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douglasellice
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Red Sparrow (2018)
Awful mess of a screenplay visually stunning
I see what the viewers who liked the film liked, and I see what the viewers who hated the film hated. It is a mess.
Movies based on books are watched by two very different audiences - those who know the book and those who don't. I read and enjoyed the three Jason Matthews books. I adored the first one, loved the second one, and liked the third one. But this puts me in the group that sees everything in the movie as either from the book, or from left field. I also "see" everything that was in the book but WASN'T in the film,
Casting - I'm so used to "Hollywood" using an international talent pool that I've run out of outrage when Englishmen play Russians and Australians play Americans. I'm over it.
Language - (see Casting, above). Guess what? None of the accents are ever correct. And all the Russians speak English. Get over it.
Plot - the carefully-constructed plots of at least 2 of the 3 books were put into a Blender and pureed together. The screenplay literally makes no sense. This will surely inflame all the book lovers, and some of the rest of the audience. Some deviations from the book are unimportant. Early in the book, Nate Nash transfers from the US Embassy in Moscow to the one in Helsinki. In the movie, he's brought back to Washington instead. That really doesn't make much difference to anything. On the other hand, the book makes clear that Dominika has had martial arts and espionage training in addition to "whore school". Leaving that out of the movie makes it unbelievable that she can kick so much butt.
These are supposedly two highly-trained case officers trying to recruit agents (spies). She's looking for Nate, but he just stumbles on her. All the book's careful description of their attempts to suborn the other are left out, so here they just tell each other that they are intelligence operatives. On what planet would that happen?
None of the Russian SVR Headquarters "office politics" make it into the movie, so it is puzzling that some of Egorova's colleagues are working against her. None of her inner feelings about her sexuality are explained, so her love scenes make no sense. None of her empathic powers are mentioned, so her intuitions make no sense. I could go on.
To sum up: if you read the book, don't go to the movie - you'll hate it.
If you didn't read the book, and if you normally pay little attention to screenplays, dialogues, character development and plotlines, go for it. ,
Moana (2016)
Best Moana Review EVER
This review, by my 2-year old grand-daughter, contains a spoiler.
She just loves this movie, and watches it again and again. Her review is the best of all time.
Spoiler Alert.
She says: "Moana put the rock back." Can we all agree that pretty much sums it up?
Nocturnal Animals (2016)
Makes me want to read the source book
This review contains spoilers.
I didn't much like this movie. I was really bothered by at least two choices the director made. I disliked the irrelevant and gratuitous opening scenes of naked fat women. Reminded me of the hatefulness and misogyny of a circus side show. What was the artistic point? I also thought that casting the same actor to play two roles was childish. Was director Ford afraid that we wouldn't see the that the novelist Edward had a main character in his book (Tony) to whom he related deeply? (A minor complaint of mine was the paper cut, telegraphing to us that this package was going to really, really hurt Susan.)
I'm a rabid Michael Mann fan, and I did very much enjoy the stylish city lights at night shots.
I did enjoy the story within a story - Edward's novel. Every man I know can relate to the self-loathing that would come from being unable to protect one's family from more-primitive males. Straw Dogs, anyone? Neither did I think the crimes in Edward's novel were far-fetched. Road rage nightmares have become too common in our real lives, and women are sexually assaulted all the time.
I might have gotten the central point sooner if I knew Edward had learned of Susan's abortion. (He must have, right? And yet we didn't see that, right? Or did I miss that?) Anyway, his fictional hero loses his wife and child, and Edward reminds Susan that he, too lost a wife and child - by her actions.
I (finally) didn't like the ending, either. Seems trivial to invite Susan to dinner and then not show up. Edward has already "gotten even" with Susan by writing the novel. That dinner table scene was purely for our benefit, to make sure we hadn't missed the point that Edward was settling scores.
The Free World (2016)
Surprisingly Good!
I thought at first that this was another of my Netflix mistakes. I sometimes queue a DVD for fleeting reasons, and then, when the disk arrives, I wonder "why did I want to watch this one?" I thought the lead actor was insanely good. Even the parts where he sullenly has nothing to say, his body language spoke volumes. I thought he was perfectly credible as a wounded man-child, having been falsely convicted in his early teens of something that I don't think was ever specified.
The female lead was also the victim of undeserved violence, a battered wife. I liked the way the screenplay took a while to make that clear.
My only complaint is that there were one or two spots in the film where the pacing got really slow. Since these 2 characters weren't free to move around a lot because of the threats against them, there were many cloistered moments during which they could only speak - but then again, neither wanted much to talk due to their situation/condition.
I.T. (2016)
Really, really bad film
This is the worst movie I've sat all the way through in years. I can't even explain to myself why I didn't bail halfway through. I should be ashamed of myself. Someday I'm going to wish I could have those two hours of my life back.
No essential plot point is in any way slightly believable.
1) Just happen to have in my pocket the tools to hack your new car? WHILE YOU WATCH ME? Check.
2) Watch naked residents in house through touchscreens that show everyone that I've hacked their screens? Check.
3) Smash all those screens and NOW my house is secure? Check.
4) Break into bad guy's lair and, in just a minute or two, find his carefully-hidden tools? Check.
5) Abandon my multi-million dollar corporation so I can work alongside the mysterious spook who can solve all my problems? Check.
6) Encounter block-headed police who, for no reason at all, don't believe me despite my high profile in the community and easily-verifiable credibility, but DO believe the bad guy? Check.
7) Somehow overpower the armed bad guy who totally has the drop on me and has taken my family hostage? Check.
You know what rhymes with "check"?
Dreck.