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Reviews
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)
Animation Award! ALL STAR CAST OF VOICES-Winks to Old Movie Characters
Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) has carelessly lost 8 lives & must redeem himself. Hunted by a wolf bounty hunter, that intends to put down the self-righteous legend, but, a Wishing Star has fallen in the dark forest and whoever finds it is granted their desire. Puss sets out on an adventure to restore his former glory as a hero, but unfortunately for him, he's not the only one with his paws set on swiping that wish.
Directed by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado (The Croods: A New Age) with a story by Tommy Swerdlow (The Grinch) and Tom Wheeler (Puss in Boots) and a screenplay by Paul Fisher (The Lego Ninjago Movie) and Tommy Swerdlow, "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" animation style is CGI brilliance from the realistic style of previous Puss in Boots films with slo-mo & accelerated frame rates.
Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), Perrito (Harvey Guillen), and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) are in a spaghetti western-like race to get the Wishing Star. . Puss is accompanied by a female femme-fatale named Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek). Their complicated past generates constant conflict. When Puss "temporarily" retires as a hero, he meets an abandoned tiny chihuahua therapy dog named Perrito (Harvey Guillen) who is now convinced they are best friends, is happy about everything, and doesn't want to wish for anything. Sooo cute!!
Hilarious criminal masterminds Goldilocks (Florence Pugh), Papa Bear (Ray Winstone), Mama Bear (Olivia Colman) & Baby Bear (Samson Kayo) are also pursued by magic-obsessed Jack Horner (John Mulaney), who join the race. Kudos to inclusion of "Jiminy Cricket character with Jimmy Stewart voice. Brilliant!
Perrito also gets bleeped for his heavier use of vulgarity. One of his more memorable sequences is when a long line of bleeps covers up his insults about the three bears. Lots of moral absolutions & commutations & relationship bonding. Absolutely LOVED IT!
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
REDUNDANT CHAOS FROM BAD DRUGS- Nomination smells fishy!
Everything, Everywhere All at Once. Ya Gotta be Joking Academy "members! This chaotically redundant film has zero meaning or relevance, unless you revel in bad psychedelic drugs & asian anxieties. Is this an attempt to explain asian interpretation of PTSD? Dialogue is discordant plagiarization of old cartoon characters! Lead character played by Michelle Yeoh is screamingly overstressed by failing laundromat business, and, of course, her young daughter is "considering" a gay relationship! Really? Is "everyone" gay now?? Her whiny apologetic husband and obnoxious screeching father would make anyone head for psych ward. Jamie Lee Curtis is reduced to sappy farces now. Sorry, Monty Python this is Not! Who lost their integrity at the Academy Of Arts & Sciences", or perhaps, were offered HUGE "incentives" to nominate this "kung foo fighting" rubbish. What a desecration to "Clair de Lune" in the soundtrack.
Alternate Endings: Six New Ways to Die in America (2019)
Enlightenment to final Celebration
This topic has been previously explored in documentaries, and is gaining in popularity, as many desire to educate on final solutions!
Expanding the realm of humans existence, brings tears of joy. These individuals exited on their own terms- wisdom ruled, no matter their age, ending in Peace, ending the pain. Precious & Beautiful. So many never look beyond the "present" , exploring the meanings of all lifes chapters, before the final episodes, where you still have control .
All should contemplate what celebrations you'd prefer, before its too late, even if you are healthy. The funeral business is "profit-oriented", provides more joyful & less wasteful costs with beneficial examples .
The White Lotus (2021)
Lotus Season 2- poor writing-predictable Yawnfest
Season 1 had Murray Bartlett with comic antics a flurry of belly laughs- this was poorly written, zero character development, with writer Mike White's obsession with gratuitous sex scenes with 2 teen prostitutes, completely overunning an " alleged 5 star resort", really? Jennifer coolidge always plays same repulsive, obese, infantile, rude dim bulb, character , but her demise was imminent from 1st episode. What, no suspense? The "high end gays" dialogue was insultingly juvenile, & "murder most foul" evolved into a rudimentary joke. It was puzzling how 2 main married couples remained friendly through, "Cameron's (Theo James) relentless frat-boy attitude, despite his cover-up rhetoric. The only redeemable scenes were with the marvelous Aubrey Plaza, as Harper, & Will Sharpe as resentful hubby Ethan, who thru caustic dialogue & verbal cathartic battles over sex relationship, eventually became the series only shining ending. Terribly overated & boring.
Last Night in Soho (2021)
Sinister 60's Soho Detective Story
This film had me at the 60s soundtrack, Cilla Blacks "You're My World", Peter & Gordons "World without Love", Petula Clark's iconic "Downtown", Dionne Warwick s "Anyone Who had a Heart", Sandie Shaw's , "Always Something There to Remind Me", . I Grew up obsessed with 60' style & finger-popping retro fun of Mod Swinging London! This conjures up bits of "Psycho", Night of the Living Dead", "Blowup", & "Performance", with its psychological intersections of hallucination & reality. The sweet ingenue fashion designer Ellie, raised by her Gran, Rita Tushingham, who saturated her with 60s nostalgia, walks us innocently into her class at a London fashion school, wearing her own designs, to become ridiculed by the "mean girl" classmates, who assume their social/design superiority. Ellie is haunted by mirror-style visions of her deceased mother, also a budding stylist, & she escapes all the drug/alcohol fueled dorm partying, for a dust-bin upstairs flat, landlorded by Ms. Alexandra Collins ( Diana Rigg in her last role )reading Ellie the "renters rules". Settled in, Ellie sleeps engulfed in hallucinating enchantment walking into the swinging 60s London, becoming this dazzling sassy girl, Sandie, auditioning at the Cafe De Paris nightclub, in a swirling short pink dress, who, intertwines into a nightmarish phantasy of Ellie's imaginary desire to cross over into the past. Predatory old & young men are leering everywhere in the Club. She meets slick "booking agent/pimp", Jack (slimily played by Matt Smith) who demands to see/hear her talents. Ellie occasionally sees her face reflected in mirrors as " Sandie" , and after waking in her bed, running late for class, proceeds to draw the same exotic pink dress on her sketchboard, much to the instructor's delight, and jealousy of her classmates.
Ellie then dyes her hair blond, styled as Sandies! The nightscape horrors continue for Elloise/Ellie, advancing into episodes of men paying for services rendered. These kaleidoscope sequences evolve into slasher events, compounded by a mysterious older gent ( Terence Stamp) shadowing Ellies daytime moves. (The horror tropes were a bit thick here) The Sinister side of Soho is lethal.
Captivated by Sandie's glamorous ambition, Eloise witnesses Jack's exploitation & Sandie's forced prostitution career, ending in a bloody knife struggle sequence. Convinced that Sandie was murdered, Eloise becomes obsessed with solving the decades-old cold case becoming a present day detective. Convinced that Sandie was murdered, using library micro-fiche, and interrogating tion her landlady on the previous criminal history of the building she owns. What evolves next, is pure terror. Who knows how many bodies lie beneath these streets?
Remember, this is Diana Riggs last role, and wow does she go out in style!
Clickbait (2021)
Beware Teachers & Phys Ed Coaches of Lonely Catfishes
"CLICKBAIT " was misleading title, only referenced online viral sensational kidnap victim accused of "Murdering a woman". Plot rose & fell with inane overreactions of main characters, scrambling to find poor Nick Brewer,loving husband & dad in interracial martiage. The accusations fly, too many silly red herrings. The reporters acting like vampire bats, but goes over the line, but sniffs out the actual kidnapper but, that guy's sister story was sadly deplorable, especially when the real culprit is discoveted at the lsdt episode....an overweight, childless old school admin, with access to ALL employees personal phone data & photos..scary that anyone in any corporate HR can catfish to cause so much pain, just for her fun! I binged this in 2 days bc i couldn't tolerate the bad acting, but hoped to be rescued with a plausible ending!
In the Heights (2021)
Title should be "High School Musical"
Happy, happy bodega bougies dancing all day, singing trite meaningless lyrics about their superficial life goals ( lottery, gossip , painted nails,
Fantasy dreams) not 1 aspires to educational or uplifting job prospects though. Some dance sequences are entrancing, Vanessa in her #FabricDance is oustanding! Yet the boring rhetoric stereotypes drown the hope of "we gotta get outta this place" despair. Unenlightening unless you are a hopelessly delusional twerking teenager. Also, Lin Manuel Miranda needs to extract himself from a scene, no wants to see his detracting presence, just because his ego demands it!
Tina (2021)
Tina Turner- G.O.A.T
After the hard road with ex- husband Ike Turner, the unloved little girl from the cotton fields of Nutbush, a heartless mother, and raising her boys, luck changes her resolve. Loved the moment when she meets "the prettiest face I've ever seen", future husband, record producer Erwin Bach! I've always worshipped her voice & persona, witnessing a strength enhanced by the tranquility of Buddhism. Her acendence up the ladder of fame finally on her own terms with the love of her life brought tears! You feel like cheering her resiliency as the Icon, The Goddess Of All Time.
Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
Judas & Black Messiah dialog epilogue
This had all the ingredients of a masterful historical retelling of the betrayal of a leader of the Black Panthers, Rainbow Coalition & teacher of political power to Chicago's black activists population. But, & Blame the director Shaka King, for lost dialogue thanks to horrid sound production, CC couldnt help decifer a word of dialog ! Sad as some of performances were riveting- especially
Lakeith Stanfield as Bill O Neal. Daniel Kaluuyas words were mumbled & lost. Sound disaster was total Director fail there!
Promising Young Woman (2020)
Revenge of a Promising Young Woman with ASTERISKS
Cautionary tale of ensuing deranged elaborate revenge plot so common in some young females pandoras box!
But, tell me, where does a traumatized young woman,emotionally mulling over her friends demise, previously in "college", still living with mom & dad, working in a coffee shop, get the $$$ & resources to entrap & threaten her past "abusers", carte blanche?? Must admit everyone has thoughts, but intellectual & psychological constraints halt the madness. Too many predictable elements, kinda reminds one of those cutesy teenage witch cheesy movies.
The Little Things (2021)
The Little Things was a Warning
Gritty tale of overworked LA sheriff disgruntled & obsessed with minutiae of cold cases, haunted by a few past mistakes. Denzel is marvelous here, conjuring up ghosts of "Seven". Rami Malek shows portraying pop stars is fluff, & boringly miscast as detective, he's minus the instincts for ingenious crime solving. Jared Leto is a creepy show stopper, you dread his every move! Yet, the unrewarded painful evidence combing & stakeouts lead & expose mysteries that all characters share....except Maleks. He seems disjointed & more concerned with personal life. The unraveling of past & present serial murderers involving suspect Leto, examines frustration of unsolved crimes, & inability to get a conviction. This tale would have benfited as a Series, as the details needed more revelation
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Gal Gadot Is Fabulous-movie is vomitous
After all the hype, the script is comically atrocious, characterizations are worse than any cheesy spoof flick, and Kristen Wiig cannot deploy a character beyond the dumb & dumber shtick of past SNL skits. She lacks the chops & intuitive skills to portray a serious villain, or any role that wont invite serious ridicule.. Pedro Pascal has dropped down the Totem Pole since his Oberyn Martell Game of Thrones season.. Chris Pine is again dreamily in character-lock step! Gal Gadot is and will always be a Goddess, however. And the CGI budget must have been sacked- such weak graphics.. Soooo sad, was hoping for a movie with real Teeth!
Lord of War (2005)
Lord if War epilogue:Arms Dealer still Rule the World
In depth tale based on real events and characters, which confirms Sun Tzu's The Art of War anthology. LOVE Nicholas Cage & Jared Leto. Yuri Orlov:
"Selling guns is like selling vacuum cleaners; you make calls, pound the pavement, take orders. I was an equal-opportunity merchant of death; I supplied to every army but the Salvation Army. I sold Israeli-made Uzis to Muslims...I delivered Communist-made bullets to fascists...I even shipped cargo to Afghanistan while they were fighting my fellow Soviets. I never sold to Osama bin Laden-not on any moral grounds; back then, he was always bouncing cheques."