kbenko Reviews

Midsommar (2019)

boring and pointless

[3/10 · 11 March 2023]

Florence Pugh is the only good thing about this movie. Her character is the only one with any depth. Her acting is solid. My three stars are all for her.

The plot was boring. Every moment that was supposed to be shocking was telegraphed so far ahead of time that by the time it actually happened, I was already bored of it and waiting for something else to happen.

It wasn't even scary. I am easily scared by movies but this one wasn't scary at all--just disgusting and frustrating.

The bottom line is that the 2 1/2 hours I spent watching this would have been better spent rewatching Black Widow.

This Is 40 (2012)

More depressing than funny

[4/10 · 13 December 2021]

There were some funny parts, but mostly these folks seemed just miserable all around. The three main married couples were all unhappy and dishonest with each other. Debbie and Oliver's relationship was completely baffling until near the end when they finally explained to some other people why they hardly know each other, even though they are daughter and father. Larry was sure a weirdo--really, having triplets at 60 when you don't want them, just because you're too afraid to tell your wife that you don't want triplets? And then mooching off your own child to the point where he and his family could lose their house? Who does that?

Where was Debbie's mother? Where was Pete's mother? Was Grandma Molly supposed to be the grandmother of Sadie and her sister? Or maybe their great-grandmother? No idea.

Pete's bicycle accident at the end was completely predictable, obviously meant to be anticipated. Good job to the screenwriter for making it a minor accident, but disappointing that we never see the jerk who opened the door on him, and then punched him, suffer any consequences.

I finished this movie because I kept hoping it would get better. I guess the last half hour was a bit less irritating than most of it.

Emma. (2020)

Enjoyable, with very nice attention to detail.

[7/10 · 25 April 2021]

With so many good movies based on Austen already out there, and such good source material, really the only things I look for anymore are casting, visuals, and what they decided to change or leave out.

So: casting. I think it was excellent. I was v. Skeptical about Anya Taylor-Joy, having so recently watched her in Queen's Gambit and--just yesterday!--The New Mutants. I didn't think I could really see her as Emma. It took 10-20 minutes. I don't even know when it changed over, because I was so engrossed. All the rest of the casting was inspired. It's hardest with the famous folks, but everyone here did well. Miranda Hart was superb as Miss Bates. Bill Nighy was an excellent choice for Mr. Woodhouse. Mr. Weston/Inspector Lestrade was probably the hardest for me to get used to, but Rupert Graves did well. My only quibble about casting is that Mr. Knightley is supposed to be so remarkably tall, and here he was about the same height as Emma. Well, Johnny Flynn did a great job anyway.

The visuals were beautiful. I was a bit surprised and the similarity of clothes for Mr. Knightley and Mr. Martin, and for Emma and Harriet. Also, how at the ball, some of the ladies were wearing gloves and some were not. What's up with that?

Changes and omissions. I was disappointed not to have the benefit of any of Mrs. Elton's hilarious chatter at the strawberry-picking party at Donwell Abbey. You couldn't even tell that it was a strawberry-picking party at all, anyway! And the word games where Frank Churchill was passing secrets to Jane Fairfax--that is a good part that I missed. One omission that I applaud is Emma's spreading the idea that there was something inappropriate between Jane and Mr. Dixon. That was cringey even in the book!

Overall, I liked it very much. Kate Beckinsale will always be the best movie Emma to me, but Anya Taylor-Joy is a worthy successor.

The New Mutants (2020)

a good example of this particular formula

[6/10 · 25 April 2021]

This was kind of fun to watch. Formula: A group of teenagers of varying abilities, histories, weaknesses, and levels of attractiveness are trapped in a strange place. They must grow, learn to understand themselves and each other better, and defeat the bad guy keeping them trapped.

Guess what? They do it! Yay, kids! Good job. And you all stayed alive, which is nice; it's always depressing when only one of you survives and has to bear the burden of the deaths of the rest of the cast.

Other than that, not really much to say about this story. No one really grew that much or achieved increased self-knowledge. Ho Hum.

Doctor Who: Hide (2013) Season 7, Episode 10

fine, but nothing special, and annoying inconsistency

[5/10 · 10 February 2020]

This was all right, scary enough and not boring.

But: All the photos of the ghost showed her in the exact same position, because time flows more slowly in the pocket universe and so from her perspective, all the photos--taken over the course of days or weeks in our universe--were taken in the same few seconds. So, when the Doctor went to the pocket universe, and spent several minutes there, why did many days or weeks not go by in our universe?

The Public (2018)

Hopes dashed

[4/10 · 3 September 2019]

I have worked in libraries for 22 years. They are my happy place, and I really hoped that this would be a movie I could recommend to people. Based on the trailer, I expected to enjoy it a lot myself. Neither turned out to be true.

What bugged me the most was the nearly complete non-use of the internet by the folks barricaded in the library, and by the media. The librarian made a video to show what was going on, great. But did he post it to YouTube? Facebook? Instagram? Did he tweet it or email it to local news media? No, he emailed it to his friend, who handed her phone to a local newscaster, who barely watched it.

Also, the way the librarian allowed himself to be cast as the leader of this thing that was *not* his idea. It makes sense within the story, given how tightly the negotiator and the prosecutor were controlling the narrative (but why did they have that control? Why wasn't the librarian communicating with the outside world?), but he didn't make much effort to push back. OK, the actual instigator didn't want to talk to the police. Fair enough, and plausible. They were there from 6pm until 2am. Where's the manifesto a small group could have written in the first three hours, and (ahem) posted online? Where are the hashtags they could have all invented? It's like this took place in 1992. The internet is used only to get a cheap laugh about a homeless man using a dating site.

In a movie that centers a notoriously pink-collar profession, only one library staff member with a significant role is a woman. F that.

Why the heck did Christian Slater take off his coat and jacket before lying on the street? Also, why was everyone dressed like it was 35 degrees when it was supposedly more like 10? Some Californian's idea of what "bundled up" looks like. Phhhht.

Finally, are we really supposed to believe that riot police who were otherwise all ready to rush in, guns blazing, were stopped by the sight of a bunch of naked men? That ridiculous ending might as well have said straight out, "If you don't resist, you're safe!" when recent events show us that that is not true.

Emilio Estevez was not convincing. The dialogue was cliched and random. Jena Malone's character was disappointing.

The only reason I hope my library friends see this movie is so that we can complain about it together.

Yesterday (III) (2019)

Gave my family a lot to talk about

[9/10 · 29 July 2019]

In my household, we have two adults, a teenager, and a third-grader. We don't often all like the same movie, and when we do, it's usually a superhero movie. We all liked Yesterday, and it gave us a lot to talk about all weekend. The story was great, the plot just the right mix of "what you know will happen because you saw the trailer" and "totally unexpected but makes a lot of sense!"

Patel, James, and Fry (the actors I wasn't already familiar with) were great as regular people dealing with huge events. Ed Sheeran and Kate McKinnon were both fabulous as people already in the industry, in their own ways.

The large and small inside jokes were completely satisfying. I recommend this movie to all, except those who not only dislike the Beatles' music (I like it OK), but also despise the Beatles as a historical popular phenomenon and wish they and their legacy *would* be expunged from history. Actually, even those people might enjoy this movie. What if?

Captain Fantastic (2016)

Both aspirational, and not

[8/10 · 16 November 2018]

I would love to be as devoted a parent as the father in this movie. At the same time, I hope I would never have the gaps in my judgement that he displays. Or be the same kind of micromanager.

Also, this movie contains my favorite ever rendition of "Sweet Child of Mine."

I was disappointed in the scene where the main family was at the house of the father's sister and her family. It was clear that the families had met before. Did the sister's sons forget everything about their cousins? Were they just exceptionally small-minded?

But, overall, I enjoyed the change of pace of seeing a fast-paced movie with lots of engaging characters and zero special effects.

A Wrinkle in Time (2018)

I tried to have an open mind

[6/10 · 12 March 2018]

I went into this movie expecting to be frustrated and disappointed, but hoping to be wrong. I was frustrated and disappointed, but there were a few bright spots.

Bright spots:

The way Meg approached her father at the end was much more interesting than in the book.

The eerie disturbingness of the bouncing-ball children was conveyed better in the movie than in the book

The last tesseract was beautiful and cathartic.

Disappointments:

There was not enough contrast between Charles Wallace and IT/Charles Wallace. It was like the difference between a 5yo in a good mood and a tired, cranky 5yo, not the difference between a loving but young genius and a child whose mind has been taken over by a planet-destroying source of evil.

Dr. Mother Murray was written/acted as worried and scared most of the time. In the book she was so unflappable that her calm was practically science fiction in itself. That's what I wanted to see.

Mrs. Whatsit was mean to Meg on more than one occasion.

One of my favorite things about the Mrs. Ws is their frumpiness, that manages, for many people, to conceal their brilliant natures. I wish it had been possible to do that in the film. Instead, we had yet another conflation of beauty and goodness. :-(

Moana (I) (2016)

I actually enjoyed this

[7/10 · 30 November 2016]

I only ever watch Disney movies because my daughter wants to see them. This one is the first one that never once made me cringe! A good story with an admirable protagonist and some really good songs. Moana's relationship with her grandmother was well-done and touching. I hope that future Disney musicals will be this good, because my daughter's only five so I guess I have a few more years of watching them.

Until Moana, Frozen was the only Disney movie that had ever moved me to tears. Now the list is up to two!

It's hard to think of anything else to say that wouldn't be a spoiler. I found myself wondering how much the story is grounded in actual Polynesian culture, traditions, religion, and how much they just made up from scratch.

Spy (2015)

Hilarious!

[10/10 · 15 June 2015]

This was great! I was laughing so hard.

I especially enjoyed the kitchen fight scene. I thought it was very well done, funny, good action, and I loved that it was in a kitchen. V. subversive.

I loved how, in the blink of an eye, Melissa McCarthy went from "mildly cringing innocent bystander who happened to save the life of an evil rich lady" to "bodyguard hired by said lady's late father and who doesn't give a s*** anymore."

Also the writing made so many nods to things that happen in movies and in real life to women. McCarthy's boss (Allison Janney, hooray!) wasn't always nice to her, but she made a point of giving her credit for her work. The field spy McCarthy worked with for twelve years was actually not as nice as he seemed, faking her out with a crummy present in a fuzzy, hinged jewelry- store box, but even worse, convincing her to remain his handler when she could have been a field agent years ago. So basically sweet-talking her into letting her career stall for his benefit.

Anyway, nicely done; I hope to watch it again in a few years with my son when he's old enough.

Tomorrowland (2015)

kind of fun but not great

[6/10 · 15 June 2015]

I thought this movie was going to be a lot better than it was. The trailer looked quite promising.

It was truly a relief to watch a non-dystopian movie. I love the Hunger Games but a lot of the best fiction lately has been dystopian; it's hard to get away from this kind of story.

Some of the plot points were too subtle, so the story ended up being confusing.

I was glad to finally see a movie with two important girl characters who seemed, throughout the whole movie, to never once give a thought to their appearance. And they were both really tough and fearless, and optimistic.

Private Resort (1985)

terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad

[1/10 · 31 October 2008]

To paraphrase Elizabeth Bennet, this film was offensive in every possible way. Misogynist, racist, misogynist, fat jokes, misogynist, every possible stereotype you could think of. And the fat jokes were misogynist fat jokes. The only male character who was overweight was a boy, about 12 years old, who was remarkable for his sneaky horniness. Actually I guess he was a fat joke, too, but the fat jokes with women were much less gentle and impossible to miss. The one truly funny moment involved Hector Elizondo and an aerobics class.

I expected this to be a low-quality movie. I didn't expect it to be *this* bad. I only watched it all the way through so that I wouldn't wonder, years later, if maybe I had missed something good. Also because I went to the trouble of getting it on Interlibrary Loan. At least it was fairly short.

Battlestar Galactica: Black Market (2006) Season 2, Episode 14

What happened to Paya?

[5/10 · 7 February 2008]

This was a pretty interesting episode--we don't often get to see much of the survivors' life outside the most powerful military and political spheres. Still, it left a lot of unanswered questions for me. Who was the woman Lee was remembering? What happened to Paya after the end of the episode? What was Zarek doing on Prometheus at the end of the episode? He appeared to be just there, not doing anything at all. Why show that? Actually I don't want to ask people to post spoilers. If someone who's seen the whole series could just tell me whether or not these questions will be answered in future episodes, I would appreciate it. Thanks!

The Idiot (2003– )

captivating, amazing

[10/10 · 5 November 2007]

I did not expect to actually enjoy this. I had heard it was well done, so I thought I ought to force myself to watch at least some of it. Well, I've seen the first three episodes and can't wait to watch the rest. The acting is incredible, the cinematography imaginative, the pacing very good, and the dialog, since it is pure Dostoyevsky, is, of course, stellar. I've read the book (in English) a couple of times, but this movie brings the characters to life for me in a way the book never did. Perhaps the translation I read was not too great, but I think the biggest difference is the wonderful acting and directing in this mini-series. Eye contact, pauses, changes--or lack thereof--in tone of voice, all make such a big difference.

The DVD I am watching, from the Russian company CP Digital, has reasonably good-quality images, but terrible subtitles. For instance, one character told another, "You shouldn't miss this opportunity (to marry a very rich man)," but the subtitle said something like, "Isn't that interesting!" I know enough Russian to be able to tell when the subtitles are inaccurate, but unfortunately, not enough to watch it without subtitles. Perhaps the second or third time through I'll watch with subtitles turned off.

If only we could all have even a drop of Prince Myshkin's humility, compassion, love, honesty, candor.

The Brothers Grimm (2005)

Not really much of anything

[5/10 · 22 October 2007]

This was an OK movie. Not as good or as clever as I had hoped, although the special effects, costumes, etc. were great. Visually, it was an extraordinary movie. In terms of plot and characters (which are what I like), it was no big deal. And I do think that "I think that went rather well," said after an unsuccessful conversation/negotiation/etc. is something no audience should have to sit through in 2007. Or ever again for a few decades until it has gotten so old as to be new again.

I'm moved to comment on this movie mostly b/c I spent two hours watching it and hope that time could be put to someone else's use. I chose this movie b/c of Heath Ledger. In spite of the packaging, I thought that he would be sexy and there would be some sexy scenes in the movie. Well, he wasn't, and there weren't. So if that's what you're after, just watch A Knight's Tale again.

Mission: Impossible III (2006)

Pointless

[3/10 · 8 May 2006]

I wish I hadn't wasted my time! This was pretty much Alias starring Tom Cruise, with elements of Lost. It also included something I can't stand in movies, when many innocent, good, or bad-but-low-level people are killed in order to save one person. Stupid! A high point was that the newly-rescued female actually rose to the occasion and rescued her rescuer, instead of pulling a Buttercup-vs-the-ROUS pathetic copout. So that's why I give it a 3 instead of a 2! Will we ever see Tom Cruise play a character who actually dies? I hope it will happen in my lifetime. Also be warned in case you didn't know that Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the bad guy. He was one of the reasons I let myself be talked into seeing this but if I had known that he was the bad guy I might have saved myself a couple hours.

The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

very disappointing (spoilers)

[3/10 · 19 May 2003]

_The Matrix_ is one of my favorite movies, but _The Matrix Reloaded_ disappointed me. There were some good plot ideas, but way, way too many characters and too much complication.

*SPOILERS THROUGHOUT*

The Morpheus-Naiobi-commander love triangle was pointless. The dialogue (especially within this love triangle: What are you doing? What I have to. Why? Because some things change...and some things don't. Arrgh!) was dumb.

I have to admit that it is not the Wachowskis' fault that people in love (Trinity & Neo in _Matrix Reloaded_) are less entertaining than people on the verge of falling in love (same in _The Matrix_). However, it must be somebody's fault that there is zero chemistry between Carrie-Anne Moss and Keanu Reeves. Somehow, they're more sexy fighting side by side than lying side by side.

The fight scenes were interesting but too long. When Neo fights the many, many Smiths, it's obvious from the beginning that the only way he's going to get out of this situation is to fly away. On the brighter side, his launch method is both cool and groovy and a really good use of special effects.

I could have used about half as much technobabble from the Architect. They should have called him the Impressive Architect, a la the Impressive Clergyman from _The Princess Bride_. Come to think of it, maybe what this movie lacked was a sense of humor.

And Morpheus's non-speech to the teeming mass of that--dance hall, or whatever it was in Zion was just embarrassing. I hope that Laurence Fishburne gets some better material to work with in _Matrix Revolutions_.

_The Matrix_ was so good in so many ways that it was almost inevitable that its sequel would not measure up. Still, I expected better than this.

Phone Booth (2002)

Don't waste your time!

[3/10 · 11 April 2003]

Contains Spoiler This is a stupid, pointless movie. It is suspenseful, in that you don't know what is going to happen, but in a good suspense movie, you *care* what is going to happen. Who cares what happens to this pissy schmuck? How could anyone be interested?

Another characteristic of suspense movies is that a lot depends on the end. It should be clever and meaningful in some way; it should make you utter the Ohhhhh! of realization, and get you thinking back on the various plot twists and understanding them in a new light, now that you know more than you knew before the end. (What follows is a spoiler, maybe, but how can you spoil what's already rotten?) The end of this movie reveals nothing. The Ohhh of realization is instead a curse of frustration when you realize that you sat through the whole thing for nothing. Watch _Speed_ again instead, or _Ghost ship_.

Unfaithful (2002)

boring and shallow

[14 May 2002]

Predictable, formulaic--the best I can say about it is that it was inoffensive, most of the time. There was not a single interesting character, nor a single (unpredictable, unformulaic) reason why any character did anything. Don't waste your time, unless your main motivation is to see 95% of Diane Lane's skinny body.

Windhorse (1998)

thought-provoking

[10 October 2001]

Call me naive, but I liked this movie a lot. Thinking back on it, I suppose it was rather predictable. It made me think about historical and present imperialism (of China, the US, and Russia), what makes a minority, and the many forms of resistance to oppression, including non-resistance. Perhaps this movie interested me precisely because these are things I know little about and rarely think about. You gotta start somewhere.