movie

Rated V for Vendetta 8/10

Rated Underground Fragrance 6/10

Rated Britain's Greatest Codebreaker 8/10

Rewatched this as a result of having recently seen THE IMITATION GAME and deeming it severely lacking in its approach--historical and thematic--to Alan Turing's work. On technical levels this film could use some improvement in its cinematography and editing, but given that it bills itself as a made-for-tv docudrama it comes across as both insightful and competent.What I appreciated most about the film was its construction and the way it dramatized the interactions between two people--Turing (Ed Stoppard) and his therapist, Franz Greenbaum (Henry Goodman). We get a bit of backstory of both, of course, but the interaction between the two allow us to get a better sense of the inner-workings of Turing's mind before, during, and after his service at Bletchley Park.This back-and-forth is complemented by the more traditional style of sit-down interviews, which include relatives and descendants of Turing and Greenbaum. More importantly to me, though, was the way in which the film perfectly contextualizes his general thinking about the computability of life with his discoveries of and contributions to computer science, artificial intelligence, and biological mathematics.What I appreciated most about this was the way in which it positions the sciences (and universities, really) as places of interdisciplinary study. Wozniak for the most part stresses the integral nature of his contributions to computer science and machine learning, but it is left to the professors to explicate how his genius would influence later thinkers and both postulate (and shape) the theories, philosophies, and extent(s) of artificial intelligence.The film isn't solely about his mind, however, it's also about his heart. And here the film also gets it right. We learn about the loss in his youth of his childhood friend Christopher and, perhaps masterfully, the philosophical question of immortality through AI is raised while at the same time Turing's conception of a means of discerning true intelligence--his eponymous test--comes into form.At nearly the same time his love for Queen and country is tested when, following a burglary at his residence, law enforcement are called, but are more interested in his sexual proclivities than in meting out justice to the thieves. What's interesting about the recollection of this event is how it's used to color Turing. We learn from various sources about how open he was about his sexuality, even with these officers, and also that he was aware that he bore some social privileges as an academician.Charged with gross indecency and offered the choice between jail and chemical castration, the film shows us how Turing's disillusionment and anger with the world and British society began. What he didn't count on was that his mind might become just as addled and confused as his heart. The idea that the country he helped save from Nazi Germany's atrocities could visit the same upon its own citizens would eventually drove him to his death. The film captures this reality with little to no effort and it doesn't shy away from it. It can't.CODEBREAKER is a film that is as much about genius as it is about the social contexts and relationships that inform and constrain it. What this film does right is depict a man wronged by society simply because he could be wronged. It is a tale about villainy and state violence, but it's also a story about a boy who wanted to give something back to the world and vindicate the worth of an adolescent friendship. It's a glimpse into a time characterized by secrets and surveillance. Deeply human despite its flaws, it passes the test.

Rated Two Cars, One Night 6/10

Rated The Reluctant Fundamentalist 6/10

A moving film about allegiances at the social, national, and personal levels, The Reluctant Fundamentalist has high aims but fails to fully render its many messages. Because of this, a beautiful film about the origins of culture clash and the role patriotism and fear play in producing these inevitabilities, comes across heavy-handed. This is a bit of a disappointment as the casting is spot-on--Riz Ahmed, Kiefer Sutherland, and Om Puri give some incredibly magnetic performances--and there is no dearth of technical skill.Typically I'm a fan of overambitious films, but this manages to somehow telegraph a variety of positions while never quite putting its foot down. It is perhaps too comfortable with ambiguity, certainly more comfortable than its audience is. At the film's opening this makes for compelling and interesting material, but the fact that few concrete answers or explanations are offered on the ontologies of its characters' motivations ensures that the congealed product is unrewarding. It comes as no surprise, then, that many of the supporting cast exist solely to add context and are themselves underdeveloped.All said, the film IS vibrant. When not dominated by the rich sounds and visuals of Pakistan, ethereal vocalizations and sheer and embroidered textiles, the film is arguably at its most uninteresting. One of the things I loved, in particular, was how the soundtrack was used to inspire feeling or to accompany the feelings being created and shown on screen. The sound profile of the film is itself incredibly diverse and enjoyable; the soundtrack contains oral chants, hip hop beats, and melodious instrumentations, all of which are creatively and effectively woven into the narrative.Through this film we come to realize that militancy is rarely a mask of our making or choosing, that sometimes it is chosen for us. This is the kind of film that brings cerebrality and moral philosophy to characters we often hear about but never see. While a smaller scale might have provided for more powerful meditations on the social constraints of identity, this remains a film to be seen because it manages to be both race and class-conscious, all while subverting the popular characterizations of peoples and groups in the middle east. It doesn't do it well, but it does it. And that is saying something.

Rated I Don't Want to Go Back Alone 7/10

Added Is God Is to Movie Watchlist

Rated The Flight of Dragons 7/10

Pure nostalgia! I loved this movie as a kid.

Added The Odyssey to Watched Movies

Rated Lesbian Space Princess 3/10

As a lesbian this movie is very lesbian.

In all seriousness, this movie is genuinely really bigoted. You can tell the creators are misandrists and TERFs.

On top of that, the animation looked like it was drawn by toddlers. It didn't even feel like a movie at times, just a bad YouTube video. The songs were painfully bad, and some parts were really hard to get through.

It kind of felt like the movie was mocking queer people. Especially when even the queer characters repeatedly referred to a non-binary person with the wrong pronouns, or when they killed off the only drag character. The writers were obviously completely out of touch with reality.

Rated Gotti 4/10

Rated Stick It 9/10

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Rated Almost Famous 8/10

Rated Cha Cha Real Smooth 8/10

Added Over Your Dead Body to Watched Movies

Added Putting on the Dish to Movie Watchlist

Added Mickey 17 to Movie Watchlist

Rated Obsession 9/10

Rated Insidious: Out of the Further 6/10

Rated The Transformers: The Movie 7/10

Rated Wallace & Gromit : Un mauvais pantalon 5/10

J'ai regardé Wallace & Gromit : Un mauvais pantalon (1993) sur Jellyfin via Popfeed.

Rated Wallace & Gromit : Rasé de près 5/10

J'ai regardé Wallace & Gromit : Rasé de près (1995) sur Jellyfin via Popfeed.

Rated The Mummy 2/10

One problem this movie has is in the opening lady Imhotep sells her sold to the devil to gain enough power to kill a baby.

Rated Before the Devil Knows You're Dead 7/10

First time viewing despite the fact I bought this on DVD from the Virgin Megastore in Sheffield circa 2009. It stayed wrapped in plastic until I lost the DVD in one of my subsequent 5/6 house moves.

Sidney Lumet’s last film is good but not great. I’d set my mood up for something more heist-y, and I don’t think the flashing back to 1/2/3/4 days before that one heist adds to anything. It’s undeniably greatly acted and the elements come together nicely as the two brothers succumb to pressure - just on another day I’d have rated it more.