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Bajo cero (2021)
Wrong title.
This whole movie could be set in the tropics under a sweltering hot sun, and the same results could be achieved that this movie achieves. The frigid weather in this movie has as much contribution to the proceedings as Jimmy Kimmel makes to the John Oliver show. Which is below zero in case you were wondering. I have nothing else to add.
Behind Her Eyes (2021)
Not too bad.
Good start, interesting build-up of suspense, good actors, great settings, and a decent story are all messed up by a rushed, and illogical ending. The twist is not unsmart; it, however, takes way too many liberties to achieve the end goal. I have not read the book that this was based on, but it feels like this story should have been left in the book, and not adapted for the screen as it would have remained more mysterious, and lingered a while longer in the head of the reader.
The lead women were both brilliant, and mesmerizing in their acting; they definitely have promising careers ahead. I found the lead male actor forgettable, and replaceable. The actor who played Rob was well-cast, and did a great job. The best thing about this show is the settings, and set design, although I am not sure what's with the whole lot of yellow they use in the color palette - perhaps it is better referenced in the book, or perhaps I am missing something here.
P. S. : I agree with the reviewer who noted that Eve Hewson has a resemblance to Isabella Rossellini - it is a rather striking resemblance.
What Lies Below (2020)
What Lies Below is an honest review.
Dreadful, and disgusting. Time lost.
On the plus side, it was good to see Mena Suvari, but I do wish she had chosen something different to say hi to her fans.
The Midnight Sky (2020)
Pregnant woman spacewalks. Okay, then.
If you want the short version of why you shouldn't watch this movie, read the title above. If you want a nice, long rant, then here goes.
Humanity discovers that one of Jupiter's moons is inhabitable, they name it K-23, and send out a crew there to check it out. Said crew thinks it resembles Colorado with the crisp air, and all. However, there is no sound there. If you have an atmosphere, you have a medium, so then how can it not conduct sound?
One of the astronauts gets impregnated by another WHILE ON THE MISSION IN SPACE. Instead of aborting the fetus, the crew seems to unanimously agree with her continuing the pregnancy on the trip back to Earth even though this affects their mission, and possibly their lives. Also, mommy, and daddy stupidest don't seem to be worried about how the fetus would tolerate the pressures of zero gravity, space travel, etc.
Clooney's character, Augustine, is a space scientist working in the Arctic region who is dying of cancer. Due to Earth having become a toxic radiation dump, people are evacuating. To where, no one knows. And when people are evacuating the place Santa calls home, you know it's bad.
Literally ALL communications from Earth into space are gone 'coz of whatever new disaster Earth is now flaunting, and the crew has no clue about the status of Earth. Augustine resolves to stay behind to tell the crew not to return to Earth coz it is now uninhabitable. But of course, his antenna sucks. Also while moping about the place, he finds a kid who got left behind, who also likes to mopes around.
He realizes that there is a weather station close by with a stronger antenna, packs like he is going to Target, and drives off with the kid on a snowmobile to find it. En route, a lot of stupidity ensues, and he beats hypothermia when he dives through scalding surface water into freezing Arctic waters below to unsuccessfully retrieve his snowmobile which falls in.
Eventually, a terminally ill man after being scalded, frozen, and thawed, WALKS his way to an Arctic weather station for miles through blizzards, and packs of predatory wolves with no food, and only pain pills with a child in tow, and arrives there alive. His ONLY problem? Frozen beard, and eyebrows.
Meanwhile, the spaceship gets hit by an asteroid, and the crew does a spacewalk to repair the radar. Mamanaut also goes out on the spacewalk while two other fully able astronauts sit in the bridge, and act as DJs.
Obviously, it is another astronaut that gets hit by flying debris. And she doesn't realize she has been injured till blood dramatically starts floating around in her helmet. It is a bad enough injury that she dies in minutes. So with such a gaping hole in her side, why wouldn't she know she was hit, and why doesn't the decompression alarm on her spacesuit go off upon impact?
Sigh... I mean if only they had a 'Mommy on Board' sign taped to the windows. Isn't it a downer when you are expecting a baby shower, to get thrown an asteroid shower, and then watch your colleague die?
Augustine finally gets through to them, and tells them what's what. The captain decides to use a gravity-assist from Earth, and slingshot their asses back to K-23. The DJs decide to return to Earth using re-entry a pod for sentimentality.
The kid is a twist I won't get into. But at the end, the two geniuses who get pregnant are the ones left on the ship. Do they make it to K-23? Do they have enough fuel? Supplies on hand? What about diapers, coz it's gonna be months before they go back, and mamanaut will pop soon, and baby poop is gonna be flying around. I mean it's fun enough changing diapers in the presence of gravity. Once they get there (if they even do), how do they plan to survive for a long period of time? The lack of sound will be the least of their problems.
There's more to it in terms of relationships but with such stupidity rampant, I don't care.
Something Borrowed (2011)
Horrendous mess. Avoid. Like. The. Plague.
SPOILERS!!
This is hands down the worst romcom. A total lack of redemption and spine from any character, and a horrendous plot if there is one and if ever there was one. At one point, that I air-slapped one of the leads.
Kate Hudson and Ginnifer Goodwin should move on from this genre. But I guess in Hollywood, if you are a hot blonde, you are doomed to always play the rich, dumb, partying, skimpily-clad blonde,and if you are Ginnifer Goodwin, well, you are basically typecast as Ginnifer Goodwin. All the actors did a good job, but when the plot is so terrible, no amount of good acting will help and this movie proves it.
Rachel (Goodwin) and Darcy (Hudson) are best friends from childhood. Rachel is the smart, plain-looking, yet pretty-in-a-way brunette, Darcy, the above-described blonde, Dex (Egglesfield) is the handsome, rich lawyer, and Ethan (Krasinski) the only sensible one in this mess.
So, Rachel and Dex really like each other all through law school, but Rachel has a pathologic need to hand over the good things in her life to her best friend, because she thinks she doesn't deserve them, despite obvious evidence to the contrary. In reaction to that, Dex doesn't ask her out either.
On her thirtieth birthday, Darcy, who by now is engaged to Dex, throws a huge party for her, after which she gets drunk and ends up sleeping with Dex.
This is where the movie starts to fall apart.
Rachel and Dex start to meet secretively and realise that they have always loved each other and are meant to be together, but they'd rather sneak around behind Darcy's back and spend romantic nights, than own up and deal with the consequences.
Instead, Dex is house-hunting with Darcy and upon seeing him with Darcy, Rachel tries to make him jealous by sleaze-dancing with his friend, Marcus.
Dex hasn't an iota of courage to come clean to Darcy and instead, when his father warns him to forget Rachel, he stares blankly instead of standing up for himself and the woman he loves.
To make matters worse, Darcy confesses to Rachel that she cheated on Dex with Marcus and when she asks Rachel if she should still marry Dex, despite everything, Rachel gives the thumbs-up.
Ethan (Krasinksi) figures out what's going on, but he loves Rachel, and wants the best for her and keeps telling her to do the right thing, in vain. When he gets sick of the charade, he even tries to make things right, but Rachel breaks his nose before he can say a word. Way to go!
Finally, after what seems like eons, Rachel does admit her feelings to Dex, and Dex, being the coward that he is, chickens out. Rachel gets upset and goes to London to where Ethan has relocated by now (probably to escape this madness and keep his body intact, I don't blame him). Ethan tells her that he loves her, that unlike with Dex, she is his first choice. Rachel gives an awwww-but-I-don't-love-you type expression and of course, Ethan "understands".
Rachel returns to New York City, because after all, her best friend needs her at her wedding. Never mind, the fact that she slept with said BFF's fiancée and stabbed her in the back, but who cares, right?
When she gets back, Dex is waiting for her, he has called off the wedding and they run into each other's arms. Darcy then shows up at her place and tells her that she is pregnant with Marcus' baby and despite the spineless Dex hiding from her in the kitchen, she finds his jacket and understands the truth. She is mad at them and shouts, 'I hate you!' to Rachel and leaves.
Two months later, Dex and Rachel are together and Rachel meets Darcy on the street, who tells her she is happy, patting her baby bump. She is better off without these toxic people in her life. She eventually ends up in London and is last seen chasing after Ethan, who can't seem to catch a break from this craziness and is seen running away from her.
The writers made Darcy cheat on Dex only so that she'd seem worse and they could redeem the lead pair. The worst part is, when Darcy first meets Dex at a bar where he is with Rachel, she proposes that he ask Rachel out to which Rachel says no and that they are just friends. Only then does Darcy make her move on him. Even after Dex follows her out and asks if she is okay with him dating her friend, she acts as though she is fine with it, though she clearly has tears in her eyes and every fricking pore in her body is screaming no.
Rachel is the worst excuse for a friend, Dex, for a man and a fiancée. Darcy is made evil just to end this never-ending crapfest.
The one star is for the line when Ethan says to Rachel, 'You and Dex deserve each other, he won't leave his fiancée to be with you and you don't have the nerve to ask for what you want.'
To think that the makers want to make a sequel! Shelve it already!
Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
A house of cards on a very shaky table.
* THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS*
Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts) comes to the conservative Wellesley School in 1953 to teach art, and to teach its students that they can handle both career and marriage, and not to give up on a career, even as society and the school itself tell them otherwise.
The students:
Betty (Dunst)is the rich snob who continuously insults Katherine for her liberal views on life and art, bashes people she dislikes in the school newsletter, and even schemes against her friends.
Joan (Stiles) wants to be a lawyer. Katherine helps her secure an admission to Yale.
Giselle (Gyllenhaal) is shown as being promiscuous. She sleeps with the professor of Italian, Bill Dunbar, but when he ends it, ends up bedding an older, married man. She doesn't have an aim in life regarding anything. Early on, she is shown kissing even the girls in intimate places on the body in a couple of scenes (oddly, they don't mind). Made me wonder if she is bisexual, but that angle is not explored, so why hint at it? Don't get me wrong - a girl can sexually explore her boundaries, but lurking around a professor's house to sleep with him and chasing married men is downright disgusting. Giselle is best described as a nymphomaniac.
Connie (Goodwin) is the simple girl who dreams of finding her prince charming, which she does eventually. No career plans.
Bill Dunbar (West) is the professor infamous for sleeping with his students. He ends up dating Katherine.
Why the girls take up art is unclear as none wants to pursue it further. They never study or research art. There are a few art class scenes, but the idea of using art as a tool on which to build the premise of the movie is not convincing.
The portrayal of Wellesley School is insulting to the school itself. Every effort is made to drill into the girls' heads that their purpose in life is to be good wives and mothers and nothing more.
The school does not permit Katherine to date Dunbar. (It is one of the conditions the school sets when her teaching contract is renewed.) This is outrageous bordering on hilarious, since the school is okay with Dunbar nailing students. Not to mention, for such a conservative school in the 1950s, there is no objection to the previously-existing lesbian relationship of the school nurse and biology teacher. (The relationship ended because the teacher died, not because the school banned it. Later, the nurse is fired for distributing contraception.)
Thereby, this is what the school rules dictate:
A member of the staff can have sexual relationships with students.
A member of the staff may engage in homo-, but not hetero- sexual, relations with another member of the staff. (I am surprised that no reviewer has mentioned these two points.)
Finally, Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts). When her decent boyfriend of some months travels thousands of miles to propose to her, she refuses saying it is too sudden. Next thing we know, she is in Dunbar's bed despite knowing of his ways and makes him promise to stop. Yeah, you ditch your nice boyfriend for no good reason and expect a womaniser not to cheat on you. Smart. Later, she breaks up with Dunbar over a trivial lie he told her. Why on earth she even falls for Dunbar in the first place is a million dollar question.
What happens next?
Betty gets married, husband cheats on her, she comes to her senses, apologises to Katherine, gets a divorce and after graduation, relocates with Giselle to Greenwich Village to pursue law. Giselle probably moves to Greenwich Village to find more men to seduce. Joan chooses family over career and gets married. Connie's story is not shown further.
After Katherine's contract is renewed for another year, I thought the movie might redeem itself by showing that Katherine continues to teach and marries Dunbar, thus showing that a woman can handle both career and marriage. Instead, she runs away to Europe. Hypocrite lead character. The girls follow her on bikes and wave teary farewells to her. God knows why.
Did we learn anything? No. Did Katherine accomplish anything? No.
Julia Roberts is a good actor, but this was a bad movie to produce and star in. Gyllenhaal and Goodwin are good.
The single star is for the 'Istanbul-Constantinople' track which was fun.
The inconsistencies throughout the movie make it seem like a house of cards being built on a very shaky table. Avoid.
Insidious (2010)
Good movie. DO NOT miss the end!
*This review may contain SPOILERS*.
Personally, I find supernatural horror to be the creepiest of all the sub genres of horror, because it is something that we don't know how to handle (if at all it exists). In that sense, 'Insidious' is as scary as it can get without being too gory or visually unappealing.
Director James Wan proves that you don't need tons of scary makeup and mutilated or bloody or zombie-like people to give a fright. Sure, there is some makeup used for frightening effects, but the scary-looking people, in addition to the tight story, make for a good scare.
The haunted family with the apparitions and scary faces popping out from every corner of the house, the husband (Josh, played by Patrick Wilson) not believing the wife (Renai, played by Rose Byrnes)when she tells him about the apparitions, thinking she's imagining things, yet eventually being forced to move to another house because the wife can't seem to control herself, the son (Dalton, played by Ty Simpkins) unconscious and doctors unable to explain the 'coma' he is in, are all routine ingredients of a horror flick. That's as routine as it gets.
Enter Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) and her team of paranormal investigators, and the story becomes gripping. Initially dismissive of Elise's observations, Josh eventually relents when he tallies some of his son's drawings with Elise's findings. What follows is even more thrilling as Josh's past is revealed and he tries to save his son.
But like with every good narrative, the best part is at the end. DO NOT miss the end!
Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne do a good job as the parents, but I felt that Byrne needed a little polishing of her acting skills (not that it handicapped the movie in any way, though). (Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne look good together.It would be interesting to watch them in a romcom.)
Lin Shaye gives a very strong and highly laudable performance. She clearly has the responsibility of the movie on her shoulders and does complete justice to her role. Ty Simpkins surprises you when he is not sleeping (which he does for half of his screen time) with his acting. There is also a touch of humour the director tries to provide with Elise's teammates as they try to get one up over the other.
The writing is tight and keeps you hanging for more. The cinematography is almost perfect, the sound effects and music add to the spooky aura of the film.
With the supernatural genre, the writing sometimes tends to go awry and writers end up with more twists than they had initially intended for. Writer Leigh Whannell sticks to one theory and pretty much keeps the story linear and free of messy twists and turns.
All in all, 'Insidious' is a good scare if you are a horror fan. It's definitely worth your money.
Django Unchained (2012)
Django (Drag-O) Unchained - Viewer Chained
*This review contains SPOILERS.*
I normally read the plot summary on IMDb before I watch a movie despite my feeling that it may give away plot details. With this movie, it was the other way round. Here's why.
A freed slave in mid 19th century Texas, with the help of a bounty hunter, sets out to rescue his wife who is a slave at a plantation in Mississippi. The story doesn't get to this part till about an hour. I even wondered at some point if there was an angle where Dr.Schultz was going to double-cross Django and sell him off to some white guy. The bounty-hunting part is essential to the story but cut to the chase already! I felt chained to my seat as the movie dragged on forever.
Christopher Waltz does a good job, but Dr.Schultz was badly written. He comes across as trying too hard to be funny and cool and his elaborate dialogues get annoying at times but despite all that, you end up liking him.
Leonardo DiCaprio does a convincing job as the arrogant, rich, gore- loving plantation owner. He has evolved to the point where he can ease into any kind of role on screen and it is refreshing to see him as Calvin Candy.
Watch out for Samuel L. Jackson. He is so good as Stephen that he frightens you, annoys you and makes you want to hate him. He is the highlight of the movie. Jackson and DiCaprio complement each other very well.
Kerry Washington has a small role but does a decent job and plays Broomhilda well.
Finally, Jamie Foxx/Django. I still have not been able to separate the actor and the character from each other. He is in a trance for most of the movie and transiently comes out of it in between to say a few words and kill people. His portrayal of a man desperate to get to his wife is just not convincing. His acting needs a lot more polishing, but Tarantino is no help because Foxx's portrayal of Django made me wonder if he is so bad an actor or if Tarantino messed up his acting. Hence, I can't separate Foxx from Django.
The chemistry between Django and Broomhilda is conspicuous by its total absence. Even the girl who shows Django around when he goes to find the Brittle brothers has a few lines with him. After putting us through 165 minutes of torture anyway, couldn't Tarantino have filmed one scene showing Django and Broomhilda together (before they get separated)? Instead, all we get to see is Django helping Broomhilda escape early on in the movie and then imagining her all over the place. Just one scene of them sharing screen space (instead of the useless KKK scene) would have done the trick. No wonder Calvin doesn't suspect anything between the two of them. There is no show of emotion from Django when Dr.Schultz is killed. He just says a random, unemotional goodbye later when he collects Broomhilda's papers. So much for the man who freed him and helped him find his wife.
The action scenes are a little too violent, but it is an action flick, so I'll let that pass. The cinematography is very good, editing terrible and music a little too modern for the time in which the movie is set.
This was a good story with huge potential, but the abysmal writing, direction and editing made it a dud for me. If not for good acting by Jackson, DiCaprio, Schultz and the likes, 'Django Unchained' would have fallen flat. Undoubtedly, they are the saving grace of the film. The only good thing for us was that we checked the running time ahead and bought popcorn. Rent it out on DVD, it's not worth the admission fee.