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Jonathan Edwards and Transatlantic Print Culture

Jonathan M. Yeager

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Book

On March 20, 1760, a fire broke out in the Cornhill district of Boston, destroying nearly 350...

Earth Ancients

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Podcast

Earth Ancients chronicles the growing (and often suppressed) evidence of known and unknown ...

LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Three Colors: Blue (Trois Couleurs: Bleu) (1993) in Movies

Jul 4, 2021

Look, I swear I'm not trying to be a buzzkill - but it's not my fault 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘵 (2011) was such a staggering masterpiece that it retroactively ruined most films which tackle the same sorts of subject matter for me. I can't deny how formally unique this all is, and I ultimately think that it mostly? semi? kinda? works in the end (the finale in particular is a bracing work of art - if only on the surface). But I also found a lot of this to be heavy-handed and/or pompous - including but not limited to those cheesy "MTV Jackass"-style fade-outs paired with the capable but intrusive score which get overused into oblivion. I understand that the feeling of detachment with itself is purposeful - and sometimes it leads to successful results - but I have the same issue with similar-type films like 𝘒𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘦 (which - to be fair - this is better than) where it gets so lost in its sea of purposeful ambiguity that it trades out substance for an artificial sense of mystery. And again, I get that this is all the point. Maybe this would have resonated better with me had I dealt with such grief as depicted here? Is this even for me? Maybe not, but even still this is home to some hard facepalm schmaltz in general. Another unpopular opinion while we're at it, this looks good in the beginning but after that it mostly really looks various shades of okay-to-bland imo. But I'm a sucker for nuance - which even in its faults this is in entirety - so sure, I'll take it. I definitely won't be forgetting it any time soon.

Kudos

Phillip McSween (751 KP) rated Old School (2003) in Movies

Jan 25, 2021

Old School (2003)

2003 | Comedy, Documentary

6.7

(7 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Terrible Pacing Wasn't the Only Thing That Ruined the Story

After a man catches his girlfriend in an orgy, he moves into a new house near a college campus to get his life back together where shenanigans ensue.

Acting: 10

Beginning: 10

Characters: 3

Cinematography/Visuals: 10

Conflict: 5
One of the laundry list of misses for me in Old School. It felt like one big party movie which is fine provided there is some kind of conflict driving the story a la The Hangover. Because of the lack of conflict, I had no interest in rooting for the main character. Any conflict scenes that did exist felt forced and unnecessary.

Entertainment Value: 7

Memorability: 6
While there are a few memorable scenes that had me cracking up, the movie as a whole reminded me that I had seen better comedies. The wedding singer was hilarious as well as the funeral for Blue and I can think of at least two more strong comedic moments that had me cracking up. Unfortunately the sum of its parts didn’t really amount to much.

Pace: 4

Plot: 3

Resolution: 5
A resolution that didn’t really blow me away. To be fair, even if the ending had been better, it wouldn’t have been enough to save the movie as a whole. It was already too far off the rails at this point for me.

Overall: 63
Many tout Old School as a cult classic and I can understand why. There are quite a few moments that got the job done making me laugh. As a whole, it just wasn’t enough for me.