mark-deckard-1967 Reviews

Civil War (2024)

Disturbing, brilliant and essential

[9/10 · 13 April 2024]

America is getting sick. Alex Garland has offered us a vaccintion for what ails us. Like a serum for snake bite made of venom itself, this film grabs us by the shoulders and screams "You got a civil war fantasy? Fine, I'll put it on a 40 foot screen and dare you to cheer."

Civil War finds it's foundational vision in the eyes of those who for decades have brought us the soul shattering reality of war, free from the romance of Hollywood patriotism- war journalists whose frenzied, conflicted oddysey plunges them into a mad gauntlet of fire and film, killing and kodachrome. Like soldiers in a war of attrition, they must constantly reassess the purpose of thier risks and sacrifices as they watch their colleagues fall for the sake of the priceless pictoral story of war. Three generations of war correspondants traveling together into the insanity becomes the testiment to three phases in the life of such a calling.

We are introduced to the strangeness of how soldiers, out for blood, tolerate and facilitate the prescence of these unarmored observers every step of the way through the hell of combat. Garland seems to tap into some unspoken ethos of universal creedance among combatants that the history of it all must be seen and those who record it must survive to tell of it. It is never explained, merely displayed.

We are reminded that in a modern Americn civil war, rogue atrocity can roll through your city just as easy as it did for My Lai. If you think that in the fog of war we would maintain our civility and morality like gentlemen, think again. For every five patriots there might be one psychopath ready to fill ditches with the innocent dead executed under the jurisprudence of a few unhinged men with guns.

We have no idea why this war is being fought. Perhaps it is a just war. Perhaps it is a crazed cessationist rebellion. We aren't afforded such information. It would only get in the way of the vital message-war is hell and be careful when you tell your fellow American to go to hell for thier political differences. What you end up with might be far darker and damning than you ever dreamed.

The genius of this film rests partially in an absurd alliance between California and Texas, two of the most opposite states in the Union. By joining this ideological odd couple, the story immunizes itself against accusations of partisanship or cultural favortism. Yet it also beckons us to imagine what kind of national crisis could bring such opposites together.

This film will be awarded there is no doubt. Alex Garland has broken new ground and his script and actors and cinemetography deserve all the awards they get.

On the Line (II) (2022)

Gibson pranks the audience

[3/10 · 31 March 2024]

Just think...Braveheart, the Passion of the Christ, Apocalyptio....and then this.

It's really nothing more than a feature length SNL skit.

I keep trying to ask what deeper point he might have had in mind.

Dear God only 382 characters to go.

Mary had a little lamb.

Humpty humpty sat on a wall Little miss.muffett sat on a buffet. Oops typo.

This movie sucked!

GIBSON was giving the middle finger to someone but who?

He is better than this.

Will he interpret it for us on The actors Studio?

108 letters to go and then I can post.

Not a single other person in this movie is a known actor. And may they never get another part after participating oin this tripe.

Minimum character limit met. Now posting.

The White Lotus (2021–2025)

Season 1 Tension overload, Season 2 Spit on the audience

[4/10 · 29 May 2023]

Season 1 Never have I been subjected to so much unresolved tension in a tv show. I mean it's like a all star casrt of a-holes. Usually you have one or two annoying characters to create contrast and supply a foil and some sub plot. Every single one of the people in this show needs to have thier face slapped. It's not entertaining, it's not informative, it's not enlightening. It's just a big overdose of bad juju.

I watched The Resort. It was genius. I watched Bloodline. It was sublime. This just sucks. It made my blood pressure go up. Why am I still typing? Because I have 38 more characters to type just so this can meet the minimum. There my comment can now get in but as far as White Lotus.... I'm out.

Season 2 My wife spent Memorial day binging season 2. I actually felt so much sympathy for. Jen Cooliges character. She was scared and cornered and needing a way out. I wanted her so badly to escape. Then she turns the tables and blasts her way out of a terrifying trap...and then immediately slips and hits her head and drowns in the ocean, granting her treacherous husband all her wealth just as he desired and planned.

That is just plain spitting on your audience.

The Resort (2022– )

Such a beautiful getaway

[9/10 · 1 February 2023]

Do not pass this one by. It's a rare and intimate comedy/romance/mystery that boasts a level of cinemetography and scripting that is typically in artistic indy films. Every scene feels like an excursion into adventure and friendship set against the exotic beauty of old tourist Cancun.

Not a moment is wasted in this smart, affectionate and innovative story. It seems like no two shots are the same and each one holds a clue to the mystery while feasting the eye and the funny bone with scrumptuous seaside antics.

The character chemistry is top notch but Skylar Gisondo shines in a special way as Sam, one of the mysteries victims, featured in riveting flashbacks developing a relationship with his co-victim and resort acquaintance played by the charming Nina Bloomgarten. Her frequent scenes with father (Nick Offerman) are precious as the two navigate life in the aftermath of a mutual family loss of mother and wife.

It's just so rare that a TV series would have so much richness of color and character and heart.

This one deserves much love.

Side Effects (I) (2013)

Good flick with major hole in ending

[6/10 · 2 January 2023]

The movie is well acted and directed abd very provocative. But the ending was like the last east west construction of the leg of transcontinental railroad meeting only to find they are a mile apart.

I get that a woman conspires with a shrink to tank a pharmecuetical company and make bank on the stock options by killing her husband while under the "side effects of the drug.

There's a nice turn of the tables where the disgraced and manipulated character played by Jude law is able to tke control of the situation.

Here's what did not meet up. The police knew it was all a ruse between a patient and a doctor. So why does the patient who faked her illness have to keep pretending she is undergoing treatment when they have her with her lady doctor confessing they planned it all? Then Jude Laws doctor character proceeds to send her back to the asylum as if the terms of the medical plan still apply...when they already know it was all a put on?

So she gets committed back to the asylum when everybody already knows she should go to jail with her partner in crime and lover for premeditated murder.

Sloppy resolve tht made cheapened the movie.

Crimes of the Future (2022)

Cronenberg lives

[9/10 · 5 November 2022]

Some may forget that film and acting for film has on many occasions been an expression of serious art as opposed to mere entertainment. Cronenberg has once again created his own universe and used it to comment on our own. The scenery and cinematography strike an elegant pose within a grungy landscape, posing a question of whether humanity is progressing or deteriorating. The common and urbanesque characters seem to demote our inflated sense of grandeur.

Viggo Mortenson is utterly convincing as the tortured performance artist who uses bizarre medical tech to shout to the world his renunciation of the emerging human evolution manifesting in mysterious and forbidden organs. Lea Sedoux and Scott Speedman are utterly luminous in thier supporting roles. Don McKellar as the nervous beaurocrat provides a balancing element of tension to the otherwise cool and sensual palette among the other cast. Kristen Stewart was a casting mistake. Her performance was amateur and distracting. It seemed to drag both the other actors and even the directing down a notch in the scenes she was in.

If you are interested in true creative freedom in filmmaking I highly recommend Crimes of the Future.

Andor (2022– )

Beautiful Loser, All cinematograpy, no cinema

[5/10 · 22 October 2022]

The Star Wars galaxy is full of character and crisis that tend to juxtapose obscure outback people and places against the towering powerful Empire and it's quest for domination. David and Goliath in space might be an apt comparison. Andor seems to begin in that familiar obscure poverty of an urban landscape whose poor and desperate characters are lurking in the shadows under the ever patrolling eyes of the Empire as they eek out an existence buying and selling tech from the wreckage of orbital battles.

But Andor gives us three episodes to begin and it just has no compelling reason for us to buy in to the story. It has strayed too far from the core components that make a story Star Wars story.

First of all there is a complete and total abscence of the Force. Think back to all the other Star Wars hits. (No not that Ewok TV special from the 80's) They all had a sense that an invisible hand was guiding the characters to a destiny upon which the fate of the galaxy hangs. If nothing else the Force was there to grant us epic battles in hand to hand combat or swordsmanship.

We see no indications of that traditionally ubiquitous character in Andor so far.

We see no connection of the main character to the family tree of Jedi knights and Rebellion leaders.

If these elements come later, it's sadly too late. Most veiwers, save the hardcore fans and the fake reveiwers, will not stick around to find out.

Devil in Ohio (2022)

A cult of idiocy

[2/10 · 5 September 2022]

Well theres plenty to criticize and the other reveiws do it well.

So I'm going to use my space to talk about the last episode.

It was full of illogical nonsense.

Mom takes off to go chase the cult and when dad finds out he does what? He gets the girls to a safe location to spend the night and not so much as tries to call the police or try to call his wife. Instead he takes care of some paperwork. OMG.

The cult gets away scott free even though police were on site and they burned a woman alive. No cops were called in as backup by the detective?

Then when he finally gets a search warrant, the cult is long gone...but hey, he gets thier dog.

The mom actually leaves her family to raise the psycho cult girl because she is more interested in nursing her own issues than keeping her family. Then she finds out she has been trapped by the cult girl and cant escape the relationship...I guess...the end.

So utterly stupid.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022– )

Beautiful continuation of a literary and film legacy

[8/10 · 5 September 2022]

The scenery and filmography are up to par with the great Peter Jackson trilogy. The dialogue is poetic and classical and always seems to advnce the story while coloring in the characters. The casting seems well selected for the parts. Yes it has a kind of childrens story quality at times, but that is exactly as I remember the stories being told all along. I'll be interested to see if there is an overarching statement being woven through the various plot lines. Tolkien always semmed to have a meta narrative that hung over the story and spoke of greater themes regarding good and evil and the power of freindship and the coming together of diverse peoples to overcome a common foe.

I appreciate the incorporation of people of color across the various middle earth species. It seems way overdue considering Tolkiens story was about vastly different kinds of creatures.

Lifeforce (1985)

Dr. Who called and he wants his FX back.

[4/10 · 26 July 2022]

Remember how real and gritty and truly space desolate the first Ridley Scott Alien movie was? Well that was made in 1979. Six years before this cheap british pulp.

It is honestly edited and lit like a 1960's movie.

The constant camera panning became so tiresom. They made this movie like Star Wars never happened and we were still filming in black and white.

Nope (2022)

New angles and theories on the history of UFO lore

[8/10 · 26 July 2022]

There are so many interesting threads running through this movie. Some of them seem to be out in left field yet they are part of a larger scheme the writer is using to bring it all together.

What do a murdering sit com monkey, a horse wrangling movie contractor, a carniverous UAP all have in common? The common thread seems to be the treacherous task of taming animal instinct for the purpose of exploiting them for entertainment purposes. There is a subplot of caution there.

The monkey massacre immediatly becomes reminiscent of the true story of the woman whose pet chimp tore her best freinds face off.

The asian child star that survives the monkey massacre on a sit com set goes on to play chicken with the alien entity to make money off the masses, only to finally be bitten by the same human arrogance and wrecklessness that once under estimated his primate co-star. Even the attendance of a hideously scarred surviving female costar and childhood crush was not enough to overcome his dangerous greed and exploitation.

The UAP is something completely new and different in that it is animalistic, carniverous, with instincts that must be predicted and exploited to defeat it. I thought it was brilliant the way the entity was made of sail like materials which could change shape. It seems\ed to tip the hat to all the classic weather balloon explanations for UFO's.

As well we seem to be shown that all this time people were not being abducted but in fact digested!

The author plays well with the ever evasive evidence of UAP by making the quest to capture evidence of its existance just as important as defeating it.

We all want just one great shot of an alien craft so we can settle the whole thing once and for all. Well they get it.

Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)

Fits like a glove into the timeline of the Star Wars legend

[9/10 · 9 June 2022]

What a gift to Star Wars Fans. We have young Obi Wan from the movie...Darth Vader with James Earl Jones himself! And the most scene stealing angel playing little Leia. I absolutely love the way this attaches itself to so many moments in the back story of the movies.

As usual the scenery and cinematography are very on par with the movies in quality.

"Help us ObiWan, your our only hope.." will play over and over in your mind as you relize the rich history Leia has with the great Jedi Master.

Marketing the Messiah (2020)

Cloaked atheist propaganda

[1/10 · 4 April 2022]

This production deserves a countering documentary that exposes how many lies and distortions it contains. I mean to include the opinions of Richard Carrier and Richard Price to define who Jesus really was is like letting Karl Marx and Joseph Stalin lecture on the life and times of Thomas Jefferson.

And if you want a blantant bit of evidence this this was designed to mock and discredit Christianities history, just give a listen to the music soundtrack. The bumper music between segments screams "Christianity is a clown show!"

Not objective, not balanced, not representative of the full body of scholarly and historical evidence.

But will it give a bunch of armchair scholars more excuses to dismiss Jesus and God? Not a tall order to fulfill.

Out of Death (2021)

Greatest comedy of Bruces career!

[10/10 · 25 January 2022]

It's not really a movie, it's actually an SNL skit that got carried away.

Willis shines like a beautiful bald head in this overexposed bad cop thriller. I mean bad overexposed cop thriller.

Powerful lines like "Maybe we should get to know each other a little" (So the audience thinks we are fully developed characters.)

Deputies Tommy and Billy have a chemistry and connection like nothing I ever want to see again. Billy is a girl by the way. Hats off to the Green Shores County Sheriff Dept for loaning her a uniform two sizes too big. She looks like a cheerleader at a costume party. Billy is a bad cop.with grit, determination and a bad coke habit.

The bad guy is the Sheriff running for Mayor You know its him because he is dressed in all black.

The soundtrack deserves an award. If you played Far Cry 5 It will feel like old times.

Anyway theres just too much awesome stuff to list here. Just watch it and love it for what it is, not what it aint.

The Suicide Squad (2021)

No redeeming value

[3/10 · 7 August 2021]

The celebration of human slaughter for childish entertainment is the symptom of a society in decline. The work of misanthropic demented minds.

Mare of Easttown (2021)

A nesting doll of absurdity and emotional manipulation

[3/10 · 22 July 2021]

The review industry that fills these pages is rigged. How do I know? Because this show is one of the most idiotic I have ever seen and it gets 8s and 9s.

The pace and positioning of scenes was so annoying. The most depressing moments were immediately followed by scenes of grandma falling out of chairs so we all...I don't know, laugh?

The unrealistic turns and twists are just idiotic. Police doing the dumbest things. Conflicts of interest abound. But nothing is too convenient or unsubstantiated to get in the way of this train wreck of a plot.

Character suddenly turn into people they were never appropriately set up to be just because. Next season Mere might actually turn out to be the person who shot the 17 year old girl...why not? It never ends.

Of course there are going to be lousy shows and this is one of them...but the hundreds of liars that are loading these reviews is just more evidence that nothing on the internet ever stays honest for long.

Proximity (II) (2020)

Keep it up Eric...I think you are going to get better

[6/10 · 21 February 2021]

There was a lot to like about this movie. And there was a lot to laugh at. But I'm not sure it was meant to be comedy. If you look at the writer directors background he is a visual FX artist. It shows because there was some pretty cool scenes in that regard. But then there were scenes that were so bad I wonder if they were an homage to THX1138. I mean if you can make great looking aliens you can make great looking androids. Note to Director. Androids don't have meaty thighs with pants on. As others have said the sound track was an obscene over use of orchestral sounds. Way over the top. It would have been much better as a quiet stark soundtrack with a sparse bit of eerie synth. Instead we got the greatest hits of the Canadian 90's interspersed with bipolar John Williams. There were some really fresh sci fi concepts. I love that they talk to aliens and find out what the heck they want. By the way the most phenomenal wonder of the whole thing is not alien spacecraft traveling from far away but the miraculous single engine Cessna that makes it from Costa Rica to British Columbia on a single tank of gas! I am glad I watched it and i hope the writer director continues to get better and do more. He has some fun ideas.

Parallel (II) (2018)

Plays like a recap of a series 10 episodes in

[4/10 · 3 January 2021]

It feels like a 4 hour movie where they randomly cut out 2 1/2 hours and you have to figure out what just happened. It was irritating.

Vice (2015)

Amateur film school sci fi

[4/10 · 17 January 2015]

I'm learning something. Anytime DirecTv says this movie is available same day as it comes out in theaters...it's going to suck royally. Watched Vice on PPV on demand and found myself rolling my eyes a lot. This movie could have been one of those quiet noir flicks that says very little in the way of dialogue, just let the shots tell the story. Instead some two bit writer tried to be way too clever. Bad attempts at humor and in one case an insensitive punch line inserted at one of the possibly heart tugging points in the movie. It's west world it's bladerunner its i robot all thrown in a blender and submitted as a script to the film school professor. It got a F- and a 10 million dollar budget. Welcome to Hollywood. Everyone in the movie except the cop seemed like an "artificial".