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The Thin Blue Line (1988)
The Thin Blue Line (1988)
1988 | Classics, Documentary, Documentary
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"As someone who’s really passionate about what he does, I have a lot of opinions about documentary films. A lot of documentary filmmakers don’t really think about their films cinematically, and some documentaries almost seem like they were just copy-and-pasted like Microsoft Word documents. I’ve always loved how Errol Morris takes a wrecking ball to those conventions. His films are constantly exploring the idea of what a documentary is. His films tweak and twist reality, and they don’t just try to serve the audience digested ideas on a platter. If I had to pick a favorite, it’s his transcendent 1988 classic The Thin Blue Line, which recounts a murder case and then riffs and re-riffs on it like a Bach fugue. It was the first film to really use re-creation and reeneactment scenes in a new and highly cinematic way, both to explore a case and to challenge a viewer’s own bias and subjectivity. Nowadays, its approach and editing style loom over every one of these multipart true crime series and podcasts. The Thin Blue Line is almost like the influential band that’s been ripped off so often that new converts may not realize just how significant it is."

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Twelve Nights at Rotter House
Twelve Nights at Rotter House
J.W. Ocker | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, Horror
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book has stuck with me. I read Ocker's non-fiction book @Cursed Objects: Strange but True Stories of the World's Most Infamous Items, the other day, so I decided to try out his novel.

In the first chapter, we find out that the original title of the book was 13 nights, rather than 12. So, obviously, something happened. The main character is a travel writer (like the author), and a skeptic (like the author), who decides to spend 13 nights in a supposedly haunted house.
There were hints, dropped throughout, as to what is actually happening, various movie and book references. Crimson Peak was the most obvious one.

After one night spent alone, the author's best friend comes to visit. There's some unspoken thing that happened a year ago, that's not all that hard to figure out. When things begin to happen, screams, apparitions, etc, the author explains them away. He is a skeptic after all.

The woman character/ghost, has a head that's split down the middle... wonder what that symbolizes.

Towards the end, the author gradually unravels. The end, with the twist... Honestly, I have mixed feelings about it. That's why I just rated this as ok. It was entertaining, and haunted me for about three days,
  
SAS: Red Notice (2021)
SAS: Red Notice (2021)
2021 | Action
The *potential* of the cast (0 more)
The script is dire: awful dialogue (1 more)
A truly wasted cast
Psycho vs Psycho: but poorly delivered
Oh my word, SAS: Red Notice is disappointing.

A really interesting cast, and the opportunity to do a mix of "Die Hard", "Daylight" and the finale of "Mission Impossible". And a novel take of 'good psychopath' vs 'bad psychopath'. But it's just so poorly delivered.

True that some of the McNab-guided action scenes feel refreshingly authentic. But the script is clunkingly bad (a discussion with a French girl on top of the train... #shudder) and there are story segues that shock (in a bad way): at one point our hero (Sam Huegen - most recently very good as Paul Newman in "For Olivia") walks out of a French vineyard into a winter wonderland with 6 inches of snow! Did I miss the wardrobe???!

After "Twist" this is yet another dire Sky Original movie, this time with a wasted cast. In particular, BAFTA Rising Star Noel Clarke needs to start making better film choices before getting a reputation for being in duffers.

(For the full graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2021/03/13/sas-red-notice-another-sky-original-duffer/ ).