jkochoa4966 Reviews

Gable and Lombard (1976)

They got paid for this?

[1/10 · 16 September 2013]

If there would have been a zero instead of a 1 I would have selected that. The supporting actors that appear here in small and bit parts are more believable and certainly less annoying than Brolin and Clayburgh. James Brolin was made up with mustache, hair/wig, and bizarre prosthetic ears that don't enhance his portrayal as Clark Gable. The Brolin to Gable transformation generally consists of a silly contortion of his facial expression that he had difficulty holding and really does nothing to bring forth any recollection of the real Clark Gable. Nor will you recognize any similarity in Brolin's voice mimicking of Gable and a very bad impersonation of the real man. Of the two lead actors Brolin is better than Jill Clayburgh, so what does that say? When I first started watching this I felt it was so bad it must have been a TV movie till I heard Clayburgh's loud curse word language that I imagine wouldn't have passed TV censors of the 1970s. Despite the 1930s glamour getups for Ms. Clayburgh she manages to look completely unattractive and bears no resemblance to Carole Lombard. There are lots of silly scenes as she carries her "Lombard banter" sometimes as a drunk /foul/life of the party Lombard who seems adored by the supporting actors who appear as party goers (of course). In those scenes she flits from one person to the next with lots of one liners that are must have been designed to show Lombard's personality, but are not well delivered, funny or interesting. This is one 'portrayal' that if you encountered a Miss Clayburgh behaving this way with anyone in real life would have made you wonder "what the hell is wrong with this annoying person?" Fortunately she went on to make a few much better movies where her looks and physical acting adequacy do not take away from the memory of lifestory of anyone else or the whole movie.

Beloved (1998)

Bizarre black horror story you'll wish you hadn't heard or seen

[1/10 · 13 April 2013]

You can practically smell the bad breath from the characters in this one. From the beginning you'll be shocked, sickened, disturbed by the scenes in this movie. Originally I was under the impression this was a moving drama when Oprah Winfrey excitedly announced her movie. This is a TWISTED story (Spoiler) ghosts, nudity, graphic rapes, violence, demonic possession?, lynchings, ax/hatchet murders, baby head bashing... (filicide) not to mention sickening scenes that are just distasteful such as (spoiler) Oprah urinating, a dog's eye popping out of its socket after being attacked by a ghost, food being chewed with mouths open more than you want to see, vomiting, voo-doo. There is nothing endearing in this moving not even a final explanation of the movie being about a mother's love. I don't have anything against Oprah, her acting ability or even her taste in some of the movies and books she has promoted. However, this movie and the story behind it make me sick at my stomach literally.

Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston (2010)

Underwhelming!

[2/10 · 14 March 2013]

A documentary about Halston could be so great! Sigh. Unfortunately, this film seems to be poorly spliced together with interviews (if you could call them interviews) of some of the people who knew Halston in the fashion world, and others who were notably closest to him like Liza Minelli. The Good: Some great vintage photographs of Halston and models dressed in his clothes mostly during the late 70s disco scene. Some video clips of Halston in the early 1980s. Also the recollections of model Pat Cleveland were quite interesting and somewhat moving.

The Bad: There were "interviews" with the filmmaker's mother, music stars Billy Joel, Nile Rodgers and a few others that should have been edited. Liza Minelli's naive (untruthful?) recollections of Studio 54 and Halston's free-time seem frankly incredible. The Dupont twins obviously have some great knowledge about Halston and Studio 54, but the moderator rushed the conversation and miniscule information was gleaned. The rest of these interviews, with some greatly notable people, were all too brief and all over the place. A quick standup interview (who didn't even take the time to sit down) with Ming Vauze scratched the surface of a torrid tormented relationship of Halston with Victor Hugo, and the end of Halstons life in San Francisco while he suffered from AIDS.

The Ugly: Liza Minelli. Even the great Halston wasn't able to make her look attractive in any fashion, or daylight! Thus he was frequently seen with her out under the flashing colored disco lights of night. Andy Warhol. Hideous friend of Halston was shown in numerous photographs, but we'll not know after watching this documentary how close the two were, how well they got along and what their common interests were.

The Diary of Anne Frank (1980 TV Movie)

Waiting for the original negative film to deteriorate so we can forget!

[1/10 · 7 April 2012]

After watching this you'll be willing to tell the Nazis where Melissa Gilbert and Doris Roberts are hiding! On the positive side Maximillian Schell does a decent job in his part... Melissa Gilbert is something to watch as an older teenaged girl pretending to be 13 but acting more like an 8 year old Laura Ingalls, and still trying to run out of as many scenes as possible in tears. (well it worked on Little House) This film has "bad TV play" written all over it. The actor who plays the teenage boy was also decent in his role. I believe he is the same actor who played opposite Jody Foster in "The little Girl who lives down the lane". He and Mr. Schell are the only ones who avoided bringing shame to the final product.

The Believers (1987)

Unbelievably dumb, far-fetched

[2/10 · 29 December 2011]

Wow is this movie dumb! You will hate the superstitious Latin characters they have running around yelling and carrying on in over the top Latin accents. Sheen is a concerned father and police detective investigation some child murders in NYC. These murders are linked to a voodoo/santoria type religion that seems to be 'believed' by an unbelievably big underground community in New York City! A scary black guy with albino contacts lurks around scaring the bejesus out of the increasingly frightened latins who can only speak broken English, shriek and writhe in increasing desperation for Sheen/someone/anyone to listen to them and their need for pro-tect-C-own. There are bizarre suicides, deaths, mind control trances (at just a glance), animal sacrifices, oh, and other European American believers who wear suits and ride around in limousines who are apparently in charge of this 'religion'. I also left out a kidnapping, curses, electrocutions, and Sheen's character's rebellious, uncontrollable little kid who is constantly in danger and behaves not unlike he's suddenly had a bad reaction to angel dust!

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

The nails in the coffin of Brad Pitt's acting career...not funny

[26 July 2011]

Evidently it is now politically correct to make a movie about the slaughter of wartime Germans because they are/were Nazis! Of course the director is Quentin Tarrentino, who reinvented the old blood and guts movies by making them more graphic, and in the process has gotten many fans who can't get enough of the genre. And the other draw for the movie was Brad Pitt, whose career has been reduced to making movies like this and Ocean's 11-25 sequels. Anyway this movie is supposed to be a comedy as well, but I thought it was basically disgusting and only about as funny as laughing at scenes from Schindler's List. People laugh at this stuff? Slaughter some Nazis in increasingly more horrible ways as they try to make it seem comical-that's the movie in a nutshell. Brad Pitt and everyone else associated with this piece of garbage should be ashamed.

The Pianist (2002)

Adrian Brody's Terrfic in this wartime Biopic

[26 July 2011]

This is an excellent movie/biography of a famed Jewish and Polish pianist during the occupation of Poland (specifically Warsaw) from 1939-45. Over the course of the filming Adrian Brody lost an astonishing amount of weight while he realistically portrayed a Jewish man that suffers horrific indignities while imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto. Roman Polanski the director spliced some incidents of his own childhood (as he lived in Krackau during the Nazi occupation) and those of the real Pianist, along with some other experiences of Poles and Jews in the Polish Ghettos at that same time. This picture was filmed in Poland in some of the oldest existing apartment blocks to provide some realism, and the movie relies very little on special effects during the German invasion or that of the Soviet/German fighting and destruction while the city was nearly destroyed. It was very interested to see real (although brief) footage and faces of Warsaw peacetime before the Sept 1 1939 invasion. No doubt many of those people did not survive the years of occupation, genocide and war and were the real people that this movie tries to portray. Thomas Kretchsmann is memorable as the real life German officer who has some interaction with Brody's character and was celebrated later in life for helping some Jews survive Nazi occupation.

The Winds of War (1983)

Has its moments, but likely not nearly as good as you remember

[26 July 2011]

This mid 1980s miniseries was quite a hit with American TV audiences. This movie would spawn a second miniseries, it's sequel War and Remembrance. There is some pretty good acting by Robert Mitchum and David Dukes but you will be quickly annoyed with Ally MacGraw's antics as a fearless Jewish Debutante who constantly and coincidentally tromps into scene after scene diving into more than a few dangerous predicaments (all avoidable) as War explodes across Europe. By the second episode I was wishing the Nazis would have got MacGraw's character in place of others...Jan-Michael Vincent is Ally's American love interest whose father (Robert Mitchum)is an important Naval Attache in Berlin who also coincidentally is an old buddy of FDR and even runs in a few of the same circles with some Nazi elite including some parties with who else...the Fuhrer. Polly Bergen plays Mitchum's wife, a shallow "Society worshipping" dame whose philandering is possibly hinted at. There are some other characters in this movie including the actor "Topol" who may have his most memorable performance as a Jew swept away early by the Nazi machine. There are some painfully realistic scenes showing the fate of the Jews during the Holocaust that left me stunned and some situations that are a bit unexpected. Lisa Eilbacher has a less prominent role as the daughter of Mitchum but made the most of her part in this miniseries. Also see Peter Graves (Mission Impossible) and Victoria Tennant in supporting roles as well as John Houseman (The Paperchase). If you can't get enough of this movie War and Remembrance picks up where this one leaves off on the eve of Pearl Harbor.

Black Book (2006)

Thrilling, Danger & Intrigue though Graphic

[26 July 2011]

This is an excellent movie. The lead actress is amazing from start to finish. Through the course of the movie she narrowly escapes many harrowing situations while trying to survive the war, and remain undetected by the group of Nazis that she has infiltrated. Nazi occupied Holland (1945) is where most of the movie takes place. Even she does not escape the horrors of wartime Europe and there are some terrible moments that you won't soon forget. This movie contains some extended graphic nudity you may consider should you watch with your kids...or your mom! Also you might consider watching with your reading glasses if your copy is subtitled. This is well worth it, and is easily one of the greater war-time movies out there.

Downfall (2004)

Dramatic, realistic portrayal of Nazi elite trapped in Berlin bunker

[26 July 2011]

This is an excellent foreign film. Unless you are an expert on period German weapons and vehicles you probably won't notice the few goofs listed on the previous page. Adding to the realism, the actors speak German and there is no over-acting. The mood of the film mirrors the dark desperation felt by Germany's infamous National Socialist government elite, during the last dreary days a war that would destroy that superpower. You might even feel sympathetic to a few individuals who realize there are impending consequences they will not escape for their involvement with the Nazis, and yet others who exhibit rabid devotion to Hitler and his evil policies that caused the second World War. If you ever wondered what happened to Hitler up till his last day, this is the movie for you.

Pearl Harbor (2001)

Boring, Inaccurate, Longgggg,

[26 July 2011]

If you'd like to see a decent modern movie about Pearl Harbor keep waiting! This movie is l-o-n-g. It's main characters are uninteresting. The Affleck and Hartnett's heroics are far fetched. You might even be surprised that they weren't shown flying the Enola Gay when bombs were finally dropped on Japan. The story centers around a love triangle you couldn't care less about. Much of the time and resources used to embelish the bad soap opera storyline squash any hopes to see a realistic portrayal of serious and factual events and history makers that are real American History, and the very real reasons the United States entered World War II. The Japanese military portrayal in the attack is whitewashed. Don't expect to see anything remotely honest about this Roosevelt, who in actuality had hoped to enter the war on the side of Great Brittain since 1939. Wow, what a lousy movie.

The Night of the Generals (1967)

These "Nazis" are ridiculously British

[22 July 2011]

The truth is different nationalities conduct themselves differently. A Mexican might act differently than someone from China. An Eskimo might have a different dialogue than Frenchman. And of course, Germans are quite different than the English. What made this movie ridiculous (in addition to the supposed Nazi era Germans concerned with the murder of a prostitute in occupied Poland) is the very British dialogues, sensibilities that make this movie too unrealistic to be taken seriously. Omar Shariff as a nazi General? What's next Will Smith as Hitler? Of all the recognizable actors in this flick, Donald Pleasance did the best job in acting the part. This movie reminded me of the casting of the 1970s movie about the Hindenburg in which more than a few Jewish actors portrayed the nazi era German passengers at a time when its unlikely that they would have a premier seat on the luxury airship or be employed in the crew.