jstang411
Lifetime Total
1+
IMDb Member
15 years
Reviews
The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth (2016)
By far the most valuable show on the election
Most of all you get an inside look into how the whole thing works when the cable news cameras aren't rolling with three incredibly experienced and intelligent campaign wonks as your guides.
And you learn about the people involved. Don't like Bernie's politics, but learned to love the person...and his wife even more. Flipping around, think Donald Jr. will be a force to be reckoned with in the decades to come. Would vote for him for Senate right now. And those are only "for instances."
If you don't have Showtime...think about getting it for a month just to binge watch The Circus. It is that good.
And you learn about the people involved. Don't like Bernie's politics, but learned to love the person...and his wife even more. Flipping around, think Donald Jr. will be a force to be reckoned with in the decades to come. Would vote for him for Senate right now. And those are only "for instances."
If you don't have Showtime...think about getting it for a month just to binge watch The Circus. It is that good.
Knight and Day (2010)
OOPS...forgot the plot
Knight & Day Producers' Checklist:
Big Huge Action Sequences -- check. Two Big Name Actors -- check. Exotic Locales -- check. Extra Set of Bad Guys -- check. Romantic Elements -- check. Plot -- OOPS...now where did I last see that?
The plot is not only unbelievably and insanely convoluted, it is also torturingly twisted to just get to the next scene. Numerous times it seems they even just give up, stranding you in the middle of what should be the climax of a key scene and jumping to the next scene in a different country. If you ever see the movie you'll learn how.
On the other elements:
*** Action you will get. It is well-done if normally not plausible.
*** The one-liners are hit-or-miss, but good for a chuckle now and then (even if the "straight" dialogue gave me heartburn).
*** Cruise and Diaz don't exactly carry this movie, but they don't hurt it either (and with this script it would be hard to).
*** Some fairly grand scenery shots to take in (and as much money as was spent on this flick there should be).
*** Not much on the romance front (with just a few script alterations Diaz' role could have been filled by Ben Stiller).
For me this long film (2:00) turned into a real watch-checker without a plot to make me care about either the end of the movie or the characters. After a while, I became numb to the bullets and just took in the explosions.
So maybe you want to see this if you are searching for the most pure strain of mindless action flick with some comic elements, but otherwise....
Big Huge Action Sequences -- check. Two Big Name Actors -- check. Exotic Locales -- check. Extra Set of Bad Guys -- check. Romantic Elements -- check. Plot -- OOPS...now where did I last see that?
The plot is not only unbelievably and insanely convoluted, it is also torturingly twisted to just get to the next scene. Numerous times it seems they even just give up, stranding you in the middle of what should be the climax of a key scene and jumping to the next scene in a different country. If you ever see the movie you'll learn how.
On the other elements:
*** Action you will get. It is well-done if normally not plausible.
*** The one-liners are hit-or-miss, but good for a chuckle now and then (even if the "straight" dialogue gave me heartburn).
*** Cruise and Diaz don't exactly carry this movie, but they don't hurt it either (and with this script it would be hard to).
*** Some fairly grand scenery shots to take in (and as much money as was spent on this flick there should be).
*** Not much on the romance front (with just a few script alterations Diaz' role could have been filled by Ben Stiller).
For me this long film (2:00) turned into a real watch-checker without a plot to make me care about either the end of the movie or the characters. After a while, I became numb to the bullets and just took in the explosions.
So maybe you want to see this if you are searching for the most pure strain of mindless action flick with some comic elements, but otherwise....
Valkyrie (2008)
Valkyrie + the 800 Pound Gorilla
SPOILER ALERT – If you do not at least generally know how Hitler died, read no further.
Valkyrie is billed as a suspense movie, a thriller. My question coming in was how can that be when the audience already knows the final resolution? The answer is that it can't (or at least movie isn't).
I sat forward once or twice, but only in anticipation of when a tipped event would happen, not if. The emotional intensity would be professionally built every so often, but then that big gorilla sitting next to me would elbow my arm again and say "Don't care about these people and their plan, you know what's gonna happen." Valkyrie is not an action movie (whatever of that there is you've already seen in the commercials). Neither is it a character nor values exploration work – the plot is the almost exclusive star. It would have been different if the entire plot and movie weren't so obsessively fixated on whether or not the conspirators will kill Hitler and overthrow the Nazi government, but that is what Singer insists everyone focus on. With the ending already known, Valkyrie does not tap into more than a drop or two of the emotional juice that great movies get gushing.
Don't get me wrong, this movie has some excellent attributes. Visuals are excellent, the scenes grand, a probing score well-utilized, the writing is at times good (even witty) and the British supporting cast is uniformly exceptional (they are the #1 reason to watch this film). But ultimately those behind Valkyrie attempt the wrong route to the audience.
Who knows what would have happened if Singer presented the offer to explore and identify with with any one character, presumably Stauffenberg? Yet even if he did, I don't think you would want to make that attachment...you know what is going to happen.
One of the central sales pitches in the Valkyrie commercials is "what you know is just the beginning." Problem is that what almost all of us know is the end.
PS: only offered me whole number, but my true judgment is a 6.5.
Valkyrie is billed as a suspense movie, a thriller. My question coming in was how can that be when the audience already knows the final resolution? The answer is that it can't (or at least movie isn't).
I sat forward once or twice, but only in anticipation of when a tipped event would happen, not if. The emotional intensity would be professionally built every so often, but then that big gorilla sitting next to me would elbow my arm again and say "Don't care about these people and their plan, you know what's gonna happen." Valkyrie is not an action movie (whatever of that there is you've already seen in the commercials). Neither is it a character nor values exploration work – the plot is the almost exclusive star. It would have been different if the entire plot and movie weren't so obsessively fixated on whether or not the conspirators will kill Hitler and overthrow the Nazi government, but that is what Singer insists everyone focus on. With the ending already known, Valkyrie does not tap into more than a drop or two of the emotional juice that great movies get gushing.
Don't get me wrong, this movie has some excellent attributes. Visuals are excellent, the scenes grand, a probing score well-utilized, the writing is at times good (even witty) and the British supporting cast is uniformly exceptional (they are the #1 reason to watch this film). But ultimately those behind Valkyrie attempt the wrong route to the audience.
Who knows what would have happened if Singer presented the offer to explore and identify with with any one character, presumably Stauffenberg? Yet even if he did, I don't think you would want to make that attachment...you know what is going to happen.
One of the central sales pitches in the Valkyrie commercials is "what you know is just the beginning." Problem is that what almost all of us know is the end.
PS: only offered me whole number, but my true judgment is a 6.5.