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Reviews
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
Things left unsaid... unsolved
There were some comedic moments in the film. There were sad touching moments. But what was frustrating to me, and ultimately led to my overall rating that the film was average and would not be worth a return watch is there are too many things left unsolved. We don't really seem to have a logical reason behind Dixon's character beating the crap out of Welby, also a nonchalant admission of burning down the billboards by Mildred's ex-husband that just goes completely unresolved. I hated that the only flashback we have of Angela is one in which her own mother retorts back to her "I hope you get raped too." Seriously? I do not know one single mother who would say that to their daughter. It's to be assumed that is one of the reasons Mildred feels so bad but they don't really do anything with that terrible admission either. I figured that the audience may not get the satisfaction of even finding out who killed Angela or seeing her get justice, but I took issue with the fact that they specifically said in Willoughby's letter, "Maybe the killer will be caught by sheer stupidity by somebody bragging in a bar" and that's exactly what happened or so it was set up to seem. It would have really been a perfect ending and I think a far superior better movie if what Dixon had heard ended up being who killed Angela. That was so disappointing. The whole point of the billboards was to shake loose the criminal or at least get a decent lead. We are left with, "well he's not the rapist but he's a rapist." Mildred and Dixon get in the car to track down the man from the bar, even after the police chief has gotten the results saying he's not the killer. They ask each other, are you sure about killing this guy, (maybe as a way of some inadvertent justice for Angela) and they both lackadaisically say "I'm not sure about this, let's take the car ride to decide." Then the credits roll. Left with a poor taste in the cinematic mouth, no real satisfaction and nothing really good to say about this film other then a couple of moments of sarcastic humor and wasted good acting from a few of the actors. Overall, forgettable, disappointing and like almost all Oscar films: genuinely overrated.
Wilderness (2023)
Started off so promising... halfway through fell flat
What's really disappointing here is the first two episodes are very exciting. I think the main character Olivia does have some real pull in her first two episodes. I also think that it is somewhat believable given the circumstance of what happens that she could do those things. But what's less believable is the fact that the next couple of episodes she vilifies her husband rightfully so, for what he has done, but then pretends to act as if though she has done nothing wrong.
Also the rushed and unnecessary addition of a lesbian relationship with her neighbor was absolutely ridiculous. That did not serve the story at all. I will be the one to say it ADDING SAME SEX SCENES THAT SERVE NO PURPOSE FOR TITILLATION IS ABSURD. It also hurts the validity of the story. I cannot stand when this is done with no purpose.
I like that it had the whole revenge thriller going for it but it doesn't make sense that she would just put up with his nonsense for weeks, both prior and after. There was way too much filler, and like other users have said it felt like"OK hurry up and get to the point already" It dragged on and that it could've been done probably much better and more tastefully in a shorter miniseries or even a two hour movie. It had a really great premise. Just unfortunately did not work in a six part for me. I really thought I was going to enjoy it thoroughly from those first two episodes but once the third episode after I watched it the momentum dropped steeply for me. I lost interest and continued to watch it so that I could at least get to the end and see the final result. Wish this had finished as well as it started.
New York, I Love You (2008)
New York, I kind of like you (the film anyway)
Quite honestly, I really couldn't get into Paris Jetaime, after watching one hour. I felt I was able to enjoy more of New York, I love you based on the interactions and the good actors chosen. However, vignette movies as a whole are films I rarely enjoy. I prefer those of Garry Marshall, that connect. My favorite segment was the one with Anton Yelchin! Loved that one. I didn't understand the one with Julie Christie and Shia Labeouf at all. Can't enjoy something if i can't make any rational or even irrational sense of it. Complete random doesn't work for me in movies. Movies take a lot of money, they are planned and structured so I think directors can and should do better then "at random" which is sometimes what this feels like. I get it, its supposed to be art imitating life, but that's just not that satisfying. A scene like the one with Maggie Q and Ethan Hawke at least can be taken for what it is which is a probable conversation that could occur that ends humorously. So its not a bad film, by any means. But, since we are talking about New York, I would have liked a bit more essence of New York things as well, instead of just "people" of new york.
Harlan Coben's Shelter (2023)
Good Mystery, could've been better
Overall, I really liked Harlan Coben's shelter series on Amazon prime. As others mentioned, it starts off very strong. I will say it kept my attention very thoroughly. However, I think it could have been better. So my main complaints are these:
1. It had unexplored/unexplained storylines.
2. It had a couple things that didn't make sense
3. It easily could have cleaned upon nicely with a short epilogue
1. There were several back stories that were so intriguing but they did not explore them enough. Firstly, I would've liked to see more about the story of why the trafficker Kylie specifically was looking for Ashley. It was mentioned that Kylie had recaptured her and that Ashley had escaped once before. Why go after the same girl again? Why wouldn't they just move on and target another girl? There's all this buildup and excitement to find Ashley and save her but there's no backstory as to why they were so intent on looking for her. Was it the gym teacher that found her? What was Ashley's story before Mickey's dad tried to save her the first time? Secondly, the tattoo artist, Agent probably worked for Abeona. That is made clear by the fact that he tattooed Antoine's face and Antoine was working for them. So there was a connection there. Also, the blue tattoo was tattooed on Ashley. Ema had the tattoo and we knew that was just a coincidence. So, what I would have liked to see them do differently is created a whole episode that could have (briefly for some, and some more detail of others) delved into the history of:
a. How did Brad (Mickey's father) find out about Kylie and the back story of his previous saves from her operation?
B. It's only "assumed" that the drama teacher who was a trafficker worked for Kylie, because they never say. Was he always in Kasselton? How did that connection happen?
C. Agent's connection to Abeona.
But my biggest problem, and the only thing I truly was upset that they didn't close the loop on to be honest was there was a photograph in that Bat Ladies house on the wall of children that were rescued or saved, of Spoon/Arthur. It clearly showed a picture of him before the house burned down. Why show something that important like that he was a rescued kid from that town, and then not talk about it? Just seems like that was such an important little tidbit to throw in there and then not elaborate on it at all. I did not like that, especially after we already had to suffer with Spoon, not finding out Candy's story and identity.
2. As a side note: just something that doesn't make sense is that the bat lady said that they were going to give Ashley the identity of Ashley Kent and hide her in plain sight with Dr. Kent you would assume. So then why does the woman act like she's never heard of Ashley Kent? That could definitely be because she was trying to protect Ashley's identity but the kids were her friends but maybe she was trying to make sure that she was safe. Why did Dr. Kent get beat up? And then the wife said that Dr. Kent was beat up by a man with an octopus tattoo and that doesn't really make sense either because if he worked for the people who were freeing the children, why would he beat up the Doctor who was helping examined the children who were hurt?
3. Lastly, a 2 minute epilogue would have been so satisfying. I would've personally liked if they would have done an epilogue showing the following things:
a. In the future, Ashley is able to write from an undisclosed location, letter and say she misses them and thank you for saving her life or something like that.
B. Hannah and Shira and what became of their relationship. It might seem insignificant, but that was a huge recurring part of each episode so it seems kind of wasteful to throw it in there and not close that loop at the end.
C. I would've also like to see Mickey being able to continue with his dad's work, and they move away somewhere else. Maybe he still stays friends with the kids, but we get to see his family in the distant future instead of ending abruptly.
Redeeming Love (2022)
A Beautiful and Complicated Romance
I love this film. This is one I threw on one day with no expectations, and didn't think I would even finish it. The story is however, very engaging. It's not a straight forward simple romance and I really liked that. I was very old world, grand gesture all consuming kind of love story and I think the world could use a few more of those. Reminds me of others in the same vein: The Mountain between us, Water for Elephants, Labor Day etc. Love Stories that have to go through a struggle and obstacles are always more satisfying in my opinion. Good acting, good story, enjoyed the whole movie start to finish.
The Devil You Know (2013)
Who exactly is sleeping with/killed who???
Spoilers: A few artsy scenes & the women's costumes were fantastic. Beyond that I couldn't say there was anything good about it. You get the impression right away the daughter disdains her mother. But it's unclear why she begins sleeping with her mother's husband. (And later kills him... why?) That's never really established. We later learn it's not the first time she's done this. There is no motive to why the daughter would've killed "max" after she claims to have loved him. But yet the ending sticks with that. Add the confusion of Edie having weird almost sexual ties with both women on top of all that & you get this mess. No explaining and very rushed.
Wonderwell (2023)
So disappointing.. Truly skippable
So when I'm trying to decide whether or not to watch a movie I often read what others have said on IMDb reviews. And I would agree with what most people said here, that the movie is confusing and does not have a clearly defined story line AT ALL or explain anything AT ALL. Generally, I love fantasy movies because they're very easy to get into and they can take you away and be very believable in their own right if they are done correctly. And then you have movies that blend fantasy and reality for an example the forgotten movie Prince charming with Martin short and Christina Applegate. Or for example, more recently, even the movie Enchanted. Those are perfect examples of where the line between reality and fantasy is very clearly marked in the film, very well-established, and so the reason for the character being in either one of those worlds in the movie is always very clear so you're not confused as to why both realms exist in the same movie. With this film, it's very unclear what the point of the fantasy world is at all. I wasn't able to establish any purpose for young violet to accidentally come across the magical woods. At first, you think that maybe it's going to be that she's going to become a young woman and learn about sex, and growing up and that kind of thing, with the analogy of the plug in the middle of the forest, but even that makes absolutely zero sense, when she looked into this magical tunnel in the forest and sees another version of herself. Is this supposed to be a version of herself after she has experienced sex? Seems unlikely because she's extremely young and they don't show that or hint that at all. Not that that couldn't work if that's the direction they took with it but it certainly isn't the impression I get from it. So what's the point of her seeing an alternate version of herself? When the film first starts out you get the impression when Violet is baking her cookies that she would like to cast a spell to get her family back together. Great, then you think it's gonna be about her parents connecting with her and maybe her relating better to her older sister, but nowhere in the film does that happen. Carrie Fisher's character is introduced to the audience as being magical because Violet was told by the boy in town that she's a witch so at least her purpose is established although I don't think there's really isn't any defining reason for Violet to randomly run into her. Is Rita Ora supposed to be evil? A scene reveals she is the witch's sister but that doesn't really pan out either because she doesn't really do anything except for let out this horribly forced fake badly acted maniacal laugh after meeting with Carrie Fisher and telling her that she's going to take over the magic power from their mother. Other than flirting with Violet's father, she doesn't really do anything inherently villain like. There's no clear establishment to her being the bad guy here at all. I'm not a screenwriter but it seems to me if they had stuck with one theme or the other it might not have been a bad movie. If they had developed Rita Ora to be more of a villain and the girls in a very clear storyline like Ariel and the Sea witch, selling their souls to become models, that could've worked in a realistic fashion. Or if they had just made the story in modern times and had Violet saving her sister from being sexually exploited that also would've worked. But throwing all of these weird elements together and having random loose ends not tied up leaves for a bad taste and unsatisfactory viewing. To give it one point of redemption I will say that it is definitely not unimpressive with some of the CGI elements. But what's really sad here is the movie was filmed in 2016 and was meant to be released in 2017 but because of the inflated budget due to the cost of the computer graphics that they wanted to complete the film, it took until 2023 to be completed. So, effectively it becomes Carrie Fisher's last role we see her in, and while she's delightful in it, it's not enough to save the movie. The film is not good, hardly watchable the first time and certainly not something I'd ever take the time to watch again. I would truly say the only reason somebody should watch this movie is if they are curious enough to sit through an hour and a half to see Carrie's last performance.
Paradise Hills (2019)
Beautiful Dystopian film: A better stepford wives
I can see why some would not like this film. But for me there are rare instances when the vibe of the movie outweighs even the movie itself. When an "ok" story can be supported with amazing visuals, set and costume. I feel like I would have liked it anyway just because the aesthetics of this film, much like TRON Legacy, are so stylized and immersive. For that reason, I find it endlessly enjoyable to watch. But in my opinion the story is good too. It's entertaining in a futuristic kind of way. The main thing in any movie like this, of the sci fi genre is the ability to abandon reality and just enjoy it. I would recommend it if you like the sci fi genre and things in the vein of Picnic at hanging rock, Logans run, The Hunger Games and Stepford Wives.