johnlease

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Good Neighbor Sam 1964

★ Watched 17 Dec 2024

I guess it thought it was making some sly comments on the Organization Man and suburban living, but other than the performance of character actor Edward Andrews, who delivers as per usual, there is very little to like or admire about this picture. The opening title sequence is grotesque and the set decoration and color photography are a nauseating combination. The whole thing looks cartoonish and cheap, including the dumb sight gags which do not result in laughs. Hertz rent a car gets shameless product placement. For a Jack Lemmon comedy, try THAT'S LIFE! (1986), and ignore this overstuffed turkey.
The Aftermath 1968

★★★★ Watched 17 Dec 2024

The Palestinians are a people displaced, exiled, and scattered. They share a fate similar to the Irish, who were starved and terrorized by their Imperial tormentors. The success of this film is in the faces that it captures. They are by turn strong, beautiful, exhausted, and dignified. We are left to wonder, what has happened to them since 1967? We’ll never know of course. The narrator describes these refugees as living in “shock, fear, and confusion.” Sadly, little has changed. Excellent black and white photography. This is an important document that deserves a wider audience, but likely won’t get one.

Popular reviews

Masters of the Air 2024

½ Watched 28 Jan 2024 6

Here we have a 12-year-old's blood, guts, and glory, vision of WWII. The script is so insufferable and idiotic that i thought, 'this can't have been meant to be taken seriously, it must be a parody.' When it comes to boy genius Steven Spielberg, i would say his feature film '1941' is a better representation of America at war than this overblown Valentine to the greatest generation as they grit their teeth and rise to the occasion for yet another mission from merry old England against old man Hitler himself. Que the swing music! Watch TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH (1949) instead.
Ransom 1996

★★½ Watched 15 Dec 2024 5

The subtext in this film is a little hard to get a grip on. On the one hand, Mel Gibson's corporate reptile character (with an Irish name by the way) is a white collar criminal, but he is put into the position of audience sympathy, whereas the kidnapper exhibits some clear class consciousness and outrage at the elite, but he is clearly a psychopath. There is a clever twist or two, but there are also some continuity problems, and an occasionally sappy script. Sinese and Lindo both deliver. For a kidnap, ransom, revenge picture, try MAN ON FIRE (2004) instead.

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