Change Your Image
mikeborgen
Reviews
Am I Racist? (2024)
Came looking for funny--came up empty
I'm a pretty liberal guy, but I love laughing at hypocrisy. I love when people have to squirm to defend their position if they're in the wrong. That did not happen in this film.
I was hoping Matt Walsh was going to congront subjects in his film in a confrontational and logically debatable style much like his famous "what is a woman challenge".
Instead, there is no confrontation, there is only trying to blend in and mildly use Borat type Antics for cheap laughs. Overall, the arguments were weak and lazy and nothing was really said in this documentary.
This film was a complete waste of time. Instead of making a documentary on the subject, Matt should have literally just had conversations honestly one-on-one or panel with people and stated his positions and that would have been much more funny with facts and truth, battling cognitive disconnect and victimization. That would have been a far more interesting and poignant watch.
Overall this was a week, lazy attempt, a Borat
Style ripoff that missed the mark.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)
A whole lot of elements jammed together
Good intentions, but lacking story. Too many side stories cobbled together for the sake of moving plot forward.
Heavily relies on pop culture references from the 70s,80s and 90s. This movie breaks the 4th wall of bubble gum pop in order to wink and nod "remember this song, tv show?"
Attempted to capitalize on old pop culture the way the original did, but these elements did not work as well and aren't novel.
For waiting so long, I was hoping for more.
Lastly, on a side note, I was shocked how heavily the plot of this movie relied on the likeness and character Jeffrey Jones, the father played. Obviously, he was removed altogether for sexual allegations, so it makes sense he's not on the project, but his image, body double and even animated form of Jones was used for God's sake. Not a lot of creativity forcing his character integral to multiple character story cycles. He should have been merely a footnote.
Strawberry Mansion (2021)
Trippy but lacking
This movie reminded me of an episode of The Mighty boosh, if directed by Wes Anderson.
The main character in this movie, I thought was Julian Barrett Howard moon in the Mighty Boosh but it turns out it just looks a lot like him.
I enjoy The Whimsy and creativity of the film, that's what I most will take away. But I don't like was the style of surreal acting, it was very reminiscent of the movie the room with Tommy Wiseau-- just not my cup of tea.
This movie demonstrates creativity on a shoestring budget, a cool concept, but something overall was lacking. It just doesn't have the emotional connection or wow factor of a Wizard of Oz or a Pan's Labyrinth.
If anything, this movie will inspire writers and low budget directors to challenge themselves making a cool concept, low budget film.
Comedian (2002)
A look into the high pressure world of comedy
If you love stand up, or just love funny in general this is a great look into the madness of being a working stand-up comedian.
A prerequisite, you must want to see how the sausage is made and it's not pretty. Watch as even seasoned veterans Jerry Seinfeld struggle to write new material on the Fly and capture lightning in the bottle for unsuspected crowds. Jerry professes it is extremely hard to throw out all of your old materials and start fresh because it's like giving away your superpowers that have worked before.
Upside follows the greats Jerry Seinfeld and Colin Quinn. Downside is an up and coming, struggling comedian Orny Adams who is simply full of himself and thinks he's funny but he's really not pretty hack in fact. Unfortunately, he follows the Dane Cook good looks but does not have the Charisma or sense of humor to match and it frustrates him.
Saving Sakic (2024)
Meh
Unnecessarily long could have been told in 10 minutes and it wasn't that riveting.
If they didn't rope in Harrison Ford into the story it could have been told in five minutes. I could see the pitch now yeah so that's the basic story what else, well Harrison Ford and his money making movie made this possible okay let's milk that for another 30 minutes
Usually these documentaries are fabulous I was expecting a little bit more to the story but it was pretty basic and didn't necessarily need a documentary about it.
I'm all for hockey related docs, just this one seemed like a pretty shallow plot.
Elvis (2022)
Meh. Uncontroversial and woke
The most interesting aspects of Elvis's life were omitted to fit this narrative. Ie; drug use, underage marriage/sex with Precilla, bowling and askking to become self-appointed drug czar to Nixon. Deeply moved by racism and assasination of MLK in the privacy of his own biopic and a mere 2 minutes of screen time for fat/pathetic Elvis. Could have been fat more interesting if approached as an idol fallen from Grace like the "Wrestler," instead I'm left with a superficia, one dimensional character.
Meh,a real missed opportunity. Great performance by Butler though.
Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World, A Personal Exploration by Jason Riley (2021)
Lots of backslapping--not a deep dive.
Not a very well produced documentary. More sound bites then a deep Dive in Sowell's philosophies. I would have rather heard Thomas himself talking about his point of view with in-depth looks a continuation and explanation of his unique beliefs.
The narration and host see more content on sucking up to the man, and explaining how great he was instead of just letting his work speak for itself.
For how brilliant Thomas is, there really isn't that much concrete evidence. Without political bias, Noam Chomsky would eat him alive in debate it seems, because his explanations are much more historical deeper and with longer discussions and every documentary an interview I've seen... Perhaps this was a disservice to Thomas himself but I'm not impressed by the man as I was hoping to be. Yes, he has the courage to punch down and self criticized his own people, but in his own words I'm not hearing any solutions just trade-offs to defend the status quo according to this documentary.
In & of Itself (2020)
A tad pretentious
Well, I know some people will really like this movie but I'm not one of them. The film itself is considered a documentary, but I don't consider it that, but rather a performance art meets Tony Robbins self-help seminar Meets magic show meets The Moth storytellers.
While the Gambler story was entertaining on its own and it was interesting to hear about his lesbian mother and how we dealt with it as a whole I didn't think the whole thing came together, but rather a garbled pretentious collection of stories and self-discovery to make people feel good and cry with a little bit of trickery and slight of hand.
The Cameo of David Blaine and him crying because he called him a brother, and I swear I saw Bill Gates professing himself as a leader and the audience to but that might just be my imagination. These cameos alone I found cheesy and took me out of the film altogether.
I'm not the kind of person that likes to be forced to feel things, and this film felt like it was trying way too hard to be emotional, a little bit heavy-handed for my taste.