The schemer is a classic film archetype. Whether it's "Honest" John from Pinocchio, Moses Pray from Paper Moon, Howard Ratner from Uncut Gems or any of the countless other examples, there's something beguiling about a con man, a character who you love to hate. Mikey, the protagonist of Red Rocket, undoubtedly belongs in that group. He's a despicable person, but he's magnetic and somehow still likeable. You're rooting for him to fail and rooting for him to succeed at the…
While Wonderstruck has a good deal in common with Hugo, another film adapted from a book by Brian Selznick, I was also reminded of Cloud Atlas. They're both films that have a lot going for them in terms of the visuals, but they're hampered by a story that I have to imagine works better in print than it does on the screen. The wordless sections are nice and I really enjoyed Millicent Simmonds' performance, but the ending was a bit of a letdown. The intended magic just never got ahold of me.
While there's nothing inherently wrong with it I guess, I ultimately found Witness to be pretty boring. It's a by-the-numbers cop conspiracy movie that doesn't make a lot of sense. The treatment of the Amish is fairly respectful but pretty shallow and it's borderline offensive that Rachel is willing to abandon her entire religion simply because Harrison Ford is hot and nice to her kid. Though he is pretty hot.
If you want me to sympathize with a Nazi, having her sleep with a 16-year-old in her 40s isn't the way to do it.
Very superficial, even for a short. And it makes light of a serious subject while furthering negative stereotypes.
