Movie Review: THE PROMISE (2017) AA+

From Other Reviews: (I couldn't say it better). An incredibly important and confronting subject presented in a cinematically rich and accessible package, The Promise urges its audience not to forget the genocide of the Armenian people in this emotionally driven, impeccably performed historical drama.

Also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Genocide

Some moments in history are often used as cinematic fodder. Usually, they represent the worst of humanity: the triumphs and atrocities of WWII; the inhumanities and resulting resistance of the civil rights movement; and the recent terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists. Little however has been put to celluloid when it comes to one of the worst war crimes of the 20th century, the systematic genocide of the Armenian people at the hands of the Ottoman Empire during 1915.

Also see http://www.mattsmoviereviews.net/movie-critic-reviews/promise.html

TV Series; Foreign: DEEP WATER (2016) A

Australian
Netflix; Need Subtitles

Fairly good series that takes place in BONDI Beach, Australia. Beautiful location and lots of scenes of the of the locale.
About the harassment and killing of gay men.  (Never saw so many murders in one place in a long time.)  Key investigative cop is a women.  Could have been shortened but it's worth the watch if you are interested in police work.


From Other Reviews:
When the mutilated corpse of a young man is found in a beachfront apartment in Bondi, Tori Lustigman and Nick Manning are assigned the case. Is this brutal murder a domestic, a robbery gone wrong, or a gay hate crime? As other ritualistic murders occur, they discover the killer is using THRUSTR (an APP on cell phones) to procure his victims.

Any local using that app is now at risk and it's a race against the clock to catch the serial killer before he strikes again. With mounting evidence to suggest the perpetrator has killed before, Tori and Nick start digging through old investigations. The discovery is shocking. In the 80s and 90s they uncover up to 80 possible murders of gay men.

Foreign Movie Review: CARANCHO (2011) D

Argentinian;Subtitles

Available from Netflix

This movie was an absolute bomb.  Got very good write ups from Rotten Tomatoes but it was just a mess of a plot that was just painful to watch.  Could be that the best stuff was left on the cutting floor.  Ricardo has been in great films in the past , but this was horrific.

From Rotten Tomatoes;
Sosa (Ricardo Darín, The Secret in Their Eyes) is an ambulance-chasing personal injury attorney with questionable ethics. Lujan (Martina Gusman, Lion's Den) is a young, idealistic country doctor new to the city. After Lujan and Sosa's paths repeatedly cross, the two form an unlikely romance that is threatened by Sosa's turbulent past. With traffics accidents as the number one cause of death in Argentina, bodies are currency and a black market strives to get rich from the personal tragedies that literally litter the streets.

Foreign Movie Review: A WAR (2015) AAA

Danish; subtitles

A powerful and painful movie about the REAL war that soldiers have to face when stationed in places such as Afghanistan.  This movie is NOT for the faint of heart. Moreover the cinematography, acting and direction are first class . . . plus.  This was Denmark's nomination for an Academy Award.

A Danish Company commander Claus M. Pedersen and his men are stationed in an Afghan province. Meanwhile back in Denmark Claus' wife is frightened and trying to hold everyday life together with a husband at war and three children missing their father. During a routine mission, the soldiers are caught in heavy crossfire and in order to save his men, Claus makes a decision that has grave consequences for him - and his family back home.

Other Reviews:

A War is a realistic drama about a Danish commander in Afghanistan, his unit, and his family back home, focusing on several key decisions that the commander must make, both in Afghanistan and back home in Denmark. Using naturalistic lighting, unobtrusive straight cuts, and a mix of stationary camera and hand-held, A War examines the moral complexities of asymmetric warfare and military justice. There are no easy answers, but there are spectacular natural performances from all of its cast. The sum total of these parts is an engrossing and seamless minimalistic movie, and another success from Tobias Lindholm. The Oscar nomination for A War is well-merited.

This is a very intense film that captures the utter fear of war and the awful situations that modern warfare can land people up in. It shows this from all sides. The acting is just superb and the direction from Tobias Lindholm ('The Hunt') is very accomplished.  This is a film that had me on the edge of my seat, the time flew by and as such I can agree with all the plaudits and easily recommend this as a great one to see.

Movie Review: FUGITIVE PIECES (2008) B

One more movie about a holocaust survivor.  Not to diminish the horror of the holocaust . . .  many of this genre of movie fit into a predicable pattern.  Usually the film is about a person who escaped, lost their loved ones, and the depression they feel. 

Fugitive Pieces tells the story of Jakob Beer, a man whose life is haunted by his childhood experiences during WWII. As a child in Poland he is orphaned during wartime then saved by a compassionate Greek archeologist. Over the course of his life, he painfully attempts to deal with the losses he has endured. The movie was slow so that the viewer could feel the pain also.  At the unrealistic end of the film, through his writing, and then through the discovery of true love, Jakob is ultimately freed from the legacy of his past.  Not really believable.

Other Reviews:
The movie has little dramatic momentum, and its journey is essentially Jakob's incremental acceptance of his fate. But Dillane (the actor) and the writer-director Jeremy Podeswa create such a compelling central character that it hardly matters.

His journey towards peace of mind involves lots of lyrical philosophizing, which presumably comes straight from the film's source novel, by Anne Michaels, and doesn't lend itself to dramatization, despite Dillane's typically intelligent performance.

Foreign Movie Review: INTIMATE STRANGERS (2003) C

French, subtitled

I weak French movie that opens with potential but goes nowhere.

A disturbed-looking woman named Anna enters a Paris apartment building where white-collar professionals conduct business.

The door man tells her that Dr. Monnier's practice (psychiatrist/psychologist) is on the fifth floor. Anna takes the elevator, chooses a door and is admitted by William. William, is actually is a financial planner specializing in tax problems. Psychiatrist Dr. Monnier, whom Anna meant to see, has an office a few doors down on the same floor.

Obviously upset, Anna explains her problem to the understanding tax planner. With minimum prompting from she quickly reveals she's been married for four years and works in an upscale luggage boutique. Her husband is unemployed, and, their love life is not working.

Talking seems to make Anna feel better and she spontaneously proposes a date and time for their next appointment. She then leaves without having given her name or phone number.

From this point on the movie SLOWLY wanders until Anna and William get together in Provence.

Don't waste you time watching this aimless movie.

Foreign Movie Review: A TOUCH OF SIN (2013) AA+

Subtitles, Chinese

Netflix DVD

Don't miss this very special  modern historical movie that describes a very small portion of China today as it is moving from a backward and non-industrialized society to a player on the world stage.  It shows the heartbreak and problem of young and older people entering into that society.  IT'S DEFINITELY NOT A FUN MOVIE.  It's  about the people caught up in this massive change.  This picture shows some of the problems and pitfalls of that change.  Should be watched because of it is magnificent depiction of modern China from just a travelogue and cinematographer standpoint.

From Other Reviewers:   A "brilliant exploration of violence and corruption in contemporary China" (Jon Frosch, The Atlantic), A TOUCH OF SIN was inspired by four shocking (and true) events that forced the world's fastest growing economy into a period of self-examination. Written and directed by master filmmaker Jia Zhangke (The World, Still Life), "one of the best and most important directors in the world" (Richard Brody, The New Yorker), this daring, poetic and grand-scale film focuses on four characters, each living in different provinces, who are driven to violent ends. An angry miner, enraged by widespread corruption in his village, decides to take justice into his own hands. A rootless migrant discovers the infinite possibilities of owning a firearm. A young receptionist, who dates a married man and works at a local sauna, is pushed beyond her limits by an abusive client. And a young factory worker goes from one discouraging job to the next, only to face increasingly degrading circumstances.(

All four of A Touch of Sin’s interwoven stories are lifted from current events. They show  the moment in the lives of average, put-upon Chinese citizens when the pressure builds to a crisis and violence results. As high-level corruption grows in China, so too does violent crime, and Jia was moved to make the film by the heretofore unseen levels of impulse murder, vengeance execution, suicides and assaults of all kinds.

Movie Review: LOVING (2016) AA

An excellent and touching movie . . . if you are interested in the history of the Civil Rights movement in the United States. 

Loving deals with the courage and commitment of an interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving who married and then spent the next nine years fighting for the right to live as a family in their hometown in Virginia. 

Yes, until 1967, "interracial" people were not allowed to marry in many southern states.  A carryover from the days of slavery. Their civil rights case, Loving v. Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1967 reaffirmed the  the right to marry. 

I felt the movie could have shown more of how the issue was handled in court. 

The decision was cited as precedent in U.S. federal court decisions holding restrictions on same-sex marriage in the United States unconstitutional, including in the 2015 Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges.

If you are interested in this case see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_v._Virginia

Movie Review: Department Q: A CONSPIRACY OF FAITH (2016) AAA

Nexflix streaming:Subtitles

This is the third of the Department Q series  . . . and probably the most painful and "dark" to watch.  Its about the brutality and kidnapping by a serial killer.  But if your are into detective stories, this one is a classic (My triple A rating), will keep you at the edge of your seat.  A movie that must not be missed.

Storyline
An old note is found in a bottle in Jutland which has traveled very long across the ocean a long time ago. The note is hard to decipher, but when the Danish investigator from Section Q receives it, the odd personalities within the section find a new angle on it and try to unveil yet another old and diabolic case even though the lead is cold.

Other Reviews:
A Conspiracy of Faith is a thriller but one with quite a differing approach. It dispenses with the comedy of the earlier film and instead goes for a pretty downbeat approach. Hardly surprising really when you consider that the story is about two cops investigating the case of two abducted children. This kind of material is always one that is going to be somewhat dark, another recent north European film The Treatment (2014) dealt with this subject in a very head on manner and consequently was very disturbing indeed in places. A Conspiracy of Faith only goes so far with its dark material and by the end of the film slightly dissipates its impact further by having its narrative go into more standard thriller territory. But despite that, this is still another compelling bit of Nordic noir.

This is the best of the three Department Q films in my opinion, it is not darker as such, off course the fact that its about kids getting taken is just not very nice to think about, but the cases they are working on are dark and we are beginning to know the characters and their different persona's and they really capture many great aspects of the characters and their interaction with other people.

Serial killers are always strange and dark, but this one is very well portrayed by Pål Sverre Hagen, he really seems like this nice guy, good looking (a Norwegian Ryan Gosling), well spoken, calm and trustworthy. But deep down he is just a bad bad man, with a terrible past and a twisted mind.

It might seem that there is a decline in the movies, but this is still rock solid. I can only imagine that the book is even more than that. It has characters from the previous movies (and books of course) and has a case that is pretty strong. You don't have the urgent feeling and the playfulness it had in the previous movies. As dark as they got, you always had something light in them.

As the previous Department Q films, this haunting crime-film is all about the darkest and most twisted evil people, and they're terrible actions towards innocent people. In this film it also deals with children, so it's very gripping. As a Norwegian I'm delighted to see Norwegians actors in this film, they really brings life to the film, acting in a convincing way. It even has a Norwegian director. But this it danish crime at it's very very best.

Foreign Movie Review: BARBARA (2012) B

Available from Netflix DVD

A slow,slow moving and predicable movie with average cinematography and little dialogue. Sorry to have rented it from NETFLIX. However, other reviewers disagreed with me.

From An Other Review:
Winner of the Best Director prize at this year's Berlin Film Festival, the latest film from Christian Petzold (Yella, Jerichow) is a simmering, impeccably crafted Cold War thriller, starring the gifted Nina Hoss-in her fifth lead role for the director-as a Berlin doctor banished to a rural East German hospital as punishment for applying for an exit visa. As her lover from the West carefully plots her escape, Barbara waits patiently and avoids friendships with her colleagues-except for Andre (Ronald Zehrfeld) the hospital's head physician, who is warmly attentive to her. But even as she finds herself falling for him, Barbara still cannot be sure that Andre is not a spy. As her defensive wall slowly starts to crumble, she is eventually forced to make a profound decision about her future. A film of glancing moments and dangerous secrets, BARBARA paints a haunting picture of a woman being slowly crushed between the irreconcilable needs of desire and survival. Germany's official Oscar submission for Best Foreign Language Film.

Movie Review: CHURCHILL (2017) B

I view this movie as a totally unrealistic depiction of Winston Churchill in the days leading up to D-Day . . . June 6, 1944, when allied forces stormed the beaches in Normandy, France during WWII.  It is well known that Churchill wanted to continue to attack on more sites on the Mediterranean but was overruled by the United States who felt the attack through France was the quickest way to get to Germany and end the war.

Churchill was fully in charge of allied military operations prior to the United States entering the war in December 1941.  He was obviously frustrated because he had lost the power to dictate military operations. But the movie shows that this loss totally devastated him.

The movie shows Churchill almost catatonic because he felt that our attack was the wrong strategy . . . even though British forces were fully involved. The movie attempts to show that he was also was fearful of repeating his deadly mistakes during World War I, in the Battle of Gallipoli, he was exhausted by years of war, plagued by depression and obsessed with his historical destiny.

From Other Reviews:  In the annals of historical biopics, Jonathan Teplitzsky’s “Churchill” stands out as a uniquely awful and tedious caricature of a fascinating subject. The film, which imagines British prime minister Winston S. Churchill as wracked with misgivings and opposing the Allied Forces’ D-Day invasion until the very last minute, strikes this reviewer as a load of utter rubbish from first frame to last. Certainly, movies have the right to varying degrees of creative license and to interpret the characters and actions of historical figures. But the screenwriter of “Churchill,” Alex von Tunzelmann, a historian herself, has taken liberties that completely misrepresent the historical record.
“Churchill” is mostly a monotonous succession of scenes in which Churchill raves, waves his arms and shouts at anyone in his vicinity that D-Day mustn’t go forward. He has other ideas for an invasion. The Aegean! Norway! Eventually Montgomery gets fed up and blasts him for his “doubts, dithering and … treachery.” The latter word would be justified, if any of this were actually true.Andrew Roberts, a prominent Churchill historian, wrote, “The only problem with the movie … is that it gets absolutely everything wrong. Never in the course of movie-making have so many specious errors been made in so long a movie by so few writers.”
It really is that bad.

Foreign Movie Review; DEPARTMENT Q: THE ABSENT ONE (2016) AAA

Available from NETFLIX Streaming

From Other Reviews:  (Which I fully agree with).
This is the second in the trilogy of movies based on Jussi Adler-Olsen's international bestsellers. This riveting Department Q series introduces maverick detective Carl Mørck who, after majorly botching an assignment, is relegated to reviewing cold cases. With his new partner Assad and secretary Rose the moody Mørck digs into shocking unsolved mysteries including the kidnapping of a high-ranking government official, a brutal prep school murder and a bloody message from two children presumed dead. A nonstop series of ingenious twists and shocking surprises keep the suspense simmering in these three stylish thrillers: The Keeper of Lost Causes, The Absent One and A Conspiracy of Faith.

In my opinion , this second movie (The Absent One is far superior to the The Keeper of Lost Causes, which I reviewed yesterday).

Storyline
Rugged and irritable Carl Morck (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) and his colleague, the Syria-born Assad, run the cold-case division of the Copenhagen police. After a desperate appeal to Morck about the unsolved killing of his own teenage children, an ex-cop commits suicide. This leads the detective pair on a twisted mission to discover what really happened in the 1990s at one of the country's poshest boarding schools. Director Mikkel Norgaard reunites with lead stars Kaas and Fares to portray this taut fiction which again alternates deftly between the past and present.

Of course, its also a good crime thriller, with many subtle and often oblique, plot shifts. It takes time for all the intricate pieces of the crime puzzle to come together but when they do, its a very satisfying experience.

The acting is outstanding. Nikolaj Lie Kaas skillfully reprises his role as Carl Morck. A socially awkward, self destructive but nonetheless brilliant, driven detective. Fares Fares returns as his long suffering but understanding partner, Assad. The comfortable chemistry between these two lead actors makes this film easy viewing.

Movie Review: BLOOD FATHER (2016) B

An very average movie with little plot and much action.
BLOOD FATHER stars Mel Gibson as Link, an ex-convict who fights to protect his estranged daughter from the drug cartel that is hunting her down. In this action film, John must use his connections from his past life and his skills as an ex-criminal to keep him and his daughter alive. BLOOD FATHER also stars Erin Moriarty, Diego Luna, Michael Parks, and William H. Macy.

Foreign Movie Review : DEPARTMENT Q:THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES (2013) A

Available from Netflix streaming and DVD

A good police investigation movie about two detectives that are sent to work on "cold cases" after they were accused of being too aggressive in regular field work.  Essentially one step away from being forcibly retired from the force. At this new job they do excellent work (to the surprise of their boss), however, the crime that they were investigating in this episode was somewhat unrealistic and gruesome.

From Other Reviewer:
Quality crime drama - but nothing earth-shattering.
Based on Jussi Adler-Olsen's international bestsellers, the  Department Q series introduces maverick detective Carl Møck who, after  botching an assignment, is relegated to reviewing cold cases. With his new partner Assad and secretary Rose the moody Mørck digs into shocking unsolved mysteries.

Foreign Movie Review : FAUDA (2015- ) AAA+

Netfix Original Streaming;

Subtitles: Israeli, 12 episodes

"Fauda" the movie series (Arabic for 'Chaos') depicts the (most horrible aspects) of the two-sided story of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The quote another person who reviewed this painfully difficult to watch series, it is a "Gripping drama so real that it hurts".  It definitely SHOULD NOT BE WATCHED FOR THE WEAK AT HEART.  Unending violence a hatred.  I only hope that the situation in the real Israel is a lot less violent and intense than shown in this series.  However, The amazing thing is that past leaders of the Israeli 'mista'ar'vim' have said that the reality is even more astounding than that which is portrayed in this series. If so, it boggles the mind . As an aside I'm not sure a follow up series was created.

Purchased and broadcast by Netflix, this is the best series to come from Israel TV film-makers, who are rapidly becoming masters of the genre --and all this on strictly limited budgets.

These Comments Are Excerpts From Other Reviewers:
Doron, a commander of undercover Israeli unit, the Israeli Special Forces, operating inside Palestinian territories, and his team, are hunting down Hamas terrorist Abu-Ahmed. On the other side of the fence, the life of Abu-Ahmed and his family, who has thus far murdered 143 Israelis, will never accept the State of Israel, and will continue Jihad for as long as it takes.

Why is Fauda different? Well, for a start, there is the fact that it reeks of authenticity about the cat and mouse tactics Israel is forced to employ when hunting down highly motivated Palestinian terrorists. This drama has everything. It is played out in Arabic and Hebrew by superb actors who have bilingual command of the languages.

It is never condescending to the Arabs, so even the most fervent of Palestinian supporters will find it hard to find bias. The eternal struggle is seen from both sides and does not moralize. Love and betrayal are exposed, not only between human beings but also between ideologies. This, indeed, is a fight to the death.

The Israeli Arab actors, too, deserve credit for portraying their characters with such humanity. Betrayal is an integral part of Arab society in the West Bank (and Gaza for that matter). Israel would not have been able to succeed as often as it has if not for the myriad informants and stool pigeons willing to 'shop' the terrorists among them, whether for money or for political reasons. Everyone, it seems, has his price. The enmity between Fatah, which runs the West Bank, and Hamas, dominant in Gaza, is palpable. Israel uses this to its advantage.

The reason why this series must be seen on TV throughout the Western world, and even further afield, is that it shows in depth how Israel combats terrorism. All we usually see on the news channels are the results of hits via video from drones and guided missiles. We never see the story behind the assassination of terrorists.

The suspense of the story reminded me that life under constant threat of terrorism is a brutal and hardening existence. I was on edge, despite knowing what the eventual outcomes were likely to be. The lesson I took from this story was how sad it is that two sets of human beings with amazing fortitude and commitment cannot channel those qualities to make a mutually progressive existence.

Knowing little of the Israeli - Palestine conflicts and issues I watched this series initially only because of a review I read somewhere. Not really into watching something with subtitles I was gripped from the beginning and couldn't stop watching it.

Intense and Engaging
This is super addictive so watch out! I watched 6 episodes in a row and I definitely don't regret it one bit. Definitely recommend this show, you wont regret it. The acting, the filming, the effects-its all truly amazing. Unfortunately , I think this show only has one season, which is really upsetting to me. Hopefully the series will continue for as long a possible. 10/10

Very realistic (although many of the things depicted in the show are out of date, like tracking techniques used by Israelis - they use much faster and slicker technology now and Hamas too - I can't believe that they didn't sweep the place & the visitors for bugs), but somehow it is very depressing: you realize that there can never be any peace - one side just has to ex

terminate the other. And that is the bitter truth.

Movie Review: CITY OF ANGELS (1998) AA

Available from Netflix DVD

An excellent movie that celebrates life itself. If you are ever down, depressed or sad . . . or not satisfied with the way the world is treating you, then this is the movie to see.  It is a good story coupled with a professional production.

From imdb:  Seth is an angel who accompanies the spirits of the recently dead to the ever after. Seth has never been human and so has has never experienced touch or taste. When in the hospital, however, he comes across Dr. Maggie Rice, a brilliant young heart surgeon who is devoted to her profession and her patients. Seth has the power to let himself be seen but Maggie finds him far too mysterious. Seth also meets a patient, Nathaniel Messinger, who has news for him . . .  he too was once an angel like Seth but chose to fall to Earth and become human. Seth makes a decision on his future, which does not turn out as he had expected.

Movie Review: IN AMERICA (2003) A+

A very good movie that at the beginning I was about to give up on.   However, it turned out to worthwhile and left the viewer with some emotional pangs.

From Rotten Tomatoes:
To begin all over again is a classic American dream. But it is remarkably hard to do, as Irish immigrants Johnny and Sarah discover when they hit New York City, with their two spunky young daughters, in the mid-1980s. In pursuit of a dream, the family uses ingenuity and sheer strength of will to make the most of their new life. With no cash to spare, Johnny and Sarah settle into a chaotic New York tenement and attempt to turn the dilapidated setting into a true home. From dragging an iffy-looking air conditioner across Manhattan to finding make-do jobs, nothing comes without a fight for the couple. And yet, as they see America as rife with challenges, dangers and weirdness, their daughters see it as a magical place.

Foreign Movie Review: ABOUT ELLY (2016) AA

Subtitles needed

Very interesting and unusual movie.  Very well acted and directed. It was created by the Iranian Academy Award winning director (Asghar Farhadi) who also directed  A SEPARATION.  I have been told that the group that makes these movies are not really part of the Iranian regular population.  They live in a separate part of the country and live under much less control of the Mullahs. 

From Other Reviews:
With the return of their close friend Ahmad from Germany, a group of former college pals decide to reunite for a weekend outing by the Caspian Sea. The fun starts right away as they quickly catch on to the plan of lively Sepideh, who has brought along Elly, her daughter's kindergarten teacher, in hopes of setting her up with recently divorced Ahmad. But seemingly trivial lies, which start accumulating from the moment the group arrives at the seashore, suddenly swing round and come back full force when one afternoon Elly suddenly vanishes. Her mysterious disappearance sets in motion a series of deceptions and revelations that threaten to shatter everything they hold dear.

Movie Review: PAPA (2015) C-

Bad movie and boring about Ernest Hemingway and his late life in Cuba.

From other reviews: Despite its obvious sincerity of purpose, and the cachet of its having been filmed on locations where the real-life drama actually unfolded, “Papa: Hemingway in Cuba” is disappointingly plodding and ham-fistedly obvious in its attempts to offer an up-close and personal portrait of a mood-swinging, self-loathing 59-year-old Ernest Hemingway

The film was directed by noted producer Bob Yari, his second effort, but it smacked of something that had problems all along the way, including sound design and story structure. There was absolutely no life to the story, and there were several bad casting choices…including Papa Hemingway…and the film lands with a thud rather than a heralding for the man, image and essence of the legendary writer. Movie Review: PAPA (2015) C-Movie Review: PAPA (2015) C-

See all my reviews at http://movieandtvreviewsforgrownups.blogspot.com/

Movie Review: FORSAKEN (2016) B

A classic western movie with the guy returning from the Civil War.  The girl he left behind, the bad guys and the good guy with the six shooters.  Will keep your mind off of Russians tampering with elections, impeachment and illegal immigrants.

In 1872, JOHN HENRY CLAYTON (Kiefer Sutherland) retires as a gunfighter and returns to his hometown of Fowler, Wyoming in hope of repairing his relationship with his estranged father, REVEREND CLAYTON (Donald Sutherland). However, he soon learns that the town is in turmoil, as the railroad will be coming through the area and a criminal gang is terrorizing ranchers who refuse to sell their land. John Henry is the only one who can stop them, but his father does not want his son to return to a life of violence.