Maestro

Movies, Drama

Maestro

No Comments 18 February 2024

If you are hoping to learn a lot about Leonard Bernstein’s artistry, Maestro will disappoint you. There are two moments where one gets a sense of Bernstein’s creative power. Otherwise, the film is dedicated to chronicling his complicated love life. Bernstein is homosexual but marries and has children. Bradley Cooper (director and actor of Bernstein) focuses on telling this story. Bernstein’s musical artistry merely serves as a background that remains largely unexplored. I once saw a little video of Bernstein teaching the history of music in five minutes at Harvard. Given the title Maestro, I was hoping music would be at the center of the film. Perhaps there is a good documentary on Bernstein I can look for.

Continue Reading
Crocodile Dundee

Movies, Comedy, Drama

Crocodile Dundee

No Comments 3 January 2024

Crocodile Dundee was made with $7 million and took in over $300 million at the box office. It was the commercially most successful Australian film ever. Because the film became so popular, I wasn’t sure whether I had seen it or not. It turns out I had never seen at least the first “Crocodile Dundee” movie, and I fully appreciate why it was so successful. It is utterly charming. A young journalist happens to be in Australia when she hears the news that a man in the outback was attacked by a crocodile and then managed to rescue himself through an ordeal of several days.

Continue Reading
Elvis

Movies, Drama

Elvis

No Comments 7 May 2023

I love films about music legends such as Marley, Walk the Line, and Ray *because the soundtrack is guaranteed to be excellent. So I could not wait to see *Elvis. It starts out strong but pretty soon it fails to create the magic of great movies that pull you in and make you believe what you see is a real story. Baz Luhrmann, who wrote and directed the film, never lets you forget that the film and Elvis’s true life are different.

Continue Reading
Top Gun Maverick

Movies, Drama

Top Gun Maverick

No Comments 27 November 2022

I saw the original top gun movie and was not very impressed. It lacked depth and tried to make it up with too many acrobatic jet fighter stunts. Not surprisingly, I had no plans to see the sequel. But Top Gun Maverick received raving reviews. Every review I read claimed that the sequel was much better than the original. I got a chance to see it on a big cinema screen. Top Gun Maverick is a fantastic film. I was impressed with the storytelling, the camera work, the suspense, and the surprising twists and turns. No wonder that this is the best crossing film Tom Cruise has ever participated in. You can see that all people involved treated it as a labor of love. You can sense that the script was rewritten and reworked many times so that it would reach a level that is rare for action movies made mainly for young people. See Top Gun Maverick. I extend my rare money-back guarantee for it. If you don’t like the film, I will reimburse you for the price of the tickets.

Continue Reading
Coda

Movies, Drama

Coda

No Comments 27 March 2022

Coda is the remake of a French movie. The American version is taking place in a small fishing town in New England. At the center of the film is a high school senior whose parents and older brother are deaf. She has been the translator for her family with the outside “hearing” world for her entire life. But she’s getting tired of this as she wants to lead a more independent life.

Continue Reading
No Time to Die

Movies, Drama

No Time to Die

No Comments 24 January 2022

Sometimes in the 1990s I had vowed never to see another James Bond movie. In my early teens, I watched a James Bond movie every weekend. I described c my teenage love affair with James Bond that came to an end like many teenage love affairs do here: Me and Mr. Bond. But when Daniel Craig took over the role and the producers announced that they would give Bond emotional depth, I wanted to see whether they have achieved this in Casino RoyaleThey did as I wrote in my review.

Continue Reading
White Tiger

Movies, Drama

White Tiger

No Comments 3 April 2021

I loved Slumdog Millionaire and Liondepiction of India. I was particularly moved by the scenes when Lion was lost in India.  When novels work well, they depict real social problems and injustices and mobilize us to action. After seeing White Tiger I felt paralyzed rather than mobilized. Charles Dickens’ novels created in the hearts of many people the desire to change the awful working conditions in 19th century Britain. I was disgusted by the murder that the protagonist committed, making me more outraged about the poor storytelling than about social conditions in India.  This was not how the writer and filmmaker intended it. I felt that they exaggerated so strongly and came across as so assured that their viewpoint is the correct one that I was turned off. I also did not learn anything new about India or became more sympathetic to the challenges for this gigantic country. Two thumbs down.

Continue Reading
Page 1 of 13 1 2 3 >  Last ›

© 2024 Peter Murmann. Powered by ExpressionEngine.

Daily Edition Theme by WooThemes - Premium ExpressionEngine Themes