All The Money In The World (2017)
I gave up on 'Trust', which also covered the Getty kidnapping. Kevin Spacey was cast as J. Paul Getty but was replaced by Christopher Plummer. Michelle Williams, Mark Wahlberg and Timothy Hutton co-star. Paul Getty III a slumming Getty heir is kidnapped.
This was frippery. J. Paul Getty does not care about the kidnapping. There was unnecessary and there is cruelty and blighted lives. Getty's fixer Chace annoys. Getty is socially destructive and a woeful human being. Getty has a payphone in his house for guests and his butler provides change.
There is no decency or kindness. Getty is rather dismissive. Reshot actors were infamously paid differently. Getty has persecutory delusions. The police are useless. The social harmony is destabilised and disturbed. Mr Chace seems himself as the saviour. This drags on and on and on.
The kidnapping victim is discredited and smeared. People think the kidnapping is fake and an attempt to gain sympathy. Things go badly and Getty creates a custody issue. Getty faces down all efforts to shame him. He remains entrenched in smug and wants more money. There is a surge in discontent. People on different ends of the ideological spectrum yell.
The infamous ear cutting is shown. There are competing logics and no immensity or urgency. This was throughly disappointing and barely tolerable. Wahlberg does horrifcally pretentious actings. This was a semi serious analysis of the case.
Best Lines:
“Brought the oil out of the Saudi desert.”
“If you can count your money, you're not a billionaire.”
“We're not like you. We were. Once.”
“My father had no interest in me whatsoever.”
“It's awfully small for a Vermeer.”
“Vermeers are small.”
“Teenage boy problems.”
“Strung out in Marakesh with Mick Jagger.”
“You did nothing, all of you.”
“No one did enough. None of us cared enough.”
“Who invests in kidnapped children?”
“Do things to Paul that cannot be undone for any amount of money.”
“Men of risk.”
“No good miserable son of a bitch.”
“So much oil there was no ship big enough to carry it all. So my grandfather invented one. He called it the supertanker.”
~
The Frighteners (1996)
A fake medium has dropped out of life. Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, John Astin, Jeffrey Combs, Dee Wallace Stone, Jake Busey, Chi McBride, R. Lee Ermey, Melanie Lynskey and Julianna McCarthy star.
Ghosts lurk in a small town. A bed moves by itself (though you can see the device moving it), the characters annoy and the con artist (Fox) whines. There is bad dated vfx and shouting. Consistently poor decisions are made. This was not culturally meaningful. This was neither thoroughly compelling or absolutely riveting.
This flopped because the plot does not make a lick of sense. An obviously insane FBI agnet (Combs) lurks muttering to himself and waving an uzi. There was a taste free joke and mood whiplash. This is bad. There is no sense of meance. This was not a tale of a man in an ostracised existence whose isolation has only intensified. The FBI agent is highly resistant to sense.
Best Lines:
“I do not like you!”
“This isn't going to be pleasant.”
“Pseudo religious icon from the 12th century.”
“Don't stop til the screaming starts.”
“YOU'RE VIOLATING MY TERRITORIAL BUBBLE!”
~
Borat (2006)
A downright despicable 'reporter' encounters ugly Americans in this infamous spoof documentary. This was not morally complex. There is complete behavioural dysregulation and increasingly furious people. There is constant near hostility and bitterly opposed Yanks. This film had attention grabbing results. This is not a bleak meditation on the USA. The 'reporter' faces flatering fervour. This was not profoundly unsettling. There is mutual antipathy and this is not rendered unmissable. He's clueless and narcissistic and has startling rudeness.
There is harmful behaviour. 2 naked men fight. The fat guy was last seen in a cameo on 'The Cape'. This was not a tale of desperation. There is vexed opposition. The 'reporter' tries to steal Pamela Anderson. There are hostile stances and this was not properly unnerving and there is no implacable danger and this was mediocre.
Best Lines:
“I'm not used to that but that's fine.”
“Do something useful and dig your mother a grave!”
“Back pussy.”
“Hand-party.”