Movie Reviews by Karin with-an-i

           GOMORRAH

         Reviewed
                by
         K.H. Schiweck Wynar
                      
                                                      

        Stylized, complex, bleak...... like walking into the Gates of Hades.
        The Sicilian mobs make Salinas gangs look like boy scouts.
        This 2 1/2 hr. film captures the underbelly of Sicilian’ life-in-the Projects’ with a truth that touches horror.
        This film is a far cry from the glamour of the Godfather with it’s romantic music score and
        accomplished actors.
        The music score in Gomorra is basically the streets, people’s shouts, cars, trucks and gun shots...all done in
        with normal people acting without need of acting school.

        This bleak, grim but brilliant film has a stylized Camera that doesn’t stop .... each segment being a work of
        stunning art in itself....the camera is master actor here.
        If you don’t like mob movies.....you’ll adore this Camera.

        Revenge with the mob is a way of life beyond normal understanding.....the Sicilians have it down into an art form.
        Revenge is expected as if it were some sacred edict.
        The corruption is so endemic...so pervasive as to almost be the law-of-the-Land.

        This bleak but brilliant film also shows Chinese new influence in  Sicilian businesses.
        Such a business here was Haut Coulter...and yes...you guessed it.....not taken lightly by the mob.
        No country  (let alone an individual )  should try to undercut Sicilian business.

        Because of the utter truth-in-the-telling....(along with stunning Camera)...I highly recommend GEMORRA.
                             
                                                                    THE END

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            `                    THE STRANGE CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

                                                  REVIEWED
                                             by
                                              K.H. Schiweck Wynar




            Any reviewer would think twice about tackling this film.

            Is it a Movie?
            Is it a masterpiece of Make-up art?
            Is it a computer inspired experiment?
            Is it a collage of unconnected events tied together by a love story?
            Is it a commentary of  Life and how events act upon our existence?
            Yes….yes…..et …yes.

            It’s amazing that Brad Pitt would even consider taking on this role.
            And...what role is that?
   
            It is a  passive,  guileless and a bit egoless role of a man with no real life’s agenda.
            As such, he seems to be a magnet for people who like being around him because
            he listens.....really listens....thus... participating in their lives.

            Brad Pitt is willing to take  on this strange role in which there is little certainty.
            The movie goers must also accept the ‘slippery-slope’ of this new type experimental piece of work.
            You need to be open to this odd film.

            The music score by Andre Dispire is low-keyed using much piano.

            The stunning special effects, Kate Blanchard (always magnificent), strange scenes
            popping from nowhere, and the feeling that F. Scott Fitzgerald is really trying to tell us
            something about Existence itself  make it well worth the 3 hours.

            In the end we are left with realizing NOTHING LASTS, loss is inevitable and life itself
            in the last analysis...... is almost totally unknowable.
            Like I said, any reviewer would think twice before tackling this film.

                                                                    THE END

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                        LEGION

                           Reviewed

                                         by

                              K.H. Schiweck Wynar

                 

Having turned HIS back upon us human beans for the 2^nd time  (1^st the FLOOD),      

GOD sent Archangels Gabriel et Michael to destroy the world.

But…The Cosmic Enormity of this Heavenly Order caused a Crash/Break between Michael (who as we’ve been told loves Mankind) et Gabriel (God’s loyal Lieutenant).

Archangel Michael, after falling to Earth, painfully cuts off his beautiful wings in order to join Mankind’s fight for survival.

Gabriel will follow to carry out HIS plan as well as to destroy the disobeying Michael.

The Apocalypse is here!

Meanwhile…back at the run-down isolated desert truck stop named PARADISE FALLS (where this film takes place), a rag-tag bunch of lost people are stuck here, unaware and

Disbelieving of the Apocalypse.

Arriving with a tremendous arsenal of weapons, Michael tells the people there that they need to defend themselves as many Demons are well on their way.

He also   reveals to all those in PARADISE FALLS of the highest necessity of protecting the  18 yr. old unwed cigarette smoking  pregnant girl.  Her  unborn child has to “show the World out of Darkness.”

 “Why me?” she cries, “I’m nobody…I’m just a waitress.”

Go figure!

The truck stop owner (J. Quade) snaps…”I don’t believe in  God.”

Michael replies “That’s O.K., HE doesn’t believe you…anymore.”

Meanwhile these poor trapped souls start to rag on each other, scared and unsure of the

Apocalypse surrounding them.

Then… Archangel Gabriel arrives at PARADISE FALLS in All his Glory, his Mighty wings… his Majesty.

The verbal taunts begin before the Battle.

Michael:   “You always wanted to please HIM.”

Gabriel:     “You dare to take it upon yourself to disobey HIM.”

Gabriel can’t understand why Michael is disobeying HIM and not destroying the world as commanded.

Although Gabriel really finds no pleasure in destroying the World….but… hey….

.…ORDERS is ORDERS.

They square off …High Noon style.

Oh Gosh…what a Sword-Thundering  Battle between these two Mighty Celestials!

But…by some miracle Michael’s sword is at Gabriel’s throat…but he spares  him.

Gabriel is puzzled!

“I would Not have shown you the same Mercy.”

Michael replys, “Yes I know.   That… is why you failed HIM.

But then…both Lucifer and Michael disobeyed HIM.

But…Lucifer disobeyed out of PRIDE.

While Michael disobeyed…out of..........MERCY.

As half the world is now spared (including the Child who will lead Mankind out of Darkness)…Michael leaves Earth. A Surviving  young man asks of him:  “Will we ever see you again?”

As Michael flys away on his Miraculously restored wings…his last words  to Man are……………..

  “HAVE FAITH”

                                          THE END

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WHIP IT
Reviewed
by
K. H. Schiweck Wynar


And you thought Football was a violent sport!
Welcome to the world of Women’s Roller Derby.
Roller Derby is a Brutal Sport!
This is Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut. Not bad.
Oh how they train….well sort of….
It’s just that there really are no rules.
Snarling, back stabbing ….loud-mouthed females with wild hairdos and make-up.
Many of these hardened (but nice) gals are not 20 somethings.
Little wimpy Bliss is a 17yr old waitress at the Oink Joint and under her Theater Mom’s (Marcia Harden) thumb. But…She sneaks out to -the-Warehouse 9 in Austin Texas.
Little, skinny Bliss, totally inspired, actually tries out for the team lying that she’s 22.
Well…what confusion, color, noise and oh…the foul language…everywhere.
The gal player’s have special Derby names like…Top Slut…Iron Mavin …Busting Buster…Mad Madam …etc.
Little frail Bliss chooses the name…Babe Ruthless.
In the tryouts…she’s too small to hurt any of these bombers…but she gets chosen because she’s very fast….and might be able to score. Now becomes a Hurl Scout.
Warehouse 9 in Austin Texas … is deafening…with wild, screaming audience. The gal players….bad-asses all.
Oh how they hit, kick, scream, scuffle, grunt in their bright costumes and tattoos and wild hair and weird make-up.
Babe Ruthless gets hit all right…but gosh she’s fast…real fast…like a quarterback or some such.
The Hurl Scouts lose, of course (they always do) but the snarling coach greets his team with "congratulations…you still suck."
With Babe Ruthless on the team…somehow winning does becomes important to the Hurl Scouts and they actually DO win a game.
There are food fights, weird parties and all that good stuff entering Bliss’s life.
But…darn..… her parents find out….and…BUSTED!
Oh dear, Truth is so…oo powerful.
But the Hurl Scouts ( now with Bliss getting the team points) actually have a chance at the Championship.
But…hey…Roller Derby is a Brutal sport.
If you don’t want to ‘think’ too much, enjoy fearless characters and uncensored speech, and hard-hitting action….this is a good time.
Otherwise…….forget it.

THE END


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CORALINE
Reviewed
by
K.H. Schiweck Wynar


  Totally amazing.
 The visual effects were too full of wonder to be believed. The 3D colorful objects literally pushed out from the screen...causing ‘ah...h’s from the audience.
No wonder there was a mile long line to see Coraline when it first came out....including mostly grown-ups.
The characters such as the two-fat-olde Burlesque queens, Mr. B, the circus wizard from upstairs, the scrawny cat, etc. have all the elements to make this movie a classic.

 Coraline (not Caroline) a strong willed imp of a girl is mad at her parents because they are too busy to pay her proper attention. So, exploring her newly moved-in strange house, she discovers a forbidden hidden blocked up doorway. You guessed it...she discovers the hidden tunnel that lead to her ‘Other mother et father’.
The good ones...who say they love her.
The ones who cook, give her things, pay total attention to her and....even say grace at the dinner table.

Eventually she senses something is wrong with her ‘good’ parents.
They are not real.
She is in the power of demons who want to ‘love her always’ and take her eyes and therefore her soul. But....She is Brave. You already know the rest. What a unique rending of imagination! A must see at any age.
Take Grandma.


THE END
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CHERI
Reviewed
by
K.H. Schiweck Wynar

The setting here is pre W.W. 1 France where the most famous, astute and cunning Courtesans mapped out their Fortunes.
Why not?
The atmosphere here is of fabulous wealth, sensuousness, over decorating, and Idleness…so….French.

Cheri, the 19 year old only son of Charlotte (Kathy Bates…famous and extremely wealthy older courtesan) is already a debauched, cocaine snorting, hard drinking kick-ass handsome kid. Charlotte (never a good mother) recognizes that her courtesan friend Michele Pfeiffer (classy, having good habits and proper demeanor) would ‘ take Cheri on’ and Make a good, refined and healthy living man of him.

Michele (getting older and considering retiring) is the most beautiful of all the courtesans and can definitely keep Cheri away from other women, drugs and unhealthy living, But the problem being….they remain together for 6 years.
 She loves him? Imagine that!
Am I giggling?
Naturally old Charlotte is missing ‘something in life’…..grandchildren, of course, and arranges marriage for Cheri. Six weeks after this disinterested marriage, Cheri leaves his wife and can be found in an opium den and a fancy hotel. Some old wise women (out-of-the-Blue) in the Opium den tells Cheri "You have everything you could possibly want and it doesn’t mean a thing."
Young Cheri rushes back to Michele.
 She carps….he sulks….they get on each other’s nerves…they quarrel.
Am I giggling?
It ‘finally’ dawns on Michele…that .she has never talked to her young rich idle young man about ‘his’ Future.’ Duh….!
This is a curious Period Piece Picture. These extremely wealthy older courtesans, not being accepted into polite society, have to stick together for social gatherings…poor things.
Kathy Bates is an absolute Hoot…and there is nothing to say about Michele Pfeiffer. She….so….elegant….so refined….so beautiful….so captivating as to steal every over-decorated, over perfumed scene in this film. So…if you can tolerate the puff….puff…people….puff… puff dialogue and life style Of the rich and debauched…..you might even enjoy this film.

THE END
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Julia  and Julie
Reviewed
by
K.H. Schiweck Wynar

Butter...always remember Butter...and the beloved Julia Child.
Oh My Gosh...how many of us are anxious too see her again?
Although this film 'is' flawed......oh those French scenes...and oh those colorful Paris Marketplaces! Couldn't we have had more of them?
And...less of the self involved young woman's (Julie's parallel story which takes half the film...when we really came to Julia...not Julie.
Our Julia, who was recently married (at age 40) to an Americcan attache stationed in Paris hadn't yet found herself. She wanted to 'do' something...rreally 'do' something as apposed to the other American wives who 'did' nothing, except lunches and bridge.
The movie audience is privy to this middle aged wonderfully slightly clumsy et a bit ditzy woman attempting to find her life's direction.
Funny at times seeing her go through the 'making hats' phase, 'bridge' phase, the this...et...that stage.
And......Bingo!
She hit upon the famous Paris Cooking school......and the rest is history.
Being the only woman in class, this is the first experience competing with somewhat unfriendly men.
She is in bliss.
Shopping fdor food in Paris marketplaces with such furvor.
She is in Heaven.
And because Julia attacked her new loove with sheer joy, her true light shone all over this country and in most of our hearts.
Now...about Meryl Streep.
I shall not talk about her.
What the heck can one say???
From where on God's earth did this woman come???
How can any human actor be so able to BECOME the role???
Every gesture...every peculiar lilt of voice...Julia's total inability to be eloquent and therefore more eloquent than any polished performer...Meryl 'is' Julia and Meryl 'is' any role she takes on.
So......from where does this mega-dose talent spring???
Therefore......I shall not talk about Meryl Streep.
In conclusion, (if there is one)...America adores Julia Child because she 'is' Comfort...a sense of home...a friend you want to be with...talk with...hug.
Butter...always remember butter.
(And...don't crowd the mushrooms or they won't brown.)

THE END


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THE INGLORIOUS BASTARDS
Reviewed
by
K.H. Schiweck Wynar

Quentin Taratino had a Dream.
He wanted to change the history of WW11 where the Nazi's get their come-upanse by a rag-tag group of highly motivated Jewish soldiers.
But...don't believe a word of it.
This group of Jewish soldiers were led by a hardened southern mountain man & snuff-sniffing hunter played by Brad Pitt. Brad really wanted to kill nazies.....as many as possible.
His life's primary goal.
One of the group (the bear Jew) specializes in beating Nazies over the head with a baseball bat.
He's good at it.
All these guys had 'specialities' and soon became feared by the nazis.
They were known as 'The Basterds' after they were airlifted into the occupied French countryside.
Good as the 'Basterds' were at their fun craft...none could match the infamous... 'Hugo Sticklitz.'
This illusive Sticklitz lived in Germany and ON HIS OWN killed lots of high level nazies when noone was looking.
He was a dark and unforgiving character.....he hated nazies.....deeply!!!
Even the 'Basterds' were in awe of him.....he was their hero.
So...when Sticklitz was finally captured...the Basterds rescued him and he joined Brad's group.
Between Hugo Sticklitz and the Basterds...one almost feels sorry for the nazies.
There are other plots, twists, turns et characters. There is a love story where a young German soldier hero falls in love with a French Jewish movie house owner...(he doesn't know she's Jewish, of course). They kill each other in the end....so sad.
The most extraordinary actor in this film (not to be believed) plays the dreaded Jew Hunter.
He is uncutious, swarmy, disarming and totally evil.
You absolutlely love to hate him.
Wish I knew this unknown European actor's name.
While Brad Pitt is O.K., this guy steals the show.
Do NOT go to this movie with any serious attitude.
It is ALL a SPOOF!!!

THE END

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   UP IN THE AIR
     Reviewed
          By
      K.H. Schiweck Wynar


This film is Vintage George Clooney.

Relationships On-the-Fly.     Life here is lived in airport stores… hotel restaurants
where cities (such as Tulsa, St. Louis, L.A., Chicago etc.) look alike and…all people alike.

He flies 270 days a year firing people with important jobs when their own companies are too cowardly for this ‘undertaking.’

But…when one movie depends heavily on one actor, the film itself suffers somewhat.
So UP IN THE AIR is a bit thin but it will get an Academy Award nomination…anyway.
Why?
Because of George Clooney.
So…I decided to send him a letter.

                                    Open Letter to George.

                                    ----------------------------------


            TO: GEORGE CLOONEY              FROM:  K.H. Schiweck Wynar

            RE:     UP IN THE AIR

            My Dear George:

            You must know by now that America loves you.

            Americans love you because…well…you’re so…(what’s-the-word)…Boyish!
            Even though  (forgive me)…you  ‘are’  going on 50 something,
            you ‘do’ radiate  that illusive et engaging likeableness.

            So we go to your movies and are delighted to see you on screen.

            But let’s face it George…you are running a bit ‘long-in-the-tooth’ for
            The type of Vintage George rolls into which you so naturally float.
In your latest film UP IN THE AIR, we did notice your somewhat wrinkled neck (which drives so many women to the nearest Plastic Surgeon).

But this catty observation does NOT take away from your ‘wonderfulness.’

It’s just that….just that… couldn’t you maybe  try to get a Grown-Up roll …or two?
Of course you can…but…this is only (God Forbid) a suggestion.
Don’t take it personally.

                                                WITH DEEP ADMIRATION,

                                                       K.H. Schiweck Wynar 


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THE AMERICAN


Reviewed by
K.H. Schiweck Wynar

    

          THE AMERICAN stars  Jorge Clooney.
        Notice the J in George.
        That is because he has aliened himself with European Film makers on this one.

        While this  film is slow moving and Jorge is at his most ‘non-verbal’, it shows wonderful
        scenes of the ancient Italian countryside villages.....most charming.
        The Music score is well suited to these many silent scenes.

        You really don’t have to know what is going on to appreciate the subtitles here.
        This movie is a study of soft colors et textures like a painting.
      
        

                                    THE END

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        YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER

 REVIEWED  BY 

     

     K.H. Schiweck Wynar

The critics didn’t seem to like this latest Woody Allen film much.

Perhaps they were waiting for Woody’s usual glib non-stop funny one liners.

Perhaps some great performances…

                                                          Or…the usual  Woody magic.

Which didn’t quite make it here.

However, I felt that YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER was one of his more thoughtful attempts at understanding human actions et events.

He didn’t need to be glib…have great performances…

                                                                         Just… a devastatingly honest script.

Anthony Hopkins  (as the stereotypical rich aging husband who abandons his wife of

40 years for the stereotypical hot teeny bopper)  was less a performance than

a description of a very real human situation.

Oh…so familiar.

His aging stunned wife #1  falls  into the hands of a psychic.

She  tells wife #1 what’s wanting to be heard…..that she really  has a ‘wonderful’ future and that she will meet a tall dark stranger.

What’s the harm…if she wants to believe that?

How many illusions et dreams do we live by anyway?

How many human  relationships sour, fade et are eventually destroyed?

Destroyed by What?                                                         Timing…aging…changing…dreaming…Yearning for Things of which  we ourselves are not fully aware?

Performance?

These are mostly cardboard characters here.

Anyone could play the parts.

But…If there were one performance that was outstanding, it was Hopkin’s  hot young

Wife #2  who was  introduced to the family as an (ahem) ‘actress’….yeah…sure.

If anyone took the film by storm…it was she.

Otherwise…

       This film was carried by Woody’s Script.

 Pay attention to the Script!

 It is loaded with the irony of  how we  delude ourselves by our own dreams

            And illusions.

 It is the major player in YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER.

                                                THE END


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HEREAFTER

 COMMENTS 
K.H.S.Wynar
        
        People asked me about my thoughts on Clint Eastwood ’s latest.

        As a film, an entertainment piece, a drama... I won ’t  review it.
        Why?
        There are just too many flaws.
        So...what’s the point of thrashing them out?
      
        But...As a search for that deep burning Human Question...(Where do we go from here???)
        HEREAFTER does  makes a  (sort of)  attempt to address it.

        Not necessarily a successful one.
        But....
                    does that really matter?

        That scene where all those ‘psychics’ were preying on those vulnerable, hurting,
        hopeful audiences still stayed in my mind.
    
        What is really ‘real’...et...what is mostly fake???
        Especially when there is so much fake.
        A dilemma.
        DI DANT             windharp          ( Karin)