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Los renglones torcidos de Dios (2022)
A good thriller needs logical explanations.
And this is the problem I have with this movie. The plot doesn'r add up to me. I would not like to make spoilers. Just let me say that Alicia, a detective, seeks to discover the truth about the death of an inmate, Damián García del Olmo. However, the movie goes on an on and that is never clarified. Some dialogues are just vehicles to trick the spectator and I believe that a good thriller shouldn't be using that as a resource to make it look good.
I rated it with 6 stars because the performances are very good, the suspense atmosphere is well created, and you do not know who is lying, until the end; but logic is missing because there are things that are never explained. I believe a good thriller needs logical explanations at the end.
Hot Fuzz (2007)
But not for me
May be I have the wrong sense of what is considered funny but other people. I could never thought that the brits could make such a piece of garbage after having watched movies like The Remains of the Day, Vera Drake or the Wrong side of the Law or Four Weddings and a Funeral.
I could not even smile one bit watching how people get killed. May be it is a great movie, but not for me. I prefer other type of cinema.
If you like chasing scences typical of certain American type movies you can give it a try.
To me the irony of the movie, the hero being depicted and evicted because he believes in a strict application of the law, gets lost among murders and blood being splat on the screen.
Miracol (2021)
It seems the Romanian police does not know about DNA testing
I had the chance to read a couple of the external reviews about this movie and they are favorable to the film. The only problem is that in order for the plot to make sense is that the "determined" police officer in charge of the investigation does not seem to be aware that nowadays one have DNA tests to proof certain crimes. And also that you can make a guess about certain things just by tracing the latest cell phones calls of the victim. If you can accept that then maybe the plot could make sense to you.
On the other hand I was never friend of movies in which one has to be a wizard to understand certain scenes. I like direct language. So be aeare.
Coda (2019)
In case piano classic music means something to you
I watched this movie because it was recommened by somebody that has enough sensitivity to enjoy the story and some appreciation for the music one can hear in the film.
Just to listen to the last portion of the final movement of Beethoven's Pathetique sonata makes the viewing worth, and you can add to that the duet heard of a small portion of Bizet's piano suite of Carmen. But the rest of the music is just lovely.
The story is lovely and credible. In case you do not believe in stage frightening let me tell you that it is real. I play the piano, and even if I am less than a mediocre piano player that would never play for any audience but my closest family, I can tell you I understand the feeling.
The main actors are superb, Katie Holmes lovely. It is a shame that this movie is not available in Neflix Canada platform because the director is a Canadian.
But if classical piano music does not tell you anything you may find it boring. So be warned.
Capharnaüm (2018)
In case you think your life is miserable
These days there are a lot of people moaning and bitching because they think they are living a miserable life because of Covid 19 restrictions.
Well, my recommendation to them after having watched this movie is to give it a try. It may show them that there are much worse things than the covid-19 restrictions. Living in a place like Lebanon is one of them.
It is a heart-breaking movie and even if it is fiction I have no doubt that most of what is shown in the movie is a reflection of current living condiitons in Lebanon for a lot of people.
The plot is about a boy that sues his parents, but that is the framework to show how some people live in the country.
The actor portraying the boy is excellent and so his parents. One can also see the struggle of an paperless Ethiopian refugee struggling to survive with a boy baby son. I wonder how bad it can be in Ethiopy for a women risking jail in Lebanon to have escaped from Ethiopy.
Despite all the bitterness the film also shows the empathy and solidarity between the boy and the Ethipian women.
La vita davanti a sé (2020)
Good story terrible screen play
I was prompted to watch this movie by people that had watched it and told me I should not miss it.
When I read the credits and I learned that the movie was based in a book by Romain Gary I told myself nothing can go wrong. Well, I was wrong. The screen-play is terrible. It fails to provide any support for the story that develops in the film.
The movie is well filmed and well acted. What can you expect if Sophia Loren is on the movie!
Nice photography too. Unfortunately the screen-play is not up to the job and then it is difficult to sustain how the story develops. As a result nothing is credible. Too bad!
This is un update of my review. I was curious about what was missing in the movie. So I read the book by Romain Gary. Romain Gary's original story has nothing to do with this movie and it made plain clear to me why it fails to provide any support for the story that develops in the film. The movie not even present key scenes from the book. It is not easy, I recognize, to adapt a book that was written using a child language, because this is what the book does. But if you are willing to have an idea I recommend you to watch Madame Rosa. It is the original movie with Simone Signoret. You will see the difference. It is available on YouTube.
Crímenes de familia (2020)
Some people may have missed the whole point
I usually check the rating before I decide to watch a movie. In this case the movie was recommended to me by a person I trust and thanks God I decided to watch it despite the rating that some people gave to it. I am glad I did. This is an excellent movie and I can understand some people may have not liked it. I presume those people do not have the slightest idea how a movie that is labelled as "crime" do not have any shooting and still be good. The problem is that it is not a movie about crime, it is a movie about social and cultural differences of people living in the same country.
If you expect to watch action do not waste your time, it is not a movie for you. The plot is heart breaking, the acting is exceptional and the filming is very sober. There are some aspects that are difficult to grasp if you have not lived in a place where Justice is over-ridden by money.
The ABC Murders (2018)
Read the book do not waste your time
I wonder why on earth somebody decided to spoil what could have been a very entertaining show. I watched three episodes and I decided to read the book because I could not believe Agatha Christie could produce such a pile of rubbish. The books by her in which Poirot is the detective are fun to read.
The director decided to re-write the story, he killed Japps right from the beginning; everything is dark, Hastings is out of the picture you know fromm the beginning who the serial killer is. He invented characters that are not in the original book. What else can I say?
Freud (2020)
If you like Sigmund do not watch "Freud"
I started watching this series because I thought I would learn something about the life of Freud. Wishful thinking!
I 'borrowed" the title from a critics review of this mini series because it is the best advice I can provide to unaware people. It is a total piece of crap because it is all fiction. I feel deceived and I never thought that the Germans or the Austrians could perpetrate such piece of rubbish.
Just do not waste your time if you really want to know something about Freud. I am not sure why they decided to produce a film using Freud's name. I guess that just to catch innocent people like myself.
Bolívar: Una lucha admirable (2019)
Missed chance
I started watching it in the hope of learning something meaningful about the life of this legendary character.
Unfortunately the production most of the time goes off the track with meaningless scenes that are more appropriate for an soap opera soap to let us know something interesting about Bolívar. Who cares about his uncle? Who cares about his rival for the heart of his loved one? Wouldn't it be more interesting to see how Montesquieu or Rousseau ideas influenced his life? I just watched the first 8 chapters because I realized it would be a waste of my time. Until then the most interesting character was Simón Rodríguez, his early tutor. The rest is crap.
El amor menos pensado (2018)
Not for everybody, but excellent film
Wonderful movie. The "not for everybody" is related to a comment overheard during the projection of the film. Somebody near to us said: "There is nothing going on!" I guess there will be people thay may said that, but the problem is that this is a movie that requires the spectator to adapt to the pace of the film. There is a lot going on during the whole movie but you need to pay attention and to have "feeling" for what is happening on the screen. The acting by Darín and Morán is superb, but it is not just them. Short appearances by Claudia Lapacó, Norman Brisky and Chico Novarro are memorable. The dialogues are credible and smart. If you go to the movies just looking for fights, chasing cars and the like, this one is not for you. But if you like to be moved by the story told on the screen, that may have to do with your own life, do not miss this one.
Corazón de León (2013)
Perhaps it is not for you
I had the chance to watch the movie during the the 16th Latin American Film Festival in Ottawa, Canada. I could see how much non-Spanish speaking people enjoyed the movie and I am surprised to see that US viewers from the IMDb rated the movie so low. Perhaps this is a movie that US audiences cannot understand because it deals with prejudice prompted by physical appearances. In Argentina people are not politically correct and the sort of things the movie depicts do occur. I believe this is a very smart movie because utilizes a humorous language to talk about pretty serious stuff.
This is a movie that ridicules people that are driven by what they see instead of by facts. In this case the perception is the height of the male character, but there are other perceptions that my drive people attitudes in other places that would produce similar results. Think of the skin colour.
The acting is very good and the story very enjoyable. The movie has a very agile rhythm; the non-speaking Spanish audiences may miss some of the peculiar "porteño" language of Buenos Aires because the English translation is a bit prudish.
There Was a Crooked Man... (1970)
Nothing to laugh about
The film is set in 1883 in Arizona. A band of outlaws steals $500,000 from a wealthy businessman. The gang members die in a shootout, but the leader escapes and hides the loot in a women's underwear and drops it into a snake pit. Then he is recognized in a brothel and is arrested.
End of the comedy..., may be not. It depends of your sense of humour. I must have none because to me what shows the movie afterwards is as funny as to die of a heart attack.
Watching the movie I had the feeling that the director or the script did not know where to go and the film was navigating between two very different type of waters. And unfortunately one does not know until near the end.
To call a comedy a movie were people are hanged, abused or murdered is something does not fit into my head. Nothing to laugh about.
The In-Laws (1979)
Perhaps 34 years ago was funny
I do not want to be too harsh because perhaps when this movie was filmed some scenes that are too familiar in today's American movies were somehow original, but even so I believe that by 1979 it was quite common to see American movies with cars chasing each other and so on. But leaving that aside, it is quite difficult to swallow that an educated dentist would accept leaving his office in the middle of an intervention to make a favour to a guy that he hardly knew. And this is how all begins. So, the script has an original sin... Nevertheless, there are some good gags and a very good performance by Alan Arkin. And of course, the usual display of utter ignorance of Americans about the culture of the other American countries. For instance to make the Hondureans speak Spanish as if they were Mexicans.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962)
A doubtful favour to Blasco Ibáñez
Blasco Ibáñez wrote this novel in 1916, and the most amazing thing about the story is the description he makes of the German character which tries to dominate the rest of the world based on their "superiority" over the rest of the races. According to the characters in Blasco Ibáñez story the Germans forced this war because they were sure about their superiority over the rest and they were sure it would be an "easy" win. By changing the setting in the film from World War I to World War II this is missing. The problem with this is that by knowing how the war ended and what happened twenty years later when one reads the book one comes to the conclusion that if the Germans had learnt the lesson the tragedy of World War II could have been avoided. The film misses the irony of that conclusion.
The Abyss (1989)
Not impressed
I was not impressed with this movie. Maybe for a light pastime it is OK. I am not very moved by special effects, so perhaps I am neglecting something that for other people is most important. When I watch a movie I try to think if it makes sense, even if it is science fiction; the special effects are important if they help to make a good story. The science fiction part of the movie is irrelevant and does not add anything to the story, except that provides the way to a happy ending. To call this a science fiction movie when there are films like Alphaville, 2001 a Space Oddisey or Fahrenheit 451 sounds almost like a joke.