Movie Ratings and Reviews
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A Somewhat Gentle Man (2010)
One of the best movies ever -- although there is a love scene that'll put you off your lunch. The scene where a guy tries to hail a taxi is arguably the funniest thing in the history of cinema.
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Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
This movie sucks. Literally.
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The Twilight Samurai (2002)
No chop-socky nonsense, no flying fighters, just an excellent film.
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A Man Called Ove (2015)
Movies don't get much better than this one. Hanging out at the FSU Film School, we learned that movies have a "color palette", a chosen color scheme that permeates the entire film. In this film, that color is Peacock Blue, my wife's favorite color. It was actually entertaining to see that color pop up again and again.
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The Shape of Water (2017)
Hawkins got an Oscar nomination for Best SUPPORTING Actress??!!?? Are you kidding me? Is that because, as a mute, she didn't have enough lines? Somebody needs to be wacked upside the head for that decision. There has never been a charactoer more lead than Eliza! This movie is a work of art, pure and simple, right down to the smallest detail. My wife couldn't really get into the "love story" because, let's face it, it's a fish-man. But the film is so spectacularly beautiful to watch from opening frame to closing credit, it's mesmerizing.
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The Florida Project (2017)
The Florida Project was very good right up until the last two minutes. The ending is SO stupid as to ruin the entire film.
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The Moustache (2005)
Absolutely terrible movie. Watch the interview in the bonus features to see the director explain how important it was to film stuff that didn't go into the movie so the actors knew what was going on. He also points out that he cannot explain the movie because he himself doesn't understand it.
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A Ghost Story (2017)
This film is awful. You are treated to one unbroken scene of Rooney Mara eating an entire pie (takes several minutes) and then throwing up. Real heady stuff.
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The Company (2003)
This movie blows so hard I couldn't watch it. Gave up after a half hour and fast-forwarded through the rest. It didn't get any better.
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Wind River (2017)
This would be a great movie except for some serious plot holes. At the end, you see where they ended up, you're just not clear on how they got there. Some have pointed out that all the Native Americans in the movie are portrayed as pathetic and helpless and end up dead while the white people save the day and live. If that sort of thing bothers you, skip this movie.
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Masterminds (2016)
Sometimes you're in the mood for a stupid movie. This is an excellent stupid movie, and it has the extra bonus of being a true story!
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Miss Sloane (2016)
I almost didn't see this movie because I heard it was about gun control with -- as you'd expect from Hollywood -- the wrong side being portrayed as the heroes. Really, though, the gun control issue is only the canvas on which this truly excellent story about lobbying is writ. Yeah, the NRA is portrayed as evil incarnate and the liberals parrot their party lines as though they actually make sense, but ignore all that and enjoy the twists and turns.
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Prometheus (2012)
The visuals are awesome and there is non-stop action. Upon reflection, though, this is a really awful movie. In "Alien", the alien was terrifying precisely because it made sense. In this "reboot", all that is flushed for a creature that makes no sense at all; it evidently has about a dozen stages to its reproductive cycle, and several of them are non-sequential. Worse, a storyline about evolution writ interstellar is twisted into a perverted creation story. Frankly, I recommend one and all skip this movie.
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20th Century Women (2016)
Apparently, in the 20th century women were really, really boring.
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Prayers for Bobby (2009)
The production values are low enough here that some of the edits are startling and some of the acting is wooden, but the story is so strong as to overcome much of that. Of course, I would have been FAR less forgiving of the church for its role here than Mary Griffith was. Why do people refuse to see the evil that religion does in the world?
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Bridge of Spies (2015)
Excellent. Not only a valuable history lesson, but also a lesson in the importance of sticking by your principles when everyone around you is screaming for blood. Plus a lesson in effective negotiation. Who'da thunk the Soviet spy would be the most endearing character in the film?
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The Revenant (2015)
Excellent. I didn't care for the end, but that was just the last 30 seconds of a 2+ hour movie. A bigger issue for me was a couple of technical glitches, such as ball-and-powder muzzleloaders that fire more than one shot before reloading, and the ability to hit a man on a horse from a coupla hundred yards away with a powder-and-ball muzzleloader. Hollywood moviemakers really should learn a thing or two about firearms.
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Brooklyn (2015)
My wife and I ponder how this movie would have been with a different leading actress. Ronan is simply incredible in this role. This film should be screened in every Assisted Living Facility in America, as a great many of the elderly people in those facilities will be able to relate.
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