This movie probably doesn’t deserve the whole five stars but I have a real affinity for characters like Emily (played by Aubrey Plaza), who, like the Mark Baum and Vinny characters in The Big Short, are people with a code of honor, a sense of awareness, not looking for trouble, but not willing to put up with insolence or nonsense. To give you a sense of what I mean — and this may need a very minor spoiler alert — a group of criminals has stolen a significant amount from Emily’s boyfriend (also a criminal but less physical than the other criminals) and she’s making a case that they should go and get it back because, among other reasons, the boyfriend owes her a cut of what was stolen. The boyfriend is against the idea. “These are very serious people,” he says. Emily replies, “No, no, we’re serious people. Ok?… Read more →
EppsNet Archive: Movie Reviews
EppsNet at the Movies: The Big Short
My connection with the events depicted in The Big Short is that I worked in the information technology department of a mortgage bank in the run-up to the 2007 implosion of the subprime mortgage market. Many of the big players in that market, like New Century and Countrywide, were based here in my backyard — in Orange County and Pasadena. Given that it was fairly evident at the time that complicated financial instruments were being dreamed up for the sole purpose of lending money to people who could never repay it, it’s remarkable that very few people foresaw the catastrophe and that even fewer actually had the nerve to bet on it to happen. Long story short, the major rating agencies — Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s — were incompetent in their rating of subprime mortgage bonds, giving investment-grade and, in some cases, triple-A ratings to high-risk instruments. A lot… Read more →
EppsNet at the Movies: Man From Reno
You probably haven’t seen this. Or heard of it. It was funded by a Kickstarter campaign, released on iTunes, then later on Netflix. The synopsis should note that it’s a neo-noir. Some of the marketing materials make it look like a Murder, She Wrote crime caper. It isn’t. It’s dark. I just sat staring at the screen for several minutes after it ended. Rating: Director: Cast: IMDb rating: ( votes) Read more →
EppsNet at the Movies: Dumb Money
I laughed non-stop through Dumb Money, except during the parts that weren’t intended to be funny. I had to take off a star because (minor spoiler alert, since the movie’s based on a true story that everyone knows) it’s a David vs. Goliath movie, and the Goliaths get their comeuppance, but that’s conveyed principally through explanatory text on the screen after the movie is essentially over. The comeuppance should be on-screen! Show, don’t tell! Rating: Director: Cast: IMDb rating: ( votes) Read more →
EppsNet at the Movies: Dark Waters
The system is rigged. They want us to believe that it’ll protect us, but that’s a lie. We protect us. We do. Nobody else. Not the companies, not the scientists, not the government. Us. I’ll tell you how the movie ends but without a spoiler. It ends with the closing credits, over which we hear Johnny Cash singing “I Won’t Back Down,” the Tom Petty song, which perfectly summarizes the Mark Ruffalo character, who won’t back down, not as an act of defiance but just as a quiet refusal to give up. Whether or not that strategy works for him, I will not reveal here. Because the movie is based on real-life events, it’s also a good watch for anyone who believes that government agencies will protect us from all of the bad things in life, and that anyone who thinks otherwise must be crazy. Rating: Director: Cast: IMDb rating:… Read more →
Is Christmas a Joyous Day? (A Movie Review)
SPOILERS AHEAD! The central character in this movie is a Buddhist monk who has achieved immortality, he looks about 50 but he no longer ages. There is, however, a prophecy that a girl born in the same town that he was born in, but 100 years later, will kill him. [SPOILERS START HERE] So for the last 14 years, he has had his disciples locate and murder every girl born in that city in the year 1999. In most cases, the bodies were disposed of so the cases were treated as missing persons, or in some cases, as accidents. (As I write this, it does seem like the police should have been able to connect the dots a little sooner.) When you see it in a movie like this, it seems grotesque and inhuman that a religious leader would order a mass murder of children in order to preserve his… Read more →
EppsNet at the Movies: Affliction
Affliction is a sad, painful movie about “boys and men for thousands of years: boys who were beaten by their fathers, whose capacity for love and trust was crippled almost at birth, men whose best hope for connection with other human beings lay in detachment, as if life were over. It’s how we keep from destroying in turn our own children and terrorizing the women who have the misfortune to love us; how we absent ourselves from the tradition of male violence; how we decline the seduction of revenge.” The beatings, actually, are optional. I don’t remember my dad ever laying a hand on me but my parents were still able to send me into the world afflicted with crippling anxiety, depression and fear of failure. Not much happens in the world, in my opinion, that can’t be explained by good or bad parents. Rating: Director: Cast: IMDb rating: (… Read more →
EppsNet at the Movies: Night in Paradise
I found this film first-rate in every respect except . . . SPOILER ALERT! . . . the way the death of the hero was handled. Didn’t like that at all. That being said, I hope if something similarly bad happens to me that my girlfriend will also pack a gym bag with guns and ammo and massacre an entire restaurant full of the people responsible. That’s a great scene. She comes in, locks the front door, a creepy gangster type comes over and says with a sleazy grin, “No more seats. Come sit with us. We’re nice.” “I didn’t come to eat,” she replies, cocking a gun under his chin. “And get your hands off me.” So he’s the first guy to end up with his brains on the ceiling but not the last! Rating: Director: Cast: IMDb rating: ( votes) Read more →
EppsNet at the Movies: Happy Old Year
Happy Old Year is a Thai movie about letting go of the past, holding on to the past, self-awareness (or lack thereof). You’ll laugh, you’ll cry . . . I had to take off a star because, and I’m not spoiling anything here, the male lead has two girlfriends, not really at the same time, and I can’t imagine what either of them sees in this selfish putz. I’d give the star back if the lead actress took her clothes off but she doesn’t. 🙁 Rating: Director: Cast: IMDb rating: ( votes) Read more →
EppsNet at the Movies: The Garden of Words
The Garden of Words is a beautiful short film about loneliness and love and longing, inspired by verses from the Manyoshu, an anthology of ancient Japanese poems: A faint clap of thunder Clouded skies Perhaps rain will come If so, will you stay here with me? A faint clap of thunder Even if rain comes or not I will stay here Together with you. Rain is a central motif in the film. Like the force of love, it can’t be controlled or stopped. Highly recommended! Rating: Director: Cast: IMDb rating: ( votes) Read more →
EppsNet at the Movies: A Star is Born
OK, actually I haven’t seen A Star is Born and here’s why: When I go to the movies, I like to see something I’ve never seen before. I don’t care for sequels, prequels, reboots, spinoffs, adaptations of TV shows, video games, comic books or other movies. I don’t like love stories. I find them unrealistic. I read a lot and the books and authors I like mostly exclude the possibility of true love. What is worse than when you want to see a movie and someone spoils it by telling you how it ends? If you’re remaking A Star is Born for the fifth time, everyone already knows how it ends. You’ve spoiled your own movie. Director: Cast: IMDb rating: ( votes) Read more →
EppsNet at the Movies: A Man Called Ove
EppsNet at the Movies: The Matrix
The Matrix is 75 percent juvenile philosophizing and 25 percent sci-fi action. Someone must have told the Wachowski brothers (now the Wachowski sisters) that they’re a lot smarter than they really are because the movie would have been much better with 25 percent juvenile philosophizing and 75 percent sci-fi action. Rating: The Matrix Director: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski Cast: Keanu Reeves NeoLaurence Fishburne MorpheusCarrie-Anne Moss TrinityHugo Weaving Agent Smith IMDb rating: ( votes) Read more →
EppsNet at the Movies: Superbad
This inexplicably gets a good rating on IMDb. I couldn’t sit through 10 minutes of it. If your age and/or IQ is somewhere in the teens, you might enjoy it. My rating would be lower but there was one funny joke. Rating: Superbad Director: Greg Mottola Cast: Michael Cera EvanJonah Hill SethChristopher Mintz-Plasse FogellBill Hader Officer Slater IMDb rating: ( votes) Read more →
EppsNet at the Movies: Baby Driver
The dialogue is awful and the characters are trite — the criminal mastermind in his secret lair, the beautiful but deadly femme fatale, the trigger-happy psychopath, etc. — but once they stop talking and the action kicks in, it’s terrific! Also: great soundtrack! Rating: Director: Cast: IMDb rating: ( votes) Read more →
EppsNet at the Movies: The Accountant
The Ben Affleck character is at the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum, which means, among other things, that he has no social skills. I also have no social skills. It’s exhausting just to be polite to people most of the time, let alone trying to be fun and interesting. I’d like to be diagnosed with something that gives me a medical excuse for not having to do that. The Ben Affleck character also has some cool and useful skills that he learned from his dad, whereas my dad never taught me anything except how to hold a grudge (not always useful). Rating: Director: Cast: IMDb rating: ( votes) Read more →
EppsNet at the Movies: Strictly Ballroom
This is my new favorite movie of all time. It has everything: music, dancing, comedy, romance, fear, courage, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters . . . vivir con miedo, es como vivir a medias! Highly recommended! Rating: Strictly Ballroom Director: Baz Luhrmann Cast: Paul Mercurio Scott Hastings, Tara Morice Fran, Bill Hunter Barry Fife, Pat Thomson Shirley Hastings IMDb rating: ( votes) Read more →
EppsNet at the Movies: Treeless Mountain
I’m in love with this movie. What is about? Read the IMDB plot summary below. It’s also about hanging on to the past, letting go of the past, and the resilience of the human heart. You’re not into that kind of thing? Fine, go watch Hot Tub Time Machine. Come on, you’re better than that. Highly recommended! Rating: Treeless Mountain Director: So Yong Kim (as So-yong Kim) Cast: Chae Gil Byung Pedestrian in City, Jung Gil Ja Minoo’s Mom, Shin Hyun Je Bus Driver, Kim Mi Jung Hyun’s Mom IMDb rating: ( votes) Read more →
EppsNet Movie Reviews: We Are the Best!
Contrary to the IMDB summary below, only two of the girls, Klara and Bobo, have no instruments (or talent). The third girl, Hedvig, is a painfully shy classical guitar-playing schoolmate recruited to teach them about music. This movie is a joy! I don’t know what else to say. See it. Rating: We Are the Best! Director: Cast: IMDb rating: ( votes) Read more →
EppsNet at the Movies: A Serious Man
When the truth is found . . . to be lies. And all the hope . . . within you dies. What then? Life is bleak. If you try to lead a good life, bad things happen. If you yield to temptation, worse things happen. Religion offers no more wisdom, insight or consolation than a Jefferson Airplane song. P.S. I know the lyric should be “joy” and not “hope” but in the movie the rabbi says “hope.” Rating: A Serious Man Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen Cast: Michael Stuhlbarg Larry Gopnik, Richard Kind Uncle Arthur, Sari Lennick Judith Gopnik, Fred Melamed Sy Ableman IMDb rating: ( votes) Read more →