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ankhharu
Reviews
Narco Wars (2020)
Re-writing history for feminism
If you know anything about cocaine's history, you know that Pablo Escobar was the man in the 70's and 80's who brought Cocaine to the US. He was the reason cocaine took off. However, this documentary gives all the credit to Griselda Blanco and makes Pablo a footnote at least in the first episode. This is hilarious considering Griselda got her cocaine from Pablo. Crowning her the Queen and stating that once she was out of the picture, that's when Pablo took off. This is categorically false, as Pablo's reign was near it's end when Griselda was incacerated and as stated before, he was the reason for cocaine taking off, not Griselda "The Queen".
The Untold History of the United States (2012)
Ignore the Blind Patriots Reviews
If you want to know the real truth about WWII and not the "US is the greatest country in the world who saved the universe" propaganda, then see this film. I'm a Veteran, so I don't get the blind patriotism or the refusal to accept the truth. As I served, just like my father, grandfather, etc and yet, I don't feel a need to excuse the lies we've been fed. So I'm amazed at how people refuse the truth and just accept whatever the 1% running this country has always fed us. Despite the fact that these people aren't a part of the 1%. They still defend their actions. Wake up! The footage is there. The audio, the video, how anyone can deny the US global domination agenda is beyond me. I knew the truth before this film as I have been researching history from more reliable sources and non-biased sources long before I saw this film. It just shocks me to see people fully accepting our version and not verifying anything.
Child 44 (2015)
This is embarrassing
I hope that no Russians actually see this garbage because most of smart American's know that this is typical Russophobe propaganda. Stereotypes being perpetuated as if it was 1981. Do we really need to resort to the usual anti-Russian propaganda? For once can we tell a story about another country without going over the top to make them look bad in an effort to make the US look better?
No one is saying Stalin was a great man, but this is over the top. It does not snow year around in Russia. And shame on the fake reviews giving this film 10 stars just because you think anyone slamming this film is some sort of troll. You are the troll. I get it, you hate Russia. Congrats on buying the propaganda our government sold you.
Anyway, to the film: Feeble Script. Bland Direction, inaccurate, you get the idea.
Red Army (2014)
Fantastic insight into the Russian Hockey
You'll note that the only bad reviews so far are Canadian hockey fans upset that those too young to remember Russian Hockey dominance, will learn that Canada was never the defacto all Hockey rulers of the world as they like to claim. Fact is, Russia was the best in the world for quite some time. This is just a tough pill for Canadian hockey fans to swallow.
My only complaint is the interviewer did come off as amateurish and disrespectful. Outside of that, I thought the film was very introspective with lots of old footage of the former USSR. Excellent interviews. And to the guy complaining about no Tikhonov interview, it clearly stated at the end of the film that Tikhonov declined an interview request.
This is an excellent documentary. If you can put your patriotic homerism aside and respect it for what it is, you will enjoy it.
The Saratov Approach (2013)
Mormon Propaganda strikes again
What can I say that hasn't already been said? If you've been brainwashed by the cult known as the LDS church, you'll give this film 9 or 10 stars. If you are an open minded individual not controlled by a church, you can clearly see this is a bad film pushing a religious agenda.
Bad acting. Bad writing. Bad directing. Clearly not filmed in Saratov with cheesy attempts to hide that fact. Just bad. This should have gone straight to video and somehow it didn't. I didn't make it to the end, as I don't sit through anyone's sermons that support a mythological being created by preliterate 3rd person accounts. It's a shame we live in a world that still believes in this garbage. The IMDb rating for this film is 5.5. But it's much worse than 5.5, no thanks to the LDS cult trying to boost the films appeal by blindly giving it a 10. A small example of the lengths religion will go to to defend it's fairy tale.
Brat (1997)
Bad
My Russian friends told me to avoid this film, that it wasn't good. But I tend to trust IMDb ratings over word of mouth or what friends think. I should have listened. I've only seen a few Russian movies, but this one is by far the only one that has been terrible thus far. There are too many technical flaws to over look. The editing is bad and the characters don't react in a way they should. It seems their actions and dialogue are the product of simply serving the main character's message and reputation. Ironically, many of the Russian films I have seen from the 80's and 70's are way ahead of their time. Good acting, good writing, good story telling. Fast forward 20 years and watch брат and you wonder if film making in Russia regressed 35 years over night. It simply does not hold up. The film is less than 2 hours, but it felt like 2 days. Do yourself a favor and pass. There are much much better Russian films out there.
Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (2011)
More Primetime Mediocrity
I'm about to write off Primetime TV. As I wait for quality shows like Game of Thrones, Justified, True Detectives, and many others to come back on, I've been trying to find something to tide me over. I'm still waiting. I never saw the original Criminal Minds and after suffering through 2 episodes of this show, I doubt I will. I'm told they are completely different, but this one left such a bad taste in my mouth, I'm not sure I can give the original a shot. Forrest Whittaker is normally a good actor, but he's painful to watch in this one as he and the rest of the cast spew the poorly written drivel. Michael Kelly plays his character like he's played every other other one of his characters. The cast is mailing it in, and I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the terrible script. Should have been called Criminal Minds: Cliché 101. It's cookie cutter TV only the dough has gone bad. Don't waste your time.
The Blacklist (2013)
Dreadful
One of the absolute worst TV shows I've seen. Having run out of shows on HBO, Showtime, FX, Netflix, etc to watch, I decided I'd look at a list of TV shows on primetime that were not comedies (Love TBBT, HIMYM, and a couple of others), and was looking for a good drama or something more than 22 minutes long. Oh wow. This is what passes as good on primetime networks now? Bad. Cheesy. Terrible dialogue. More holes in the plot than in a screen door. One has to think that anyone rating this above 6 has never seen a good show like Game of Thrones, Orange is the New Black, True Detectives, Justified, The Sopranos, and countless other shows that make this show look ridiculously amateurish. I lasted 2 episodes and boy was that tough. I feel bad for James Spader, I guess he needed the pay. To think, shows like Freaks and Geeks and Firefly were cancelled after one season. Yet this garbage was given a 2nd season. Proof that Networks have no idea what they are doing.
Mob City (2013)
Not very good
I had low expectations considering this was a TNT product, but that didn't help. It seems prime time and networks like TNT just can't put together a good show that's not a comedy. I'm not at all surprised that this was cancelled as it feels cheap, flimsy and not authentic. Shows like Boardwalk Empire pull you in with exceptional sets and cinematography. Giving you a feel as if the show was actually shot in that time period. Mob City does no such thing and gives a very "LA set" feel to it. Furthermore, despite recognizable faces, the show is full of supporting actors. None of the actors are lead material, and therefore are unable to carry the show. Had a strong actor been cast in one of the lead roles, the show may have been able to make up it's other shortcomings. Instead, we are left with what feels like a football team with backup players and no Quarterback.
Mean Streets (1973)
Overrated
Another 70's film that gets high marks due to the all-star cast in their youth. Deniro is refreshingly good, but outside of Deniro's performance, this movie is boring, slow moving, unrealistic, and has spotty acting among the rest of the cast. And that is not even addressing the technical flaws among other things. The fight scene in the beginning is one of the worst shot and is comically bad on a level that you don't even see in student films. It's clear that critics and reviewers give this film a pass on all it's flaws simply due to Scorsese/Keitel/Deniro. I can get past many of the technical flaws from the shaky and out of focus camera, to the poor dialogue, but I can't get past the uncaptivating story. Any mob film needs a feel of realism, and Mean Streets is severely lacking in that area.
Before Midnight (2013)
Terrible. Pretentious. No plot.
This is one of those pretentious art house movies that tries so hard to be artistic and intelligent, but falls woefully short. Pretentious would be an understatement, as uber or super pretentious would be fitting. 45 minutes in I had to check to see what the plot was. Turns out, there is no plot. No plot whatsoever. Just long contrived dialog that never ends. I'm completely flabbergasted that anyone would give this movie such high reviews. Clearly a case of the emperor's new clothes. The performances aren't too bad, but don't exactly shine.
Pass if you have any taste in movies whatsoever. As this film will leaving you annoyed that you wasted the time, and completely bored.
I'm Not There (2007)
Worst film i've seen in a very long time
This movie was nothing short of TERRIBLE. I stopped watching around the 60 minute mark. I had high hopes for this since i'm a Dylan fan. I did enjoy the music but I'm a bit shocked at the elitist remarks made by people. Those offended that some of us think this movie is terrible, all due to their blind loyalty. I'm a huge Robert Smith fan, but i'm not so blind as to call everything he's done genius or perfect. Wow, get off your high horses Dylan fans, the movie was garbage. Some of the individual performances are very good. IE-Cate Blanchett, but this potpouri of ideas and scenes left me yawning. As it turns out, I am not alone. It takes a blind loyalist to like this movie, because I can't fathom anyone with decent taste liking this movie.
Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991)
Sometimes you can judge a book by it's cover
Or in this case, a DVD case. I read a few positive reviews on this movie and thought i'd give it a shot. I should have listened to instinct. Better yet, I should have listened to the girl at the checkout counter at the rental store. It's hard to tell who gives the worst performance, Rourke or Johnson. Both are bad. The action scenes are bad, real bad. In fact, I can't find one thing about this film that I liked. Cliché after cliché, bad line after bad line, I thought it would never end. I somehow stuck it out as I have been known to give up on a movie when it's really bad. I should have given up on this one. I wished I had been able to catch this on TV. Maybe I could have saved my 3 bucks. Now i'm out 3 bucks and 2 hours.