Mediocre Movie Club Movie Reviews

The Hunt

11/21/2016

B+
3.48

A rural Danish school teacher is accused of a terrible crime.

Directed by Thomas Vinterberg
Starring Mads Mikkelson, Thomas Bo Larsen, and Annika Wedderkop
Initial Review by Joe Setnor

Thomas Vinterberg’s 2012 film “The Hunt” is aptly described as a thriller and some other catchy descriptors like “intense” or “psychological drama.” As a male teacher, however, I just witnessed a damn two hour horror movie of the most epic bloodbath proportions. For that, I hate you Thomas Vinterberg, but I’ll be damned if you didn’t create a beautifully crafted movie that leaves the viewer angry, confused, perhaps less hopeful about the people they surround themselves with.

18 Comments

The Great Dictator

7/18/2016

16 Comments

C+
2.43

In the 1940's, a buffoonish dictator and a harmless Jewish barber look eerily alike.

Directed by Charlie Chaplin
Starring Charlie Chaplin and Jack Oakie
Initial Review by Joe Setnor

Charlie Chaplin's first foray into full-sound movie making, proved to show his brilliance as a complete artist, and one who was well ahead of his time. In the film The Great Dictator, we watch and hear Chaplin weave a beautiful satire built around the political climate of Europe in the 1930s. Chaplin writes, directs, produces, and also stars in two roles for the film. One role, clearly a spoof of Adolf Hitler, is Adenoid Hynkel. The other is the Jewish Barber, who awakes from a 20 or so year coma following an injury in the Great War. Chaplin is surrounded by a host of others that do a fine job, but it's Chaplin who clearly shines the brightest.

16 Comments

The Wave

4/2/2016

8 Comments

B+
3.25

An unorthodox teacher in Germany puts his class through an experiment in autocracy. It works way too well.

Directed by Dennis Gansel
Starring Jurgen Vogel, Frederick Lau, Jennifer Ulrich, and Max Riemelt
Initial Review by Joe Setnor

Die Welle, or The Wave, is a 2008 film that explores the influence that can be felt when a sociopolitical ideology like fascism or nationalism affects the disenfranchised and how quickly one can find him or herself swept up in a movement.. Director Dennis Gansel uses the natural setting of a modern day German high school as the stage for his revolution. Jurgen Vogel plays the classic cinematic cool teacher, Rainer Wenger, who finds his students to be disillusioned with their current state of life. Making statements like “What are we supposed to rebel against?”, “It’s not gonna happen again,” or “We get it, Hitler sucked,” the students doubt when the suggestion of a modern day dictatorship could happen in Germany. Spurred by the student embitterment, or perhaps by his collection of The Ramones and The Clash t-shirts, Wenger puts in motion a classroom experiment that soon builds beyond his control. Built on unity, discipline, and a call to action, the young German students begin contributing to their Greater Good in a movement that becomes known as The Wave.

8 Comments

The Hunt

B+
3.48

The Great Dictator

C+
2.43

The Wave

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The Hunt

B+​3.48

The Great Dictator

C+2.43

The Wave

Authors

Categories

Archives

B+
3.48

C+
2.43