A British American drama directed by Steve McQueen, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Giamatti, Brad Pitt and Alfre Woodard.
A free black man who is a professional violinist is abducted into slavery, leaving behind his wife and 2 children. He is mistreated and has to hide his ability to read and write.
How appropriate for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The simple plot developed into many episodic side-stories about all of the things which happened to this man. The main characters were him, a female slave and a few slave owners. It's pretty clear to define protagonist and antagonist in this setup. The video all looked really good. I liked that exposure was done so well because I've seen it done badly so frequently. Audio was fine, but there was some whisper acting. I got a version with good English subtitles though. Moral and ethical implications of films seems to be something that needs to be addressed when reviewing stuff like this and 125 Years Memory (2015). The scene with Chiwetel kind of being saved from being hung was disturbingly powerful. It should be obvious that slavery is/was bad and wrong. The question to ask is whether today's monetary and psychological slavery is any better than physical slavery was back then. Their thoughts were their own and they could see and hear clear evidence of being someone's property. We are faced with a barrage of things which try to manipulate our thoughts and cannot see or hear the master's whip and chains. I rate this adequate because I liked watching it once and it was made well, but I wouldn't watch it again. You may want to check it out.
An American science fiction directed by Terry Gilliam, starring Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt and Christopher Plummer.
A man from the future is sent back into the past to gather information about a disease which kills many people. He meets a psychiatrist there who tries to help him.
I don't know whether I really like or hate this movie, but it's nowhere in between. The plot holds my attention (I've seen it a few times before) and the characters are developed some. Video looks good, with excellent shot variety and uncommon angles. The audio on the version I just watched was a little low, but nothing major. It's not an identifiable film element which makes me question whether I hate it. All of that is done really well. It may be that I watched it in a bad situation of some kind the first time. Brad Pitt's acting in this made me want to see a late 1990s film with him and Johnny Depp. Just one of those strange thoughts. I give this a weird pink rating because I can't decide whether it's best or worst. You should probably read some other reviews if you're deciding whether to watch it.
An American British Maltese peplum war film directed by Wolfgang Petersen, starring Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom.
Greeks, led by Achilles, invade Troy, defended by Hector. They fight, mostly over one woman.
This film was just like the armies depicted in it: astronomical number of cast members, slow moving, impersonal and only concentrated on war. There was an effort to give the plot a personal dimension by the conflict between Hector and Achilles and the multiple love affairs of Briseis. The characters were pretty shallow, probably because there were so many of them. The video all looked fine, except for where I saw the CG and live action separating (picture). We all know that shit ain't real! It was all very high contrast. The audio was actually good. Audible dialogue with appropriate music that was mixed well. Pacing is where we run into serious problems. The old Italian hour and a half peplum flicks were bad enough. This was THREE HOURS! I remember trying to watch it before and turning it off half way through because I got so bored. Overall, a modern sword and sandal peplum. I rate it bad for military and duration issues.
An American crime drama directed by Barry Levinson, starring Kevin Bacon, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman and Brad Pitt.
After a prank goes horribly wrong, four boys are sentenced to a juvenile detention center where they are abused by the guards. Years later, two of them kill the guard who treated them worst and a trial is held.
This was pretty good. The plot held my attention and the characters were memorable. I thought the video style was a little over-dramatized, but the audio was good. I could hear all of the dialogue and the soundtrack was appropriate. I think Kevin Bacon gets type-cast as a child abuser quite frequently. Overall, a regular movie that fills in all the correct check boxes on my list of criteria. I rate this good.
A war film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, starring Brad Pitt.A German travels to Tibet during world war 1.The pace was so slow that everything else doesn't matter as much. Brad Pitt's fake accent was laughable, but I imagine that he is exactly this amount of a douche bag in real life. I liked his phrase about speech being in other forms than questions because I have dealt with people who operate like that. Overall it was uninteresting. I'm rating it poor.
A drama by Robert Redford, starring Brad Pitt.2 sons of a minister grow up in Montana. They learn fly fishing from their father, but lead very different lives.This is just about 2 hours long, but well worth the time. The plot and characters kept me interested. The pace was a little slow, but it was clearly how it was meant to be. The style was good and they used slowly panning camera-work very well to illustrate the scenes. A funny part is when the brothers take a girlfriend's brother fishing. I'm rating this that good, solid green that films should shoot for.
A romance directed by Martin Brest, starring Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins.A billionaire's company is considering a merger lead by his daughter's boyfriend. The daughter meets a man she likes in a coffee shop, but he is hit by a car shortly afterward. Death comes to the billionaire in the body of this man and makes a deal with him. The billionaire gets more time to live if he shows death around his life. Soon the daughter falls in love with death because he is in the body of the man from the coffee shop.I may have appreciated this film a little more if it hadn't taken 3 DAYS to watch it. I would start it up, get called away, come back to it, find my place and get called away again. This morning at 10AM, I started watching it from about the middle and I'm writing this almost 12 hours later. From what I saw, it really wasn't the type of thing that I would want to watch anyway. Apparently, the most exciting part was Brad Pitt getting hit by a car (or few). I'm rating it bad.
A thriller directed by Dominic Sena, starring Brad Pitt.A couple go on a road trip to California, stopping to document famous places notable for the murders that happened there. They pick up another couple to help fund the trip, not knowing that the man is a murderer himself.I got about 45 minutes into this and had to stop it because of the characters. Brad Pitt playing a redneck is pretty annoying and his girlfriend was even more annoying. I can't say much about the rest of the film, but I'm rating it shit because I had to turn it off.
A western directed by Andrew Dominik, starring Brad Pitt.A young outlaw kisses Jesse James' ass.As with all films that I've heard were "great" or "the best", this one keeps up the tradition of letting me down. It was boring and almost painful to watch "Bob" damn near rim-job Jesse. I had to turn it off at an hour and 15 minutes. I'm rating this shit.
An action film directed by David Fincher, starring Brad Pitt, based on a novel by Chuck Palahniuk.A boring man makes up an imaginary friend to put some spice in his life. He then creates a violent and destructive club.This film is extremely popular, but that doesn't work against it. The plot, setting and characters are all good and it is very interesting to watch. The middle of the film is the best part, when all of the club's wild activities are shown. I'm rating it good because I enjoy watching it.
A drama directed by David Fincher, starring Brad Pitt.A daughter reads a journal to her mother on her death bed. The journal is written by a man who is born old and lives his life backwards, recovering from "old people" diseases, into adulthood, to be a young man again and through reverse childhood.This movie was almost 3 hours long and a lot like Forrest Gump. There was a heavy emphasis on romantic relationships, and the main character barely ever seemed to have a job, despite never lacking money. The plot and characters were good, so even though it's new and popular, I'm giving it a good rating.
