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| EFC STATS |
| Movies Listed: |
32429 |
| Total Ratings: |
249287 |
| Total Reviews: |
28368 |
![[184914175 Hits]](/cgi-bin/gd.cgi?184914175)
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| IRISHMAN, THE |
"As great as you've heard."
Rob Gonsalves says... "Martin Scorsese’s late-period masterpiece "The Irishman" kicks off on a note as darkly funny and devastating as much of the rest of the movie: a lengthy tracking shot through the halls of a Philadelphia nursing home, stopping on the gray, barely breathing husk of Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro)." (more)
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| WHISTLEBLOWER, THE (2019) |
"Would be more of a fun little action movie if it were a bit littler."
Jay Seaver says... ""The Whistleblower" is a competent enough little thriller that loses a bit of goodwill in the last act when it just won't end, setting up a finale that feels tacked on. It's not bad so much as it's a lot of work the movie doesn't need to do just when one's bladder is about to complain. The film's globe-trotting justifies the scale somewhat, but there's probably a great 95-minute movie in here somewhere." (more)
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| AERONAUTS, THE |
"A cozy but fun big-screen adventure."
Jay Seaver says... ""The Aeronauts" is not going to be quite so impressive when you see it on a small screen (which most will, given Amazon will have it streaming two weeks after its North American theatrical release), and there are bits that don't totally fit together, but this is such a treat visually that I'll cut out some slack. On top of that, it's the exact sort of thing I'm always looking to find for my nieces, full of discovery and adventure but not violence." (more)
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| CHARLIE'S ANGELS (2019) |
"Ditch the 'Angels' branding and just having the ladies kick ass."
Jay Seaver says... "I try not to think of the calculations that go on in studio executives' heads too much, because it's frightening and tends to put one at a distance from the actual merits of the films themselves, but it gets kind of interest in a movie like this. I suspect that most studios would like to have an action/adventure series along the general lines of this movie, and if you own the name "Charlie's Angels", why not make it part of that franchise? Maybe nobody is really looking for a new "Charlie's Angels" - fans of the first iteration are around retirement age, the second was sold on its cast, and the third bombed - but does the association help or hurt a relatively unremarkable action/adventure film at the box office?" (more)
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| HARRIET |
"Not as much as an American legend deserves, but more than she's had before."
Jay Seaver says... ""Harriet" often feels a bit like the trailers for faith-based movies, so built around the power of prayer and/or visions that they don't actually show their characters doing anything of consequence and making them feel less proactive when they do. Harriet Tubman did astonishing things, but this telling of her story focuses enough on her "spells" and visions that it's like her own biography doesn't give her enough credit." (more)
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| GREENER GRASS |
"Not for everyone, but certainly for someone."
Jay Seaver says... "If you can damn something with faint praise, then you can also praise it with uncertain damnation, and sometimes you must, because what else can you do for a comedy that only sporadically works for you and is so completely absurdist as to resist being pulled apart and examined? "Greener Grass" is weird and most definitely not to everyone's taste but has just enough bits that really work that I can't help but try to figure out whether it will work for someone who likes that sort of comedy or if it's just bad." (more)
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| TWO TIGERS |
"Fitting that it comes from a song that ends "how very strange"."
Jay Seaver says... "Here's a fun thing: The Chinese nursery rhyme "Two Tigers" maps pretty much directly onto the traditional French song "Frère Jacques" that I presume many westerners still learn in elementary school, which means that the opening scene of this movie, where generally ominous music becomes and imposing version of the song, is still funny even if you don't know about it until the song becomes part of the story. It would be more impressive if this weren't the high point of the movie, sure, but sometimes you take what you can get." (more)
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| KNIVES OUT |
"Cutting Ties"
Peter Sobczynski says... "If I had to pick a single title as my all-time favorite mystery movie, I would choose “The Thin Man” (1934) without a single moment’s hesitation. I must confess, however, that my love of the film has precious little to do with the actual mystery element. In fact, I have watched that particular film dozens of times over the years and yet, if you asked me right now to tell you the identity of who did it, I could not do it. The reason I love the film so much is because it is far more interested in presenting colorful characters embodied by perfectly cast directors spouting off sparkling dialogue and presented with an immense amount of wit and style —things that rate much higher in my book than the comparatively mundane details of the plot. Over the years, I have found that many of my other favorite examples of the genre—things like “The Maltese Falcon,” “The Big Sleep,” “The Long Goodbye,” “Chinatown” and “The Big Lebowski”—have tended to lean that way as well and that is why they have managed to stand the test of time. “Knives Out,” the new film from writer-director Rian Johnson, his followup to a little thing called “The Last Jedi,” may not quite be in the same league as those classics but it does wisely follow in their formidable footprints and the result and the result is a witty whodunnit that brings a breath of fresh air to an otherwise stale genre." (more)
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'YOU THINK I'D SPEAK FOR YOU? I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOUR LANGUAGE.'
- Bender, The Breakfast Club
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