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jdmorris
Reviews
Project Greenlight: A New Generation (2023)
Obnoxious, self-promoting people...
I gave up after a half hour of putting up with obnoxious, "look at me, I'm so great" show biz personalities. I stuck with it that long because I expected to see the 3-minute shorts the "directors" had produced and to hear serious critiques from the "pros." I gave up when it became clear we were only going to see mere seconds of those shorts - not even full screen - with multiple cutaways to facial expressions and un-helpful comments from the "pros."
The original Project was flawed, but always interesting. You actually saw what was going on, and you got thoughtful comments from Ben and Matt, and plenty of enlightening comments from actors and directors. They didn't always produce great stuff, but they were always interesting.
The reboot should have been better, but failed miserably. What were they thinking?
IO (2019)
So Much Better than the Rating
Slow and could have been more, but nicely done and thought-provoking. Not really worth the 9 stars I gave it, but I felt the need to goose the rating a tiny bit. Legit 6.5.
My guess the reason it wasn't more is that they didn't want to get preachy about the causes of the catastrophe. But they could and perhaps should have been a little preachy.
The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)
Eliminate the Supernatural BS and this would be quite good
Good main characters and a fine plot - diminished by the weird, supernatural stuff. The story would have been strong without it. The things that went wrong could have had more realistic explanations.
Gothika (2003)
Heavy-handedness obscures decent movie
Take away the painfully telegraphic music and the jump-out-of-the-shadows scare tactics and this would have been a much better movie. Not great, but good enough to be a pilot for a TV series where the lovely young doctor learns how to avoid being possessed and uncovers crimes with the help of dead people. Imagine if the kid from Sixth Sense grew up to be a shrink/detective, and you'll have the concept. The cast was certainly decent and the acting was mostly fine for this kind of flick. Halle Berry manages to look good as usual and, other than her excessively freaked scene when she first awakens in the cell, is very convincing. Penelope Cruz plays her smaller part just right. With a little directorial restraint this could have warranted a sequel or a run on the small screen.
The Deer Hunter (1978)
The only perfect movie ever made.
Why do I say this movie is perfect? If you pay attention through the terrific acting and the devastating drama you'll not only be blown away by the characters and the story, but you'll realize that every scene was absolutely necessary - and absolutely on target. It might not seem that way for the first half of the movie, but when it's over, there's not a scene you would or could delete. Necessary for what? Necessary for understanding how the 3 very different friends handled the stresses and horrors they faced in Vietnam.
De Niro the loner: socially uncomfortable, even awkward, but with a strong, primitive sense of honor and clarity - ready to face what comes. John Savage, the opposite: dependent on civilization and his friends for comfort and for his sense of self - needing the courage supplied by a last-minute marriage to give him strength for what's coming. Christopher Walken with a foot in both worlds, but not completely of either world: the only other person De Niro will hunt with - but he prefers the trees to the killing; the socially deft yet unable to commit love interest to Meryl Streep. The character of each is fired in the kiln of a brutal, sadistic Vietnam, and who they were inexorably predicts who they become. You won't find it done better, or ringing more true.
There are other highlights, as well. The transition from the quiet, melancholy bar scene on the night before they leave for Vietnam to mid-assault, complete with roaring helicopters and plumes of napalm fire, rates as the best scene cut I've ever seen. Not a jump out and scare you cut, but a brutal juxtaposition of arguably the most and least human of human activities. The hopelessness of the common people in war is poignantly depicted by the exhausted, destitute refugees trudging in endless lines down dusty roads while frighteningly impersonal metal monsters, chuk-chuk-chuking their rotors, pass scant yards overhead. From peace to war, from touching tenderness to fierce determination, this movie is simply an amazing statement of what humanity is about.
Sadly, Cimino has not been able to duplicate his directorial brilliance. But what's left to accomplish when you've produced a masterpiece like this?