Reviews

I waited 1 hour and 42 minutes for the main character to have a revelation of hope and faith in life only to be greeted with a character who whines and whines and complains about everything including the good memories of his life. I hate movies that have a good concept but the writer is clueless what to do with it. This one was beyond clueless. It could have been such a great story of a future where disease is no more and then what does it look like for a person who must renter society in a different time. Would they adjust? Would they regret their decision yet make the best of it. Yeah. Could have been that. Instead we have a man who chooses suicide not once but twice rather than live the life he's been gifted with all while having no regard for those who love him and are left behind. It was just a mess. His flashback memories were a frenetic nightmare that included over and over and over again a chicken getting its head ripped off. Why? Then horror scenes of failed experiments. Pick a genre. Buy a plot. What a depressing mess full of unlikeable characters and horrible messages.

Dune Part II is visually spectacular and Timothy Chalamet has grown into quite a gifted actor. The worm riding is everything you hoped it would be and there's no way this doesn't win the Oscar for Cinematography and Special Effects and Sound. But the real star of this story is Paul Atreides and our focus rightly stays there. A wonderfully complex character, and any fan of the books knows that Paul is not quite hero, not quite messiah and not quite villian. A tall order for a young actor but Timothy Chalamet "commands the stage" and finally someone plays Paul Atreides with the nuance Herbert wrote in him. Credit must go to the director too who clearly guided his actors to find the performance within and most all of the characters live up to Herbert's vision and Villeneuve's interpretation. I say almost because I did not care for the direction they took Chani's character and we are robbed of the years spent together and instead Chani and Paul are reduced to teen angst. Gone is their son and his sister remains unborn forcing us into a very short timeline where we are to believe a LOT happens within the length of a pregnancy. We are robbed of some of the details of Fremen culture but that said, it was still wonderful. I was glad Jamis' wife was written out so there were good changes. Zendaya does a pretty good job and she's charming on screen but this was a pretty flat performance mostly because they didn't allow her to be Chani from the book. I also still don't care for Rebecca Ferguson's Lady Jessica. I loved this actress in White Queen but you can tell she didn't do her research and read the books (as she so often brags on late night TV). To me the character is so much bigger in the books. Ferguson plays her with one note. But back to positive - I loved Javier Bardem as Stilgar although he was arguably a touch too Zealot, Josh Brolin's Gurney Halek was perfection but too little music from him. And Austin Butler's Feyd-Rautha?! What a wonderful surprise! That kid has range! The final knife fight was choreographic beauty.

I would give it a 10 but I think they should have spent a little more time on Fremen culture but I suppose a Spice Orgy would be difficult for 2024. All in all I loved it! Well done! Can't wait for Dune Messiah.

Well that's 8 hours of my life I wish I could have back. It started out so great. I thought, oh this is going to be such a fun whodunit but then after about the 3rd episode it just devolved into a bath of bad writing and acting. The premise that a woman's dead husband was not actually dead and that her sister's murder was somehow connected was interesting. Sadly the writer didn't know where to go from there and fell into a deep well of cliches, implausibilities and "are you kidding mes" and it just went downhill with every passing episode. Let's start with the main character, Maya. What an unhappy, angry, irritating woman. She never misses an opportunity to show she knows mixed martial arts and can "take you out" as she assaults people both literally and verbally. We're supposed to like this woman and cheer for her. I think. Hard to tell. The actress who plays her is so flat and emotionless you just don't care about her issues at all. Then there's the police detective who has a mysterious illness. He is reckless and obstinate to the point of annoying so we don't feel anything for him either. I wanted to mind you. The friend Shane seems clearly to be the bad guy but he's not despite being a stalker and just creepy. Maybe he was supposed to be a red herring but we never get that. He is seen standing outside her house in the dark, he lets himself in at odd hours, he sets off her car alarm and then stands in the shadows watching her. We never get a decent explanation.

Then the rich cliche family who of course we know aren't nice but in such a cliche way that it's almost funny.

But really it's the plot and solution of the murder mystery that disappoints. You just don't care about Maya so that when we finally find out her secrets it makes no sense and we just don't care. It could have been so good but the plot was resolved in such a disappointing way we were left with nothing. The.characters were weak and in the case of Maya in particular, so annoying that it was just disappointing.

Speaking of Shane, there's an 18 years later scene and it winds up being a bit creepy instead of nice as the stalker Shane, established as at least 25 years older than Maya's child, winds up marrying her and having a baby?? Why?! There's also a subplot about a 1/2 sibling that goes nowhere and if it was supposed to be another red herring it missed by a mile. I gave it 3 stars because I actually enjoyed the first 3 episodes and the premise and had hope that it would improve. Honestly 3 stars is generous but it wasn't the worst thing I ever watched so...Mayne it was a better book.

I'm not a fan of messing with classics and I was prepared to hate this but instead I actually really like it a lot. I even teared up at the end just like I did in the animated classic. I mean who isn't brought to tears by swelling Alan Menken music and the Prince and his love? I'm also not a Melissa McCarthy fan but she was excellent as Ursula. Excellent! I loved the colorful pallet throughout and I thought Halle was absolutely adorable as Ariel. Her voice was gorgeous and perfect for Ariel. A favorite new additional scene was Eric's study where he has a collection of sea stuff just like Ariel has her collection of human stuff. Stroke of genius idea there. One of my favorite scenes was "Kiss the Girl". They nailed every element with a perfect flashback to all the things that made the original a favorite scene. All the people complaining that the CGI was crappy or this and that was subpar? Get a grip. It was a really well done live action version of a beloved classic.

SPOILERS: So let me get this straight - the senior officer doctor murders someone important to the Federation in a premeditated unprovoked attack and he's still walking around as the doctor of the ship?!?! Captain Pike suggests it's not his place to decide who lives or dies and the doctor says "well it was hard, he was bad" and instead of throwing him in the brig and relieving him of duty Pike just kind of shrugs his shoulders and gives him a pass? And then they find out the doctor was the butcher and no problem there either?! What the actual heck?! And here we go again with the Discovery-esque insubordination and attitude from the crew. So the crew doesn't like the Klingon being on board and number one tells the captain to change course because the crew's not happy?! What the heck?! You do as your captain says or get off the ship. TERRIBLE EPISODE! And stop shoving Ortega down our throats. Sulu would never behave in such a manner. She's irritating as hell and her insubordination is not amusing or cute as the writers seem to think.

Being a huge fan of Tolkien's magnificent writing, I had really high hopes for this show but 6 episodes in and bored is my main emotion. Galadriel is intolerable and lacks all the nuance and genius of Tolkien's character. The actress works my last nerve with her whisper acting and one note delivery. One cannot make up for a good script by making sets and scenes beautiful. Nor can you expect endless violent battles to make up for the lack of plot. Too much talking without saying anything. Too much violence without purpose. Too much grey toned wash on everything. Too much whisper acting. And Halbrand as some sort of Aragorn feels like an insult to Tolkien somehow.

That said, I'm giving it a 5 right now because despite the boring and awful Galadriel storyline, I am intrigued by the potential of Isildur's backstory and the pre-Hobbits have potential and Durin and the Dwarves are wonderful (but naturally we don't get enough of them) and Elrond has potential. The jury is still out on Meteor Man - if it's Gandalf like I suspect it is they have some serious work to do to make him worthy of Tolkien's character. Anyway, 5 stars for now. I'd love to have them prove me wrong and force me to raise it to a 10.

Best picture nomination?! Really?! I don't even know what to say to describe the overlong nothingness of a movie this is. The two main characters are so flat and uninteresting I was honestly bored to tears. They have no chemistry and their relationship goes nowhere. Even the Bradley Cooper and Sean Penn cameos presumably included to give the film some...I don't know what...were pointless and did nothing for the movie. There didn't really seem to be any plot and I was constantly wondering how a 15 year old was able to rent retail space and do most of the things he does in this movie all while the implication is that he's still in high school yet we never see him attend a single class or do a single piece of homework. The slim explanation we get is he was some kind of child actor star but his whole being screams, "how is that possible?" His mother basically disappears with no explanation about 1/3rd of the way through the film so she's not helping him even though they could have easily written in a fun eccentric mother character to explain a lot.

The whole thing was just weird and dull and a waste of the ridiculous run time of over 2.5 hours. It was at least and hour too long. Even the soundtrack was a snoozefest. With so much iconic 70's music to choose from they manage to choose music just as forgettable as the film itself. We never even find out why the movie is called Licorice Pizza. Ugh. How it made the Best Picture list alongside such amazing films as CODA is truly mystifying.

I'm not sure what this movie was trying to make me feel but if it was sympathy they missed. All I felt was anger and irritation at this selfish woman. Yes, raising kids is tough and yes, there are sacrifices that have to be made but guess what?! Make them. These are little humans that are learning from every single thing you do. We never get to see the result of the trauma this woman inflicted on her girls but I'll bet it was massive. Ugh. I'm having a hard time identifying a more unlikeable character in recent memory. And the men were all painted as inept, cheating, asses. Really?!

From a film art perspective it was so slow and so character driven on awful characters that at one point I looked to see how much time was left in the film and after seeing there was still 52 minutes left I almost bailed but didn't because I thought surely this will be worth it. It was not.

The baby doll analogy was so bizarre. I mean seriously she basically steals a doll from a child who has posted reward posters for it. So weird.

Ed Harris, the only joy in the film is of course painted as a lousy father but at least he had the hint of an interesting character. Sadly we never get to explore it.

And lastly there's the spoiled young mother Nina played by Dakota Johnson. She is meant to reflect history repeating itself but she's just another unhappy selfish mother who is more concerned with her sex life than her daughter.

Bottom line, the script for a movie or play is everything. This one could have been great. It could have said something significant. Instead it's just a bummer with no redeeming value. What a disappointment.

What a special unique film full of perfectly measured acting and touching moments. Simple in concept but rich with the depth of so much more. Some truly touching moments so well framed and acted it earned many of my tears. Best moment: *spoiler* when the daughter sings to her deaf father and he experiences it by touching her vocal chords. Wow. Also great was the moment when all is silent during the concert and we experience what her family does. Also had the effect of reminding me how blessed I am to be able to hear the beauty that is music and to never take that for granted. One tiny point off from me - again *spoiler*: it is preposterous that the professional accompanist could not accompany Ruby's choice of a Joni Mitchell classic. But it worked for the touching moment that followed so I'll forgive it.

So and hour and 15 minutes invested in watching the creation of the ballet and we don't get to see the whole ballet?!?! I always enjoy behind the scenes at the ballet stuff but what a disappointment after seeing all the pieces we don't get to see the whole puzzle. Sigh. Other than that, it was fun to see these professionals all working together to produce a production and they did a pretty good job of being a fly in the wall.