patrick_dn Reviews

Lessons in Chemistry (2023)

Unrealistic

[2/10 · 27 October 2023]

I was looking forward to this and started out with the first episode. In my opinion a lot of things are off. Especially the main character is a bit contrived. The idea that the main character would be emancipated in the same way women in our times are emancipated just because she's smart, seems to me a dumb idea.

I'm not looking for another series that wants to force our current views and morals onto a bygone era. I'm not in for a lesson in 'how to treat women today' using a 50s setting. I'd rather see a realistic approach on how smart women in those days had to compete with the male oriented society. This is not that series.

The Red Circle (1970)

Forgettable.

[2/10 · 2 June 2021]

I enjoyed a small part of the actual heist and that's about it. The atmosphere was drab, uninteresting and depressing. The development of the story was weird and full of unrealistic constructs.

You won't miss anything if you've never seen this drawn-out, boring beast of a movie. Not even the voyage back in time was worthwhile. Thank God the 70s are over!

This film should be erased from everyone's memory and film history.

I Care a Lot (2020)

Simplistic storytelling

[2/10 · 19 February 2021]

So, the morally abject win the deal, is that the message here? This movie would have fitted neatly into the Trump-era thinking. But we're past all that by now. And thus, this movie gets on the nerves more than anything else. Bad guys that get everything their way, and more. You're joking right? I'm so done with this simplistic Hollywoodean storytelling.

Bad Cupid (2021)

Basic but fun

[6/10 · 13 February 2021]

The story and filming are rather basic, BUT. I enjoyed the acting, the humoristic situations, the funny dialogues, the 'freshness' of the latino actress, the originality of the script. There's one long scene in a plain toilet of some bar that's over 15-20minutes long. It must have been a feat to keep this scene interesting. Nice!

Uncle Frank (2020)

Good movie overall, some hickups at the end

[7/10 · 5 December 2020]

A good movie overall with a nice chemistry between the actors. Enjoyed it. Except the last 20 minutes or so. Felt a bit forced that Frank, a literature professor in NY, had a melodramatic crisis towards the end because his dad (still) didn't approve of him being gay at the moment of his death. It felt unrealistic that an intelligent man in his 40s would act in such a melodramatic way to the (perpetual) disapproval of his dad and because the death of his father sparked a memory of an event that took place in his youth. Also the scene where he falls down in his mother's lap with his head bent down is just akward. Again, why would a middle aged gay man having lived in liberal NY still want to seek the approval of his mom and/or dad?! Being drunk or not, it just felt bizarre. A Disney ending to an otherwise authentic story.

The Nest (I) (2020)

Void

[1/10 · 22 November 2020]

Should be called 'The Void' because nothing of interest happens. Maybe this story has it all for the well off: how to deal with your horse dying. And how to project your luxury problems on said horse. Even writing a review about it is a waste.

Bad Girl (II) (2016)

Stereotyping mental instability

[2/10 · 17 June 2020]

This kind of movie just strengthens the stereotype that mentally unstable persons become aggressive, and even murderous. But if someone is that unstable to think that another, completely unknown family could function as her own family -as is the case here-, she would have to be extremely delusional. In reality people with severe delusional traits will generally be unable to function properly. A lot of them have a tendency to implode when confronted with problems, rather than explode as seen in this movie. The best films generally have some kind of reference to reality, a bit of truth-telling. Otherwise it tends to go all over the place.

Hollywood (2020)

The blind following the blind.

[3/10 · 11 May 2020]

My review is about the story-line.

The first three (or so) episodes where the series actually stuck close to the reality of post-World War II Hollywood, held my attention for a while. It seemed to be on a par with the limited knowledge I acquired through books, documentaries and ...movies of that era. So these first episodes seemed more or less historical accurate. From that point on the series went off in all directions to accommodate for all the contemporary (minority) sensibilities and the political correctness that stems from them. In doing so the director actually destroys his own historical setting: all the characters loose their credibility, the story falls flat and becomes a vehicle for a celebration of current trends within political correctness. The latter is a pest and a story killer. But, yes, the series won't raise any controversy that can be (mis)used to feed the 'unrest' in social media. The blind following the blind.

Like a Boss (2020)

A fluke

[2/10 · 11 April 2020]

This movie is what happens when white and black stereotyping mixes with a format storyline. A fluke. And an awfully emberassing ending.

Vivarium (2019)

That's it, go home!

[2/10 · 27 March 2020]

It's all in the subtext at the end of the movie: a parasitic species uses a human couple to raise one of their own. And they devised a 'clever' system to lure in and keep in couples. But after going through a lengthy and dull 90 minutes of predictability a subtext just isn't enough. I wanted to know more than this dried out shell: who are they, why the human guest couple, how did they engineer the no way out houses, and so on. You get nothing by way of an explanation! For people who love: 'there's something strange going on, must be a monster. That's it, go home!', then this must be their kind of movie. Let's quickly forget I ever so this thing.

Red Joan (2018)

Cliché fest

[2/10 · 24 June 2019]

Incredibly cliché-ed, dull movie. Seen it all before all the way through. Why is this even made???

The Maestro (I) (2018)

One word: BLAND

[3/10 · 4 March 2019]

To put it in one word, this movie was BLAND! The Jerry Herst character was played as if the man was going for groceries, smiling at everyone he meets, being 'gentile', uninvolved and distanced from the life events that happen to him. Dead-faced acting skills. The maestro character was played in a cliché Italian kind of way. Sometimes it felt like he was the little brother of Watto from the Star Wars movies. The story itself was uninspiring and tedious. No depth at all.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Leave ALL your expectations at home

[1/10 · 4 October 2017]

To make this 160+ min. monstrosity with nothing more than a paper thin story, with actors that can't even act being emotionally distant robots, with so-called futuristic booming sounds going off with every little pathetic emotion happening to the main character, the director literally blew every scene to a lengthy 5, 10 or 15 minutes annoyance fest. I had very few expectations when going to this film. But I had some. So I got utterly disappointed since even those low expectations weren't met! I'm genuinely amazed that this director has managed to make a dull, lifeless film from beginning to end. But then again he f*cked up 'Arrival' as well, so I shouldn't be surprised. Also congrats to the writer who managed to screw over his own legacy!

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Fantastical Universe

[6/10 · 20 August 2016]

With the film going into its second week in Europe - even further down the road in the US- I guess I'm a bit late with my review. I made my choice to go watch this movie despite the negative criticism and the numerous flaws in this film as has been mentioned. One thing has to be said though: Star Trek revolves around a 'fantastical' universe that has nothing to do with future possibilities within space exploration. So there's no need to go into the many many flaws that has found its way into this movie. To name one - a flagrant one-: no one would ever be appointed captain of a spaceship with a personality profile and capabilities as portrayed by the Kirk-personage in this movie. This guy has the fundamental aspiration of being a hero and brings his crew into trouble the moment he sets foot on a spaceship. Going into an unknown nebula without even making a sound risk assessment and management is just ludicrous. And if they made it they would have sent a scout ship in first. So the bigger, more valuable vessel - the Enterprise- would never have been in this situation. This said one shouldn't nitpick about this or that flaw: it's all part of a universe fit for movies and nowhere else. But even within this 'universe' the movie isn't all that interesting. A give it a 5, perhaps a 6. Enjoyable if your brain is offline.

127 Hours (2010)

Unbelievable storyline

[5/10 · 8 January 2011]

Strange that no one has pointed out that the basis around which this story evolves (the cutting off of the arm) is hardly believable. First, you'll probably bleed to death since many important arteries and veins pass through the arm. If you can't bind or burn the ends of the blood vessels you've cut, they are unlikely to stop bleeding. Secondly, if you cut yourself, you feel an intense pain, even after feelings of numbness due to dehydration or hunger. What then if you chop off your entire arm!? Thirdly, the tensors (and the bone) in the arm are very resilient, even with a good knife. And fourth, what about infections? You can hardly say he cut his arm off in hygienic circumstances! To conclude: I really don't believe the bit in the story where he amputates his arm and lives to tell the story. This guy probably had a severe infection in his arm in the middle of nowhere, got it amputated or did it himself in other than the in the film mentioned circumstances and made the rest up. Untruthfull story!