maxvartuli Reviews

Poor Things (2023)

Poor Movie

[5/10 · 3 March 2024]

I've liked a lot some of the previous movies from the director, such as Dogtooth and Attemberg but Poor Things is just another classic case of style over substance. The social critique is very obvious and lazy. The only thing missing to reach the bottom was Emma Stone raise a sign written "Socialism is good" and blink to the audience. All the feminism was based in "sex as liberation" which I think is somewhat an old topic in 2024. And the choice of a very horny "child in the body of a grown woman" feels, to say the least, unsettling. Even the production design, which I think is the best part of the movie, is good, but not groundbreaking.

Bottom line, too me, Poor Things feels kind of meh. Solid 5/10.

O Cheiro do Ralo (2006)

This movie stinks

[1/10 · 26 November 2023]

I've heard of theis movie for a while, but never bothered enough to go and see. Now it is showing on Mubi Brazil, and I give it a try, with no information about it and with an open mind. The movie started to lost me in the first minute.

The opening scene is a close up of a girl's but while she is walking on a street for about 2 or 3 minutes. That's a foreshadowing of how bad the next minutes will gonna be. I think this is specially bad, given the stereotype around brazilian men being sex machines and brazilian women being smoking hot and always available for sex.

The following minutes show a kind of unrealistic pawn shop, more like what a rich brazilian film student think a dirty pawn shop is: a giant room with a secretary whose let people in to the office of the owner (the director probably never paid rent from his own pocket in his life, thus, do not even imagine how expensive a place like that would be for rent). There is too an unrealistic an stereotypical portrayal of a poor working class woman. Even showing the dispise rich people in Brazil has with the name choices less fortunate people choose for their children. The name of the waitress whose the butt (the same butt of the beginning of the movie) Selton Melo character is infatuated are not pronounced, cause is a merge of the father, the mother and some famous actress name. He refuses to pronounce because he is a very literate man, whose read many books in a foreign language, you know, like pawn shop owners do.

The main character is disgusting and the poor quality of the script does not allow any immersion in the story. I have only reached the 18 minutes mark before quitting the movie. The movie is from 2006 but by the humor, feels much older. It aged like milk. Fortunately, brazilian cinema has many excellent movies, letting one like this, to be forgotten (like it was right now, only raised from the ostracism by Mubi).

Licorice Pizza (2021)

"Notes on a Scandal" from an alternate reality

[5/10 · 1 March 2022]

I've waited so long for this movie and went to see it with no information about the plot (as usual).

The main plot is about a 15 year old teenager infatuated with a 25 year old woman (or 28, as the character let slip in a conversation). Cute. No problem with that, is a coming to age story, and that happens a lot.

Let's talk about the elephant in the room: 25 (or 28) year old woman reveals itself a immature enough to actually HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BOY AT THE END. That's creepy (and I don't know US laws at the 70's but I'm pretty sure that's illegal too). The movie plays it as a romance somehow.

Now that I watched, I can't understand the hype. From a technical standpoint is a well made movie, a little dragged but I get it, it's a vibe movie and could had worked really well, but the creepiness of the ending had ruined it. This movie reminds me "Notes on a Scandal" but in an alternate reality where relationships between adults and minors are OK.

Black Bear (I) (2020)

Aubrey Plaza is absolute genius!

[10/10 · 23 January 2021]

This kind of story only can be handle by an actress with the talent and sense of irony she has. Very underrated. Absolutely surprised... Not conventional movie at all, no simple or easy answers. This movie is like life: not to be understood. Accept that fact, and the enjoyment is guaranteed.

Buffalo '66 (1998)

Vincent Gallo thinks very much of himself

[1/10 · 3 October 2020]

Awful movie. Very misogynistic. Even by 90's standards. Stop to watch at 20min. mark, and regret the time I spent looking at it. Can't stand for this ridiculous "egotrip".

Suspiria (I) (2018)

Not everyone's piece of cake

[9/10 · 1 January 2020]

I was chocked with the hate for this movie, but, in fact, is not a movie for everyone. The main merit of this work is to reverence 1977 Argento's masterpiece without trying to copy it. The story has the same starting point, but an original plot that stands in its own feet. A brilliant movie with an awesome cast. The only point that to me felt a little off is the old doctor side story. The original movie should be a director's cut, and the theatrical release should have this sub plot removed.

Midsommar (2019)

2 and a half hours felt like 5

[4/10 · 1 January 2020]

I was thrilled with the trailer months ago, and today I finally watched. The movie starts very well, the first 20 minutes or so seemed promising, but then... nothing. Boring scenery, people staring at each others, circle dances, meal, more circle dancing, chants, more meals... not even some gore killings and mutilations can break the boredom. Very shallow characters, predictable story and boring dialogues. "Oh, but you don't understand the Celtic runes in the clothes of each char..." OF COURSE I DON'T GET THAT! No one is supposed to know ancient Nordic language (or even modern Nordic languages) to "get" a movie. If you have to point rune alphabet to show movie qualities, oh boy...

Astral City: A Spiritual Journey (2010)

Five star for the original music

[5/10 · 18 April 2019]

I give five stars to this movie only dua to Philip Glass remarkable original score. For those outside Brazil, this movie is like those "christian movies" backed by churches in US. The difference is that instead of an evangelical church, the brazilian "kardecistas" (a religion whose exists almost exclusively in Brazil and is based on an almost unknown french author called Allan Kardec) who backed this movie. Skip the movie and jump to the original score on Spotify.

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Fictional Queen

[5/10 · 15 January 2019]

It's an entertaining movie, formulaic and sounds like a Queen ad. While Mercury was portrayed as the one who enjoys cocaine, booze and sex, the other members (some involved in the movie production) are mostly abstemious family guys with no sins. The movie has several timeline inconsistencies, shallow portraid characters (like the Bulsara family) and an fictional producer (Ray Foster) to act like a "villain". "Oh, it's not a documentary!" Ok, then make a movie about an made up band from the 70s. Do not sell it as the history of Queen.