With the two lead actors and the premise of this film, it could have been so much more. Unfortunately the film mirrors the acting of the central character portrayed by Julian Feder. Here is a meaty role with a meaningful journey, but the film falls flat, as does Feder's performance, or should we say lack thereof. Young man's search for father, part road trip, part billiards competition. We can't pull for the son because he takes us no where, emotionally. We really can't cheer for him in the pool competition either, because the characterization is so distant and vapid. The elements are all present, but neither the performance by the young protagonist (who does NOT look 14 y.o.) or the direction, allow us to get there. Too bad, but not memorable in the least.
Reviews
10 Reviews
What price Glory?
5 July 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I agree with the other reviewers, great battle scenes, lots of action, This is a treatise on the wages and price of war and killing. The German aggression; the young boy's mission of revenge; the British Captain's insistence on carrying on, despite the apparent odds and possible orders to the contrary.
The part that makes the least sense is the German surrender. They were mechanized and knew they outnumbered their adversaries. Also, given the chronology of this battle, the German battalion would not have been allowed to surrender. That makes the ending even less plosives than it appears. It's a nice 2 part episode, with good dialogue, well intentioned, but the ultimate outcome is too manipulated to make sense strategically.
Sensitive portrayal, that misses stating the obvious.
3 July 2020
Saunders and the squad stumble across a Concentration camp of poles, and effort to protect, rescue, and transfer them from their circumstances. The music is evocative of a Jewish tradition in an indirect way; the producers of the show, and many others involved, have a Jewish background; yet, no mention of the prisoners being Jewish, no insignia on the prisoners uniforms, and never once in the show is the word Jews or Jewish ever mentioned. The only term used to describe these unfortunate men is D.P.s. (displaced persons, which I believe became a pejorative later)
Historically, not all concentration camp victims were Jews, but a vast majority were. The implication is heavily geared in that direction, but never acknowledged verbally. It makes one wonder how uptight the network must have been about the implications of this episode, and the steps the writers and producers felt, or were instructed, to undertake to imply the obvious, without stating it.
Shows how far we have come since 1963.
There Was a Crooked Man...
(1970)
Hodgepodge of time and place.
9 May 2020
WEHenley's poem "Invictus" Is recited in this film . It wasn't released in a volume until 1888.
Would seem to be a little out if place in the chronology of this film. There are Winchester's in the film, that would be post 1876, but I doubt this film would be representative of a year post 1888.
Good Girls
(2018–2021)
A nice binge-worthy diversion, but less than great.
6 February 2020
Nice formula for a female centric comedy-drama. Heist plus consequences, as we follow three women who keep devising schemes to get the money they need to financially support their families in tough economic circumstances.
Strong performances, albeit somewhat distracting that Retta, as the black female main character of the three, feels compelled to resort to doing the eyeball bugging cliche, that went out with Steppin Fetchit back in the day! She would be much more effective and believable without poppin' those big whites of her eyes as a hack acting technique time and time again.
Funny and compelling story, as we follow the twists and turns of our heroines, trying to solve modern problems, and continuing to make mistake after mistake in attempts to cover up their original misdeed.
Manglehorn
(2014)
Closest to Bergman than any American Film
29 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Director David Gordon Green creates a master
work of a seemingly simple film, that invokes a style of character and story development, more closely resembling the oft canonized Swedish film maker Ingmar Bergman, than any American film ever. Yes, I said it! Sorry Woodie, you wish you would have come this close, but you always missed, as hard as you may have tried. No homage filled replica here. This film does not try copy the Maestro, it succeeds of its own accords, as does the director and the protagonist Angelo. Make no mistake, this is a completely American film, Texas, no less! Full portions of heavy symbolism, religious iconography, painfully walled up emotion, hints of self-destruction, and inner monologue, on which to feast. (Thankfully no Texas drawl for Pacino's character.)
A lovelorn locksmith, able to open any lock, except the one chaining his broken heart from a long lost love. His only emotional availability is to his zeitgeist white cat, and his granddaughter, both of whom are available for him to love, because they give without demanding much in return. He is a kind, giving man on the surface, often uniquely so, but with strictly constructed boundaries he cannot breach, not even for his only son, the product of a marriage mistakenly consummated as an early, unsuccessful solution to the unrequited love "elephant" weighing on his soul. We are encouraged because balloons, like love, are meant to fly freely. The only thing we're missing is Shakespearean sonnet 116 on the subject.
His magic white cat even ingests the only key to the door that keeps him from realizing his inner folly, the secret, heavily locked door allowing the possibility to heal his kingdom from within. His concern for her (she stops eating) allows him to begin this journey to redemption. Not even the interest of a comely single woman, Dawn (Holly Hunter) whom he starts to date, can induce him to pull his head and heart from his sorry ass of grief. Could it be anymore symbolic, than to name her Dawn? The woman who initially is willing to actually sweep his fumbling mistakes under the carpet. Bringing on the most poignant of scenes, as he cannot refrain from pining over his lost Clara during a low-cost, non-invested dinner date, with the tortured Dawn. (Her last straw)
This begins what may prove as his final descent toward self destruction. It begins with a used car radio ad; his knowing/unknowing visit to a massage parlor, run by a sleazy guy he once successfully coached in baseball as a kid, reminiscing of when Angelo once magically touched his heart. Angelo suddenly, and violently rejects this reciprocal favor. His distant son then comes to him for financial help he cannot give him. (the Vet bill as excuse) Separating them for what seems to be the final time. Angelo has no money, or compassion for his son, yet.
He picks up his now healed cat. He washes his work-van, and begins to clean his storeroom, and soul. (Vet-saved-cat standing by, oh yeah, the key) "Bazinga"
He now has room for his "new Dawn" will she accept the contrite, unlocked, locksmith? He also opens his heart to his son.
And to end this all, we finish with a mime, that actually finds a way to speak to our healed Lochinvar, (more freely flying balloons) who has discovered a way to, now, open locks without a key. What's a Bergman main course, without a little Fellini for a light dessert?
Revenge
(I) (1990)
Typically Tony Scott, he's done much better work.
20 September 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Had nothing to do one evening, and this came up on cable, figured "what the Hell" I like Tony Scott; so I ventured in. It's got all the tricks he's used, even an airplane at the beginning. Dog-tags, low angle closeups, throbbing modern score, big stars, hot sex; just like you've come to expect. Unfortunately, he's found a story with a group of characters with whom you'll find it difficult to empathize. Not really one of them. You might like the dog, although he's mostly a prop; but, even he is dispatched without an heroic last act. (If you "kill the dog" in a story, it should be with dramatic purpose. Otherwise it's a cheap attempt at creating pathos, best left out.) Everyone else, you really have little to care for or even like. Maybe you can believe in uncontrollable love/lust; but, this movie makes it difficult to feel ANYTHING; but, why did I waste my time, thinking there maybe something to like in this film?
Poor Anthony Quinn, one of the world's greatest character actors, put this one up there with the "Greek Tycoon". Probably was great in the "pitch meeting", not so much on the screen.
Lawn Dogs
(1997)
After 20 years still a very good watch.
27 August 2019
A film of tenderness and human understanding, set against a cruel, vapid American suburban existence. This film is more metaphoric than literal. Anyone suggesting that a daily relationship between a ten year old girl and a young adult male is a real, acceptable occurrence misses the point, and the film's purpose, and the film maker's "weltanschauung". That said, what you do have here is a story about two displaced and misunderstood soul that find comfort and meaning, despite the harshness and rejection of soon to be millennial America.
The moral just may be that if the false reality you're in is too unacceptable, make one of your own, even if it's unconventional. Just as long as it's genuine and authentic.
Lucky
(I) (2017)
A Simple Beautiful Film With Heart.
20 June 2019
Such an appropriate last appearance for the well traveled, gentle artist that was embodied as Harry Dean Stanton.
Directed with an equal gentleness and perception by John Carrol Lynch. You will also see David Lynch in a quirky cameo that adds further humanity to this film's rasion d'être. James Darren also appears as a surprise guest star.
Simplicity, and soul are reason enough to create art that can warm the heart, and help us feel connected to this disparate seeming universe.
This film accomplishes that feat. Such a paradox, to feel so fulfilled by what appears as so little. The personification of less being more.
In Harm's Way
(2017)
Ok, but why kill everybody good, if it's not a true story?
30 May 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Believable war drama based on a fictional character in a real event, the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo at the start of WWII. Really liked the Chinese actors, Emil Hirsch seems mostly detached as per his usual. Nice love story develops, but the American makes it and the Chinese woman does not. Ultimately unsatisfying for that result, we experience little of the American's or the daughter's pain in the tragic loss. Metaphoric, I suppose, from the Chinese perspective, mirroring the actual sacrifice made by the Chinese in having given aid to the crash-landed American survivors in the Raid. They were brutally made to pay for assisting the downed Americans, by their Japanese occupiers. So, why not just cop-out, and let the Chinese mother survive? Or kill off the pilot, and see the mother's grief. Certainly didn't get enough remorse from the pilot. Oh he saved the daughter, "Hurray, for the USA"
Again, Hirsch is way too detached for us to vicariously experience any real feelings of grief, so why put us through the exercise? "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" covered the same material with more pathos and tension, and didn't need the "love story" device. The book was even more effective, and didn't need to resort to cheap unfulfilling sentimentality to tell a compelling story.
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