jongoff Reviews

The Humanity Bureau (2017)

Solid pacing, well acted, worth watching.

[8/10 · 7 September 2021]

All the negative reviews seem to focus on the special effects, a symptom of over the top effect ridden super hero movies (I'm looking at you Marvel) where interesting characters and solid writing are less important than jaw dropping effects.

This is a tight story, well written with good plotting and pacing, decent storytelling, and competent acting. Yeah, the special effects weren't top notch, but the story was solid and the world believable.

If you can only be entertained by million dollar special effects, pass on this movie, but if you want an interesting story, it's worth the time.

Troy (2004)

Couldn't get past the first 30 minutes

[3/10 · 31 July 2021]

I like Wolfgang Peterson, but this movie was so full of itself that it became unwatchable. Don't tell me Achilles warrior by having every single character say it, show me.

Don't tell me the war will be epic, show me.

Add to the extensive exposition the clunky dialogue and wooden acting and the entire thing becomes dull and uninspiring.

Oh, and why are we shown ruins thousands of years old when this takes place at the dawn of the Grecian empire? The buildings should be new and uneroded by the centuries. You can't tell me they couldn't spruce up the sets, not in 2004?

Invest your time reading the Iliad, it will be better spent.

Absence of Malice (1981)

This should be required viewing for every Amercian

[10/10 · 8 July 2021]

Too many people trust what they're told by main stream media, and yes, even alternate news sources. This movie has more relevance today than at the time of its making, and the line that has stuck with me for forty years is Paul Newman's last line when, the story he sets the reporter up with turns out to be untrue, when she protests he replies with what she said to him earlier, "No, it's not true, but it's accurate."

You can report accurately and lie while doing it, and that's the whole message of this movie, that the press aren't the noble champions of truth they pretend to be, that they will report accurately but not truthfully, and today, they don't even bother with accuracy, knowing that people will just believe whatever they're told.

Watch this movie. It will open your eyes.

The Lord of the Rings (1978)

It made me want to read the books

[10/10 · 8 March 2021]

For no other reason, this movie made me want to read the books, and that is why it gets ten stars. Any movie that brings you in enough to want to visit the world more is a success, and the voice acting is good, if the animation is not.

It was an ambitious undertaking, and if I am being honest, I wish Jackson's movies had never been made. Too many now will stop at them and never journey to Tolkien's world the way he wrote. As visually spectacular as Jackson's movies were, the story they told was such a watered down one compared to Tolkien's, I feel sorry for everyone who will not read the books because of the movies.

Henry V (1989)

This is why Shakespeare has endured for centuries.

[10/10 · 23 May 2020]

Kenneth Branagh understands that Shakespeare wrote for the masses as well as the nobility. Shakespeare is often performed with a pomposity that forgets that before it was performed for kings, Shakespeare played for peasants. Branagh delivers the Bard's words with grit and a earthiness that makes them feel grounded and real.

The Greatest Showman (2017)

It made it into my collection... which says it all.

[10/10 · 7 February 2020]

I am not a cinephile. I would rather read a book than watch a movie or spend an hour in front of a television. I am 54, and only recently got my first television, which was actually given to me.

So when I say that this movie made it into my collection, it's a testament to my opinion of it. There are fewer than 20 movies in that collection, movies like Empire of the Sun and Lawrence of Arabia, that do not tire with rewatching.

In a day and age filled with so much anger, division, and discord how wonderfully refreshing it is to find a beautiful movie, lovingly made, passionately spoken of, and tremendously ebullient and uplifting.

It is a beautiful movie to watch, cinematically, musically, and optimistically. You cannot come from it feeling anything but joy.

What movie can you say that about in the last 20 years?

30 Minutes or Less (2011)

Not comedy, but disgusting

[13 August 2011]

For those of us with more than ten minute attention spans, the horrific events of a terrified man with a bomb strapped around his neck, which the police were unable to diffuse before it exploded, isn't fodder for movie comedy.

This happened. It was real. His name was Doug Wells. And in the end, it blew his head off. It's an image I'll take to my grave. To make a movie about it as a comedy is disgusting.

If this movie is successful, let's make a comedy about assassinating JFK. It will be a laugh out loud show the whole family can enjoy, followed by the sequel. Got MLK? I Did!

Let's make a comedy about a nut-job shooting a US Senator. This kind of excrement is protected under the First Amendment, but just because it's protected speech, I don't have to give my hard earned money as approval. My advice, you shouldn't either.