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Reviews
Constellation: These Fragments I Have Shored Against My Ruin (2024)
Ultimates, it's lazy writing
I enjoyed this drama to a certain degree. It had good visuals and mystery aplenty. However, the proof of the pudding is in the ending. And what that came to was a bit of a mess. When your audience has sat through eight hours or so, why can't you just give them something like resolution of the various storylines? They could do that in the original Star Trek within 50 minutes and the endings were always satisfying. In this, however, what you get is a few crumbs thrown to the hungry viewers. What that suggests is that they (a) are liking to string this out longer than something going through a black hole and/or (b) they just don't have a clue themselves. The point is that this is lazy writing. It throws all these mysteries at the viewer but is not honest enough to do anything properly meaningful with them. So, the mystery continues, minus that little ole thing called 'meaning'. Sorry to be so harsh, but it's a bit of a con.
Leave the World Behind (2023)
Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
Well, well, well. We don't have a story, but we do have a piano. Yes. And if you hit the keys like this it produces a scary feeling in the listener. They also produced other orchestral or synthesized orchestral sounds to add a sense of fear to the scenes. As regards what it was all about? Breakdown of society? Something like that. Was it optimistic and cheering? No. Was it depressing and alienating? Yes. One wonders about the former President of the United States's outlook on the world after watching this. Barack & Michelle are executive producers after all. I mean you might expect a little light and a little vision. Ok. Let's just forget that. So, how about a story? How about meaningful interaction between the characters? Not a lot of either. What we get is scary stuff almost happening with a feeling that society almost deserves it. Thanks, Barack. You really undercut your image. Ever watched The Wizard of Oz? Or It's a Wonderful Life? (Didn't think so.) Oh, I forgot to say it's beautifully filmed!
Hollowhood (2021)
Horrifically hilarious!
In this age of slickly-produced, executive/committee-created, audience-targeted crap, this little film is a breath of fresh air. It ain't Hollywood. But that's because it is... Hollowhood! A group of young'uns spend a Halloween weekend at a cottage in the sticks. What could go right?! The atmospheric music works really well, adding much to the humble, small-scale production. The script is funny and rounded, and each character is clearly delineated. In the acting, or at least self-expression, stakes, JJ Barnes wins the Oscar. Who doesn't love a good, well-timed f-bomb?! The story is either so scary and profound I couldn't grasp its full implications, or... it's all just rather silly... but in a very satisfyingly English way. Hollowhood is humorous, human, hilarious, and very likeable fare.
The Equalizer 2 (2018)
Traumatic violence
Denzel is great actor. I liked the revenge he takes on the bad guys. But the scenes which establish how bad those guys are are graphically and I would say pornographically violent. Does cinema need to shock its audience with such kind of violence in order to sell more tickets? What's the sense behind it? It's not like this film is depicting war. It's just a good guy bad buys film. The quiet acting moments are very good. But why does the director feel the need to gross out the viewer? Is that pleasurable for anyone? Denzil is a great actor, but I'm sorry he's associated with such screen brutality.
Itla men Mazaji (2019)
Hilarious shoestring budget Arabic comedy
Interesting Arabic film:
Itla men Mazaji (2019), directed by Abdullah Al-Salman
Main actor: Ahmad Al-Onan
About a wee taxi man in Kuwait. He laughs a lot. His friend is into social media like Instagram and Snapchat etc. The friend persuades him to join him in posting stuff. It's the taxi man's way of talking in general or way of saying things straight that, when videoed by his friend, attract attention, and then followers. The film is made on a shoestring. It is a far cry from the slick operation you'll witness in your average even lower grade Western cinematic production, but this taxi man character is worth watching the film for.
His name is Ahmad Al-Onan. He has character and personality in buckets. When he gets pissed off he ain't kidding. What pisses him off? Well, there's a bizarre scene in which a very overweight passenger who is listening to music on his earbuds and exclaiming Wow every few seconds pisses him off. 'Are you crazy?' he inquires. Funnier is a scene in which a more respectable Sheik-like fellow gets in and, because they are, somehow, discussing the joys of poetry, with echoes of the classic image of Arabic culture in the air, and then insists on telling his own poem. The wee taxi driver listens politely as he drives. But you can see by the look on his face that he doesn't appreciate the garbage, in strict literary terms, coming out of the mouth of his customer. To the extent that he slams on the brakes eventually and orders the Sheik out. It's made funnier because it's just about bad poetry but also because he does look actually angry. Hilarious!
I have never seen an Arabic culture-derived film, so my eyes are wide, as though seeing an entirely new world. The way people communicate with each other, their gestures, their way of speaking, much closer to a Latin temperate than I would have guessed. All astonishing to see. Sometimes overpowering. But because it's an outrageous comedy, it is also sweet and funny and it is great way to take a peek into a world and a culture that is often simply seen as alien by Western people, speaking straight.
It is very unsmooth! It is often ridiculous! But it is sometimes very funny and the main character is always engaging. His friendliness and his affableness are attractive. Ahmad Al-Onan is an actor who deserves attention. I just hope that whatever he delivers to the screen is not diluted were he to become, well, famous outside of the Arabic world.
The Big Trees (1952)
Excellent & highly entertaining drama
In response to all the negative reviews, I felt I had to put in a word for this film. Kirk Douglas was great in it. The story is interesting and all the actors were entertaining. The script is marvelous. Kirk D really knows how to act big. And the moral difficulties he gets into make for a very engaging and intriguing story. I found this film to be really, really good. Unfortunately I could only view it on YouTube with poor resolution. What a pity as I would love to see this film in all its glory. And the big trees too.