BoyActors - Reviews/Ratings by josephk

Welcome to BoyActors. Login.

Reviews by josephk

Sort by: Title | Rating

480 reviews/ratings - 24 pages (20 reviews/ratings per page)

Womb (2010)

My Movie Rating:

7 / 10

Yôkai daisensô (2005)

My Movie Rating:

7 / 10

Zathura (2005)

The acting's not great, but I found myself enjoying it and getting sucked into the action nevertheless. Jonah Bobo is an absolute cutie.

My Movie Rating:

7 / 10

3000 Miles to Graceland (2001)

My Movie Rating:

6 / 10

800 balas (2002)

My Movie Rating:

6 / 10

Acné (2007)

The synopsis on this profile is taken directly from the press kit. It's fairly accurate, but I have some issues with it. The family doesn't seem that dysfunctional to me. His parents are getting divorced, but you never see them fight and everyone seems to be taking it rather well. Most of the supporting characters remain cardboard, underdeveloped sketches and this is particularly true of the family.

I find it very suspicious and strange that the press kit never once mentions a very key aspect of this film, which is that Rafael is Jewish, goes to an all-Jewish school. He dances with the girl he likes at his bar mitzvah, though she tells him later "it doesn't count." His best friend goes on a trip to Israel and ends up not coming back. The school shows them holocaust films.

I don't get it. So much of the story turns around the fact that he is Jewish, and yet the press kit never mentions it once. It's like they tried to hide it because they thought it would turn people off. Is the filmmaker embarrassed to have that be part of the subject matter? Or is it to avoid controversy because you see young Rafael having sex with prostitutes (in a fairly explicit scene, for one involving a minor), smoking, gambling, and his father involving in similar behaviour on top of getting a divorce?

I have no idea, but it strikes me as rather dishonest. I thought the fact that the characters were Jewish could have added an interesting dimension to the film, especially because I've never seen or heard or read anything about the Jewish community in Uruguay, where the film takes place. In fact, I think this is the first Spanish-language film I ever see about Jewish characters. But I was kind of confused about the director's intentions, and in a lot of ways it felt like the film didn't really have much to say about any of this. Though we are constantly reminded of the characters' Jewish heritage, this doesn't seem to have any kind of impact on the story. And the fact that this whole aspect of the film can be ignored in the press kit seems to support that.

At the end of the day, this is a fairly average coming-of-age story. There are a few nice moments, but it often feels like everyone is just sleepwalking through this movie. There's no real passion in it, either from the actors or from the director. Rather disappointing.

My Movie Rating:

6 / 10

Apt Pupil (1998)

My Movie Rating:

6 / 10

Arachnophobia (1990)

My Movie Rating:

6 / 10

Arlington Road (1999)

My Movie Rating:

6 / 10

The Baby of Macon (1993)

Weird, theatrical and heavy with allegorical significance. As Cal said, it's typical Greenaway, and if you don't know what you're getting yourself into there's a good chance that this won't be your cup of tea. I like some of Greenaway's work, but this was not one of my favourites.

My Movie Rating:

6 / 10

Bach et Bottine (1986)

My Movie Rating:

6 / 10

Before I Wake (2016)

My Movie Rating:

6 / 10

Blank Check (1994)

Much better than I expected, and that's mostly because Brian Bonsall is actually a pretty good actor. Though it's definitely a family film, it doesn't get silly to the point of being annoying, or moralistic/preach, which are the two major fallouts of most films in this category.

My Movie Rating:

6 / 10

The Book Thief (2013)

My Movie Rating:

6 / 10

Boyhood (2014)

It's not a very good movie but it's worth watching just to see the boy growing up.

My Movie Rating:

6 / 10

Bridge to Terabithia (2007)

My Movie Rating:

6 / 10

Child's Play (1988)

My Movie Rating:

6 / 10

A Christmas Carol (1938)

My Movie Rating:

6 / 10

La corsa dell'innocente (1992)

My Movie Rating:

6 / 10

Crazy in Alabama (1999)

My Movie Rating:

6 / 10

This site is non-commercial and is not an official or representative web presence for any of the actors or movies listed. All images and text are the property of their respective owners. Do not link directly to any of the images on this site - please upload them to your own webspace, on the understanding that yours is also a non-commercial site.

While every effort will be made to ensure that no offensive or illegal material is posted on the forums or linked to from the links database, BoyActors administrators accept no responsibility for any content posted or linked to by its members.

PHORM PROHIBITED

The contents of this site, and communications between this site and its users, are protected by database right, copyright, confidentiality and the right not to be intercepted conferred by section 1(3) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. The use of those contents and communications by Internet Service Providers or others to profile or classify users of this site for advertising or other purposes is strictly forbidden.