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nsymms
Reviews
Criminal: UK (2019)
Way too claustrophobic for me
They never leave the room. I could sit through one episode, but the whole series is one-story-per-episode -- each just in the interrogation room?
Not my cup o' tea. Why is this even on screen? Should be a pod cast if you ask me.
Heaven (2002)
Fantastically beautiful
I love movies that can succeed with little dialog, and Heaven does exactly that. To me, this is where cinema shines. It's something you can't do in a theater play, a radio play, or even a book. Vast sweeping landscapes, street scenes with events that move the story along, scenes where Philippa and Filippo just stare at each other, or sit and eat ice cream. All without saying a word. Just the visuals and you know what's going on in the story and in their hearts and minds. Most writers & directors need all sorts of chatty dialog to do that. If you're a step above you can do it without so much talk.
Krzysztof was a genius.
Collusion (2003)
A painful eyesore
I don't know what movie the other posters here saw, but if it was the same one as me, they really need to get out more. This movie is an eyesore. Where can I begin? To be fair, I think the basic story is good. Or could be, with a little work. However, the script is choppy as hell with absolutely no flow to it. We're supposed to believe that just because a bad script confuses us with one unrelated scene to another filled with droning dialog, it's an intriguing mystery. Confusion does not equal mystery. We're confused not because of the mystery story, but because there's not any solid story there!
In fact, the script wanders so much we're confused about what the film's really about: an art theft? No. One man's struggle to steady his failing career & relationships? No. Some sort of confidence game? Maybe. The author tries hard to make this appear like a real mystery / suspense film using cliché and mysterious, hush-hush, unrevealing dialog.
A good mystery will lead you down one or two false paths and surprise you at the end. A good suspense film will have you wondering what's around the next corner; what's going to happen next? This movie bores you to death leading you nowhere, then has a puerile ending a 10-year-old could see from a mile off. The only surprise is that you actually sat through it all. If you did.
One person compared this to Mamet's Spanish Prisoner. Not even close. The only similarity is that both look like plays. That is, lots of dialog. Collusion is full of long scenes with endless chatter about nothing. That, and long scenes forcing us to watch boring night club singers. My script coach would chop this thing down to about 15 minutes of screen time. Maybe it should have been a short film? I hope the actors got paid well. I've seen them in other films and it's hard for me to blame them for this film's outcome. 3 out of 10.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Nice end to the series
I haven't read the books, but have seen all the movies. "Return of the King" is much better than the "Two Towers" in my opinion. "King" doesn't wander around with long boring scenes nearly as much. I'm sure if you read the book you're drooling over all of it, but for those of us who haven't, the story is a bit daunting.
Overall, I think it works out well. The action sequences are amazing. Huge sweeping scenes of beautiful landscapes, impressive castles, massive war-making action with gigantic creatures battling against tiny humans and our even tinier hobbits.
Of course it all works out for the best in the end. The good people live, the bad people die. However, we don't get to see much of my favorites, like Liv Tyler and Cate Blanchett.
I want to see it again, but I'm not sure if I can sit through the whole thing in the theater again. 3 hours 20 minutes is a long time if you're not in stadium seating.