Movie Reviews 2018

2018

 

Flimsy script with a disappointing finale.

 

Set in a decadent post-communist Krakow, Poland.

A police mystery thriller with expectations that don't deliver and some dramatic potential that goes to waste. This is nothing more than a boring, dull and spineless try at making a decent movie.

Jim Carrey can do better thans this.

 

The movie positions you as a voyeur watching a harsh reality flow by

 

Entertaining cold war era style spy movie with hard edged sex and violence and other interesting things mixed into its Russiaphobic retro, plot.

 

The main plot is that evil Uncle Russian State goes and fucks the wrong woman and she uses all her talents, heart and soul to fuck him back, and up the ass.

 

Have you noticed that most Hollywood evil ex KGB spies now look like Vladimir Putin?

 

All sex and violence in this movie is stark and unpleasant, but this gives it traction across what would be a slippery ride over an outdated clichéd cold war surface.

 

This movie’s backdrop is that Russia is an evil empire lurking behind an iron curtain separating the good west from the nasty east.

 

The sex of Russia is all disgusting stuff devoid of love with the evil state doing most of the fucking, or in many cases raping. The sex on the American side of the curtain is a more pleasant affair, based upon individual privacy and liberty but with a lot less passion; it’s more like fast food, quick, easy and forgettable. But that could also be down to the wrong choice of male lead producing little sparks. Joel Edgerton was too much John boy Walton compared to the gritty Russian protagonists. The casting director should have got him and Jeremy Irons to reverse roles.

 

The retro backdrop aims to construct a Russia that is still in recovery after its Stalinist past. It is, of course, also suggesting that this lingering communist psychosis needs the input of the good old USA to administer the therapy. Not surprising then that the story originates from an (ex) C.I.A. man. It goes to show that you can take the man out the agency but you can’t take the agency out of the man’s global perspective.

 

I read a few reviews and thought I was in for a bad movie but not so. I enjoyed it until the end: but I am a fan of Jennifer Lawrence’s badass babe characterisations.

 

The script skims over character depth but is detailed with cleverly embedded clues to its plot twists and surprises.

Except for Joel Edgerton, the main actors give flawless performances that create believable characters to put meat on the weak bone.

The cinematography is good, as is the directing.

 

All that’s missing from the movies ending is a fade out on the Star Spangled banner waving in the breeze.

 

 

A very enjoyable watch

A group of people start a literary society to save their lives and their humanity during the German occupation of the island of Guernsey during Second World War.

 

Based on the best-selling novel, it is a moving friendship story and also a romantic love story told with vivacity and sweetness, a story about books and the way people and hearts come closer when difficult times are upon them.

 

Good cinematography, excellent photography and representation of the era are features that add to the movie’s charm. War is the hardest teacher, and literature can literally save lives.