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Reviews
All My Puny Sorrows (2021)
A very real movie.
This was a great film, delving into the difficult subject of loss, grief, mental health (& it's woefully inadequate treatments) & suicide.
This movie focusses on a woman grieving the loss of her father, while she tries to help and juggle her time between her sister's depressive condition, & her mother, aunt & daughter, whose lives have all experienced the ensuing turmoil of a family members suicide.
The characters are all portrayed well, especially the two leads, the two sisters, as we watch their very different lifestyles, following their father's death.
One is a very successful & talented musician, but cannot face life for her depression, the other is a struggling writer, hoping for a break, but so busy with concerns for the wellbeing of her sister, mother, aunt and daughter.
The acting is good, the characters easy to feel empathy for, most importantly they're all believable - I don't recall a line, or scene, or character that didn't play true, a well constructed, thoughtful film, that was very true, very lifelike.
All the components needed for a good drama.
Conductor (2021)
It's a weird little horror movie....
A short film about, er, killing!
I liked this weird little horror movie, not because it's plot was feasible, or because it's script was full of amazing dialogue or anything like that, just because for what it is; a low budget horror film, it's not too bad. The effects and audio mixing are pretty damn good considering the size of the movie, and the lead actors could've been far worse in this genre.
I wasn't expecting it to be the next fellini movie, but for what it is it's not too bad, some very nice complex audio editing and some creative and colourful (if ridiculous) death scenes.
Gomorrah (2014)
Amazing Drama (NO SPOILERS)
Since i first laid eyes on this show it has been my go to recording on the sky box, which says a lot about it given its competitors. Before watching game of thrones, Ray Donovan, Westworld or Billions or any other amazing shows we've been blessed with of late, I would watch this first. Every time. Even though the subtitles are tough on my eyes due to neurological illness & chronic fatigue, I still couldn't/wouldnt want to resist. After all when a show is that good the fact subtitles are a struggle is soon forgotten. Its the show i'm always searching for, hoping a new season is almost here, really i could look up amazing in a thesaurus and copy every word and they would all ring true to my honest feeling of this show, i simply love it.
Gommorah is a great show, set in the crime filled mafia controlled projects of napoli while stretching much further at times, it is equally slick and brutal, the characters are great, many loveable & or hatable, the storyline is constantly moving & interesting and the overall production is superb, all backed up with a beautiful score and some wonderful locations, really just try it, if real drama is what you are looking for, look no further.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
Fantastic fight for freedom in a cruel & crooked courtroom
What a great film, showing a groups fight against a huge miscarriage of justice in a courtroom where the outcome is politically driven by crooked politicians looking for anyone to blame but the guilty, specifically just those who fit their crooked narrative. It brings home just how important the right to protest is (Kill the Bill) reminded me of so many awful scenes of innocent protesters being attacked by shields and truncheons in protests around the world in the past year or so.
This film may be a telling of a story from an era gone by but so many of the battles are still so relevant today from wasted life of fake wars to the racism & other prejudices of the court and prison system, the politics of protest and the repercussions of fighting for truth in a broken system.
Perfect cast, serious and involving yet laugh out loud in several parts, my 3 loudest laughs in ages we're all in this one movie - I thought I'd enjoy it but didn't realise quite how much - a well crafted, dramatic, funny and very entertaining movie.
Traces (2019)
I watched too much to quit part way through, with regret
I've only seen the first season but found it hard not to feel like it was a college production, but one that didn't work - but that's harsh as I've seen far better yet still failed college films, the unimaginative camera had seemingly zero post production of any value to improve the look (try colour grading - or anything to make it look less like video tape), with some just awful, terrible acting in large parts (the lead role is flat and unbelievable- where it all begins to fail) added to how very weak the producers/direction & technical crew are. Join that to the very convenient story progressions on a quite poor script again terribly delivered key performances which all made it hard to appreciate the good bits like the science or unique locations, and aerial shots though they just about kept me involved. Honestly I would have put money on it being old and dated just by how cheap it looks but having hbo/Atlantic making such quality shows then seeing this as a rival is laughable. Some tv is awesome these days but this looked like they'd made a series with the budget of a trailer.
I will try series two when I'm extremely stuck for viewing and see if any of that improves but if the director(s?)getting terrible unimaginative shots and not getting any level of performance from 95
% of the actors then get new directors, someone who can hold together some form of a quality production. Some of the cast will cringe and have nightmares from watching it back I'm sure.