DonnahL Reviews

Citizen Kane (1941)

Completely Irrelevant for a 39-year-old female to watch in 2021!

[1/10 · 8 March 2021]

Never have I ever been so let down by a "Classic" film!

This is probably the biggest example of why Hollywood desperately needed to add diversity to their films! Never has it been so obvious I'm watching a movie about a rich, white, male who starts any business he wants, makes even more money, and blows up all the good things in his life because of his ego and philandering! Yep tale as old and frustrating as it's time. Stupid, weak men, who blow up their families and lives, and any chance of Presidency by allowing someone to find out they spent time with another woman - whether they were guilty or not. And then he married this pathetic, other woman and tried to make her successful so they wouldn't feel so bad!

Honestly, if you were supposed to cringe watching this movie , it achieved its goal. If you were supposed to feel boredom at his corporate life, it achieved its goal. If you were supposed to feel sad at all the material possessions he amassed but no one enjoyed and then auctioned off at the end of his life, it achieved its goal.

The only possible thing I can think of is that so many happy musicals were made in the 40s, that when this depressing piece of crap came on the screen, people thought wow, that's so deep and interesting, what a tortured man... what a great character portrait! Well it hasn't held up today at all, there so many more interesting character portraits that actually have a storyline and more layers too them.

This one sets to the baseline for the most cliche portrait of a weak man ever made. Oh and they don't even do a good job of focussing on finding out what "Rosebud" meant. Also, all the actors aren't even very pretty or enigmatic to look at - all plain and boring. The detail in the sets must have been interesting back then though.

And just so I don't sound like a complete ignoramus, I appreciate classic movies that include "Lawrence of Arabia", "Ben Her", "Goodfellas", "Apocalypse Now", "Casablanca", "Sound of Music"... and the list goes on. I also enjoy Arthouse movies, and dislike comic book movies. But I'm at my limit now on watching male egos doing weak male things! It's 2021 and the world has woken up! I'm looking at you "The Irishman" and "Once Upon a Time in America" - America, you can't pull this crap on us anymore, we've woken up to realise "it's all about you"!

Wild Mountain Thyme (2020)

The accents had me at hello.

[8/10 · 6 February 2021]

When I heard the Irish accents in the trailer, I knew I had to go see this film. I didn't know anything else about the film, but my grandma was from Northern Ireland and she sounded like that. I was grinning from ear to ear just at the dialogue because I could see so much of my grandma in it! Maybe these days Irish people are more modern, and this is a stereotype they want to avoid, but it is a stereotype for a reason! The dialogue and the scenery brought a big smile to my face. I agree it's quirky and whimsical, but that's exactly what I wanted and got!

This movie reminds me of another of my fav movies: Aloha! Yes not many people liked that one either but the parts were all so beautiful that I was able to get enjoyment from each scene separately, and I loved that Hawaiian myths were represented, despite being in a stereotypical way.

In both these films you need to enjoy the "parts"; not the "sum of the parts".

Tenet (2020)

My ears are ringing 24hrs later...No Oscars for Sound Effects

[4/10 · 21 September 2020]

Firstly, take earmuffs or something. My mother sat through most of the movie with fingers in her ears, my ears have still been ringing 24hrs later! This was particularly bad at the start of the film - I was ready to walk out after 15mins of ear-deafening soundtrack, with no point to it other than to make a lot of noise: case in point the early railway scene. Seriously do we need the sound of 10 freight trains to over-shadow the action going on?! I couldn't even concentrate on the screen it was so deafening.

Secondly, once you get past the horrendous sound effects at the beginning, the story seems like it is going to be ok, you can sort of follow it, and thankfully most of it takes place in the real world....this takes you up to about an hour. Then the switch happens and you are forced to sit through the story you just watched in reverse and all jumbled up BORING!! It wasn't that great of a story in the first place, let alone to have to see it twice! After 2 hours I was tired and exhausted and just wished I was watching this at home so I could turn it off and sleep - come back to the ending later- it wasn't like I was compelled to find out what happened....

Last 30mins - as painful, loud, confusing, pointless as expected. No payoff, no explanation for how it's even possible that if one man kills himself then the world will end because of an "algorithm" that is already split up and hidden and nowhere near him in anyway and from what I could tell, not connected to any power source???!!! Maybe this is one for Wikipedia to answer! But really should we have to resort to that? A movie should be self-contained. The worst part of the film is the ending. Especially when it was revealed that the "protagonist" would have to do this all over again on repeat in the future! Poor soul I feel for you... What a boring life you will have.

If you think I don't like "repeat movies" That's not the case as I really liked Edge of Tomorrow. I've given this movie 4 stars for Elizabeth Debeki because at least Nolan had the foresight to put a beautiful woman on screen to add some soothing colour and help ease the pain.

My mother (who loves Inception) has said this movie has done it for her now. She won't go back to the movies if her ears will be blown off. She'd rather watch Netflix now where she can control the sound and put on subtitles, if needed, for the dialogue. I don't disagree with her.

The only reason we sat through this and didn't ask for our money back is because there are literally no alternative movies being released at the moment. I think any box office for this will be utterly false and due to Covid-19. I think Nolan knew this would be a flop if released with actual screen competition.

The Goldfinch (2019)

How did such a boring story with a Pulitzer Prize?!

[6/10 · 17 May 2020]

After watching this movie I'm left wondering how on earth a book with such boring, dull and cliche content could possibly win a Pulitzer Prize?! Unfortunately this movie has put me off reading the remainder of the book! The first few chapters of the book that I actually managed to read before the film came out, were enjoyable and felt like they were full of promise... but after sitting through 2.5hrs of watching a kid get messed up with silly friends and adults who just lead him down the path of drugs and alcohol, I'm not sure I'll waste my time finishing it....At least the drug scenes weren't too long or heavy.

The cinematography and set pieces tried to redeem the movie, but because there was nothing else to look at or see on screen, they started to feel very "try-hard" for want of a better word. It felt like the film-makers spent way too long trying to turn the story into a "Gatsby", or "Talented Mr Ripley".

But this story was supposed to be about a painting and this painting didn't feature enough in the long-meandering journey for the payoff at the end.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018)

Fast forward to the end credits!

[5/10 · 6 January 2020]

The best part of this movie was the two seconds that Misty Copland danced at the party, but at least the end credits show a more extensive performance - just like a consolation prize that you got for sitting through this unbearable, predictable cliche bore of a movie. I love Christmas and I love Disney movies, so I wasn't expecting it to be a ballet or even follow the original story, but this was just another heartless, soulless paint by numbers script. Yes the visuals and costuming was some of the best I've seen, but I imagine if they were just beautiful photographs on a gallery wall I would have enjoyed them more because I could imagine that something fun and interesting was going on, rather than the reality of this movie! Yes I love Mackenzie Foy but she can't save a dull script. Keira Knightly is as miscast as Cameron Diaz was in the Annie remake! Stop with the fake fairytale voices, it's distracting and off putting. Helen Mirren and Morgan Freeman were unnecessary big names in a story that requires not much of them.

Maybe if you liked the boring Maleficent, you'll like this. At least a Wrinkle in Time had a less predictable flow. This had so much potential to be something like "Hugo", but just follows the same straight-line plot as the 20 previous movies made about good vs evil! I'd let a 5-year old who hadn't seen any other movies watch this.

Last Christmas (2019)

Would have been 10/10 if not for the horrible wardrobe choices.

[8/10 · 9 November 2019]

This could have been a perfect movie, but I spent the first 70% of the film wanting to punch the wardrobe person. It's 2019, do we really need the main character walking around looking like a homeless person in a dated ugly leopard print coat that seriously looked like it smelled. Emilia Clark's homeless person look was completed by the hair and makeup department with dirty, unwashed hair and trashy eye makeup. Seriously! I still want my Christmas rom-coms to be somewhat magical! Thankfully the story developed enough for me to forget this about 70% through.... Everything else was great: supporting cast, music, story, Christmas cheer, etc etc. There was no need for a token black person lesbian though, when all the London extras were white!

Palm Beach (2019)

Over 60s males, this time it's your turn

[6/10 · 6 August 2019]

10 out of 10 for the cinematography and production design. I love my films to look like tourism commercials, and we don't do enough of that in Australian cinema.

But as a thirtysomething female, the content of this film really irritated me. It's a bit hard to watch a bunch of privileged, egotistical, white male baby boomers sip Dom Perignon in a Palm Beach mansion and lament about their "real-life problems" - even if it is somebody's birthday!

I'm reminded enough of this generation wealth and health gap going to work everyday; this isn't something I want to watch on the big screen too.

Having said that, if you are an older male, then finally someone has made a film for you. There have been a string of films like this for the over 60s women, now men it's your turn!

You can not fault the actual film making, everything is beautiful, and I want to support Australian film, I'm just the wrong target-market.