April 15th, 2013

Friday I rented with youngest son and daughter Five Year Engagement. It was daughter’s choice. I had thought that she chose Snow White and the Huntsman but she changed her mind!! Imagine that!

Here we have a film starring Emily Blunt (being very British here) and the all-american big dopey guy, Jason Segal. He was good and better in She’s Out of Your League, and likely the best film with this casting of characters.

Rom-com regular stuff here;. Quirky and unexpected couple meet at a New Year’s Party – they make cute as Ebert used to say, and then have a relationship. Engagement follows. Then issue happens and the decision is made to make a change. One party heading into a contrived new situation where she at first does not realize that she is with a cad. He suffers through seemingly endless winters in Michigan here, and never seems to find summer. They have a revelation, a fight, a break up and then you know the rest.

There is an effective scene here with the two sisters speaking in Muppet speak, one as Elmo and another as Cookie Monster. Beyond that there was a fair bit of unnecessary language (young son was watching) and some sexual scenes that were more aerobic than truthful and not very enlightening. How many people do you know who sleep together with clothes on?! Where is Kate Winslet when you need her??!!

This was predictable and contrived but it boils down to whether you like the main characters or not. I liked Emily Blunt in The Adjustment Bureau with (Maaaaatt Daaaamon) and not as much here. Is this really what a post graduate study group in psychology would have been like? Okay.

Can’t recommend it. Jason Segal has had funnier days and there’s a part of me that thinks he’s trying too hard to be Vince Vaughn. Maybe not. But for me this was more formulaic.

As a BONUS I re-saw Silver Linings Playbook on Sunday night in the theatre and re-enjoyed this once again. I picked up on the plot some more and enjoyed the manic episodes better. They are scary and they show how serious that they can escalate. There is a hint of medication earlier and then it dies off. The Lawrence performance is excellent and she makes the film. She is out there, and funny and intense and on edge and the right mix for the role. True that she is young for it, but she pulls it off. Bradley Cooper is 38yo. She is but 22yo. *Sigh*

And DeNiro is really good here as he drops back into his superstitious and manic behaviour. Throwing his son under the bus quickly if things turn (like the fight at the game) and not listening to him at all. His poor suffering Wife who makes her “crabby snacks and homemades”. Priceless!!

This is a movie that I will own. It’s better as a date movie than seeing it alone, just sayin’!!

February 11th, 2013

This past snowy Friday when I couldn’t get out to a movie, I ended up
hunkered down and doing a movie on demand. I know, I paid for it, as
opposed to pirating it over the internet, but I like movies. Anyway
I rented Premium Rush and I was glad that I did! I had heard many
positive things about this movie but had not a chance to go see it
yet. Arbitrage will be next on the On Demand hit parade.

To borrow Roger Ebert’s assessment of Speed when he reviewed that for
At the Movies; “…this was fun!”. And it was. Not only is there the
rush (no pun intended) of seeing this guy, and people like him, ride
bikes like maniacs around the city of New York, there is a compelling
story here. I like the time travel done to put things in context and
fill in the holes. The real treat for me here was the role of the
gambling addicted cop. He is funny, and he can’t seem to buy a break
and has one bad thing after another happen. Still like the Energizer
bunny, he keeps coming back and finding new and ingenious ways to
bring the slip of paper back to himself. I also like the little duel
between the policeman on bike along with our hero. He certainly
goes through a LOT for a $30 payment!! There are some great chase
scenes and some good thinking that had some funny moments (I laughed a
few times with the cop) and the predicaments of the hero that he is
put in.

A fun ride. I recommend if you haven’t seen already. The acting
talents of JGL are not really challenged here, but the physical
aspects of the role are. Yes, there are stunt riders I am certain,
but it was believable and a good use of my time on a snowy Friday
evening.

Well here are the Ebert picks for the Oscars.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2013/02/outguess_ebert_in_an_easy_year.html

We can have our own little side bet if you so choose. Despite his
protests, I do not believe that he got them “all right”. Quite the
contrary, I think that he missed out in the Best Supporting Category
entirely. I also believe that Best Director may fall elsewhere as
well. Just how many Non-Americans are part of the Academy? Because
to me, Lincoln speaks to Americans and Americans only. No one else
cares. Despite all that Daniel Day Lewis wins, just simply because
he IS the Best Actor these days (where the heck did Edward Norton fall
into)??!!

[Alison disagreed entirely on Premium Rush and found it silly and sophomoric]

I laughed at the over-the-top cop with an addiction and laughed out
loud a couple of times. It was a mood I was in perhaps. I wasn’t
looking for great acting, and what I got was a fun story. It moved
along well. Discarded the crap, and put a simple bike rider in a life
changing situation all for the fee of $30. He is a much better
actor, and deserves better scripts, and he will get them from Looper
and Dark Knight Rises and other films he makes with Christopher Nolan.

Argo did a fabulous job at creating tension for sure. A great job all
around and shocking on the snub for Affleck here on the Directing.
He isn’t a great actor. He is becoming a very good director with The
Town and Argo under his belt.

I did rent On Demand Arbitrage last night and enjoyed that. It was an
interesting view of how one can manipulate and use people and then in
end smell like a rose with all smiles and bliss. Good performances
and Gere was in good form.

April 1st, 2013 (April Fools Edition)

This past weekend I stopped at the Zip.ca red box at the local grocery store to pick up Wreck it Ralph and then the Hobbit. I was NOT going to pay money to see the Hobbit, but at $2 for a Blu-Ray and kids coming over I could not resist. The Red Box is the greatest thing, and by far the cheapest as Rogers on Demand usually wants $8 for a rental. Highway robbery and finding a DVD store is next to impossible,

Wreck It Ralph was nominated for Best Animated Film and I can see why it did not win. I saw Brave and again I think that Pixar finds a way to put together quality movies. Yes Brave was not a box office darling and quick honestly give my son fart jokes and nose picking (Jack the Giant Slayer) and you have a winner that beats them all!! So here we have the bad guy in a Donkey Kong rip-off who “wants to be good”. He is tired of living on a junk heap and being thrown off the building. He meets up with a cute girl from another game (he is seeking a Medal) and she needs his help and has some issues of her own. In the end, through some twists and turns everyone finds their rightful place in the world. And peace and harmony are brought back. Did I enjoy it. Yes, it was okay. Did SON like it? He thought it was alright too. So all in all, if you want some cartoony fun, and like looking at old characters that make you nostalgic for the 80s again (QBert) then this could be your movie. Funny that they have some Super Mario characters but not Mario and Luigi.

Then I watched the Hobbit with daughter and youngest son. Can I say that this lived up to the expectations?; it was disappointing. I did read the book a very long time ago. I did enjoy it MORE than the LOTR trilogy. I like it for reasons why I do NOT like this movie. It was a short book. Less descriptive and moved along at a nice pace. We have a linear plot and things happen and get resolved. There was some clever word play and some interesting riddles and I REALLY wanted to see what the CGI dragon would look like. What do I get? Forty minutes of pre-cursor before they ever leave the Shire, with eating and singing amongst Dwarves. And then finally getting on the road before anything of consequences happens. There is much that I cannot recall from the book, nor care to go back to check on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LDhsH79jAY

Here attached is a link that captures much of my issue here. This is purely a money grab by the studio and Peter Jackson. Shame on you all. Much like the Eagles getting back for the Hell Frozen Over tour. We know you hate one another, but you need money to keep that coke habit going strong (cough Glenn Frey). But I digress. I like his voice and these perceptions that he makes. Truly the bunnies did make me laugh out loud. Then there are Orcs and this White Orc dude – buddy, if you can’t slay a wee dwarf and toss him like we all would, then you’re not such a bad ass, and one of your bloodthirsty kin-folk would have your head. Just sayin. So there are TWO more installments here. I will ONLY see them if I would spend more on a coffee and donut to do so. So would I recommend that movie experience? No. Read the book. It will likely even take less time. There’s an IDEA – why not put someone on camera who just reads the book to you – and you can use your mind rather than CGI!!! Million dollar idea there.

March 4th, 2013

I had read the Ebert review of Jack the Giant Slayer and thought that
youngest son and I could have a movie night out. I had also seen the cut outs
at the theatre advertising this, but never put much thought into it.
I did like the idea of Ewan Macgregor being in this film. We headed
out and (not on purpose) ended seeing this in the assigned seating
fancy 3D shaking seat theatre. Cost for two – $32!! Egad! Mine was
$17.99 and his $13.99 for a child. We put on our cheesey ill-fitting
glasses and watched.

This was fun. We had a good time. Son of course being the typical
boy laughed at the farting and nose-picking of the Giants. I thought
that a rather mundane and pointless fairy tale was brought to the
screen with a story that made a little more sense. Jack here is
portrayed by the same little kid (no longer little) from the Hugh
Grant movie About a Boy. Hell we likely reviewed that movie when he
was a 10 yo! Damn I am old! Anyway, in some way I couldn’t get
that boyish face out of my head, and didn’t think of him as the
dashing guy who could whisk away the heart of a princess. But never
mind. I also could not get over the voice for the two-headed Giant
of Bill Nighy who was, of course, the octopus faced villain in Pirates
of the Caribbean. He is effective, it just sounds like the same
voice and was a distraction.

Here you know the story. Jack looking to sell the family’s only
possession (the horse and cart) ends up with “magic beans” and then
there is a beanstalk to the sky to deal with a Giant. In this case,
MANY Giants. And they are pissed. There are a series of adventures
here and they are well done, and look good. Do we need the 3D here?
No. Does it add anything? Not really. But do you care about the
characters? Yes for sure. And you are intrigued by how the whole
thing will resolve itself when you have these Giants that clearly have
very few weaknesses. A prickly problem and satisfyingly resolved. I
won’t tell you how it all ends…..but the last two words are “…ever
after…”

Worthy of a viewing and good on the big screen. These shaky seats
incidentally are not worth it. So you throw even BIGGER subwoofers
in the theatre to have my seat actually shake…but it really adds
little. More gimmicks to draw in people, but they are only as good as the story allows.

February 3rd, 2013

So I did end up seeing The Sessions on Thursday. Saw it at the
Kingsway theatre which is independent small theatre on Bloor street
just east of Islington Ave. It is SMALL. They have the MAIN theatre
and then now (unbeknownst to me) a smaller side theatre which is a
room up in the second floor. A theatre with around 20 seats, and
like the old Cineplex theatres in the old Eaton Centre. Not much
bigger than a good sized room at home. Despite the size, they still
charge $13 a pop. Pricey. Cheaper Tuesday at massive theatres is
around $7.50. A bargain!! I will go again tomorrow night.

I went in with higher expectations I think. In the end I can agree
with you. This was charming. I am not completely sure what the
attraction to buddy is. I guess the message is that you “make them
laugh” even if you have an iron lung. Then again, perhaps women (and
attractive women) want to not have to worry about the sex thing since
buddy doesn’t even have a bed!! But I digress. Helen Hunt here is
effective but I am not seeing the Award nomination. Perhaps she got
extra marks for taking all her clothes off. Acting in the nude.
Okay. But it was generous to offer that up to her. William H Macy
was good and I liked his attitude. The Catholic church would be
better off to have more caring and pragmatic Priests like him to gain
in attendance. You could see him struggling with the concept, however
he saw the overall benefit to this. In the end, he as a friend was
right. We can see the transformation in him. So a worthy movie to
watch. Yet another victim to High Expectations for me.

This week, likely Les Mis. And perhaps Amour. We will see.

January 28th, 2013

This past weekend I was visiting my brother and we had a Marky Mark
double header. I had been wanting to see Ted as it is always good to
have a laugh or two.

The Ebert review on it was decent and I wanted to check it out. First
I can’t get over the pipes on Marky Mark – holy crap, buddy is ripped!
Massive arms. If you do a trailer search you will see him playing
the role of a wrestler/body builder

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEQ8jyvmYtw

I digress but thought that you might appreciate the beefcake!!

Anyway, I enjoyed Ted. It was stupid. It was stupid funny. It had
some good product placement for 80s shows, although the Flash Gordon
stuff was a bit over the top. The bear is funny though. And the
language is more Southpark than Disney! And there is a few laugh out
loud moments for me without question. I have to say that Mila Kunis
here is under-utlized and honestly I like her and all but she really
isn’t all that and a bag of chips! I think you have seen this. I am
glad that I did.

Real eye candy for me comes from Contraband where Marky Mark is paired
with Kate Beckensale. Prime! And completely and totally
under-utilized as well here. Here is the traditional story of the
accomplished criminal turns legit with the Wife and kids and then gets
pulled back in. “One more job” to [fill in the blank]. In this
instance it is getting his younger brother-in-law out of trouble.
And brother in law is a dumb ass. So there is plenty to do.
Interesting Giovanni Ribisi is the baddy in both of these different
movies. He is great. So versatile and he plays a really good creepy
bad guy. This is a complicated plot to the point of being totally
unbelievable. There is such a short window to be able to do what
happens here and you wonder about how exciting it can be a
freighter/ship from Panama to New Orleans. This was worthy of the $1
rental (Red Box). We all enjoyed it and made for a decent evening.
There are no Blockbusters anymore. It is rare to find a DVD rental.
I was lucky to find the boxes. Cheap. And I think that On Demand is
a ripoff at $8 a film. I rented for two nights two movies for $6.

More movies for me to check out this week. I want to see Silver
Linings, and also Les Mis. Maybe tomorrow.

November 5th, 2012

Been far too long since I have written to you on this topic. Frankly
there have not been a lot of movies that I want to see out there. The
Avengers? No. Hunger Games? You mean The Running Man without
Ah-nold?! Ah, no. So recently I saw two films, one in the theatre
and one on the plane.

Theatre was The Vow. And I will start this review with an Alison
classic re-telling of an opening line. This is the story about a Saab
that in the middle of a Chicago winter after seeing a film stops at a
red light and then gets rear ended by a plow that was unable to stop.
The Saab’s passengers are injured with she (Rachel McAdams) being
thrown through the windshield and her husband driver (Channing
whatever). Being strapped in and becoming yet another commercial for
seat belt usage. Our Saab sadly is neither seen from again, nor
likely ever to be driven again. Our young couple it seems are married
(a few years) and she as she awakens from her coma does not remember
him AT ALL. Nothing. The last 5 years of her life erased. She still
thinks that she is to be married to the local cad, and her
overwhelming parents (Jessica Lange and Sam Neill) step in to fill in
the gaps. There are some good twists and turns and Channing has the
patience of Jobe to be understanding and reasonable. Throughout the
movie I am thinking that Channing really should be Ryan Gosling. But
no never mind. They both do an adequate job. Scott Speedman plays
the cad very well, and the parents have some stories to tell of their
own. It’s not as formulaic and predictable as first thought. I
liked it. With Speedman and McAdams, there are plenty of Canucks
here and Chicago played (for the most part, by Toronto). Worth the
rental and/or the time – but note the sensitive heart that was
watching.

On the plane ride, I watched The Help with much anticipation. Given
the Awards that went around for this and the nominees for Best Actress
and Supporting Actress this was really well done. The times are
important here with the early 60s and the beginning of the movement to
eliminate segregation. Two mindsets altered with history and the
future in the balance. The status quo to 2012 eyes, seems so alarming
and yet there were Supreme Court rulings that equality means
“different but treated equally amongst themselves”. There is a lovely
story here of retribution, and I am not talking about the “pie”.
Viola Davis plays a woman with a heart broken by grief in the loss of
her son. She chooses this way to keep his memory alive. She tells
her story. And she convinces others to tell their story. And in the
end, the local biatch who runs the social circle has her day – and a
fine day at that it is! So I truly enjoyed this. I am thankful that
there were some make characters here and wish that they were a little
more active. I guess they are working and oblivious to the games
going on around them. I can only imagine what things the Help heard
in those days.

So two thumbs up here for two different movies. They are not climbing
my list of all time favs…but I was glad that I saw them, and glad to
recommend them. I can’t recall wanting to see a woman bitch slapped more in
a movie since Lynette in An Officer and a Gentleman. There you have
it.

Inside note that Alison had a Saab when she was in Toronto. She
had recommended me to get one, and I ended up with one that I
regretted. She did a review of the movie Sideways where she put the
Saab in the movie as the lead character.
Funny.

November 5th, 2012 – Prometheus, Ridley Scott

So the much anticipated and much hyped Prometheus was on the bill for
this past weekend. I took eldest son to go see it while youngest son was at a
birthday party watching The Avengers.

I was thinking about this, and although in my Top 10 films of all time
I don’t have a Ridley Scott film, he would have quite a few
thereafter. Very close to that Top 10 list would include Blade
Runner (early Harrison Ford and a great sci fi film visually). Also
would be Kingdom of Heaven that I have watched repeatedly since. He
also has done (and received Oscars for Gladiator for which Jacquin
Phoenix and the poor CGI put me off) but also A Good Year with same
Russell Crowe. Add to this Thelma and Louise and he has an
impressive body of work.

Ridley Scott did the first Alien. A movie who’s trailer line was “In
Space, No One Can Hear You Scream”… and this holds true today.
Scott started the Alien franchise and then James Cameron took it over
in the excellent sequel Aliens. Then it was ruined. Now Scott
returns to forge a new element of this storyline. The original Alien
created a tremendous atmosphere. No longer were space ships the clean
and antiseptic labs with white bright walls of 2001 A Space Odyssey.
Here they were functional and dark and more pragmatic. Steam and
leaks and water and pipes and tight spaces. You could feel and sense
the humidity. There was a robot on board (unknown at the time for
the participants and he turned out to be interestingly programmed).
That is background, but it is good background to remember. There is
also a very strong female character in Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) who
provides a formidable protagonist. She survives in the first and
kicks some alien ass in the second.

Prometheus is a story that I won’t go in to tremendous detail about
with you, since I hope that you will see it with fresh eyes. It is
worthy of a big screen. It is worthy of 3D too, which was not
distracting and gave it some added depth, although not really
necessary in my opinion. The basic storyline is that through ancient carvings
and drawings on walls, there is an invitation from space to go visit a
world unknown. A rich entrepreneur takes up the challenge and sends
his team into space to seek out what is there. The idea is to meet
with the Maker! What is found is intriguing. There are intense
moments throughout this film and some that are not for the squeamish.
There is also a robot named David who provides a number of intriguing
aspects himself alone. Suffice it to say that this is a visual
experience and the creation of a world that is quite remarkable. How
the film got made and put on film still stays with me, and the
achievement that it is. Sound, visuals and story that come together
well.

It raises many questions too in my mind that as I think further on it,
confuses me. For example, if the Visitors (or the Engineers) came to
Earth before (and given the distances of where things were found they
likely were there more than once unless it was simply a grand tour of
a planet) – then why go through the extravagant process of inviting us
to go there? Why not just drop off a package? Why wait until we have
the technology to go there? David himself creates a number of
questions on his own, and how he interacts with and deals with the
others on board. But nevermind. If you think too hard on that, it
hurts the brain too much.

I enjoyed this. Older son enjoyed this. It was well done. I would see it
again to pick up more than just the plot. Happy moving going, and do
try and see this on a big screen if at all possible. My theatre was
Collosus and the seats were shaking from the deep bass…love it!!

I bought on BluRay and re-watched Prometheus along with some of the
extras. Having seen it a second time I like it and understand it a
lot more. Or so I think that I do.

Here’s my take on it. The Engineers went to Earth and had their
Sacrifice. Killed poor buddy with the black ooze that he drank.
LONG time ago. He is the basis for the human race. Then the
Engineers decide (for an unknown reason) to eliminate their mutants on
Earth. They go to an empty planet and create these WMD (Weapons of
mass destruction) to eliminate us. They have all these silos with the
black guck that is meant to kill us and start fresh. Something goes
horribly wrong on that planet and the Engineers are taken over and
wiped out. We on earth are not aware of their change of heart and in
the meantime human figures had created a road map to identify where
they were coming from (this is vague for me). Why point to a planet
that was a test facility for WMD? I dunno? Would they even KNOW
about it?! But nevermind. Stay with me. The Engineers choose not
to kill us, but more likely were wiped out and decided we weren’t
worth the hassle. Many years pass. Our expedition goes forth to
seek out the Engineers. They want to know WHY they wanted to kill us
and why they changed their minds.

David (Michael Fassbender) in this movie is brilliant. A great performance and the scenes with him imitating Peter O’Toole as Lawrence of Arabia are great
indeed. He plays that same 2001 Hal somewhat evil character and
keeps the tradition of the robot who has his own programming going on
(here focusing entirely on the old man and the mission to keep him
alive). I LOVED the line as he sees her after her self-induced
abortion “I didn’t think that you had it in you….” Priceless….!!

Still Charlize Theron dies in a silly fashion. Still there are
elements of people acting stupidly and irrationally and
unscientifically (buddy with the snake in the water in the chamber –
are you DAFT?!!?) Anyway, I really like it and how it makes you
think. It is an admirable prequel to the Alien franchise.

November 26, 2012

This past week was an opportunity to see Lincoln. I was looking
forward to this, knowing full well that I was going to see
performances and not gun fights and killing. This movie outlines the
last few months of Lincoln’s Presidency and his desire to end slavery
(Amendment to the Constitution) as well as end the Civil War, which
seemed to be diametrically opposed goals. If you free the slaves you
will lose the will by the South to negotiate a truce. This is a
political story really and the haggling and bartering and flat out arm
twisting that happens in politics. The players (all but Lincoln
really) are forgotten but the historic accomplishment is not. There
are tremendous supporting actors here (notably Sally Field as
Lincoln’s Wife and Tommy Lee Jones and a political opponent).
Together they form the basis for much drama in passing this Amendment.

Daniel Day Lewis has easily secured a Best Actor nomination here and
he is very effective. He is very cerebral and like anyone’s
Grandfather tells poignant and important stories to make his point.
He has some of his own people to sway the vote and in that role James
Spader is excellent. Lincoln realizes the importance of the
Amendment of course and that he can have his cake AND eat it too.
Good story telling in a story that moves along. Much the same length
as Skyfall, I did not feel it as much sitting in the seat. Do you
need to see this in a big screen? No. Does it help? Sure. But it
is worth watching as we head into Oscar time.

I have seen the trailer for Life of Pi more than once and on the face
it it (without having read the book – Canadian author BTW) it looked
cheesey. However the Ebert review was glowing and it called the movie
one of the Best of the Year. I may have to go check it out. I may
even have to check out and read the book. We’ll see. I have so many
books on the go that I need to finish a few. I saw Lincoln on my own
in a full theatre, which surprised me a bit with Skyfall and Breaking
Dawn in adjacent theaters. TOTALLY different crowd though!!

October 29th, 2012

Good morning and a happy Monday to you. I am trying to think when
the last time I wrote one of these on a Monday. The last reviews have
been mid week after last week after Tuesday ($7.50) when I saw Argo.
Anyway, this weekend (last night) I went out to see Cloud Atlas which
I had purposefully NOT read the previews to set any expectations. I
had seen the Roger Ebert really liked it and talked about seeing it a
second time. So I felt that it would merit the viewing.

Interestingly this was at the AMC chain and NOT Cineplex and I saw it
at Interchange. That theatre which was enormous and help 30 screens
is downsizing by HALF!! Not sure what they are going to do about it.
But they had closed off the northern half to access it. We will see
what comes in there.

This movie has an impressive cast with Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim
Broadbent, Hugh Grant (when did you see him last?) and Hugo Weaving.
Others too. They have heavy make up in some cases and play various
characters in a myriad of different stories from different times.
They interact (in some cases) and stand alone in others. This a
movie on a higher plain. It is dealing with the human condition and
asking questions as to why we keep doing the same things to each
other. In different times and places, but the same behaviours. It
also talks about the nature of existence and how we all inter relate
with different people. We are not alone and not islands. Some
souls, some people, just manage to find one another. And have impact
on our lives. There are other messages as well, like not everyone is
all good or all bad. And that in life there are the strong and the
weak, and the weak are meat and the strong always eat. Strong and
“rich and powerful” are meant to have similar meanings here.

It is a long movie (2:38) and near the end I was feeling it. It kept
my attention. Can I recommend it? Not completely. But it was good
and I am glad that I saw it. Grumblings as I left the theatre were
mixed. There was this english-speak for the early section where you
had to pay attention to it to get the meaning. There were hints at
other movies like Blade Runner, the Matrix (the Wachowski brothers
were directing part of these stories) and there was a mishmash of
other stories here that you have seen before. I do like Hugo
Weaving. He is a presence and a great bad guy. Some make up changes
the skin colour and the eye shape and even sex of the principal
actors. There is some humour but it is mostly pretty deep and
dramatic.

Not since Prometheus has a film garnered this much discussion, but
Cloud Atlas is doing much the same:

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2012/10/a_riddle_wrapped_in_a_mystery_.html

I am actually impressed by the Ebert review here because he does not
try to explain the film, he talks about experiencing it. My goal in
NOT reading reviews before going was to see this with my own fresh
eyes and no formal opinion about the content. I am glad that I did.
There are, indeed, moments and stories that did not work as well as
others. But there is a thread of truth (or my perception of truth)
that makes this an engaging and interesting film. I am not convinced
yet that I need to see it a second time. Perhaps a viewing on the
same screen may suffice as the special effects such as they are do not
make the film.