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| EFC STATS |
| Movies Listed: |
32259 |
| Total Ratings: |
249067 |
| Total Reviews: |
28255 |
![[180936285 Hits]](/cgi-bin/gd.cgi?180936285)
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| LINE WALKER 2: INVISIBLE SPY |
"From Rubik's Cubes to running with the bulls, more goring than boring."
Jay Seaver says... "This only covers what's been released in North America, but "Line Walker 2" is Louis Koo's third movie in as many months to be numbered like the second in the series without actually being a sequel, which is an impressively productive year but also very confusing, considering that the first "Line Walker" movie was explicitly a continuation of a TV series. Truth be told, I didn't realize this one wasn't connected until I got home and re-read my review from 2016, and now I'm wondering if maybe I wouldn't have enjoyed it more if I'd been treating it as its own crazy thing rather than trying to reconcile it with the previous story." (more)
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| DEATH OF DICK LONG, THE |
"More clever than its title and eventually even cruder."
Jay Seaver says... "SCREENED AT INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL BOSTON 2019: Just enough time passed between my seeing "The Death of Dick Long" and getting around to fleshing my notes out into a full review that it took me a while moment to remember exactly what about it made it stand out among "dumb person crime" movies, and I'm not entirely sure whether that speaks well of it or not. One the one hand, it's an entertaining dark comedy even without the twist, but on the other, I've got to wonder what it says that the filmmakers couldn't get THAT image lodged in my brain. Of course, maybe it says something about me." (more)
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| BLINDED BY THE LIGHT |
"Luton Rock City"
Lybarger says... "When Bruce Springsteen screams, “It’s a town full of losers, but I’m pulling out of here to win” at the end of “Thunder Road,” you don’t have to be New Jersey car enthusiast to relate. The Boss’ lyrics can mean something to you, no matter where you might be on the globe." (more)
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| BLINDED BY THE LIGHT |
"The Ties That Bind"
Peter Sobczynski says... "Having long conquered the stages of Broadway, the jukebox musical—the storytelling format in which the narrative is formed around the most popular hits of a particular musical act—has begun to make serious inroads into the world of film that is sure to only increase exponentially as the studios respond in earnest to the wholly inexplicable success of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” This summer season alone has seen three examples of the form that have arrived with, to put it mildly, wildly different levels of artistic success. “Rocket Man,” the flashy and surrealistic Elton John biopic, did a surprisingly effective job of fusing together his music and story in ways that might not have completely passed the historical smell test but which certainly captured the essence of him as an artist in thoughtful and eye-catching ways. On the metaphorical flip side, the truly execrable “Yesterday” utilized the music of the Beatles to anchor a story that took a potentially interesting premise—what would happen if the Fab Four had been mysteriously wiped from the collective consciousness and the one person who still remembered them attempted to reintroduce their music into today’s world?—and squandered it in ways that were deeply dopey at best and borderline offensive at worst." (more)
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| GOOD BOYS |
"Kids Say (And Do) The Darndest F*#$%(@ Things"
Peter Sobczynski says... "From the increasingly bizarre twists and turns of the plot to the sight of a group of 11-year-old boys swearing like truck drivers (which I believe is still the standard by which profanity is based) while confronting mysteries of life ranging from knowing how to kiss to why that string of beads taken from a parental bedroom smells so bad, “Good Boys” is essentially an extended episode of “South Park” that has been presented in live-action instead of crude animation. Whether or not this represents progress is, of course, up to you." (more)
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| DIVINE FURY, THE |
"Gets around to punching demons in the face."
Jay Seaver says... "SCREENED AT THE 2019 FANTASIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL: The hook for "The Divine Fury" is such a simple and obvious genre mash-up - the martial artist whose hands have been blessed/cursed in such a way that he can exorcise demons by punching them in the face - that it's kind of surprising that such a film doesn't hit theaters every other week. The reason, I suspect, is likely why this movie is only half as cool as it could be: Shooting fight scenes is complex and time-consuming compared to talking about demons, so the movie inevitably doesn't do as much of the good stuff as one might hope." (more)
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| THEM THAT FOLLOW |
"Fringe but familiar."
Jay Seaver says... "SCREENED AT INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL BOSTON 2019: Movies like "Them That Follow" often have a hard time finding the right balance of respect and alarm in regard to the fringes of society where their characters exist, and in this case filmmakers Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage maybe veer too far toward the respectful. They've got too fine a cast to not make a good movie, but the naturally soapy elements get a bit blunted by not wanting to be insensitive and exploitative where its snake-handling community is concerned." (more)
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| HOBBS & SHAW |
"Like The Literary Journal “Mana,” They Are Samoa Bound"
Peter Sobczynski says... "One of the great byproducts about last week’s release of “Once Upon a Time. . . in Hollywood” was that for one brief and shining moment, it actually got people genuinely interested and excited by a film that went far beyond the usual levels of hype for the first time in a long while. Sure, some of the discourse was inevitably on the dopey side—especially the Internet commentary that was clearly more interested in clickbait than anything else—but for the most part, when people talked and wrote about the movie, they were responding with the kind of enthusiasm and passion that films used to inspire in the days before the industry shifted to an all-blockbuster all-the-time format. Love it or hate it, it is the kind of film that does not instantly fade from memory the moment the credits roll as is the case with so many big-budget gumdrops and my guess is that people will be discussing and arguing its finer points for a long time to come." (more)
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'INSANITY RUNS IN MY FAMILY. IT PRACTICALLY GALLOPS.'
- Mortimer Brewster, Arsenic and Old Lace
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