A writer & cinemanager from one of the Great Lakes living near the Pacific.
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Black Bag 2025
Soderbergh delivers a smart, taught, sometimes funny, drawing room mystery/spy thriller, with a sensational cast. Fassbender is entirely transformed whilst Blanchett is at her enigmatic best. Joined by C.B. Strike's Tom Burke, Industry's Marisa Abela, Sandman's Orpheus, & 007's Naomi Harris, as well as Westworld's Gustav Skarsgård & Pierce Brosnan, who keep the whole thing moving and filled with devious delight. It feels like a perfect film. I expect I'll be seeing it again. That rarely happens these days.
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The Brutalist 2024
A truly solid and great film. We don't see emoji of Adrien Brody but, when we do, it's obvious why we should see more. I wish there had been s but more exploration of the trauma of the holocaust to their post war lives. It's there, mostly but, I wanted a bit more extrapolation. Similarly, the embrace of modernism & brutalism in the design of post-war synagogues is something which could've been expired a bit more. That said, the narrative thru-line is solid and gives us a perspective on lives, not just reconstructed but, thriving.
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1 Night 2016
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
I'm reminded of the parallel storytelling of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, tho in this case, the parallel is less figurative and far more literal. A couple confronts their past, literally, in the hopes of changing their future. Ultimately asking, is love enough? Justin chatwin & Anna Camp are great, as is the younger couple. This is one of those films where, if it's three in the morning, you can't sleep, and you run across it, you're going to watch and enjoy it.
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Ovation 2016
The third film in which Jaglom's wife, Tanna Frederick, plays actress Maggie Chizek/Chase from Hollywood Dreams & Queen of the Lot, pursuing her dreams of stardom, or is she? This time she's in a small, Venice theatre, trapped between love of craft/a co-star & the lure of a charismatic actor, James Denton (who is spectacular) & resurrection in a great TV series. Where the film falters is in daft subplot centered around Jaglom's kids (who are actually pretty good) & another actor who chews scenery, badly. Its entirely nonsensical, buckles the greatest suspension of disbelief, and ends dreadfully. Fortunately Denton & Frederick manage to make it worthwhile, overall.
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