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Reviews
Coldwater (2013)
Geat FILM!
Saw it at Las Vegas Int'L Film festival where it took best picture and many more awards! and decidedly so! what impressed me most about this movie was the internal development building the tension of the character arcs. It is a very rare trait in American movies recently and it is always refreshing to see it, attempted and then achieved. The colors are spot on as well as acting. Many compliments to the DP. Also, Vincent Grashaw does a great job! Pretty great production design - minimal- but confident and effective.
I wish there were more movies like this and good movie lovers should not miss it!
Grown Ups 2 (2013)
a serious waste of time.
It is sad to see "mainstream comedy" downgraded to this. how did we get to "Grown ups" becoming a franchise from classic movies like "Duck Soup" which used to make the World laugh? It is very sad indeed to know that a culture of the world is reflected in the fact that this kind of movies can be made and marketed hard globally and then even find interest. what does that say about us? Because it is a mindless, low comedy. How do we rise above this kind of movies? It is very depressing to live in a world in a time when this is what the "world" wants. We can do better America!
You vote with your dollars! And vote wisely.
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Its about the time... and music.
Cannes 2013: Interesting choice for "instagramic" iconography puts this Cohen picture among one of the most "mature" works. Oscar Issac is on the rise!! I've seen 4 films with him in the last 9 months! This guy's been busy and justly so - he adds a unique flavor (due to his ethnicity) to everything he touches! Great pace, sharp dialog (as always) and a real treat of having a cameo by "maestro Salieri himself" the great F. Murray Abraham. It definitely managed to impose a "melancholic disposition" in me after seeing it... I wonder how will it work with the "hipster" audience who seem to be crazy about the era story is set in.
Pocahontas (1995)
perhaps the most important Disney animated feature!
I really loved the music and how it moved... the orchestrations were very smart and at moments complex (polyphony) and the lyrics really contributed to the story's very serious undertone. The portrayal of Native Americans in the media has always been (and justly so) a sensitive subject but I am happy to report that it appears this movie has done it with great taste and respect for the culture. The animation is great and certain sequences (most notably "Colors of the Wind" are just masterful.
I could actually feel the wind at the end! A great watch! An important film... not a popcorn Disney (like some recent ones) Bravo!
Along the Roadside (2013)
Smart, Funny and Unexpectedly Moving!
I saw this film at this year's Las Vegas Film Festival and I found it refreshing and hilarious. At first, I was put off by the amount of profanity and sexual innuendo, but all the characters grew on me. I thought it was an excellent script, filled with unexpected moments and unique characters. What's most refreshing is knowing that most of these actors were fairly new to the acting industry. The writing is literate, quirky and unexpectedly moving. It kinda lives long after you've seen it through.
Oh -- and the soundtrack should win an Oscar!! Who is Cole Bonner???? I want to hear it again!!!
The Expendables 2 (2012)
Weak!
Mindless action!! I guess it could be at best "entertaining" if you're 9 or under but it does not come close to the "action films" worth watching! Although, Sly's intention is clearly to respond to "bad action movies" but you can't win with a losing hand!! At best this movie could play as a "Kemp piece" which holds a mirror to a "male whack off" culture which underlines "spend time at the gym - not at the library" if only this was anywhere near a mental vicinity of the filmmakers while making this movie. The problem with these kinds of movies is that, ironically, filmmakers think they're making a good film... as one notable writer once mused "we've seen so much crap in movies that we don't even recognize it as crap anymore." and this is sad.
Sideways (2004)
A Masterpiece!!!
What a movie! Such brave choices - starting from casting and the characters to the use of stock and lenses. The film has everything, from humor, smarts, depth to poignancy and even suspense and one point. Payne is one of the rare American auteurs who amplifies the disappointment and regret lurking within the peppy, can-do civic culture of middle America, while acknowledging the sweetness and innocence that is still there. The real refreshment provides Thomas H. Church whose performance as Jack is for the books! What really gets me about this movie is its patience to simply "exist" rather than to be artificially "plot driven."