There are two approaches one can take in reviewing a universally—and justly—beloved and highly regarded film like this; try to express why it is great and what it means to you, or make some observations about something that struck you about it anew or for the first time. The former seems like a fool’s errand and a prescription for misery and ignominious failure, so I will go with the latter. To that end, I was taken aback again by just…
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Mephisto 1981
As with everything dealing with this aspect of history it is impossible—at least for me—not to react to it differently than one would have not so long ago in light of current events. Klaus Maria Brandauer is just brilliant as an ambitious actor who, after initially accommodating himself with ease to the new Nazi regime despite his somewhat rote leftism (and his black lover), finds it increasingly difficult to maintain his position as the reality of the situation takes hold.…
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Life Is Beautiful 1997
A truly horrible film; utterly false and cynical. I have a fairly low threshold for whimsy to begin with and to see it used in the context of industrialized mass murder is appalling. It may be possible to make a good comedy about the Final Solution but I don't know how you would do it, and neither did Benigni.
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Kingsman: The Secret Service 2014
What a triumph, combine the pointlessness of the standard, comic book, world-in-the-balance nonsense with a smirking, self-satisfied "satire" of the Bond movies and the id of a not particularly bright 14 year old boy. Colin Firth looks embarrassed to be doing what he is doing, as well he should. Samuel L. Jackson hits the same note he has hit for the past 20 years, only this time with a lisp. Why? I guess 14 year old boys think lisps are…
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