The Secret Woman

tags: Denmark, drama, Netflix, Nordic noir, psychological thriller

⭐⭐

The Secret Woman is a Danish thriller centered around Louise who has amnesia and is living a quiet life in Norway. She gets engaged to a local guy. 

She begins investigating her identity when a Danish man approaches her and calls her Helene. She had her DNA tested that proves she is Helene, goes back to Denmark and finds that she is an heiress to a shipping empire. Her husband, young son, and mother-in-law live in her home which belonged to her family. She learns that her father died right before she went missing that triggered her psychotic episodes.  She slowly discovers her husband has something to do with her disappearance. But of course, it's always the spouse, with assist from someone unexpected, a twist I already guessed very early in the movie. It's too predictable. 

I always wonder why characters in so-called thrillers have no common sense and self awareness. She already suspects her husband, yet she goes alone investigating in a seedy part of the city then goes walking in a very dark alleyway. Death wish? Dumb. She also drinks wine poured by the sinister husband without suspecting it might be drugged. Dumber still. 

The other woman, Louise, whose identity she assumed was not given enough back story. Her connection to the human smuggling was not expanded. Speaking of human smuggling (women trafficked as prostitutes) is a very lame story plot. 

The acting of the main female lead is middling; the only commendable acting and storyline is the evil husband.

Skip it. Not worthy of almost 2 hours viewing time. I watched so you don't have to.

Enola Holmes 3

 

tags: Enola Holmes 3, Netflix movie

⭐

In 1886, Enola and Tewkesbury prepare for their nuptials, with the ceremony in Malta honoring Tewkesbury’s late father’s service there.

Enola insists she can be both a wife and a detective, but her brother Sherlock, already skeptical of the marriage, is secretly working on another case.

On the wedding day, Sherlock is abducted, and Enola must drop all plans to find him.

I think I'm done with Enola. This third movie is woke to the max. Haven't they heard woke is passe. I also don't like the Moriarty Moriarty Moriarty theme. It is overdone and also the reason I stopped watching Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock series. It got boring. Enola Holmes 3 suffers the same too much Moriarty. Adding to the negative is that Moriarty is played by the ugliest Black actress I have ever watched. And not a good actress either. Dr. Watson played by an Indian actor is not so bad but I've had enough. 

The movie is full of political correctness nonsense and I think the faithful followers of Enola will all go away. People are tired of being lectured about the sins of White people in the 19th century and making the you know who their victims.  

It's a pity because Enola and Tewkesbury are getting married and the movie should have been fun but it was ruined by the script and Moriarty story.

The Great Flood

tags: AI, disaster, Korean, mystery, Netflix movie, sci-fi 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐out of 5

from Netflix

When a raging flood traps a researcher and her young son, a call to a crucial mission puts their escape — and the future of humanity — on the line. 

I loved the movie. Visuals, acting, dialog, and CGI are very good. One of my favorite Korean actresses, Kim Da-mi stars as the "mother". 

It is part disaster, sci fi and mystery, I was confused at first but I stayed on watching the seemingly endless time loop similar to Tom Cruise's Edge of Tomorrow. 

When researcher An-na died, her memories and emotions were used to create an AI version of a mother who genuinely cares for her child, recreating it over and over again until they are ready to be sent to Earth and repopulate it after devastation from the flood disaster. 

Viewers who love a disaster movie will be disappointed because the story is about AI and how it might become useful in the future. The movie is not for everybody but will be appreciated more by true science fiction fans.

Spoilers

Nouvelle Vague

 

tags: Jean-Luc Godard, movie about a movie (breathless), Netflix, Nouvelle Vague

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐out of five

A playful, poignant love letter to cinema, Nouvelle Vague reimagines the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless in an exuberant exploration of the youthful rebellion and creative chaos that shaped the French New Wave. Directed by Richard Linklater, starring Zoey Deutch, Guillaume Marbeck, and Aubry Dullin.

Zoey Deutch who played Jean Seberg's role as Patricia is the daughter of Lea Thompson.  

Caramelo

tags: Brazilian movie, drama, human and his stray dog, Netflix

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Netflix

A chef and a caramel-colored mutt become best friends after a life-changing encounter. On an emotional journey, they will laugh and cry together, and also teach us valuable lessons. Starring Rafael Vitti and the canine star Amendoim,

I love the easy on the ears Portuguese language and this movie and the dog "actor", Amendoim. Both Rafael Vitti and Amendoim did great acting. 

The mutt was left by the side of the road inside a cardboard box. He ran and ran until he got to the town eventually getting adopted by Pedro who started getting headaches and diagnosed with a cancerous lump in his brain. 

Highly recommended.

Nonnas

tags: grandmas, Italian, Netflix movie, family restaurant, Vince Vaughn

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5

From IMDB

After losing his beloved mother, a man risks everything to honor her by opening an Italian restaurant with actual grandmothers as the chefs.

The nonnas are played by Lorraine Bracco, Brenda Vaccaro, Talia Shire, and Susan Sarandon. all 70+ years old. Cast is mostly Italian actors or are part Italian. 

Highly recommended. I love it and will watch it again. The movie made me want to cook a batch of Sunday Gravy which I cooked just once, 15 years ago. .

The Pale Blue Eye

tags: gothic, historical fiction, mystery 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads

At West Point Academy in 1830, the calm of an October evening is shattered by the discovery of a young cadet's body swinging from a rope. The next morning, an even greater horror comes to light. Someone has removed the dead man's heart.

Augustus Landor—who acquired some renown in his years as a New York City police detective—is called in to discreetly investigate. It's a baffling case Landor must pursue in secret, for the scandal could do irreparable damage to the fledgling institution. But he finds help from an unexpected ally—a moody, young cadet with a penchant for drink, two volumes of poetry to his name, and a murky past that changes from telling to telling. The strange and haunted Southern poet for whom Landor develops a fatherly affection, is named Edgar Allan Poe.

This book was recommended to me when it came out many years ago but I didn't read it because I was disappointed in some books with fictional version of real people *cough* The Alienist*cough*.  After watching the Netflix movie based on this book, I immediately borrowed and devoured the book in 2 days. 

The movie is mostly accurate and some of the dialogue are lifted from the book almost word for word. My only regret is I should have read the book first to know if I would miss the early clues scattered here and there, beginning at around page 50. Maybe I noticed them because I already know the outcome. 

Knowing the ending did not lessen my enjoyment of the book because the parts with Edgar Allan Poe are the highlights of the novel as well as the movie. The book is so much better IMHO and there are many parts from the book that are altered for the movie. Both are highly recommended.

************************************************************************************

Seoul Vibe

 

tags: action, comedy, Korean movie, Netflix

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

From Netflix

Worldwide excitement is escalating in Seoul in the days leading up to the opening of the 1988 Summer Olympics. The fashion is old school, the music is sentimental and the racing is the best in the world. The drivers of the Sanggye-dong Supreme Team receive an offer they can’t refuse and become mired in a VIP slush fund investigation.

I love this movie 💗💗💗because I love movies set in the 80s. What's not to love? 1988 Seoul, the clothes, music, the actors.

I remember when I went to Seoul a few months before the 1988 Olympics and everything was Olympics Olympics Olympics. I even bought a hand fan with the swirly logo. I think it's kept somewhere in the basement. LOL 

American brands, culture, clothing, and food were very popular at the time, specially Pizza Hut and McD's. Koreans were obsessed with anything American. In the movie Park Yoon-Hee wore a jacket with Washington Redskins and her brother Park Dong-Wook, played by Yoo Ah-In was wearing a jacket with Oakland Raiders at the end of the movie. The pair of Nike shoes offered to a rival is so spot on. 

Most of my favorite Korean actors are in the movie but I specially love Lee Kyu-Hyung and his 80s clothes. He is one of the more versatile Korean actors in Korean dramas and movies.

Highly recommended for fans of Korean movies and set in the 80s.

 

Windfall

tags: Netflix movie, thriller wannabe, worst movie ever made

my rating: gazillion goose eggs００００００００００

from Netflix

A man breaks into a tech billionaire's empty vacation home, but things go sideways when the arrogant mogul and his wife arrive for a last-minute get-away.

"Arrogant mogul" description is inaccurate. I didn't see any arrogance in his character. The tech mogul is matter-of-fact and not flaunting his riches to the envious vacation home occupier.

What an embarrassment! The movie is a major fail in every category.

Acting -The only acceptable performance is done by Jesse Plemons who plays the husband. The other 3 actors  Are. Truly. Awful. They have neither facial expressions nor believable delivery of lines. 

Illogical Script - Extremely inane because nobody who is supposed to be smart to become a billionaire will leave a loaded gun inside an unlocked drawer in an empty vacation house. If you have a gun to use for your safety, you either store it where you reside everyday, not in a weekend home, or carry it with you everyday, or hire a bodyguard. A spare gun in a vacation home should be kept in a strong box if he is stupid to insist one should be kept there. Obviously, the script writer doesn't know anything about guns and its purpose. The stranger who decides to "experience being a a billionaire by squatting in the vacation home" is only there maybe for a week or days which does not serve his purpose. What an idiotic idea. He did not intend to stay there forever, so why did he declare he wanted to live like a billionaire? Since it is a vacation home, there are no food. The occupier still needs to go out and buy them. He can only enjoy the swimming pool, the sauna, the alcoholic drinks, and the house but nothing else. He is only seen drinking beer or some bottled drink. That's it. He never used the pool nor the sauna. Killing the only believable entrepreneur character is the dumbest idea ever. This movie is written mainly for lazy socialists and brainless viewers who envy rich accomplished people to satisfy their wish in "eating" and killing the rich.😠 There are no backstories for all 3 main characters to understand the stupid wife and the equally d'oh! stupid occupier. The late arrival of a Latino groundskeeper is contrived. He starts doing some noisy work outside which is a head scratcher. He is using a leaf blower or some tool that makes loud noise but the property has no green lawn nor trees very near the house. It is xeriscaped, no grass around and the driveway to the house. The ground is pristine. What is he using the tool for? His death is unnecessary and he is portrayed as lacking in common sense too. Rayciss!

Directing and Cinematography - amateurs

Music - amateur, computer generated garbage, annoying, and incongruous to the particular scenes

Entertainment Value - NIL. Watching paint dry or waiting for water to boil is more exciting. Trust me.

Home Team

tags: comedy, Kevin James, little league sports, Netflix streaming, Sean Payton

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Home Team is the latest movie from Adam Sandler's Happy Madison productions for Netflix. Kevin James plays Sean Payton, the New Orleans Saints head coach who was suspended for the 2012 football season, went home to Texas and ended up coaching his preteen son's football team. Taylor Lautner, Rob Schneider, and Jackie Sandler (Adam's wife) co-star. Sean Payton has a cameo as a janitor near the end of the movie.

I'm not a sports fan but love watching little league sports movies, not the actual sports. One of my favorites is The Sandlot and I was hoping Home Team would be as enjoyable. It is but not as much as The Sandlot which has more of the boys' screen time and funny memorable quotes. Home Team even borrows the barfing scene which is overdone and too gross. I still loved the movie. Worth a re-watch.

The Ridiculous 6 Trailer

Wiki

The Ridiculous 6 is an upcoming American comedy film directed by Frank Coraci and written by Tim Herlihy and Adam Sandler. The film is a satire of westerns in general, and the classic 1960 western, The Magnificent Seven in particular. It stars Sandler, Will Forte, Taylor Lautner, Steve Buscemi, Danny Trejo, Terry Crews, Luke Wilson, Nick Nolte, Rob Schneider and Jorge Garcia. The film will be released worldwide on Netflix on December 11, 2015.

Taylor Lautner acts like a half wit in this satirical Netflix movie. The Mark Twain look-alike at the end of the trailer is also funny. I hope the whole movie is hilarious and can't wait to see it.