Yili-zhu-125-540994 Reviews

All of Us Strangers (2023)

decadent life of boring people

[6/10 · 29 April 2024]

I don't know why so many gay movies portrayed gay people in depressing and decadent mood. This one did it again. I know multiple gays in real life. Unlike the characters in this movie, they are energetic, engaging and full of life. I found it offensive to present them as lonely, sick, idling and unhappy individuals. Please, stop portraying them as outliers of the society.

I understand that some people feel the need to fight for gay rights and perhaps also try to win sympathy from the straight people. However, in societies like Australia, GLBTIQ people are widely accepted as equals, not regarded as special, vulnerable and miserable minorities. The movie makers should be treated as equals among us, not special people needing special treatment. Movies like this one do not make gays more acceptable, but do the opposite by reinforcing the stereotypes that they are different from us.

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

A simple story told in 3.5 hours

[6/10 · 1 December 2023]

DiCaprio's acting was very good, portraying a simple, greedy, affectionate and cruel character. Plemons also produced a very good performance, though his character is limited to a stereotypical investigator. Other actors are less impressive, portraying only single dimensional characters, like a cunning uncle, a loyal wife or a cold blooded brother.

The movie was shot in slow pace deliberately, not sure if this helped in creating the 1920's feel. It took me a long time to warm up and figure out what the story is about. The movie showed Osage people living like British upper class and the ordinary white people worked as chauffeurs and servants, acting respectfully around them. I don't know if this was true, given the systemic racism and persecutions against the coloured people in the US at the time.

Some of the minor details are also unrealistic. The street of a small town was as vibrant, busy and tidy as New York City. The 1920's motor vehicle run so smoothly and quietly on dirt road like Toyota Camry on bitumen, and house indoor settings, furniture and even door knobs were so refined like those in 1970s. Oklahoma's Rural areas only started to have electricity in mid 1930s, but halfway through the movie, candles were replaced with generous electric bulbs, even covering entire streets.

The movie presented itself as a serious production about Osage Indian Murders. However there are so many things that just don't feel right. Has COVID caused such drop in movie quality in Hollywood?

Stillwater (2021)

A reflection of the US society

[8/10 · 23 July 2023]

This is a serious movie about the US society, the lower working class family in particular.

Bill is a roughneck. He was hard working and God believing. As usual, it was the alcohol that ruined his life and his relation to daughter Alison.

Alison decided to study in Marseille just to get away from him as far as possible. The she got involved with a troubled girl. When she couldn't handle her, she hired a thug, Akim to get rid of her. From there, she went down hill.

When Bill came to Marseille and visited her in the prison, he got involved in trying to prove her innocence, ended in finding and kidnapping Akim. When the police found the DNA of Akim's hair matches those found at the crime scene, the court released Alison.

While Bill eventually realised that Alison was not as innocent as she claimed, he did nothing, choosing to bury her secrets.

The movie showed, through Damon's acting, the people from a US rural communities, who struggled with life due to their own flaws, do not and can not reflect and learn from their past, but simply repeated what they did when facing problems, including cutting corners and going rogue, hoping for a better result next time.

It felt like Bill and Alison, and their fellow Americans, were living in a cage with invisible walls. They struggled, worked hard and prayed hard, by just couldn't get out it.

The Whale (2022)

A good performance from Fraser but let down by the story and supporting cast

[7/10 · 15 April 2023]

Fraser's performance is very good but not great. He portrayed a complex character who has the wisdom in seeing the essence of life and feelings, while struggling with his sorrow past that spilled into the present. Fraser's act is particularly good in the nuanced expressions of Charlie's inner state. However his performance is let down by both the story and the supporting cast.

Charlie refused to get treatment for his obesity. And the reason presented is to save the money for his estranged daughter out of his guilt. However this is illogical given Charlie's intelligence. Would it not be better if he gets treatment and recovers from the death spiral so that he can live longer and give her more love and money? Maybe his true reason for refusing treatment is that he is drowning in sorrow and giving up. However this line of reasoning is not presented.

The role of Thomas is a bit meaningless. His presence is essentially a nuisance. He pestered around Charlie to promote his belief, while Charlie responded in an intellectual manner to push him back. There is little story in their interactions, just annoyances. It would add a good religious angle to explore Charlie'a inner world further, but the film failed to do so.

The bigger failings are from Allie and Liz. Liz's role merely keeps the story going. It's a missed opportunity. She could have added one extra dimension to Charlie's character, in revealing more his struggle with competing emotions to his lover and daughter. The script doesn't give her a chance.

The biggest failure is from Sink as Ellie. She is a single dimensioned character, with only one emotion - anger out of hate. I can't see even a trace of resentment from her that would be expected from this kind of relationship breakdown. The most intense scenes are played between her and Charlie. However the interactions are reduced to a guilty father pleading with an angry daughter. This is where Fraser could have shined more on Charlie's character. He could not do it because Sink is just barking at him.

Fraser deserves the Award but the film deserves not much of anything else.

Missing (I) (2023)

An poorly constructed plot

[6/10 · 6 April 2023]

The movie presents multiple twisted stories. Those twists appears to be intended to keep the audience engaged. However, when you get through to the end, you can't help thinking: what? Do the guy behind all of this really need such convoluted scheme to achieve his end, and what is exactly his end? The early part of the film shows the young 18 year old girl as a pretty ordinary person who lives an uninspired life, killing her time on internet. But after crisis hits, she turned into a super intelligent woman able to discover many hidden secrets at lightning speed. I was thinking that if she was in charge of all of police departments in the United States, the US would be crime free. I don't mind dramatising the story because you need this to keep the audience entertained. But can the film makers please use some brain cells when making up the stories. Otherwise when you walk out of the cinema, you fell like just having listened to a dumb person talking for two hours.

Clean (I) (2022)

A tough person through a tough life

[9/10 · 19 November 2022]

Sandra's life story is both disheartening and admirable. She suffered immensely since childhood, being adopted into an abusive family. Added on the top was her gender identity issues. Her mental health problem also forced her to leave her (his) family behind. However, after those life traumas, prostitution and rape, she recovered and rediscovered herself. The cleaning business gave her an opportunity to redeem herself and help others. Her own life experience enabled her to see others' life traumas in a different light with care, compassion and empathy.

The documentary also shed light on the trauma cleaning business, including cleaning for hoarders and people who lost ability to look after themselves. The staff in Sandra's business displayed decent values and attitude towards others, no matter how badly they have failed themselves. I like one of the worker's comment: we all are just a few mistakes away from living like them. So true!

The Battle at Lake Changjin (2021)

an expensive imitation of the great war movies

[4/10 · 18 September 2022]

This is just an expensive imitation of the great war movies like Save Private Ryan. The problem is, unlike in Save Private Ryan, the Chinese directors and actors did not show the war as human tragedies, where countless young lives were lost. They presented the battles as glorious, heroic and patriotic acts. This just show the mindset of the Chinese elites nowadays.

The movie did not demonise the US troops. That's an improvement. However the US officers and soldiers characters are just like movie props, with little personalities or emotions. I don't know if this is because they can't get good US actors, or because they don't want US soldiers look more humane than the Chinese.

The movie showed the huge loss to the Chinese army only in numbers, when casualties were reported by the soldiers. But the fighting scene predominately shows US soldiers got blown up into the sky, with very few scenes showing Chinese soldiers getting killed. This is the same old practices of the Chinese war movies, showing how brave and effective killing machine the Chinese army is.

For the westerners who generally do not know what happened in Korean War, and what kind of soldiers were sent over to fight. Here is a fact to ponder: a large portion of Chinese POWs refused to go back to China and were sent to Taiwan.

The Town (2010)

Where's the line between right and wrong?

[6/10 · 27 September 2021]

The movie portrays a hardcore criminal as loving and caring gentleman with a decent heart. These people have no hesitation to take money from others. When cornered, they have no hesitation to kill. Even if they have a soft side towards their loved ones, they are still threats and cancers of the society. So what's the film maker's purpose of this movie? Just make a movie as long as it can bring in profit? Now the line between the film makers and criminals is becoming blurry.

American Murder: The Family Next Door (2020)

Watch out for this type of person!

[8/10 · 10 October 2020]

He decided to eliminate his family So as to get a new life. Obviously if his family lived on, it would be a burden to his new life. He seems to want all the benefits at no cost to him. Is it just him? Well, his parents refused to come to his wedding because they didn't like Shanann. What does this say about their attitude towards fulfilling their obligations when it is inconvenient? I see a pattern in Watts family.

The Social Dilemma (2020)

I thought I would be immune.

[10/10 · 15 September 2020]

I always have regarded myself as sufficiently intelligent and immune to media manipulation until I watch this. We are creatures reactive to our environment. And our environment is what our sensors perceive. When social medias feed us the selected information based on our preferences or biases, for the purpose of retaining or extracting our attention to generate advertising revenue, it manipulates how we perceive this world. It manipulates our judgements, not for our benefits.