Change Your Image
evakent
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
The Birdcatcher (2019)
Norway and Esther
Soberingly beautiful movie. I would have liked a little more detail in the last part of the movie, but even as it stands, Esther and her sad, frightening and in the end, inspiring story are told with careful attention to detail and mood. Besides, everything else, the music is appropriate and gorgeous. How ironic that the abusive Norwegian Nazi collaborator is aghast when the Nazis wish to commandeer his farm.
Even those of us somewhat familiar with World War II films don't tend to know much about the Nazi occupation of Norway and those who aided them in their obscene quest - the Quislings. Here, besides everything else. Is a learning opportunity, a teachable moment about what happens when a country, formerly tolerant, sinks into Fascism. And yet Esther finds a kind of redemption.
Modern Persuasion (2020)
Cutesy is as cutesy does
Way too pat and predictable to be anything like Austen. Short on charm, as well. Austen does 21st century New York? Not here.
So working women and CEOs affect stilettos and super tight dresses these days? Very disappointing. And they hook up with strangers at the drop of a hat, so to speak? Also disappointing.
I was more interested in the situation of the cat. That might have been worth exploring in more detail.
The receptionist, Denise, was the only one who came off as an actual and believable working woman, with some chill.
I still like the idea of Austen translated into contemporary digs. Maybe someone else can attempt it.
Juno (2007)
Anti-abortion with some cutesy touches
Reitman wanted to make an anti-abortion film that seemed cool. The cutesy touches make it seem cooler and more complex, but cannot mask the rather feeble attempt to present what is in essence an anti-abortion movie. I rated it as highly as I did for the good acting.
Uncle Frank (2020)
The Cliches Encompass The Fake Tears
So they couldn't find any more cliches either about southerners or about gay men/couples with which to stuff/fluff this threadbare gushy wushy of a movie. I have trouble believing that so few people saw through the stereotypes.
Pretty Hard Cases (2021)
Meant for teens
Slick, cliched and simplistic. Perhaps the show was meant for teens. Every episode contains its little morality plays: good guys versus bad, and usually no in-betweens. I do appreciate that they have included people and leaders of different races, genders, sexual preferences and sizes, and I do give them credit for that. However, it would have been nice to view three dimensional characters instead of imitations of virtue or lack thereof.
Finding You (2020)
Syrupy sweet and cliched
Syrupy sweet inordinately cliched whingeing pablum. I wonder if even teens would find this fluff appealing. Oh, and with the requisite amount of cloying overcuteness. Everything always happens for a reason, and you're never alone. Please spare me. Not one character seems to have an iota of meanness in his/her/their being. Not one raw edge.
Pretty Woman (1990)
Not so much fun
Not even vaguely realistic. Being a hooker does not catapult you into the arms of a millionaire who will make you his wife. At least "That Touch of Mink," of which "Pretty Woman" is an update, didn't take itself so seriously and was rather fun to watch. Alas, Richard Gere is no Cary Grant.
What Maisie Knew (2012)
What is this movie supposed to show?
Bad self-involved parents neglect their daughter. Happens all the time. So? Where have we seen or not seen this happen before? What is this movie trying to prove?
Innan vi dör (2017)
Bloody
I don't quite see what the purpose of this series was. To participate in a Blood and Violence contest? They may win a spot in the top three. Or even top two, if they're lucky. Top spot? Nah. Probably not that lucky.
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Why?
Why was this movie made? Would really like to know. One of the worst movies I have ever seen. For those who relish blood and violence and no discernible female voices. It must have been a picnic.
Come Away Home (2005)
Martin Mull is the only good thing about this movie
Otherwise, twaddle. A rich mother and father are going to let their darling, privileged daughter stay in a beat-up old house while they stay in a nice hotel? Please. And everyone is forgiving and completely non-racist? Look at the polls for South Carolina and tell me another.
Something Wild (1986)
John Sayles wannabe with a few good points
I am amazed that this cute, but cliched flick was nominated for awards. We've seen this so many times before: goofy, engaging girl takes square-seeming guy for a ride, after which he ends up abandoning his square, boring life. What distinguishes this one slightly is that the square guy has already let go of a few of the obstacles to his realizing more of what he holds inside. Or they've let go of him. And the appearance of John Sayles as a cop. Ray Liotta also shines as the bad guy. I think that if John Sayles had directed this one, it would have been quirkier and a bit more interesting. It strikes me as the one film by Jonathan Demme that bears a strong resemblance to some of Sayles' movies.
Pirate Radio (2009)
Feel-good, with deeper implications
When I saw the list of 56 songs featured in this movie, I realized that I had sung and still knew the words to all of them. Hence the feel-good. Does every generation listen with such breathless anticipation and greet each new song as it emerges with such passion? Did we embrace this music because our feelings and beliefs created it, somehow, as well?
But under the on-ship camaraderie and rivalries, there is a darker, deeper note: that of the tendency of British governments to fall into incredible authoritarianism, to go through phases in which they want to relive the most egregious features of their colonial days. Then, thank goodness, they come out of them as the British people vote in fairly forward-looking, more or less tolerant leaders. This time, the early through mid 1960's, was one such time of quasi-fascism.
The quirky heroism of the DJ's of Radio Rock stands as both fictive and actual testimony of British rockers to fight back against the kind of censorship that British government officials tried to foist on them, censorship which aimed to destroy them and eviscerate rock itself.
Radio Rock rocks on in other forms today. Thank you, Pirate Radio, for reminding us.