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Free Guy (2021)
Save yout $2 and the time you wold spend watching.
It s everything that was wrong with TRON (1980) and everything wrong with Matrix (1999) combined into one sufferingly long film (I can't seem to call it a 'movie'). Granted people under 50 may not even know what TRON was, so let's just say it was a BOMB, fortunately Jeff Bridges recovered. AOL died off not long after it partnered to push out MATRIX and no wonder AOL employees received free DVDs of it; they knew ahead of time they'd have some extra copies. I like Ryan Reynolds, but I can't imagine his recovering from this p.o.c. And he didn't add value to it, he was misused. It's not worth renting, save the $2. This definitely unseats Genghis Khan as one of the worst movies in movie history. Recall Genghis Khan was so bad Howard Hughes bought every copy on the face of the earth to keep them from being distributed. In his lifetime that was a successful maneuver. However copies of Genghis Khan can be seen today because after Howard died they were a part of his estate, and one of the beneficiaries sold the prints to Universal. John Wayne as Genghis Khan was a bad idea, Ryan Reynolds as "blue shirt guy" was even worse. If this film was shown to test audiences in private screenings the studios could have saved promotional costs, and maybe they did.
The Tamarind Seed (1974)
I'm glad I saw it
It might, like The Hunt For Red October, have been better to experience this movie while cold war tensions were palpable instead of in 2020. Unlike Red October at least it was a contemporary to the cold war when it came out. The other issue is, for me, that I just can't see Andrew's
outside of Maria VonTrap or Disney. For me she is typecast, but in a good way. This movie shows she had more acting chops, but she did so well as Mary Poppins!
Vice (2018)
It wasn't drama, comedy, satire, a lampoon; or entertaining, so what was it?
They didn't interview anyone (and interviews might not have been granted because of their SNL and Will Ferrell heritage). There is a shallow tapping of publicly available facts presented in this movie and everything else is spun, made up, or doesn't jibe. I think the shallow tapping is deliberate and very much SNL in style. So I'd call this movie a collage of overly long SNL skits that didn't make the SNL cut.
A rich history of real events is passed over for a fictional co-mangling of a handful of cherry-picked vignettes such as the hunting accident, Cheney negotiating with G.W. for special V.P. privileges, Halliburton having profits while functioning on "time and materials contracts" during the Iraq war (when no other businesses would go there), etc. So, we have a 2¼ hour movie that's a fictional skew they want us to believe was the way things were "their truth" and why. All that misinformation and make believe is wound tightly around what few facts are represented such as Cheney's daughter being a lesbian, Cheney's order for military jets to shoot down ANY unidentified aircraft (Flight 93* was the only suspect, and Flight 93 wasn't specifically mentioned in the movie so Cheney's line could say "ANY").
*There were no armed jets on standby anywhere in the USA at the time. FYI: The DC air space has been protected since 9-11, but three F16's did try to intercept Flight 93 in what would have been kamikaze missions.
This was more like something Joel and Ethan Coen would have made and they even began Fargo with "This is Based on a True Story" which they admit was the first gag in that film. Where "Vice" parted from something the Coen's would do is there is no connective tissue here front to back, no story telling, it was just a political hack without any balance in time or space. If the Coens had made it to their standards it would have been entertaining even if contrived. The best I can say of the Makay/Ferrell version is it's pure message encased in propaganda and some folks will probably believe it, certainly the current "not my president crowd" and of course the gullible snow flakes and their children. If these humorists by reputation tried for humor they missed on that account as well. This is not funny material, we shouldn't have taken shock and awe to Iraq, a big mistake, but then you weren't doing any real drama in this movie.
The casting people and the makeup people were great in their choices. The actors were highly capable, but they and the audience suffer under the disconnect in the writing and directing. Where truth would have made a rich canvass, reveal, and entertained us the designs of the writer-director failed. People not born in 2001 will view this as history, just as the fictional Pearl Harbor released in 2001 will be mistaken for what really happened 12/7/41.
This is sadly another one of those movies where the people that made choices for the trailer should have been the ones making the movie. The trailers feigned the promise of solid entertainment, but in the words of Winston Churchill those promotional people knew "this was their finest two minutes." The skilled actors chosen even made AAMPAS think in terms of awards but clever resemblances, mannerisms, speech patterns, and makeup do not a good story make. Unknowns with a good story have a better chance. This is what you get when a Mutual Admiration Society gets some money and a green light.
Guarding Tess (1994)
Great movie
This is certainly the one of the best efforts of either lead actor in their careers. It's a throw back to the days of Tracy & Hepburn (not comparing actors but film genre and quality). From outright laughs to tender moments of sharing, and then even part-thriller with Austin Pendleton making a major change from What's Up Doc to Trial And Error. If you don't remember the comedy duo's that included Grant & Roger's, Day & Hudson, Ball & Skelton, or more recently Ryan & Hanks, etc. then my reference to this being throwback to those days past may not resonate. If you don't enjoy this because you are accustomed to "more of everything" then I'm sad for you. Simply leaving the theater feeling good with time well spent and a smile was a good value and is not an experience offered very much in these days of CGI and exploding heads. If today's newer and younger audience could take a break from frenzied action and complex plots and come in for what we enjoyed they might appreciate that people relationships in ordinary settings can be all you need for an enjoyable experience.
Conspiracy (2008)
Seem familiar?
If you've seen Bad Day at Black Rock you've seen the better version of this.
A crippled veteran (Tracy a missing hand/Kilmer a missing leg) arrives in a closely knit and secretive older west style town with something to hide asking about a veteran Hispanic Hero (in Black Rock it was a Japanese who had a war hero son). In both the person searched for had been murdered. Both town's were isolated and off the main route.
One chief bad guy and a couple of henchmen and a whole town full of people looking away, staying uninvolved.
Val Kilmer - Spencer Tracy; Gary Cole - Robert Ryan; Jennifer Esposito - Ann Francis; Jay Jablonski - Dean Jagger; The wildflower at the grave; The empty/full hotel and reluctant clerk; the unavailable taxicab or rental car; Christopher Gehrman - Ernest Borgnine; Scott Burkett or David Frye (take your pick) - Lee Marvin; Harassment at lunchtime in diner ending in a man through screen door
Bowl of Chili - Bowl of Chili; Milk - Ketchup
Too many coincidences to not accept that this borrowed heavily from Bad Day At Black Rock and updated it. I'm not saying it's plagiarism, but someone surely saw and liked Bad Day and later took pen in hand and the gray matter replayed an impression left into a new story; honest mistake.
The only things missing were the jeep/car chase, Walter Brennan's role, the Molotov cocktail, and the telegrapher (which wouldn't be needed because of the era). The Conspiracy added more bad guys and didn't have a train, but they did have a carpool.
Another coincidence: Kilmer has made an extraordinary amount of movies in New Mexico; he must like it there, or perhaps even lives there??
Some of this town looked a lot like the Silverado set, I think I saw the saloon where Costner backed out and drew and fired at 90 degree angles at bad guys.
Everwood: Ghosts (2006)
Everwood Utah
I reached this title by clicking the link "Everwood Utah." According to the story-line Everwood was in the Colorado Rockies, but I had seen views in the series which I regularly watched that were in and about Ogden Utah.
I wasn't surprised of the Utah connection when I saw the link, I just didn't understand it technically, unless of course it's there because somewhere Utah is credited openly as being the film location.
The country is beautiful in either state, and though I knew this little secret when I viewed the series as a fan I never found myself hung up by the fact. I've always been fascinated by trying to figure out the real locations in movies or TV, I wish there were a resource devoted to that; I'm probably alone in that interest. Enjoy.
Rodney (2004)
Family Fare
I saw the other comments and the only way I can account for the variance in viewpoint is the differences in expectancy. I had not seen the comedian before to the best of my knowledge so this was just another sitcom with unknown faces to me. It was good family entertainment, story-telling, based on something one could expect to occur in the home. I really appreciate not having to make excuses for poor behavior of actors on screen (and off) to children; there was no risqué content. I hope that wasn't just this one episode by a fluke, I hope there's more like this to come. We need decency back for (at least) family viewing, even if it means some people will call it flat and others call it predictable. I'm old enough to remember Ozzie and Harriet, and by today's sophisticated and earthy world view Ozzie and Harriet would be slaughtered by commentary and then summarily canceled. In America our tastes have become more sophisticated, but that shouldn't be blindly taken as a good thing. Almost nobody blushes at anything any more, and it seems to take more shock and awe (even in family situations) to satiate our appetites. We're like the frog put in water with the temperature slowly raised to where it's boiling before we are aware (if we are ever aware). My opinion is that it's our loss (just like it's the frogs loss); our loss that we think this show is missing anything; what we need back is our appreciation for a simple story-line made up of genuine family situations. In the show I saw someone who looked how I think Mac Davis would have aged to this point in time (after all these years since his variety show). In IMDb Mac wasn't listed in the cast of Rodney, but when I checked under Mac's page he had guested on three episodes. IMDb is wonderful for answering questions that arise. Summary: We need decency back for (at least) family viewing, even if it means some people will call it flat and others call it predictable. Flat and predictable are an element in life, a good one that makes us feel secure, when someone plays that back at us on screen we should call it a good thing. The fastest of the thrill rides at Disneyland is partly appreciated because of its contrast to the other rides, a point we're losing about Disneyland, about stories, and life.