I just watched "tick tick BOOM!"on Netflix. I'm almost speechless. I feel that RENT is one of the best musicals written and this film about Jonathan Larson put RENT and horrible period in America's history into sharp focus and brought back so many memories of my own similar experiences in the early 90s that still haunt me to this day. This is a brilliant musical and presented perfectly with insight, compassion, fear, and humanity. I can not imagine what soul uplifting stories Jonathan would have given the world had he lived longer.
Reviews
9 Reviews
Manifest
(2018–2023)
The flight of 828 took less time to land than this story line
26 July 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Good premise; sort of a Stranger Things meets V meets the 1978 New Jersey Yellow Pages. I'm only part way into the 3rd season and I need an injection of Parveen Kaur's character's serum to push through to the end.
Never have I seen so many uses of resting b*tch face, grimace, angst, hugs, anger, and the phrase "what are we going to do?" so many times as each 828 seconds of this otherwise creative story.
Now this is not to say that the people involved in production aren't skilled in their art. I just think they could have put down the crayolas and picked up the oil paints, tightened up the timing, and used their skills to create a much more impactful movie. As it is, this is just another sci fi series that has been dumbed down for a North American audience.
Never have I seen so many uses of resting b*tch face, grimace, angst, hugs, anger, and the phrase "what are we going to do?" so many times as each 828 seconds of this otherwise creative story.
Now this is not to say that the people involved in production aren't skilled in their art. I just think they could have put down the crayolas and picked up the oil paints, tightened up the timing, and used their skills to create a much more impactful movie. As it is, this is just another sci fi series that has been dumbed down for a North American audience.
Prank Encounters
(2019–2021)
I was pranked into giving up 30 minutes
17 November 2019
Argh. Really poorly staged "prank". Could barely get through first episode. I won't be making that mistake on the rest of the series. One scene you can clearly see the set crew off stage in full view of the "victims". Go ahead and watch this, but you have been warned that it is time you will never get back. Just don't expect a comedy version of Stranger Things.
Pompeii
(I) (2014)
You know nothing about volcanoes Jon Snow!
29 May 2014
Warning: Spoilers
One does not simply walk into Pompeii. Read the cast list. It is the best part of this entire film. From there it goes down hill faster than a pyroclastic flow. If you only expect a 60's styled B- movie gladiator Shake'n'Bake then you will thoroughly enjoy this film. However, unlike some really horrible movies out there, this one at least is not impossible to watch so don't pass this up if you have some time to kill. But when you do, suspend everything you have ever watched about real volcano eruptions we have witnessed in real time during the past 40 years. It is just a moderately interesting love story set amongst some Mordor-like CGI. And like the movie Titanic, we know how this story ends.
40 Days and Nights
(2012)
I now have a new "all time worst film ever made"
25 February 2013
Warning: Spoilers
No amount of drugs and alcohol could make watching 40 DAYS AND NIGHTS less cringe worthy. One of those horrible "Last Days" kinda script where for the actors own good you pray the new Arks sink as quickly as they can and end mankind's and the audiences' suffering. Like any good train wreck however, I couldn't stop watching it. My partner kept saying it couldn't get much worse, but it got worse. So once more he said it couldn't really get worse could it? Sure enough, it got even more so. It was as if we were mesmerized by the whirlpool of wooden actors reciting 4th grade text being directed by a blindfolded director who saved money by interjecting news footage of hurricanes and filming with a portable car wash . Watch it at your own intellectual peril, or just for the pure enjoyment of a good eye rolling face palming session. If you love poorly assembled movies, you will love this one.
The Eagle
(2011)
Wonderfully produced film
17 November 2011
I held off watching this film as, like westerns of my youth, the whole gladiator/crusader themes have saturated the market for a time. I am glad I waited as I could actually sit down and enjoy this film. Some say the accents were off, the acting stiff. I saw nothing that was overly out of place (including Sutherland's Canadian accent). If they had wanted authenticity, they would have all been speaking Latin.
I am a retired director so watching any film is a bit difficult for me to sit back and let the film take me to another place. Usually I will subconsciously pick it apart as an armchair quarterback. Not so with this film. I enjoyed this film from the credits to credits. I won't go on about the plot. It is basically about the struggle between our perceptions of our parents and reality, the conflicts of people from different cultures, trust and betrayal...basically all the struggles we all face in modern life.
Of particular pleasure was the cinematography and sound...little nuances not found in a lot of films today.
A great piece of work. Not perfect perhaps, but a buddy film much better than I had expected.
I am a retired director so watching any film is a bit difficult for me to sit back and let the film take me to another place. Usually I will subconsciously pick it apart as an armchair quarterback. Not so with this film. I enjoyed this film from the credits to credits. I won't go on about the plot. It is basically about the struggle between our perceptions of our parents and reality, the conflicts of people from different cultures, trust and betrayal...basically all the struggles we all face in modern life.
Of particular pleasure was the cinematography and sound...little nuances not found in a lot of films today.
A great piece of work. Not perfect perhaps, but a buddy film much better than I had expected.
Your Highness
(2011)
Washing out my ears.
6 August 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I had been waiting and waiting to see this movie since watching the previews on TV. I was not disappointed. The story line, though very cliché, was very well told with some very well written puns and slapstick which never got out of hand. Great special effects and set designs. and marvellous acting on everyone parts... However, I saw the Unrated version which I am hoping was toned down for a paying audience. Granted this movie was eventually rated R I believe, but we know that small kids seem to get in anyway and our society really doesn't care. In my honest opinion this is not a family film as it appeared on the TV teasers. I talk like rusty sailor sometimes and can utilize every version of an F word to perfection, but it still embarrasses me when a movie has to resort to using language like this as the catalyst for a laugh. The movie could have held up on its own without all the sophomoric potty mouth jokes, the drawings and other visual aids. I say re-film this, using the same great talent that is in the movie and see if they could make a joke work without adding slang named body parts or normal body functions into the mix. Don't get me wrong, I do recommend you do see it as it is quite funny, but just be prepared for some gratuitous drops in intelligent script writing and loss of a better word.
Respire
(2010)
A good Drive-in movie
3 May 2011
Respire took me back to my youth when my brother would take us to the drive in movie. We would watch the simple mystery/horror through hands pressed against our faces to protect us from the boogie man. But that is about as far as this movie got for me, memories of getting scared as a kid. Which usually didn't take much effort in a horror movie.
As an adult however I had to constantly remind myself that there wasn't a lot of money thrown at this film which may be why some of the script gets very "home movieish" at times. I shouldn't have had to think of excuses for stiff dialogue. But the plot twists are fun to watch as they are revealed just as all the red corn syrup is fun to watch squirting out of wounds.
Compared to more widely released films, this one passes the test of a good scary tween/teen movie but fails to live up to the standards set by Halloween, Saw, Nightmare on Elm Street and others. I guess I am stuffy that way.
But graded simply on its own merit, it is worth including into your teenager's weekend slumber party. Providing you don't mind some on again / off again violence (and the required red corn syrup).
Don't expect much and you won't be disappointed. You might actually enjoy it.
As an adult however I had to constantly remind myself that there wasn't a lot of money thrown at this film which may be why some of the script gets very "home movieish" at times. I shouldn't have had to think of excuses for stiff dialogue. But the plot twists are fun to watch as they are revealed just as all the red corn syrup is fun to watch squirting out of wounds.
Compared to more widely released films, this one passes the test of a good scary tween/teen movie but fails to live up to the standards set by Halloween, Saw, Nightmare on Elm Street and others. I guess I am stuffy that way.
But graded simply on its own merit, it is worth including into your teenager's weekend slumber party. Providing you don't mind some on again / off again violence (and the required red corn syrup).
Don't expect much and you won't be disappointed. You might actually enjoy it.
Departures
(2008)
A movie that will fill your heart
28 December 2009
Every so often a motion picture will cross your path that stuns you with is visual images and the depth of its thought. A piece of art that separates itself from the realm of "movie" and is deserving of the term "film". Okuribito is one of those rare gems.
In its subtle portrayal of a young man caught between what he thinks he wants in life and what he actually needs, Okuribito accomplishes what many modern movies do not... a film that touches your very soul.
To dwell on its plot here would be like trying to describe the fragrance of jasmine over the phone. This is a motion picture that must be experienced in person and within one's individual emotions.
Okuribito is a film you must see.
In its subtle portrayal of a young man caught between what he thinks he wants in life and what he actually needs, Okuribito accomplishes what many modern movies do not... a film that touches your very soul.
To dwell on its plot here would be like trying to describe the fragrance of jasmine over the phone. This is a motion picture that must be experienced in person and within one's individual emotions.
Okuribito is a film you must see.
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