America who weren't alive in 1975 to know about the last 30 years of Vietnam since the "conflict". I feel there are many reasons that a movie like this deserves as much attention as possible. History of the Vietnamese after the fall of Saigon from the perspective of the Vietnamese is rarely touched upon. America seems to have done a decent job at smothering our failure to "liberate" Vietnam and the repercussions to the Vietnamese people over the years as a small footnote in history. There are plenty of movies about American soldiers DURING the conflict, but not about Vietnamese people, and the hardships of the years after our withdrawal. The information is there if you look into it, but I'd say the majority of people from my generation and younger don't know much of what happened unless they made a proactive effort into learning more. Journey from the Fall is a momentous step in making known the hardships of many emigrants that reached America - and others left behind. Journey follows a few of the families who had husbands taken away to re-education camps. They were concentration camps led by the Communist soldiers, for Vietnamese who fought against the North during the war. Amongst hard labor and endless torture, the "students" were given lectures on the failures of America and the fruitless efforts of faith in anything that isn't Communist. Their lives were filled with propaganda and an endless struggle to resist the breaking of their will to conform. In this section of the story, Journey follows Long, one of many who was a former South Vietnamese officer who juggles the appeasement of the cadre and his desire for freedom. He, and a handful of others do their best while being moved from one camp to the next to provide their family news of their survival, and also try to escape by way of the river, or across a mine infested jungle to safety. Between Long's journey to freedom from the camps, his own family is trying desperately to smuggle themselves into a small fishing boat. Long's mother, his wife Mai and young son struggle for their lives and sanity in a boat that has a malfunctioning engine, and while drifting hopelessly along the ocean they are bombarded by pirate attacks. Some go insane and lose their will to live after being repeatedly raped and terrorized. Journey from the Fall could have ended with the arrival of the survivors to America, but instead has one final chapter about the efforts to conform to American life. Reaching America is only part of the struggle.

With three major story arcs (the camps, the fishing boat journey, and arrival in America), Journey has a lot to juggle in establishing the main characters, and providing enough drama and information of each major event in one movie. It could easily have been made into a trilogy. Make the first movie about the camps, the second would be the journey to America, and the third could be life once they reached America. Nonetheless, they did an admirable job at providing enough drama and familiarity with each of the three sections without sacrificing greatly in emotional impact. Journey should have been more harsh on the struggles of escaping the country. From what I've been told about and heard from survivors, this movie is more tame than it could have been. If it gave a little bit harder of an edge into the torture and struggles of the re-education camp victims, it might help bond our emotional attachment. I'm not saying to increase the violence, but that it should have at least implicated a little more than was provided. Also, the struggles of drifting to sea to an unknown fate could have been more frightening than what ended up on screen. For a 135 minute movie and so much happening within that time frame, it's like taking a 1000 page novel and shortening it to 400 pages. You KNOW there's a lot that is missing when all is said and done, and while the gist of the pain and struggle is presented, it also seems like with more time given, the pain of their struggles would be more apparent.

As I mentioned before, Journey from the Fall does an excellent job putting information that would work for an amazing movie trilogy into one film. It's not perfect, mostly because I feel that there was too much to juggle into one movie. At the same time, Journey is an important film, because it sheds light on a time in recent history that hasn't been given much attention. There are horrible historical events around the world that we don't hear about, but many movies exploit those events, or movies aren't made about them at all. This is one of those few movies that has its heart in the right place. It's not just education, but also a solid drama that rings true from almost every direction.

"Ordinary People" is a drama about a family that is coping with the death of their oldest sibling, and the changes that take place over a time period in which they come to terms with the sadness of such a loss. I am sorry for all you Scorsese Worshippers out there who think this movie stole the "Raging Bull" (6/10) Oscar, but have you seen this movie?! It's been many years since I've seen "Ordinary People", and even though I know how it ends, I am still captivated by the film's power, and think it's one of the few movies that was deserving of an Academy Award. It was in 1980, and I was too young to have seen most of the movies which were released, but it's Judd Hirsch and Timothy Hutton together that makes this movie so powerful. I say screw the over-hyped ad-libbing, somewhat amusing performances in "Raging Bull" and accept the fact that in the year 1980, "Ordinary People" was actually the better movie. I hate the Oscars, but every once in a while they're right. If you don't feel anything in the final 20 minutes of this movie, then obviously it hasn't struck the same emotional chord as it did for me.

Don't you hate those sequels that capitalize on what they thought made the original work, and then proceed to repeat these same punchlines - or perhaps unimaginatively turn it a bit on its' head - in hopes that the audience will be too stupid to notice that we're seeing a knock-off of the original? I hate it when they do that, and BE COOL is guilty as charged. I wouldn't elaborate too much on what failed with this movie because it would be too long of a list worth reading. Incessant name-dropping, unfunny scenarios, racial stereotyping, uninspired double-crosses, overacting and overREacting, unneeded and absolutely annoying musical interludes that are worthy of the likes of your drunken viewings of HONEY, GLITTER, or YOU GOT SERVED and then some - are all in this massive let down. Vince Vaughn was a much better 'black guy' on one of his SNL skits. Travolta doesn't play it cool here like he did in GET SHORTY. The first time around, he was surrounded by quirky characters and silly situations that he handled in unique and clever ways. This time, implausible characters surround a caricature of GET SHORTY's Chili Palmer. This isn't the same Chili that we came to love. It's a bad imitation.

This whole movie is a bad imitation. Skip it.

The Rock wasn't too bad, but they overplayed his gay bodyguard shtick, and although he provided the most laughs, even his one-note joke got tedious.

I thought the 'Burning Man' sequence was very funny, but alas it was hardly worth entry fee to view about 30 seconds of hilarity. There are still 119 minutes to sit through.

... and the sucker NEVER ENDS! You think it's all wrapped up, but it's all a lie! There are still 40 more minutes of torture to go through before you can leave your seat! Plus, you have to have a final musical number (or two) of a less-than-stellar song to sit through before the credits roll!

Poop on this movie!

Plus, Steven Tyler knows what his song SWEET EMOTION is about. Thanks to VH1, I even know what it's about. So poop on that scene, too. Having such easily accessible knowledge to that song's meaning completely negates a key scene in the movie.