Reviews

Imagine if you will, a time and place, not so long ago where a very talented and creative troupe of producers, writers, actors, musicians, cinematographers and a plethora experts all collaborated to take the powerful spirit and message of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" and rewrite it into the 2nd decade of 21st century America. The sheer chutzpah! Who dares to reimagine this timeless classic? Then imagine if you will, the fact that this production was filmed at the height of the COVID pandemic when all theaters were shuttered. Each actor was filmed individually, all by themselves, in front of greenscreen and then digitally combined into a final full length feature film. The thoroughly stunning result is "Estella Scrooge: A Christmas Carol with a Twist." Sure, there's a peculiar AI quality to its look. But that easily fades away as the creative charm sweeps you away with one toe-tapping memorable song after another. Granted, this take on the beloved classic is not for everyone. But I highly recommend it as I was totally enchanted. You'll need some tissues close at hand for this one!

As a 20-year veteran of the US Air Force, I have a serious pet peeve with ALL military movies - I've watched thousands of military movies over my 73 years - I know these military movies have distinguished high-ranking military advisors - Yet, I'm scandalized by their surprising dereliction of duty - The very first thing all recruits learn in basic training is you NEVER, EVER wear your cover (hat) indoors - Yet, name any military movie you want (from the silent era to present); all of them - ALL!; the military members wear hats indoors - Sure, Hollywood directors have artistic license, but their indoor-hat-wearing preference is over the top egregious - In my 20 years wearing the uniform, I wouldn't get 3 steps inside a building before someone would yell, "Remove that cover!" - Moreover, there is no saluting indoors - The only exception is when one is formally reporting to his/her commander - OK, now that this is off my chest, the movie's jargon and intensity of swearing is authentic - And the service in-fighting is well represented.

I'm puzzled how this film won Best Picture. Sure, it's visually stunning but a long idealized story that is unconvincing and unsatisfying. An hour could have been edited out and it would still be a boring and sad film. It wasn't clear why she went to Africa in the first place. And it was even less clear why she went back after being cured of syphilis in Europe. Throughout, I kept wondering where they got the gasoline for all those cars and the airplane in 1919 British East Africa. They would drive hundreds of miles in the middle of nowhere and never get a fill up. They certainly carried more wine and whiskey on their camping trips than petrol.

Horribly sad film with no real story - In addition to the long boring scenes that should have been edited out, the lighting was bad and the acting was amateurish - Total waste of time - Why do talented people spend their skills on this sort of crap?

I'm I the only one who noticed the use of the international language of Esperanto in the signs of the ghetto? - Since its creation in 1859 by Dr Zamenhof, Esperanto clubs flourished behind the Iron Curtain during the latter half of 20th century - The "hope" of the artificial, man-made language was to be the voice of all humanity without nationalistic, political or religious overtones - Closely tied to the Esperanto movement was a desire for world peace - A person only had to learn one language other than his or her native tongue in order to communicate with all citizens of the world - The hope of this enterprise has not died - However, with the proliferation of the internet and the increasing skill of Google Translate, a universal language becomes less likely.

Yes, it has an abundance of beautiful scenery and a powerful and controversial story; but at least an hour should have ended up on the cutting room floor. I had to fast forward through the tediously long scenes that did not progress or add to the story, in order to stay interested. Two hours into this film I just wanted it to be over, please!

This film is absolutely horrible! First I thought the lighting was bad, then I realized how awful the acting was. Later, it became clear the script and story were amateurish and totally unbelievable. So many scenes failed to advance the story that it might be mistaken as a parody of other bad movies. Halfway through this rubbish, everyone started dropping the F-bomb for no apparent reason. This film left me scratching my head wondering why it was made in the first place.

I wanted to like this film, but I had to pause it many times to recover from the anger and shouting - Most of the film could have edited out as all scenes ran way too long for no added value - Many scenes would have benefited from closed captioning as the slang and dialect were hard to follow - Plus the soundtrack was continually uncomfortable - The ending was understandable but a very disappointing after enduring two hours of sheer rage.

I read all the glowing reviews and wondered what film they were watching? - This is a sad movie without any entertaining value - The flashback scenes were flimsy and not convincing - The struggle scenes in the forest were boring and tedious - But the elephant in the room was trying to make a film about suicide - Tip my hat for the effort - But compare McConaughey's dazzling performance in Dallas Buyer's Club to this lame one - You'll thank me for avoiding this waste of time.

What already? - Two hours of Walter Matthau arguing - No thanks!

This is a hard film to watch. I could only watch it 10 minutes at a time before I had to move on. The sun never shines in this grimy story. I finally got through it and wondered why films like this are made.

Bad story, bad lighting, bad acting - Don't waste you time with this lousy film.

Bad directing of bad actors of a bad script telling a tired sad story. At first I thought this was done by high school students as a parody.

After recently watching The Pianist, I next watched Rubber. One can argue what a great film The Pianist may be, but to argue that Rubber is something other than garbage is a total waste of time.

By all accounts, most reviewers liked this film. I did not find the male characters likable. I did not find the story likable. I did not find the production likable. I did find this film a total waste of time.

Tedious and disappointing throughout with a dull ending - So happy to see the credits finally come.