sddavis63 Reviews (2,018)

The Frozen Ground (2013)

The Hansen Murders

[8/10 · 23 April 2024]

I truly appreciated the atmosphere of this film. It was made on location in Alaska, filmed apparently as fall was turning into winter - a deliberate choice to give a certain feel of authenticity to the movie. It worked. It's tense and suspenseful all the way through; there's a wilderness feel to the movie even though much of it is set in the city of Anchorage. And it features some excellent performances - especially from Nicolas Cage as the Alaska State Trooper detective Jack Halcombe, who's in charge of the case.

It's the story of the Robert Hansen murders - Hansen (played by John Cusack) having murdered still unknown numbers of women in Alaska in the 70's through the early 80's, and it revolves around his last victim - Cindy Paulson (Vanessa Hudgens) - the one who survived and eventually helped Halcombe bring Hansen in. The performances all the way through are top notch.

It's produced as a tribute to Hansen's victims. I was expecting when I put it on to find a low budget, slasher type film, but instead found one that was reasonably true to the real story, and it does serve as an effective tribute.

(8/10)

Amber Alert (2012)

The Alternative Viewpoint - I Enjoyed This!

[7/10 · 19 February 2024]

I guess I'm giving the alternative viewpoint here, but I actually really enjoyed this movie. It's a "found footage" style of movie. So, yes, it's a bit cliche in that sense (frankly, it's been overdone) and it's a genre I've honestly never been especially fond of, but I thought this was one of the better ones I've seen.

It's essentially a two-person movie following Samantha (Summer Bellessa) and Chris (Nathan Riley.) They're two BFFs essentially who decide to shoot some videos together. I thought from the start that they both came across as likable characters. They begin a road trip (with a third companion - Samantha's brother) shooting the video of their adventures, and while driving they come across a car wanted in an amber alert for the kidnapping of a little girl and decide to follow it. The story proceeds from there.

Yes, there are a few times when it's a bit tedious - because it is three people out for a drive basically - but you always know what's happening and that was enough to hold my attention. Some think Bellessa's performance was a bit over the top but I'm not sure about that. How would any of us behave or react in the same circumstances? The tension slowly mounts, and the ultimate climax of the movie is sudden and shocking and dramatic.

Bellessa's husband Kerry directed the movie, and Kerry and Summer were also co-producers. I thought they did a pretty good job and I enjoyed the movie.

See You on Venus (2023)

A Classic Definition Of Sappy

[3/10 · 29 January 2024]

This movie careens from one tug at your heartstrings storyline to another, over and over, literally one after another after another. One teen suffering from trauma, one from a lifetime of foster homes who desparetely wants to find her real mother. There are health issues - mental and physical - and, of course there's the requisite love story as the relationship between Mia and Kyle develops over the course of their sudden trip to Spain (yes, this also manages along the way to become a sort of "road trip" movie.)

The story is cliche. You pretty much know where it's going from the moment it starts. Sure there are a few detours and sudden turns along the way, but the basic direction is set out very early and it's just a matter of how the movie is going to get to its inevitable destination. There's no real standout performance in this. Virginia Gardner is likeable enough as Mia, and Alex Aiono does a decent enough job of gradually turning the brooding and traumatized Kyle into a softer version of himself. There's just honestly not enough meat to make this worthwhile watching. (3/10)

Watcher (I) (2022)

Is She Paranoid?

[7/10 · 28 January 2024]

As I watched this film an old saying came to my mind: "Just because you're paranoid it doesn't mean they're not out to get you." That's not a bad summary of the central dilemma of this movie. Maika Monroe and. Karl Glusman star in this film as Julia and Francis - a young American couple who have to move to Bucharest in Romania after Francis gets a promotion from his company. As the movie opens we see them in a taxi heading toward their new apartment and everything seems good. There's a sense of anticipation and even excitement on Julia's face as this new pahse of their life begins. But we're also introduced to one of the problems Julia will face - while Francis speaks Romanian, she doesn't. She's dependent on others being around to help her with the language and if she happens to be alone (which she is a lot, because her husband is working long hours) she's quite lost. Very quickly it becomes clear that this is a very isolating environment for Julia, and she starts to become a bit paranoid (or does she?) when she thinks she sees a man in another building watching her, and then becomes convinced that he's following her. This happens after she and Francis, very soon after their arrival, had stumbled across a murder scene and discovered that there was a serial killer loose, preying on young women. She continues to encounter this man in the brown jacket, and the question becomes whether he's actually stalking her or whether she's effectively become the stalker who follows him.

Monroe was excellent in the role. Having surfed through her filmography it turns out that this is the first movie I've seen her in and I was impressed. She brought an innocence and naivete to the role as she struggled with this environment in which she had few people she could talk to and was dependent on others to translate everything that was being said. If I could compare Monroe to anyone it would be perhaps to a young Amy Adams (think of her role in "Enchanted" - a very different kind of movie obviously, but the same - if exaggerated in the case of "Enchanted" - innocent and naive qualities to the character.) A very good device was the fact that when people spoke Romanian in the movie, the film added no subtitles. We heard the Romanian, which put us in essentially the same frustrating position as Julia - we can't understand what's being said and we have to depend on someone to finally explain it. That helped me to relate to Julia's situation and drew me further into the movie.

I confess I was going to rate this a little bit higher except for the fact that I didn't like the ending. The movie had been mysterious and suspenseful, with a lot of ambiguity and uncertainty (a lot of atmosphere you might say) but the ending was too abrupt and too definitive. I didn't think it suited the rest of the movie. But having said that, it was still on the whole a very enjoyable movie. (7/10)

Wyvern (2009 TV Movie)

Surprisingly Entertaining

[6/10 · 28 January 2024]

I'm not even sure why I was drawn to "Wyvern." I stumbled across it online and something just made me want to watch it. I expected it to be a typical kind of low budget creature feature of no great importance or even quality - and it surprised me. It held my attention throughout, it featured better than passable performances and had a collection of interesting characters who I actually found myself caring about. And, although it has its moments of gore, it didn't depend on blood to make it work. It had a decent story behind it.

It's set in Alaska, and obviously is trying to capitalize on the fears about the consequences of global warming and especially the melting of the polar ice caps. On the outskirts of a small Alaskan town called Beaver Mills, a glacier is melting, and as it does it finally unleashes a terrifying creature that had been frozen within - a flying reptile with a definite taste for human blood that also seems to have a fair degree of intelligence as it hunts down its prey. Meanwhile as the residents of Beaver Mills start to encounter the creature (and as some start to disappear) the townsfolk are skeptical, dismissing the stories they're hearing as mere legend at best - or, even more likely, the result of people going a little bit stir crazy - because, you see, the story is set in the middle of the Alaskan summer when the sun is out and shining 24 hours a day, making sleep difficult and causing people to get a bit off balance. Although Jake and Claire (Nick Chinlund and. Erin Karpluk) are the primary heroic figures in this, I appreciated that while some of the characters were a bit quirky, none were there simply for comic relief. All the characters had a certain heroic feel to them as they banded together to fight this beast, and, in the end, Jake has to overcome some personal demons relating to the tragic death of his brother as the movie comes to its close.

After watching it I did a bit of research and discovered (a bit to my surprise) that the wyvern really is a figure out of Norse mythology, which made me appreciate this a little bit more. The creature was actually fairly well done and overall this movie was better than a lot of similar movies you might find. Very well done; very enjoyable. 6/10.

The Man (1972)

Interesting Movie - But It Could Have Been Better

[7/10 · 27 January 2024]

It's very interesting to compare this movie to the original novel (published a few years earlier) written by Irving Wallace. Wallace's novel was very good but also very long - almost ponderous at times, in fact - offering a much more thorough and very detailed account of Douglass Dilman's experiences as an "accidental" black president at a time when racism was not only alive and well but still very much openly promoted by many politicians in the USA. Wallace's novel revolves to a great extent around Dillman navigating relations with the Soviet Union over an issue in Africa and then defending himself against an impeachment trial pushed by an extremely racist Congressman.

The movie (adapted from the novel by Rod Serling) is quite a contrast. It moves very quickly, almost at a frenetic pace at times. A happy medium between the two might have made for a better movie. The movie is less explicitly racist (especially in its language) and there's no effort at impeachment in this hearing. Instead, the movie's resident racist legislator (played by Burgess Meredith and in the movie a senator) takes the position that Dilman should essentially be left to hang himself politically by being allowed to fuinction as president (which he assumes will happen because he figures Dilman, as a black man, isn't competent enough to be president.) The primary issue here isn't relations with the Soviets but rather relations with apartheid-era South Africa over their requested extradition of a black man accused of an attempted assassination in that country. (Whether in the book or the movie, having the main policy challenge for the first black president focussed on Africa seemed a bit too convenient for pushing forward the racist commentary.) The book leaves it ambiguous whether Dilman will seek the office in his own right in the next election; the movie has him actively seeking his party's nomination.

They both work in their own ways. They're both an interesting reflection on racism in America at the time. The movie has decent performances from its leads - James Earl Jones as Dilman, William Windom as Secretary of State Eaton and Martin Balsam as Chief of Staff Talley, along with the aforementioned Meredith. I would have liked to have seen Windom made better use of. He's an extremely good actor but Serling didn't really develop the tension (and rivalry) between Eaton and Dilman particularly well. (Racism aside the movie also serves as an interesting reflection on a president assuming office who had been elected as neither president nor vice president - which Gerald Ford would do a few years later.)

I thought the most powerful and meaningful scenes were the scenes of Dilman's early presidency, when important discussions are happening in the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room around him, but in which his presence is barely even acknowledged by those present. Jones did a very good job of portraying Dilman's frustration with the dismissiveness Dilman was being treated with.

I liked the novel (although it's a long time since I read it) and I also liked this movie (although I haven't seen it for many years until I happened by accident to find it on You Tube this morning.) I do think it could have been better. Apparently Jones himself expressed some misgivings about it, particularly over the limited budget it had (which does give it a kind of lacklustre feel) and felt it could have been stronger. Still, given the times in which it was made it was a fairly courageous move on the part of ABC, who made it at a time when networks were still very squeamish about tackling controversial social issues and who, interestingly, apparently released it in the theatres instead of on television, although it did end up as a movie of the week on the network. (That's the version I saw on You Tube but I have no idea how long after it was released in the theatre it took to be broadcast on the network.)

Barbie (I) (2023)

A Bit Over-Rated But Still Enjoyable

[7/10 · 16 December 2023]

My daughter came home from university for Christmas break and wanted to watch the Barbie movie so we rented it from Amazon and had a family movie night. It was better than I was expecting but in my opinion still a little bit over-rated. At almost two hours it was a bit long. The first hour was fun and had me laughing; the second hour - to me at least - started to drag a bit. But it's an enjoyable watch for the most part and leaves me shaking my head at the the right-wing menfolk who seemed to think this movie was the end of civilzation as we know it. That says more about their own sense of masculinity than about the quality of the movie.

The cast (Margot Robbie was Barnie and Ryan Gosling was Ken) was likeable and funny. One way of cutting the over-long runtime would have been to cut out most of the scenes involving the fictional Mattel execs. I did not like them, most of their scenes seemed superfluous and it seemed just a way to give Will Ferrell an acting gig.

But overall I'd give the movie a solid 7/10.

Maybe I Do (2023)

Solid Cast In A Pleasant But Sometimes Pretentious Movie

[6/10 · 3 July 2023]

You can't argue about the casting of Susan Sarandon, Richard Gere, Diane Keaton and William H. Macy. They all held up their ends of the bargain well enough as the parents of Michelle and Allen (Emma Roberts and. Luke Bracey.) Michelle and Allen are debating whether or not to get married (Michelle wants to; Allen doesn't - maybe a bit too stereotypically male/female.) Unbeknownst to them their fathers are engaged in separate flings with the other's mothers, and it all comes to a head one night when the two families (who weren't aware of the connection) gather for dinner to help Michelle and Allen figure out their future.

The movie is a pleasant romantic comedy. There's nothing especially noteworthy about it, but it's also not difficult to watch, it elicits a few chuckles now and then and there's even a sort of sweet innocence in the extra-marital relationship between. Sam and Grace (Macy and Keaton) that works as a good balance to the somewhat caustic extra-marital relationship between. Howard and Monica (Gere and Sarandon.)

But while it's pleasant it's also a bit pretentious, especially as it nears its conclusion, and seems to be trying too hard to impart some sort of wisdom or insight about marriage and relationships, which ultimately comes across as irritating rather than wise.

As rom-coms go, it's OK. I've certainly seen worse. (6/10)

Kiss Me (2011)

Very Passionate With Good Performances From The Leads

[8/10 · 20 February 2023]

Mia and Frida (both 30-something) meet at their parent's engagement party. (Mia's father is marrying Frida's mother.) Mia reveals at the party that she is also engaged to be married to Tim. But as Mia and Frida come to know one another they slowly fall in love with each other. Well, "slowly" is perhaps not correct. Their first kiss was actually quite abrupt, and while Mia protested that she loved Tim, as portrayed in the movie her reluctance wasn't that firm. Overall I liked the movie. It dealt with the issue of love and explored what happens when two people suddenly and unexpectedly fall for one another and the complications that can arise as a result. I thought that Ruth Vega Fernandez (as Mia) and Liv Mjönes (as Frida) came across as natural and believable in their roles, and effectively portrayed both the passion and confusion that both felt as their relationship developed and they had to make decisions about how and if to move forward. They were very effective at making their characters likeable, so that the viewer cares about them rather than just watching. I thought the ending was appropriately ambiguous. While you move through the entire film expecting that Mia and Frida would end up together, the ending didn't state that explicitly and perhaps left it to the imagination of the viewetr as to whether they stayed together or whether the challenges of the relationship continued to keep them apart. All we know is that they found each other. What happened after that is a mystery. There were a couple of depictions of lesbian sex that came across to me as a little bit exploitive. It was natural enough in the depiction of the relationship but probably not absolutely essential to the story. It's also a swedish movie, with Swedish audio and English subtitles for those who don't enjoy that. But overall, this is a very good movie about two people that you grow quickly to care about, and for whom you wish happiness. (8/10)

All I See Is You (2016)

Unfortunately Unsatisfying

[4/10 · 4 February 2023]

Unsatisfying. When this was all over, this was the word that stuck in my head. I was left unsatisfied. I liked the premise of the story. A woman blind since a childhood accident regains her sight after eye surgery and can suddenly see the world and all its colours again - and she sees her husband for the first time. While they both seem overjoyed at first, Gina regaining her sight turned out not to be the blessing both apparently thought it would be. Her husband James seemed a little lost because Gina was no longer completely dependent on him, and Gina apparently developed a need to explore what you might call her "wild side." The tensions that developed between the two of them, along with the deterioration of her eyesight as a result of problems with her eye drops, became the engine that pushed this forward.

It wasn't a bad movie. I wouldn't call it "suspenseful." Not at all to be perfectly honest. There was enough uncertainty involved to keep me watching. There were moments when the movie seemed to veer into unnecessary sexual territory that didn't really add very much to the basic story. It seemed included simply to titillate for no reason. I thought Blake Lively and Jason Clarke were fine as Gina and James. Director Marc Forster effectively used camerawork to simulate Gina's newfound but imperfect sight as it gradually came back to her. I could have done without the kind of strange and - again - unnecessary and minor subplot around the dog. But my main concern with this was simply that in the end everything seemed to just be left hanging with no real resolution to exactly what had been happening. The ending left me kind of cold and all I said to my wife as it closed was "that was a strange way to end this movie."

Strange it was. It had some decent aspects to it and an interesting storyline, but it just seemed to me that so much more could have been done with it. (4/10)

Everly (2014)

Violent Action Picture Turn Into Very Dark Comedy!

[4/10 · 1 February 2023]

Spoken several times in this movie, the tagline might as well be "that's a lot of dead w****s." Yeah. There were a lot. And, in fairness, not only w****s - but lots of dead people in general, and at least one dead dog who got caught playing fetch with a grenade! I can't honestly say this was a good movie. It's an extremely and graphically violent movie, juxtaposed against the peaceful Christmas music that often accompanies what's happening on screen. (Hearing "Round yon virgin mother and child" as the movie approaches its end turns you upside down.) Everly is the title character (played by Salma Hayek) who is forced into sex slavery by the Yakuza crime organization and held captive for four years in an apartment who eventually fights back. Hayek was actually ok in this role - probably the only highlight of the movie to be honest. The movie is pushed along by typical unbelievable action-stuff in which Everly takes on everything and everyone against her and still somehow manages to come out on top. Beyond that I'm not even sure it's worth discussing the plot, since the basic point seems to be graphic violence.

And yet - it's a watchable movie. I stuck with it, interested enough in seeing how Everly manages to come out of this (because I assumed from the very start that no matter what the odds against her she was going to come out of this somehow and in some way.) In fact, the action-violence is so over the top in so many ways that I almost started to think of this as an extremely dark comedy of sorts. Parts of it are so beyond belief that you can't help but be tempted to laugh at it even as the bloody body count mounts!

Pretty much every weapon you can imagine is seen in this and you will go through the whole experience of watching it wondering what in the world is going to happen next - and, oh yeah, just how many "dead w****s" are there going to be by the time this is over?

So - no - it's not a good movie. But you will watch it until the very end so it's not a failure and you won't really feel like you've wasted your time with it. (4/10)

Soul to Keep (2018)

Watch It For What It Is And It Can Be Appreciated

[6/10 · 28 January 2023]

This wasn't as horrible as some reviewers make it out to be - but it's a sign of the times (at least with some) that if you disagreee with them, you must be "fake." Well, I'm not "fake" and I disagree with those who thought this was horrible. Oh, don't get me wrong. It's no masterpiece - but I wasn't expecting it to be. It's about a group of young adults who've been friends since childhood who go off to an out of the way property for a weekend away. While there, they end up conjuring up a demon. So - really - set your expectations according to that plot.

I thought it was reasonably suspenseful and on a handful of occasions even rose to the level of frightening. The cast - similar to the movie as a whole - while not being great weren't as bad as some are making them out to be. Yes, there are several plot inconsistencies. Surely the presence of the triangle in the basement (with something apparently still fresh and rotting within it) should have raised questions in their minds about what was going on? That one really did stick with me and where it came from never was really explained. But again - set your expectations accordingly. Don't expect to be blown away by special effects or astonished by a spectacular and airtight story. Just look at it as a piece of low budget entertainment and you can appreciate this.

Now - confession time. I watched this basically because I became a fan of Sandra Mae Frank from watching her on "New Amsterdam" for the last couple of seasons of its run, and this was the only other piece of work of hers that I could find that was easily accessible. She didn't disappoint as Tara. I find her work as a deaf actress fascinating and quite convincing. That probably made me rate this a little higher than I otherwise would have. Still, I found it an enjoyable enough escape for 90 minutes. (6/10)

The Desperate Hour (2021)

Few Thrills, But A Decent Suspense Movie

[7/10 · 15 August 2022]

It's billed as a "thriller" and I think I'd take issue with that. It's more of a suspense type movie - not many thrills to find - but, while I know I'm a bit of an outlier on this, I actually thought that as a suspense movie it was reasonably well done. The story is straightforward and it is suspenseful, with a lot of unanswered questions coming up as it progresses. It's about a mother out for a jog who suddenly finds out that there's been a school shooting at her son's high school. She's far away, she has no vehicle and she's desperate to find out exactly what happened and if her son is safe, which she tries to do by keeping in touch with people and events on her cell phone. The mom is played by Naomi Watts and for the most part this is a one woman movie, so it rises and falls on (a) the strength of the underlying story and (b) the performance of Watts. Both, I thought, were fine. I wanted to find out what happened and how this was going to play out as desperately as Amy (the mom) did. I thought that it was a bit unrealistic in the way Amy was able to be in almost constant touch with the police at the school (and even, in the end, play a role in bringing the incident to its conclusion) but I could suspend my disbelief enough to still find this suspenseful enough to hold my attention throughout.

Don't watch this looking for traditional "thrills" because you won't find those. It really does have a more old-fashioned "suspense" feel to it, and it works fairly well if looked at that way. (7/10)

Ice Blue (2017)

Family Secrets Revealed

[5/10 · 22 June 2022]

Secrets always come out eventually - and when they do they often cause chaos and grief. If there's a moral to this story, that would probably be it. Arielle, played by a young actress named Sophia Lauchlin Hirt, is turning 16. Her mother left when she was 6 and she's been raised and home schooled in an isolated and lonely environment by her single father. Now, her only birthday wish is to see her mother. To her surprise, her mother shows up - and the result is the unbinding of family secrets.

The problem is that none of the secrets were really that earth-shattering for the most part, and the first hour or so of the movie moves along at a rather slow pace. You see the results of a broken family but not really much else. The movie does pick up in the last half hour, and there's a definite ratcheting up of the tension as it heads to its conclusion, but I'm even a bit reluctant to use the word "climax." I didn't think there was anything dramatic or shocking enough in the ending to justify the use of that word, and the ending really didn't give me any closure - it actually left me with questions as to what was actually happening in the movie.

The story is compelling enough that you watch it through to the end, even if it is a bit of a slow build up. Too many of the characters are left undeveloped, and Hirt herself, as the primary star, was all right but she didn't overwhelm me with her performance. It's basically an OK movie that you won't regret watching but that also isn't completely satisfying. (5/10)

Horizon Line (2020)

It's Been Done Before But It Still Works

[6/10 · 20 June 2022]

Sure it's formulaic - a typical story of two people with a troubled past together who have no idea of how to land a plane being forced to take over the thing after the sudden death of their pilot. It's been done many times. But in all fairness formulaic doesn't necessarily mean bad. I thought this was a decent enough movie. It had plenty of suspense and you couldn't really be sure how this was going to turn out - would they both die or would they both survive or would one die and one make it? You couldn't really know and any of those scenarios were possible. The main actors were Allison Williams and Alexander Dreymond. I wasn't familiar with either of them, but there was nothing about their performances I could fault; nothing that would make me shy away from anything else they were in, and their characters of Sara and Jackson were both likeable, and you do find yourself rooting for them - both in terms of their relationship and their survival. Is it a masterpiece? By no means. But it's an hour and a half of decent action and a decent enough story that held my attention throughout. 6/10.

Devil's Island (2021)

Not Great But Better Than You Might Expect

[6/10 · 15 March 2022]

I didn't think this was a bad movie. It's promoted as a horror movie, and if you go into it expecting the stereotypical format, you'll be disappointed. There's no gore, any violence is implied more than real and while Elle Alexander - the star - is a very attractive, there's absolutely zero nudity or sexuality contained. So it checks very few of what most people think of when they tune in to this kind of film. But it does have a pretty good atmosphere to it, and certainly a lot of mystery - maybe, in the end, a bit too much mystery as a lot of questions are left unanswered by the ending.

Samantha (Alexander) moves to a small island home she inherited from her grandparents. The locals don't like her, and some of them apparently want to drive her away. That's basically the story. Having spent a few years closely connected to a small island off the coast of Newfoundland that didn't get many visitors, I could kind of relate to a newcomer not being warmly welcomed. It's a short movie at about 1:11, but it moves fairly slowly. It's safe to say that while it's not boring, it's not fast paced and those who want a lot of action won't find this to their liking. The performances were decent enough, and even if everything isn't explained it's not a hard movie to watch, as long as you don't go into it expecting major excitement and thrills.

Simply put, it's not outstanding, but it's better than the reviews and ratings would have you believe. (6/10)

Inmate Zero (2020)

Another Zombie Movie? Seriously?

[1/10 · 13 March 2021]

I watch a lot of movies but don't write many reviews any more. Somehow "Inmate Zero" moved me to make a few comments. Primarily - did the world really need another zombie movie? Seriously? Zombies? They were all the rage a few years ago. I enjoyed them. I was a "Walking Dead" fanatic for many years until the whole thing just got boring to me - same thing, over and over and over again. I don't watch the show anymore. But somehow in 2020 someone decided that the world needed another zombie movie. Even more mysteriously - I decided to watch it. God bless Tubi - I didn't have to pay for it at least. "Inmate Zero" adds literally nothing to the worn out genre, and isn't even bad enough to be memorable. It's just dull. Just plain dull. There's nothing in it to really grab your attention. There's the normal blood and gore. There's the general feel of silliness you get whenever you watch this kind of movie. Yes - the whole concept of zombies is silly. The thing is zombie shows and movies used to be a guilty pleasure for me. Now I just feel guilty that I wasted the time I spent watching this. But it wasn't a total loss. In fact, I did what I almost never do - I watched about half of it and then turned it off.

The Angry Red Planet (1959)

As 50's Sci-Fi Goes This Was Pretty decent

[6/10 · 21 December 2020]

The 1950's were an era that produced a lot of low budget sci-fi movies that have become sort of cult classics. Watching this from the perspective of similar movies produced in the era, I have to say that "The Angry Red Planet" stands up pretty well. It's the story of 4 American astronauts (3 men and the requisite - for the time - pretty woman) who become the first humans to land on Mars. It's told as a flashback from the perspective of Iris (Nora Hayden) after the rocket ship makes its way back to earth with only 2 survivors (one who is seriously infected with - well - something) after it had been presumed lost.

I thought the story was pretty good. It's scientifically ridiculous, of course, and the Mars depicted bears no resemblance to the Mars we now knows exists, but it is, after all, science fiction, with an emphasis on fiction. The performances from the 4 main actors were fine, and I appreciated the fact that Hayden turned out to be more than just a pretty addition to the cast. Her character of Iris was a serious scientist who had real things to do - even if she was depicted now and then as overly emotional and easily frightened (again, it was the 1950's.) I thought that the photography effects were pretty good - especially the red tint that the picture was put in to film scenes that took place on the surface of Mars. It certainly made the point that this was another world. On the other hand, the "monsters" were cheesy (to be expected) and the special effects were virtually non-existent - but, again, keep in mind when this was made. The biggest criticism I'd make of it is that the last 15 minutes or so seem rather rushed - almost as if the producers ran out of money after offering a decent enough story to that point and then said, "OK. Let's get this over with as fast as we can."

The movie makes the requisite point about human nature and our violent tendencies toward the end.

All in all, it's an enjoyable enough movie that may not be at the upper echelon of the 1950's sci-fi genre, but still represents the genre reasonably well. (6/10)

Berlin Syndrome (2017)

Decent and Believable HIghlighted By Good Performances From The Leads

[8/10 · 8 November 2020]

I liked this movie. It's a decent thriller set in Germany (the part that used to be East Germany) in which a young female tourist from Australia is kidnapped and held hostage by a charming psycopath she meets along the way. It's got a good atmosphere, and it causes you to wonder how Clare will ever be able to escape from her situation. The performances from both leads (Teresa Palmer and Max Riemelt) were believable. Riemelt especially I thought caught the balance of charmer and psychopath in the character of Andi. I also appreciated that the movie managed to believably portray Clare's plight without feeling the need to be overly and unnecessarily graphic. One thing I would have appreciated but was lacking was any real development of Andi's background. What caused him to be the way he was - since the movie makes clear that this isn't the first time he's done this to a young female tourist (which also leaves open the question of what happened to the Canadian tourist who was apparently his previous victim.) The ending was also a bit abrupt and to me didn't close the story well enough. But aside from those quibbles I found this a good movie that held my attention. (8/10)

You Belong to Me: Sex, Race and Murder in the South (2014)

Somewhat Disappointing And Lacking Depth

[4/10 · 18 December 2019]

This turned out not to be what I was expecting. From its description I thought this was a dramatized version of an incident that happened in the 1950's, but it turned out to be a documentary about the incident. It tells the story of a black woman named Ruby McCollum, who killed her family doctor who had been sexually abusing her. As a documentary I thought it was a bit dry, probably because I had no real personal connection to the story and had never heard of Ruby McCollum before I watched this. Its description over-hypes this a bit. There's a reference to former jurors being "haunted" by the case, but really only one former juror (and an alternate juror at that) was featured as far as I can remember and while he certainly remembered the case he also didn't seem "haunted" by it. The nature of the relationship between Ruby and the doctor wasn't entirely clear - was it abuse or was it consensual, and there wasn't a sufficiently in depth consideration of whether consent would even have been possible between two people who were in very different positions. Ruby was - relatively speaking - a well to do black woman, although her money came from her husband's gambling operations, while the doctor had powerful political friends and a potentially promising political career. To be honest a lot of the story seemed rather muddled, although one point that was made disturbingly clear was that in the South during the Jim Crow era (which lasted up until the 1960's) black women had no power vis a vis white men. If a white man wanted a black woman, he could take her without consequences even if she was married. The powerlessness of black women (and of black men) was made starkly clear. Still, with that strong point aside, I found this to be rather disappointing and somewhat lacking in real depth. (4/10)

The Virgin Suicides (1999)

Dark, Dismal And Depressing

[3/10 · 10 December 2019]

If you're ever in the mood for some light-hearted entertainment - most definitely do not watch "The Virgin Suicides." This is perhaps the darkest, most dismal and most depressing movie I've ever seen. It opens with the 13 year old youngest daughter of the Lisbon family attempting to commit suicide and it ends a couple of hours later with all five of the Lisbon daughters having committed suicide. In between, we get a glimpse of their life as a part of this Lisbon family - with an overbearing, over-protective super-religious mother (Kathleen Turner) and a somewhat more understanding but kind of wimpy father (James Woods) who won't stand up to his wife to try to give the girls some freedom. (This is certainly a critique of hyper-religiosity.) Finally fed up with their situation, the girls become increasingly rebellious, start to hang out with a group of boys as best they can when mom isn't watching, and it all leads up to that tragic ending. I have to admit - I didn't like this movie. I can take a dark and depressing movie but this one seemed to have very little point. We knew where it was going - it's clearly stated in the movie's description - but there was nothing in particular that seemed to be compelling about the journey. Thank goodness this wasn't a true story! That's about the best I can say for it.

Well ... there were some redeeming qualities I suppose. Turner and Woods actually did pretty well with their roles and - even though this is fiction - the movie did bring out a bit of an emotional reaction in me. Fictional or not, I started to feel sorry for these girls as the movie went on - perhaps because I knew exactly where this was heading - and I wanted someone to rescue them, even knowing that wish was in vain. So it's not as if this was a complete disaster. It was just a movie I didn't like, and I found watching it to be a truly bleak experience. (3/10)

The Final Days (1989 TV Movie)

The Unravelling Of A Presidency

[7/10 · 9 December 2019]

With the impeachment of a president very much on the horizon as I write this, it was interesting to go back to the Nixon presidency with this movie. Many years ago I read the book of the same name by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. It recounted, as you would guess from the title, the last, pathetic days of the Nixon presidency - and it did so in great detail. The movie, as you might expect, is less detailed than the book. It tends to move the story forward quickly through the use of short narrations offered by various characters and highlights only certain incidents, but it still offers a compelling portrait of Nixon, his family and his officials in the White House as they desperately seek ways to avoid the inevitable ending to the administration.

Lane Smith was superb in the role of Nixon and without doubt was the highlight of the movie. To me (and, admittedly I was only 11 when Nixon resigned, so my "memories" of him are largely from historical news footage) he really did become Nixon. The portrayal was eerie and fascinating - and even sympathetic. Yes, I started to feel sorry for Nixon as I watched this. He was such a complex man, and he had a sense of sadness looming over him - he was paranoid and isolated and introverted, and yet at the same time he was drawn to public life and had a seemingly desperate need to be liked and admired; to be popular. And yet in spite of being perhaps the most visible person in the world, he seems to have spent so much of his life and even his presidency alone. The impression I got from this movie (not an unfair impression from what I've learned about the man over the years) was that his only real confidante - the person to whom he was closest and who was most desperately loyal to him - was his daughter Julie. Otherwise, he kept even those closest to him (including his wife Pat and daughter Tricia) at a distance. Nixon comes across as a tragic figure in this, and at times, with its focus on Nixon's personality and with Watergate closing in on him, this movie is actually very heavy. I appreciated (about halfway through) the truly funny scenes between Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev, as the Soviet leader takes Nixon on a hair-raising car ride with a Lincoln Continental the U.S. president had gifted him with. That lightened things up a bit.

It was interesting watching Nixon's White House officials (especially Chief of Staff Alexander Haig, who was admirable portrayed by David Ogden Stiers) try to hold things together just to keep the government functioning with some sort of cohesion, and Nixon's lawyers are shown becoming increasingly frustrated as the impossibility of their task of defending him becomes increasingly clear. Viewers should be aware that this is really a study of Nixon the man rather than the Watergate scandal. There's actually very little about Watergate itself - just about the aftermath and the desperate attempts to find some way to get Nixon off the hook for his actions and decisions. For those with an interest in Nixon as a man and in the end of his presidency, this is a movie that should be watched. (7/10)

Wish Man (2019)

A Rambling Movie About A Worthy Subject

[3/10 · 7 December 2019]

I would agree that the story of how the Make A Wish Foundation got started is worth telling. Unfortunately, I'd say that it's worth telling a lot better than it was told in this movie. Yes, this is a tug at your heart strings type of story. It shares the life story of Frank Shankwitz - an Arizona highway patrol officer with a troubled upbringing whose work brings him into contact with a young boy dying of leukemia - which ultimately motivates him to start the charity that has now become a behemoth. I suspect that people like this movie not because it's a great movie but because it tugs at the heart strings and tells the story of the start of a charity that no one could possibly have an issue with.Unfortunately, the truth is that I found the movie rambling - constantly cutting back to Frank's childhood, with a mother who didn't seem to care about him and who took him away from his father, with whom he didn't reunite until the events of this movie. I suppose that losing his father was a traumatic childhood memory for him - but it really seemed to have little to do with the basic point of the movie and, to me, it came across as filler - an excuse ultimately to introduce another opportunity to wring some tears out of the eyes of viewers. "Wish Man" never seemed to establish any real flow, and it was burdened by performances that I found less than stellar. Kudos to Frank Shankwitz, though, for starting what is surely one of the finest charities in the world. (3/10)

The King (I) (2019)

Well Put Together But Full Of Historical Inaccuracies

[5/10 · 7 December 2019]

As the movie opens, young Prince Hal (Timothée Chalamet) - the first son of King Henry IV of England - has left behind royal life and adopted his infamous "wayward" life. But soon thereafter his father's illness and eventual death brings him back to the court and ultimately puts him on the throne as King Henry V, immediately plunged into the complicated politics of the 15th century English court, with a desire to set right some of his father's wrongs, to establish the legitimacy of his reign and to achieve some of what his father had been unable to achieve - primarily to successfully claim the throne of France.

Basically, the movie is well done technically. The sets and costumes give an authetic 15th century atmosphere, and the climactic Battle of Agincourt, in which the English (led by young Henry, by now King) defeated a much larger French army, is extremely well choreographed and it does accurately depict the use of the English longbow, which was in fact a much superior weapon to the cross bow used by the French, the use of which played a key role in the real Battle of Agincourt.) Having said that, the movie is also riddled with historical inaccuracies that are too numerous to recount here. Rather than being based on the historical record, "The King" is largely based on the relevant plays of William Shakespeare, which produces one of the greatest (because it was so central to the story) of the historical inaccuracies - the front and centre presence of Sir John Falstaff - who never existed, but was a fictional chartacter created by The Bard. So, if you're looking for a history lesson, you won't find it here except perhaps in very broad brushstrokes. Nor will you find a recounting of Shakespeare. This is more of a mish mash of some of Shakespeare's work, combined with a bit of history and a lot of historical licence.

It's a tough slog at times to get through. I found it far too long at almost two and a half hours and there were times when it felt as though I could have skipped lengthy parts of this and not really missed very much of consequence. However the performances were good, and while I think it's a bit over-rated, I certainly wouldn't call this a bad movie, especially for those with an interest in the medieval era. (5/10)

Time Trap (2017)

A Decent Premise Burdened By Weak Execution

[5/10 · 4 December 2019]

I thought the premise of "Time Trap" was decent. A group of young people (ranging from a couple of pre-teens to some university graduate students) go off on a search for a professor who's gone missing. In their search they come across a mysterious cave where they believe the professor has gone to explore, and once inside they discover they're trapped and that time is passing at a different rate inside the cave than outside. While time for them (inside) is normal, they realize that constantly shifting light patterns they see are actually the rising and setting of the sun and that time outside the cave is passing at an incredibly rapid pace. Inside, they discover an assortment of people who've come into the cave from different time periods - from "cavemen" to a futuristic type. I have to give credit to those who developed the basic story. It was mysterious and intriguing. I liked it.

The performances in this were inconsistent - fair at best. The cast was a definite "B" list of actors at best. It's interesting to me - and perhaps it says something - that most of those who were in leading roles in this haven't really done much of note since. As intriguing as the story was there were also some inconsistencies that bugged me a bit. If time was moving faster outside the cave than inside, then why didn't Furby age (even die, for that matter - because a lot of time would have passed for him relative to the others) during the time that he was outside while the others were inside? I also thought this movie ended rather too abruptly. More often than not I think writers try to milk a story and make it go on for too long. In this case, I thought a few extra minutes might have been productive. Without giving anything away - what kind of world did those in the cave finally emerge into? The comment was made that "we're pretty big news here" or words to that effect. I would have liked to have learned just a wee bit more about where and to whom they were pretty big news. I don't think there's enough to this to warrant a sequel - but tying up that loose end with maybe another 15 minutes would have been positive.

So, essentially, I thought there was a positive premise and a half decent story with some mystery involved. But it failed a little bit in its execution. (5/10)