Bob Mann (459 KP) rated The Laundromat (2019) in Movies
May 18, 2021
Based on a true story, a hack of the company's 2.6 TB of email data led to the 2016 scandal known as "The Panama Papers": something that dragged into the headlines the alleged dodgy-dealings of many celebrities including David Cameron.
Positives:
- Meryl Steep delivers another superb performance as the grieving avenging widow.
- There's a "twist" in the final scene which I didn't see coming, and which was impressive.
Negatives:
- This is a really strange and disjointed movie. It seems to be trying to be "The Big Short", but is a significant fail. There are numerous quirky scenes, most involving Oldman and Banderas. But there is enough bat-shit crazy stuff in here to make you think that either Sonderbergh, or the writers, or both were on acid. What was with the "Dawn of Man" sequence at the start? And why the anonymisation of the 'hominids'? Lots of bonkers stuff.
- The movie is made up of a series of chapters ("Lessons"), but the connection between the lesson title and the "message" conveyed is loose at best. It's all a bit of a convoluted mess.
- The script seems to assume a school-boy level of knowledge of the subject matter. As a result, some of the explanations of Mssrs, Oldman and Banderas come across as extremely patronising 'mansplaining'.
Summary Thoughts on "The Laundromat": There's a stellar cast involved with this one, and the subject matter in the hands of an Adam McKay could have been compelling. But as it is, it's rather a disjointed mess. It's worth a watch just to see the actors at work. But that's about the long and the short of it. Watch "The Big Short" again instead.
This has been sitting on my Netflix box for a long time without a watch, and this is mostly because the title suggested something completely different (and not of great interest). (Yes, I understand in retrospect that the movie is partially concerned with money laundering!) It was only my wife suggesting we watch it that pushed it onto the list. If it had been titled something like "The Panama Papers" I would have probably watched it sooner!
(For the full graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies review here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2021/05/18/the-laundromat-is-this-the-worst-title-of-any-movie-in-film-history/. Thanks.)
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Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated Embodiment of Evil (2008) in Movies
May 31, 2020
Embodiment of Evil is the third film of the Brazilian ‘Coffin Joe’ trilogy, following after ‘At Midnight I’ll take your soul’ and ‘This night I’ll Posses your corpse’. Set and filmed 40 years after ‘This night I’ll possess your corpse’ Embodiment of Evil follows the same basic plot as the previous two films, Josefel Zanatas aka Coffin Joe returns after seeming to die at the end of the previous film to continue his search for the perfect woman to help him continue his blood line.
Embodiment of Evil is probably best described as a ‘Slasher’, Coffin Joe is a man on a mission and he’s not afraid to make enemy’s and then kill them if they get in his way. There are also elements of torture in the film as Joe tests his followers, and the women he chooses to make sure they are strong enough for him.
Like the first two films, Embodiment of evil starts off slow, using the time to explain how Coffin Joe survived his death, this is done with a flashback which uses footage from the end of the 'This night I'll possess your corpse' and adding footage that looks like it was shot at the same time but never use at the time.
Once Joe's survival has been explained the film falls back into the narrative of the trilogy, aided by his hunchbacked sidekick, Bruno, Joe returns to his old job as a gravedigger and is soon making waves in the community with his (anti) religious views. Joe is also being hunted by victims and relatives of victims from the previous films but, this time Coffin Joe also has help, not only from Bruno but from four cult like followers.
As in the previous films it doesn't take long before Joe is cursed by witches and seeing ghosts blurring the line between what Coffin Joe sees as reality and fantasy.
Coffin Joe himself is an interesting character, he is arrogant, self-assured and superior. He is constantly fighting against authority and most of the normal people, all of whom he sees as weak, mainly due to their religious belief. He is driven by his own belief that 'blood' is the only purpose in life and his need to find the perfect, strongest woman to have his child is the only driving force in his life.
Embodiment of Evil is UK rated 18 and there is a good reason for this, there is blood, nudity, cannibalism, torture, (off screen) child murder and implied rape so it will be safe to say that this film is not for everybody. It is also worth noting that, even though some of of these subjects are also in the first two films, Embodiment of evil was made 40 years later so the effects and content is a lot more graphic.