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A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)

This is a heart warming uplifting film, the type of which is rarely made any more. There are strong biographical elements, certainly in its representation of the indomitable Fred Rogers who hosted children's television programs for 40-plus years (chiefly Mister Rogers" Neighborhood) on KQED from Pittsburgh; and also the main protagonist, Lloyd Vogel, written to represent Tom Junod, a jaded magazine writer, who is assigned to do a short piece on Mr. Rogers for Esquire magazine.

Vogel's frustrating and somewhat resentful and discontented life is gradually turned around as he spends more time with Rogers, having originally suspected him as a phony. This is the meat of the story.

I felt an uneasiness as the ending credits rolled, not being able to put my finger on the gnawing shortfall I felt from the obviously good story. Then it dawned on me that Roger's character as written seemed over done. That it was difficult to accept Rogers as an angel appearing out of nowhere who improved the lives of everyone with whom he came into contact.

The reason for the incongruity is that little to no explanation was given to show how Rogers got the way he was, or to indicate where he got his psychological and moral insights. The fact is that in real life Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister who had done graduate studies in child development at the University of Pittsburgh, and had established a 30 year close working relationship with the child psychologist Margaret McFarland. When one understands Roger's bona fides, then his character as portrayed by Hanks becomes much more acceptable and convincing.

Apart from that writing omission, the production was very well put together. Hank's portrayal was slightly too saintly, but still believable (Turns out he is a distant cousin of Fred Rogers'). Matthew Rhys convincingly played the world weary writer, whose film it was to make or break, and he was able to bring it off with a certain smooth dedication, despite his character's somewhat uneven writing.

But it was the veteran Chris Cooper who impressed me as Rhys' father. Cooper has a large character palette, and he used the full gamut of emotion and nuance in this role.

It's interesting that the original Mister Rogers Neighborhood set, camera equipment, puppets, props and miniatures were all used in the film, which lent authenticity to the picture.

Doc's rating: 7/10
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Happy Hour (2015) -



The time I heard/read about some of Japan's contemporary issues which are infidelity and rising divorce rate, I can laugh only because mostly it reflects from their entertainment world--such this. sometimes it feels to be some kind of absurd either on how prone the bond itself or the concept and approach that could be so fundamentally different, culturally.
While in a way, it does not reduce the universality of the story, this movie gives insight and subtle reflection into how the sense of emptiness, the existential struggle of the feminine voices amid the ineptitude of understanding between themselves and the patriarch-centric of Japanese society,
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matt72582's Avatar
Please Quote/Tag Or I'll Miss Your Responses
Adua and Her Friends - 6/10
Bad first hour, better second hour. Maybe it was the two hour long phone call in between I was expecting that I received in the middle for a much needed break with such a drawn out beginning.






Bombshell (2019) - 7/10. Loved the performances. A truly heavyweight cast. Theron is amazing. It brings the systematic problem at Fox to light without being preachy about feminism or anything like that. Worth a watch before the Oscars!
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My Favorite Films



Yesterday -


pop culture was a mistake
The film Mamma Mia could have been.



Welcome to the human race...
The film Mamma Mia could have been.
yeah if it was worse

My American Uncle -


dat ennui
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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0



mattiasflgrtll6's Avatar
The truth is in here
This movie is so great for such a long time that the last half hour sticks out as such a disappointment. It takes the story in a very weird and unsatisfying direction, completely deflating the tension it built up before. Florence Pugh's acting is very strange in these final scenes as well, just making the same frowny face the whole time. Despite all that the movie is good, but I prefer Hereditary.
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End Of Days (1999)

The one with Schwarzenegger versus Satan.. featuring the best homemade smoothie recipe put on screen .. which includes floor pizza and coffee... it tells you Arnie is still hard but he doesnt care how he gets hard


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Do you know what a roller pigeon is, Barney? They climb high and fast, then roll over and fall just as fast toward the earth. There are shallow rollers and deep rollers. You can’t breed two deep rollers, or their young will roll all the way down, hit, and die. Officer Starling is a deep roller, Barney. We should hope one of her parents was not.



“Sugar is the most important thing in my life…”

1917 (2019)




Sam Mendes made a Call of Duty: WWI movie.








This movie is so great for such a long time that the last half hour sticks out as such a disappointment. It takes the story in a very weird and unsatisfying direction, completely deflating the tension it built up before. Florence Pugh's acting is very strange in these final scenes as well, just making the same frowny face the whole time. Despite all that the movie is good, but I prefer Hereditary.
It took a second watch for me to appreciate the final act as much as the rest of the movie. It's definitely still another-level weird, but I liked this so much more than Hereditary.






Missing Link (2019) - 7/10. What a delightful little movie. Loved it! The wonderful world of stop-motion! Visually well crafted as well. Sarcastic, the kind I like. British humour, is so much more layered, it just makes it all the more fun. And not to mention the star cast for this one was loaded too. Came out in April, but fell through the cracks for me.


Reminds of the movie, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! which came out a few years ago, which was up for the Oscars and didn't win. This one will be the same. Oscars love the CGI orgy from Pixar and Disney.



Black and blue (2019)



Very effective thriller. Surprised me at how engaging it was. Great acting and a good linear plot. Grillo does what he does best in not hogging scenes but acting with presence.

Strong



Lady Bird (2017) -

I kinda has personal premonition about teenage angst will be just tiresome story to follow. At least lady bird had neat personal, autobiographical touch that made it not so overindulge the narrative with the youth rebelious, foolish nature; just a mature coming of age story.

That's being said im ready for greta's little women.




Day of Anger (1967)




Not as grimy as the average spaghetti western but every bit as good. A young man works for peanuts cleaning up crap and sweeping porches and is constantly put down and ridiculed. Lee Van Cleef plays a gunfighter who arrives in town and takes him under his wing. They form a partnership and the kid turns out to be quite the gunfighter himself. Is the relationship sustainable? Watch the 113 minute full version and find out for yourself. There's a good copy on YouTube with subtitles.




Until They Sail (1957)

The film, characterized by Paul Newman as a woman's picture, was directed by Robert Wise, and stars three gorgeous actresses: Piper Laurie, Jean Simmons, and Joan Fontaine.

The setting is in New Zealand during WWII, where many of the local men are off to war, while the island is visited by American marines who are tasked with fighting in the Pacific theater.

The movie is a pot-boiler, with many interlocking stories that were considered controversial in the late '50s. Despite some of its prurient themes, the writing seemed shallow or superfluous, which made some of the scenes that should have been moving seem flat.

The picture is remarkable for several reasons: it was Sandra Dee's first movie role (good performance). The film was among the early wave tackling new reality themes that started to assert themselves during the late 1950s. Although it was in black & white, it was shot in wide screen CinemaScope, which would have helped its appeal in the theaters.

So, aside from its vague feeling of dramatic lack of depth --some owing to its being anachronistic-- the film is worth a watch to see an early Paul Newman role. He and Piper Laurie were to star together a few years later in the memorable film The Hustler.

Doc's rating: 5/10




The Farewell (2019)

It's a little surprising that this film got so much attention. It's a "nice" story, but if you've read the teaser premise going in --that a family hides a terminal cancer diagnosis from it's matriarch so that she won't be stressed-- you've got the whole film. There's even a revelation at the end that makes one wonder what was the point of making the picture.

To be sure there was good acting and good ensemble work evident in most of the scenes which portray family gatherings. It was a nice change to see Tzi Ma (24, Arrival, Sky Scraper) play a family man. There were other good performances as well, but nothing outstanding.

The movie was nominated at the Golden Globes both for best foreign language film, musical or comedy; and Awkwafina for best actress. The comedy portions must have passed me by, although there were a few light-hearted moments. Awkwafina did nice work, but nothing particularly exceptional.

So I'm at a loss for the film's buzz. Perhaps it's a current fashion to promote Chinese cinema; or maybe Awkwafina's feminism gave her some plus points. It's not a bad film, it's just that it's a mediocre story which, if it had been about an American family in the U.S., we might never have heard of it.

Doc's rating: 5/10
It was one of year's best for me. It's not that she won't be stressed. It's a tradition. Probably I connected a bit more coz my family was spread across different continents most of my childhood. The cultural differences between growing up in the west and growing up in the east were explored very nicely.