nana-15 Reviews

Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)

Loved this so much

[10/10 · 15 December 2017]

Saw this on Tuesday and absolutely loved it. Some random thoughts:

It was definitely a fresh and invigorating take on what had become a little stale and predictable.

Loved the new characters of Holdo and Rose. Rose's line about fighting for what you love will resonate into the next movie.

Loved that Rey is a nobody and I don't believe that Kylo was lying to her. He is brutally honest and they have a force bond now. She accepts it and the vision she has in the Dark Side cave reflects it back to her. She has denied it her whole life but she knows.

Loved the fight scenes, loved Rey/Kylo teaming up--they fought like a well-oiled machine and I hope we see more of that in the next film.

Loved how Holdo was a hero and a visionary leader. That light speed attack deserved the moment of silence because it was truly breath taking.

Hated Poe. Hated how he messed up twice and was a mutineer but everybody made excuses for him. He is directly responsible for the decimation of the Resistance forces. His character is dead to me.

I think the Canto Bight sequence did slow down the movie a little but the message was clear. The rich don't care who wins as long as they are removed from it all and they profit. Rose is instrumental in showing Finn what he is missing and giving him a reason to fight.

I'm holding out for the return of Ben Solo in IX. Now that the evil, manipulative voice in his head is gone and his uncle's death is no longer a goal, what is going to happen? Let the past die, indeed. As Luke says, "No one is ever really gone."

300 (2006)

What a load of tripe

[5/10 · 6 March 2007]

Saw it a preview in the Lincoln Center IMAX on March 5, 2007.

Blustering, bombastic film that mainly serves to show one small fighting battalion wage war against a million-strong host. While it looks good, I couldn't help snickering at various points throughout the film. King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) spends the vast majority of his on screen time bellowing--an unfortunate use of a fine actor. Most characters are one-dimensional with the exception of the Queen (Lena Headey). By the halfway point, I couldn't wait for the Spartans to die.

The bad parts:

*There are far too many scenes of billowing fabric.

*The Spartans don't have a scratch on their bodies until the very end. *The Persians are either Monsters or don't look like Persians.

*There is no explanation for why King Xerxes is 7 feet tall and dressed like a belly dancing transvestite.

*The gratuitous nude breasted oracle scene - so obviously filmed underwater.

*The bellowing *King Leondias weird beard -- the weirdness really obvious in profile

*The glorification of a militaristic culture that gladly committed infanticide

*The battle scenes had no suspense--here come the Persians, watch the outnumbered Spartans kill them all. Here comes another wave, watch the Spartans kill them all. BORING

*The gratuitous amputee scenes in the Persian camp

*The horrible generic thrash rock used in some of the battle scenes

*The annoying Spartan warrior yell.

*The rip off of Brad Pitt's leaping thrust from Troy (used twice!)

*The inexplicably ugly and diseased Ephors who live on top of mountain that doesn't have an accessible route.

Looks very pretty but even that got boring after a while. So glad I got to see it for free.

Dracula (2006 TV Movie)

Repulsive and idiotic

[1/10 · 12 February 2007]

I happened along this program last night. It is the single worst BBC production I have ever seen. The acting was horrendous, especially the actress who played Mina. Characters died randomly and without any build-up of suspense. Why create protagonists only to delete them without preamble? The plot was nonsensical and more than half the program was wasted on with syphilis/Dracula's satanic cult. The cinematography looked like low grade video at times. Dracula, was played as a grotesque, un-erotic ghoul. The actor at times resembled Michael Jackson in his most recent pallid incarnation. Uggh. It was just gross and unappealing in every way.

The City of Lost Children (1995)

Overhyped and boring

[9 August 2003]

I finally decided to take a chance and watch "City of Lost Children" on DVD and I was so bored by the pacing that I watched it on fast forward until about half-way through when I just gave up. Like Alien Resurrection, this movie only has the set design going for it.

Interesting set designs that have been done before and probably will be done again. Terry Gilliam's brilliant "Brazil" is going to continue to be ripped off by lesser filmmakers. The plot was banal. Ron Perlman sounded like he was speaking French phonetically and the constant close-ups of grotesque faces was tiresome. Snore.

Swordfish (2001)

Reprehensible dreck

[25 October 2002]

I finally rented this movie after avoiding it for a long time (mainly because of Travolta). I was fully justified. His hammy acting is unbelievably bad. You cannot believe for a single moment that he is either as menacing or as powerful as he claims. There is nothing redeeming about his character or acting.

First of all, the plot as other reviewers have mentioned, is sieve-like. The opening sequence, while interesting, is used over and over again later in the film--We get it, you blew most of your budget on that. Not to mention, that a terrified, and screaming teen-aged girl is blown to bits. It appears that they wanted to get the reaction that most of the positive reviews have noted: that slo-mo 360 pans of a bomb's effects are really cool. Not withstanding that innocent people are killed and a city block is decimated.

Next, the only actor to escape relatively unscathed is Hugh Jackman, although I bet he wishes he'd chosen another movie. Let's hope his next pairing with Halle Berry is much better.

Now to some of the many incomprehensible situations in the movie:

You detain a ostensibly "Finnish" but inexplicably German-speaking hacker but leave him alone and unguarded so that two Euro-trash thugs can trick you with a misleading phone call and prance into an federal interrogation area with guns brandished?!

The hacking is so silly and unbelievable. Stanley (Jackman) sees the system they want him use and gapes incredulously merely because it has multiple monitors running a screen-saver?! And cracking 128-bit encrypted passwords only takes him 60 seconds! Wow, why he didn't he clean up his record or create a new identity for himself? He is a super-genius, after all.

Oh, it's ok that Travolta's character steals money and kills innocent people. He's doing it for the common (read American) good. So what if his plans to nuke cities, etc. will result in the deaths of innocent civilians around the world including Americans?! Truly despicable plot-line.

Also, the only female characters in this movie are bimbos or victims or both. I guess that's one of the main rules of mainstream action flicks--misogyny is normal and justified.

O stars from me. There is nothing to like and many things to actively hate in this stupid, morally empty, pathetic excuse for a film.