[Checks rating distribution for the movie] Yeah, nothing controversial here.
This is pretty good overall. It kind of overdoes it with side topics; and some of those don’t really land. (Yes, Wendy Sachs, Chinese ownership of media outlets is an important topic. But maybe save that one for your next documentary?) The movie is at its strongest, though, when it digs into what I see as its main subject: the post-10/7 PR campaigns and societal reactions in the US. I…
An Italian comedy, of sorts, about brutal spousal abuse. I loved the black and white cinematography and the Roman locations — it must be nice to be a filmmaker in Italy, where every street corner is a ready-made period movie set — and the occasional detours into magical realism were interesting.
I found it too cartoonish and heavy handed — this is a movie for people who thought Barbie was a little too subtle and nuanced in its messaging. And the surprise ending, which was indeed a surprise, was a bit of a groaner.
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Bong Joon Ho’s latest is an imaginative and funny sci-fi satire that, sadly, loses its focus and degenerates into Avatar by the end. Even though the whole second half is a mess narratively and thematically, the movie is still worth seeing for its striking visuals, its humor, and its bonkers performances.
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A movie about a real-life German pastor who stood up to Hitler and became a spy and an assassin? Yes! Sign me up!
And then I see the movie. What a letdown. There’s a great but brief section early on where the title character spends time in Harlem and gets hooked on jazz, but things go downhill after that. The movie moves from one episode in his life to another, telling each in an abbreviated and not terribly satisfying fashion.…
