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alexanderjankowski
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Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Horribly flawed, with punchy dialogue and good acting
If you're reading this review you've likely already watched the film because this site's reviews stand more to reenforce one's opinion then they stand to encourage or discourage viewership based on quality (the point of 'reviews'). This is no doubt Tarantino's worst film, and it highlights all of his shortcomings as a screenwriter. I rewatched this thing because I remember some bong choked stoners telling me 'how awesome it is' at University. Rewatched it, and wow! Like wow, I had already grown out of my Tarantino phase and I think he's a remarkable filmmaker, 'Pulp Fiction' is one of the more creative movies of the 90's. But MAN DOES THIS SUCK. This is a derivative, trope saturated nightmare. Why does Mr. White have such an overly paternal attitude to an undercover cop who he met mere weeks, to the extent that he's pointing a gun at guys who the film displayed earlier having equally warm interactions with him, but instead of knowing him for weeks like Orange, he's know them for decades, yet he. He just arbitrarily made the least realistic decisions a human being could make in that scenario.
Garbage! As with any Tarantino film the dialogue is juicy and rich, the cast and their performances are great too, but none of these things are great enough to redeem it.
In general terms I would call this a good film, when sizes up to the standards Tarantino has established it's almost an embarrassment.
Mr. Harrigan's Phone (2022)
A perfectly watchable and at times captivating film that suffers from miscasting, shoddy dialogue, finished off with a comically abrupt ending
Initially my biggest problem was the casting of whoever plays the main boy. His acting is one note, he looks sad and confused for the entire duration of the film. He's not memorable in any way. Also his motivations behind what he spends the film doing are just not touched on, completely ignored, things happen to people around him and he then responds in a manner that is just so predictable, and cliched you will find yourself baffled it occurs in a horror film in 2022, a genre that is over a century old. It's a lot like Christine by King which is actually quite a good read arguably as good as John Carpenter adaptation in the 80's. The premise reminds me of death note too, at least from what little understand about that property.
The ending is the kind of climax that causes the entire audience to collectively let out a beleaguered and intensely audible groan, causes them swear viciously at the screen, and throw half filled icees at it.
Otherwise it was watchable. Oh yeah there's a love interest in this film, some uncredited extras get more screen time than her. She is utterly useless. I'm not even sure if he verbalizes a single line, I know she sends a text? Wow man this was trash.
But it was watchable and I bet the short story is a lot better.
The director actually did pretty well, considering that screenplay. I do like the look of the movie, and it's early 2000's setting is faithful and unique.
Should've been a short!!!! Cool creepy idea that they had no clue what do with.
Monster (2022)
Complete trash
Ever wonder what it would look like if the dumbest and most histrionic 'National Inquirer' reporter wrote and directed a film? Here you go. Another exploitative, voyeuristic, overacted flick fetishizing serial killers. Beyond this films odious moral mistakes, it's also a poor movie technically, the dialogue is poorly written and inorganic to a degree that's almost amusing. Evan Peters either seemed completely disinterested or he was trying way too hard. This series contains no nuance, it's not even effectively creepy, this is salacious, sensationalistic and just absolutely pointless. The victims family are completely right to be upset. Also the fact Netflix included this in the 'LGBTQ+' section. This is an industry that makes money off suffering, In a better world it would not exists.
Blue Jasmine (2013)
Likely the best of Allen's recent work
This is an uniquely well-acted film, even by Woody's standards, it's brimming with naturalistic intelligent dialogue that manages to be both insightful and absurd, bitingly incisive and warm, and more importantly remarkably intelligent and funny. Each character feels like a living breathing human being, they're dynamic fleshed out characters an accomplishment I'd credit equally to the actors as I would the direction and screenplay.
As someone who was born into money, this film is perhaps the best (at least contemporary film) I've seen at depicting the relativity of happiness when it comes to wealth, and how agonizingly unfulfilling accruing it actually is.
Blonde (2022)
A histrionic, saccharine and over-acted mess
Monroe deserves seriously better, this film is trash. The acting is on par with a B movie from the era Marylin Monroe lived in. The screenplay is amateurish, the dramatic moments are handled atrociously. What an enormously shameful and cheap exploitative thing for Netflix to do. Avoid this at all costs so we don't have to witness the legacy of another remarkable artist debased for a quick buck. This movie did not make me feel bad for Marylin Monroe because of the various tragedies she witnessed during her lifetime, I felt bad for her because he legacy was being depreciated by a junk, pulp film that Netflix will forget about in a week. She deserved better.
Lost Boys (2020)
An exhausting uneven masterpiece
An otherwise flimsy, and borderline incoherent narrative is buttressed by great visuals and devastatingly mournful narrations from the documentarian. This film's predecessor is the best drug film ever made, I say this as someone who was addicted to heroin for a decade, has a masters in counseling psychology with a focus on substance abuse, and a bachelors of arts in film. The first film's strongest strengths are its characters, the setting, and the raw authenticity of the drug use. Its sort of a lightning caught in a bottle scenario.
This film doesn't really have any interesting characters, theres actually more drug use and sex than in the original. The direct
An otherwise flimsy, and borderline incoherent narrative is buttressed by great visuals and devastatingly mournful narrations from the documentarian. This film's predecessor is the best drug film ever made, I say this as someone who was addicted to heroin for a decade, has a masters in counseling psychology with a focus on substance abuse, and a bachelors of arts in film. The first film's strongest strengths are its characters, the setting, and the raw authenticity of the drug use. The first is sort of a lightning caught in a bottle scenario. This film lacks the humanity of the first one. There was an odd boisterous, almost bubbly element to Jani's personality. He was an optimist. The most heartbreaking part of that film is when Jani talks about his dream to just live on a farm with a wife and kids. This sequel has none of that.
Still I'd recommend it, its wild and surreal, and absolutely filthy.
Seriously this is one of the grimiest films I've ever seen, like almost troma quality but its all real.
I would have liked a more thorough dissection of what led Jani to hang himself.