bernardaquina Reviews

Sun Choke (2015)

Worth it for the Skin Alone

[7/10 · 21 November 2021]

It took a while to figure out what the deal was with the leading actress, Sarah, who played a young woman who was severely guarded by a live-in caretaker, aside from her past suicidal tendencies. Then she stalks the beautiful Sara Malakul Lane and it becomes clear that danger and gruesomeness is about to take place. As pedestrian as the acting and the plot line is, the story keeps you involved, especially the X rated scenes including the lovely Sara Malakul Lane near the end. Worth it for this scene alone.

Promising Young Woman (2020)

Me Too Vigilantiasm on steroids

[7/10 · 21 November 2021]

This vigilante genre movie has a satisfyingly surprise ending. Overall, a gruesome reminder of the extremes of justice served when the means justifies the end. A few good well played scenes despite the familiar plot line of a girl on a revenge trip, action.

Another Round (2020)

The Sauce is Boss

[7/10 · 21 November 2021]

Don't Mess with the Juice, Bruce because it always wins. Something these four middle aged friends come to realize when they test their tolerances for alcohol in this awkward Swedish film. It takes a while to engage with the characters as the story takes too much time setting up the bar to get into the heads of the players as they cloak their hobby, that is a national past time to drink, as a research project into how much the average person can consume and still remain sharp and productive. If you're patient, there are a few well acted scenes, the funniest is when the group descends on a supermarket after drinking way too much and lose it. Stumble bum funny. While hilarious to watch, caution alert, don't try this at home.

News of the World (2020)

Dystopian, Post Civil War Western

[8/10 · 21 November 2021]

Tom Hanks is great in his first western role, shot in the back lands of Australia in 2020, at the height of the pandemic when he and his wife caught COVID. This movie reminded me of The Road, a 2009 film staring Viggo Mortensen. In News, Tom plays a Confederate officer after the rebel surrender to the Union. He wanders from town to town reading news of the world to the rebellious, war-torn territories of Texas and stumbles on an orphaned young girl who had been kidnapped by a Native American tribe. The girl, since her release from her kidnappers, has gone feral and Tom reluctantly embarks on the task of taking her to reunite with her last known relatives through a chaotic, dystopian landscape. Good viewing. 8.

Intrusion (II) (2021)

Nicely staged and acted but predictable

[6/10 · 21 November 2021]

You know the deal, perfect house in the middle of know where, NM, perfect young couple, both working professionals living a seemingly idyllic life until one night all hell breaks loose. This Netflix movie is utterly predictable but still attention grabbing from beginning to end largely because the main actors are so engaging. You stay with it to see how it all comes crashing down because you know it will. Still, throughout this well acted and clean production, it's not hard to predict how it all turns out. The ending scene is still somewhat surprising. A passable warm-up for a double or triple header movie night.

Ammonite (2020)

Will awaken and titckle your fancy

[8/10 · 10 November 2021]

Writer/Director Francis Lee of God's Own Country and The Farmer's Wife, directs Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan in this quaint portrayal of awakening desires between two mis mismatched sirens. In Ammonite, Kate Winslet is memorable as the stoic, closed off middle aged spinster. Kate, best known for her role as Rose in the romantic, adventurous, money maker, The Titanic, and Saorise Ronan, known for her role as the pre adolescent, assassin-in-training in Hannah and the fetching immigrant in Brooklyn, hold your attention through out. Ammonite is set in Victorian era England, a drab, depressing sea coast town where the persistence of Kate, who, at a young age discovered an archeological fossil of note, is a middle-age emotionally shut down spinster reduced to a daily existence of searching for new discoveries, scavenging the local beach beach. She struggles to feed herself and her mother, played by Gemma Jones of Sense and Sensibility and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, having accepted her place in a male dominated world where the academic and societal aspirations of women is repressed. Until, one day she receives a visit by a wealthy young nobleman with his beautiful but sickly wife in tow, played by Saorise. He convinces Kate to tutor him in her craft. Reluctantly she accepts his offer that soon turns into a request to take on his wife as an apprentice also. In spite of herself, her attraction for Saorise awakens her sublimated desires when she becomes the care giver of the young wife after her husband leaves her in Kates' care. But the convalescing young wife recovers and, well, that's about as much as I should reveal, but I recommend a patient sit-through of this sensitively directed tender love story. It artfully unfolds to tickle the heart strings and other parts with scenes of passionate sexual reveals. Spoiler alert, the especially well played last scene in the British Museum brings this film to a heart warming ending. Overall a solid 8.

Old (2021)

Typical M. Knight thought proviking semi-horror

[7/10 · 26 October 2021]

After viewing reviewing Old Henry, by Tim Blake Nelson, I thought I would stay on the Old theme with M. Knight Shyamalan's Old. Shyamalan is a writer/director with an itch for odd and unusual film making. His body of work doesn't appeal to many but taking this into account his artistic leanings, I found this most recent offering of 2021 worth a sit down. I liked his earlier works mostly for the variety of creative performers he at one time used to cast in his movies, but rarely seem to attract any longer. Perhaps the appeal to the big-name box-office actors and actresses has waned. But of those films, to name few; 6th Sense with Bruce Willis, Signs, starring Mel Gibson, The Happening, staring Mark Wahlberg and John Leguizamo and Unbreakable with the wild, zany Samuel L. Jackson, in Old I only recognized the male lead as Gael Garcia Bernal as the selfish, annoying Alpha male cheating partner of Julianne Moore from the movie Blindness, but he rest of the cast, not so much. Still, with the weak cast, I feel Old deserves a medium sized buttered popcorn bucket and large Sprite rating largely because of Shyamalan's knack for challenging audiences to take an expansive view of humanities spiritual failings and societal short sightedness, like ignoring the consequences of taking the environment for granted and not believing in ghosts and forest monsters (Halloween is days away folks), Old suggests there are mysteries of this world we have yet to consider or accept as well as a commentary on the lengths man will use his fellow man to visit abuses that may have good intentions but evil methodology. I found the less well-known characters in Old a failing and not as believable as others in his more note-worthy films, but not too distracting. I found them sympathetic in their obvious vulnerabilities. The story line and dialogue also fell short at times but I still give Old a solid 7, for its entertaining value as a characteristic M. Knight suspension of beliefs theme movie.

Ocean Heaven (2010)

Sad, poignant, different for Jet Li

[7/10 · 24 October 2021]

Don't expect any of Jet Li's marvelous martial antics in this one, but if you like to see how your favorite type cast actors handle real life, down to earth drama roles, Ocean Heaven will meet that need while sufficiently tugging at your heart strings. There is a nice, if slow moving story here, the reason I only gave it 7 stars, of a single, impoverished widower and his autistic son and how they coped with everyday life. But I loved it for its a tear inducing plot and transitions that will grab you and bring forth tears and smiles of compassion. For that, it is a great movie to enjoy with your girlfriend or wife. In my reviews I don't like to reveal much of the plot or direction of the movies I view, but I do recommend this well-written and directed portrayal to any parent, especially those dedicated to raising a child with special needs. There was an interesting thought spoken by Li when he described his son as being born in the wrong body, saying, he should have been a fish not a human. Having said that, I did find myself waiting for Li to break out some romantic moves on his sweet, caring landlord, but alas, maybe in another romantic drama.

Old Henry (2021)

Tim Blake seals it.

[9/10 · 23 October 2021]

The first film I saw with Tim Blake Nelson was "The Ballard of Buster Scruggs". I have seen it several times since just for his characterization of a scruffy but lovable gunslinger. Old Henry satisfied my need to see this promising actor in another western of equal if not higher caliber.

It will not disappoint.