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Chefs (2015)
A great movie for smoking, for anything else, not so much
A very silly story, with a waste of actors, time, etc. The plot seems improbable, the main character, also the director, seemed self-obsessed and it really doesn't help the series. There seemed to be less of a love for food, with more attention paid to competition for the sake of it, with a ridiculous amount of smoking. How can people who smoke this much actually taste anything? Made the whole story implausible to be. Add in the over-the-top Japanese-cliched produce grocer, and the whole thing just seems a farce. The series would also be more enjoyable with one or two genuinely likeable characters.
Non mi lasciare (2022)
Indecisive, plodding, and incoherent
There is nothing remotely competent about this supposed thriller. The lead female actress has an extremely grating, choking sounding voice, and I wondered who on earth told this woman to go into acting. I would have thought that a modestly pleasant sounding voice was the absolute minimum requirement.
The pacing of the show is very slow and the story could easily have been made in half the time. Despite its length, there isn't enough dialogue to answer some basic questions one would naturally have. I couldn't buy the instant deep renewal of friendship after we learn Elena's character disappeared from her friends lives 20 years earlier. Her relationship with Giulia struck me as forced and unnatural. We never get a real answer to the riddle of whatever drama took her away from Venice. Most of the time the series seems not to decide if it's a crime drama or the story of Elena, there's too much camera time spent on her but without much real character development. Although the setting is Venice and there's a fair amount of interesting camera angles, it always seems cold, overcast, and empty, and tourist-less as well. The sound effects and background music seemed intrusive, inappropriate and heavy handed. Worst of all was the way scenes from the present and past are all jumbled up together in seemingly deliberate obfuscation. It was hard work making it to the end of the series.
Without Remorse (2021)
Complete Baloney from Beginning to End
Never read the Tom Clancy book, but frankly, I expected something much better. Why would a company purchase the movie rights and then not use it?
The first half of this movie is basically so dark you can't see anything, and my husband and I kept wondering what was going on. The second half of the movie we just kept wondering how on earth anyone thought this garbage would make a movie. First of all, while I could imagine a female in the role of Greer, it would not be someone who looked like a Somali fashion model. Poor Jodie Turner-Smith doesn't have a voice that conveys anything at all. The sound is muffled and she drones on in a monotone. There is almost no plot, just a lot of dark shooting and fighting that is just a boring, senseless mess. Could we get our evening back please?
Le jeu (2018)
Nasty little film with a pointless ending.
3.5 couples come together for a dinner party. Supposedly they are old friends. Most of the characters are unlikeable in one way or another, and certainly they are inconsiderate of each other. Why they get together at all doesn't make much sense. They agree, most reluctantly, to pool their phones and make their social media messages, phone messages, etc., public to each one of them. We discover that most of them are just as nasty as we might have expected. They all seem to suffer from schadenfreude. The ending is odd and undercuts any point the film may have been attempting to make. One is left with not very much.
The Eddy (2020)
Great music, not much else.
I watched this whole show on Netflix, being grabbed mainly by the superb music and an inside look at the making and makers of music. However, my enjoyment of this was severely marred by the frequently non-existent sub-titles and the mushy delivery of the English dialogue. I'd say that I must have missed at least 80% of the conversation. The only character whose dialogue I usually could hear properly was that of the annoyingly petulant, foul-mouthed daughter Julie, the least sympathetic member of the cast. Considering so much was said in French, Russian, and other unknown-to-me languages, I cannot fathom why whoever supplied some sub-titles did not bother to provide them consistently. I couldn't even really make out most of the English spoken dialogue, let alone the non-English speech. .
As if to add to the confusion, it seemed to me that the script deliberately gives you as little as possible information about the characters, as if they had each spontaneously been generated and catapulted into the band like robots. As other reviewers here have mentioned, the mobster subplot is not convincingly woven into the story and distracts from the other more personal plotlines so that overall, there's no coherent focus. There's a whole lot of time spent watching the main character smoke and look tense. By the end of the series, I had no real feeling of any resolution nor of much concern for any of the characters in the story. The main takeaway for me was the sumptuous music.
Porterhouse Blue (1987)
Clever satire weighed down by intrusive music
There were some very funny moments in this series. However, the pacing overall is slow thanks to innumerable interruptions of senseless, unfunny, mildly unpleasant music. Cutting out 1/2 hour of the music would have resulted in a more humorous series.
Manhunt (2019)
Excellent crime story suffers from constant annoying drone
Manhunt is a worthy show, an interesting, well-told story. If it were not for the monotonous and annoying background music consisting of essentially one note which goes on and on and on, I'd have given Manhunt a 10. Two stars were knocked off for the annoyance factor, and I'm being generous because it simply wasn't necessary to have such repetitive ear-worm like noise.
Wise Blood (1979)
A comedy? Are you serious?
An utter waste of time, I had a very hard time staying awake, and kept wondering why on earth my father had recommended this film so highly. It's not his normal type of entertainment. Nothing much happens plotwise, and it all happens extremely slowly. The film contains consistently dark underlit sets. I found none of the characters convincing at all and the dialogue seemed incompetent and nonsensical. It is completely unclear why Hazel Motes is such a self-centered, angry young man and what he hopes to accomplish but his personality, bearing, and looks are so unpleasant the idea of his preaching to get money makes no sense whatsoever. No one would ever listen to this man preach, let alone give him money. Quite simply, I found nothing to like in the movie, and it was painfully boring. In my opinion, those who rave about this film are of the group of people for whom extreme unlikeability is the hallmark of true art. The more incomprehensible and unpleasant, the higher the raving. I am not a member of this group.
Death at a Funeral (2007)
Fire the writers and try again
I'm assuming that the glowing reviews appearing here are from those who quite simply haven't been around as long as I have, or simply haven't seen that many genuinely funny examples of black humor. There was nothing of the dry witty Brit humor we've come to love, and resorting to constant "potty jokes" is just an insult to the intellect. The characters aren't even fully explained, ie. we never find out who the two nit-wits driving a car who end up helping Uncle Alfie up the steps are, or what is their connection to the deceased. The script plays as if it was written by someone in a single day. No, the lines aren't funny either.
If you want some dry, broad, or black humor, watch the series "Waiting for God", Doc Martin, Fawlty Towers, and especially the wonderful classic film The Wrong Box!
800 Words (2015)
Really Wanted to Like This
There is a lot going for this show, including the scenery, subject matter, and acting. However, a lot of the characters are just downright annoying, especially the self-centered, lazy daughter. The father seems to be completely clueless and unwilling to actually be a father to the kids. I found it infuriating that they lie and cheat and Dad just keeps picking up the bills. I also found the townspeople and their constant irresponsible gossip downright irritating. We're supposed to love these people, but they have no sense of respect for each other and readily spill confidences and spread slander willy-nilly. The way in which they completely ignore Woody's wishes with respect to his wedding made my blood boil. Add to this the fact that sex seems to be the only thing on any of the characters' minds, and the whole series adds up to a large quotient of juvenility. This series could have been much much better.
McLeod's Daughters (2001)
Farm Life is Hard Indeed!
Whenever it's time to rate a long-running series, it's difficult to know what to do. Having watched the entire 8 season program, I have to admit some of the episodes were wonderful, the overall concept is excellent, but there is also the tendency to wear out, due to frequent cast withdrawals, new cast members, and loss of inspiration for new material. These tendencies are common to many if not most series.
There's a peculiar phenomenon which I have termed "Downton Abbey Syndrome", that features a long drawn out romance between two leads which creates an agreeable state of suspense (at least for female viewers) as to when will these two actually get together. When this finally happens, there are a few happy moments of wedded life, then a complete tragedy which takes the life of one of the young newlyweds. Does the audience feel let down and completely cheated? you bet! Unfortunately for this series, Downton Abbey Syndrom occurs not once but several times. While I sympathize with the writers who have to pick up the pieces when cast members leave, I get pretty darn frustrated with a story that is so terribly gutted.
What I found most gripping about this series was actually the many details about the daily life and work of sheep & cattle ranching. I've no idea how realistic the story is, but the constant work of securing fences, watching out for feed issues such as watching out for potentially poisonous pasture plants, ensuring health for the animals, treating disease, assisting in birthing, etc, were new to me and interesting. If it is really this difficult, I'm surprised these animals haven't become extinct! The show, while lauding the efforts of those who farm, doesn't do a lot of romanticising about it either.
I enjoyed many of the characters, especially Claire, Tess, Nick, Becky, Grace, Regan, and Dave Brewer, the vet. Stevie's character was a bit tiresome for me, possibly due to the quirky speech patterns and body gestures of the actress playing her. The development of Becky and Grace was the most interesting for me, along with the unusual relationship between Phil and Moira. I was less impressed with the way Dave Brewer's character was written. The original character portrayed a rather unusual but refreshing local vet, but he is eventually written out as well, and the further development of that story line struck me as particularly weak. Grace's character is very nuanced and I was disappointed that we don't get to see her finally enabled to be successful in love. In fact, I thought there was much more chemistry between her and Marcus than there was between Marcus and Ingrid.
And finally, what increasingly ruined the last few seasons for me was the constant stream of disasters, ie fires, car accidents, chronic cattle theft, failed livestock sales, drought, disease, etc. There was just so much misery that befell the Drovers Run - Killarney crew that the show ultimately loses its credibility.
So my rating is just a pale average, due to some episodes being rated probably 9, while others might have earned a 4 or 5. It's mostly a show which I believe will appeal to women rather than men. Whether it's worth the time involved or not, is a matter of how much time you have on hand, and your individual taste.
The Durrells (2016)
Verdict Still Up in the Air
As I've been going through an especially painful time in my personal life, I have more patience than I should have with this Durrells in Corfu series. The first few episodes show a family full of sociopathic, narcissistic, moronic children who make you want to horsewhip them. Keeley Hawes plays their impossibly helpless mother, who long ago should have gone on strike. Well, as I said, I am patient, and have gone on watching and now am caught up with Season 3 Episode 4. I'd say the children become slightly more lovable, although the youngest son strikes me as on the way towards his own intolerability. Overall, given the time period and the setting, I'd have to say that there isn't much that is believable in this series. The family exhibits not the slightest interest in learning to speak modern Greek so they can fit in, the children are spoiled in a way which would have been inconceivable in the 1930s, and there is not much of a flavor of anything foreign. How on earth is young Gerry's menagerie being fed? How does the family manage to stay alive, given that no one has the slightest inclination to get a job or keep one? And what I wonder over and over again is where is Spiros' wife and children? How can he be so close to the Durrells and have his own family play no part in this program? Where is the atmosphere that we are in Greece at all? How can any female be drawn to the loutish, self-centered characters that are Larry and Leslie? And why on earth are the British so intent on showing us copious smoking? Are they being paid by the tobacco companies to promote use of their products? Sometimes I wonder if the actors are capable of acting without cigarettes. (and not just in this series!). The whole conception of this series seems somewhat simple-minded and hackneyed: cool, repressed British folk move to hot-blooded warm country and become un-repressed, and let their hair down, and we all celebrate, right? The story is filled with attitudes fashionable to the pseudo-intellectuals of our own time so naturally we have to feature miserable repressed homosexuals and coarse language whether they fit the story or not. There are a few pleasurable moments in the series, among which are the new otter babies, any scene involving Spiros, etc. The sad fact of this series is that it makes it less likely that I will ever read anything actually written by the Durrells.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017)
Unfunny, tone-deaf, and anachronistic, should have hired Jerry Seinfeld to write this.
The capsule description of this series hinted at some great entertainment, but sadly, it fails in every regard save that of acting and of wardrobe interest.
My first big annoyance was with the soundtrack: way too many songs, makes the writer's job easier, as less imagination or dialog has to be written. Unfortunately, the music doesn't strike a single genuine note. At times, I felt we were in the 1940s, sometimes, the later 60s, but the whole doing the 50s thing was definitely off.
The dialog, in addition to being hard to follow, constantly sounds strident, exaggerated, overbearing, and not even remotely funny. Worse still, it sounds with all its coarse sexual overtones and constant expletives as if it were spoken today. I'm wondering if the writers are young Gentiles from the west coast who aren't at all familiar with this milieu. I love New York Jewish humor, but this wasn't it. In fact, the sit-come Rhoda was a lot funnier and more to the point than this series. The characters are over the top and frankly, their behavior is just unbelievable, which I wouldn't mind if it was funny, Brash tone-deal predictability just spoils all of this for me, and the incessant interruptions of someone's fave pop songs put so much distance between the audience and the drama that I find it hard to care enough to stick through one more episode.
Las chicas del cable (2017)
Awful music, derivative plot with same-old political-social Agenda....sigh...
I have enjoyed several Spanish series on Netflix, including Gran Hotel, Velvet, and The Time in Between, so I was eager to see Cable Girls. Sadly, this felt like the typical trashy American series, where stereotypical characters move through the plot which is nothing more than a smokescreen for a diatribe on how much discrimination there is (actually, was) against women and how important it is to have total sexual freedom all the time whenever etc. Oh, and you can also throw in the current faddish cause du jour of the tragically misgendered. All of these issues are thrust first and foremost over any real or deep characters. Marga seemed to be a potentially interesting character, but then in a paucity of actual inspiration, the writers just have her speaking too fast and breaking up and getting back together again so often it appeared to be a re-channeling of characters from Velvet. I had a hard time warming up to any of the characters, including the main one who is stupid enough to give up her love for the opinions of a handful of co-workers, thus ruining her fiancee's life. I found this hard to believe.
As if it weren't bad enough to be subjected to an obvious piece of dogmatic propaganda, I also had to suffer through hours of music that is painfully out of its time period. Seriously, why bother with all the 20s era stuff, and just slap comtemporary pop over it? Why set the story in the 20s at all? Is it just to be able to make the case for women's liberation? Go preach this in the Middle East.
And as for Netflix, one of the reasons I watch international drama series is to get something different and hopefully more honest and interesting than the usual US entertainment drivel. Sadly, this show demonstrates that there isn't much difference between Spanish culture and US culture.
The Choir (1995)
Outstanding, so why oh why no DVD?
This was an outstanding British series with a complex set of interactions between factions within a cathedral town. The cast includes a fantastic group of many well-known British actors and actresses, including Nicholas Pennell, Peter Vaughn, James Fox, etc. This show has so much going for it, I can't believe the powers that be have yet to make this available as a DVD release. I'm assuming this is a BBC show, but not sure. If so, it figures that they haven't yet released it. They are still sitting around with many other shows I've waited over a decade for, such as the superb Josephine Tey drama, th3 1986 Brat Farrar, or the 1982 TV movie version of Agatha Christie's Spider's Web, starring Penelope Keith. Please please make this available for sale!!!!!
Çalikusu (2013)
Are you kidding me??
After slogging through 72 gut-wrenching episodes of this Turkish series, the whole thing ends without an ending. Prepare to feel completely manipulated.....
DEFINITE SPOILERS.....
Although there are some worthy aspects to Çalikusu, chief of which is all the stunning acting of the two principals Fahriye Evcen and Burak Özçivit as well as many others, the show adds up to some less than satisfying entertainment. It contains moments of great poetic and musical beauty, which I'm guessing are hints of the treasure of traditional Turkish culture, and also the potential of a beautiful love story.
Set against these positives is some tediously repetitive theme music, which, although pleasant for one or two episodes, has long outworn its welcome by the time you've seen 10 episodes, and I'm being kind.... Parts of the story are ridiculously slow, as if the directors are simply filling in time slots on TV and stretching out the story as long as is humanly (or inhumanly as the case may be) to do so. I'd say you could make a really nice series covering the story perfectly in half the running time.
What annoys me more than anything however is the "will they-won't they" get together tension. Is there a final split at the end of this series? It seems that there is, and if so, then it's just plain cruel to the viewer as well as not really believable. The main character, Feride (the Lovebird), abandons her wedding at the last minute because of some incompletely revealed supposed infidelity of the groom. In case you are still reading but haven't seen the show, the only indiscretion comes during a drunken moment after Feride has decisively broken up with her beau Kamran, and so is not an infidelity at all. Hearing a reference to some vague liaison is enough for the main character to chuck a lifetime's trust and relationship without even confronting her fiancé to get his side of the story. She doesn't even ask the "other woman" Azelya what exactly happened, nor does Azelya, who supposedly likes Feride better than all the other characters in the story, bother to enunciate or clarify the fact that Kamran is not at all guilty of infidelity. This sort of impulsive and shallow act the heroine Feride brags is her finest achievement. At this point, I've lost all respect for the character, and thus ends all of the viewers long-awaited hopes for any sort of final happiness or resolution.
In fact, her behavior reminds me a lot of the last Turkish series I viewed, Kurt Seyit ve Sura, where a heroine casts off her beau of several years without giving him the chance to defend himself, for unfaithfulness after she had already given him the boot.
This seems to be a theme in Turkish drama that makes no sense, rendering the heroines repellent. Do these women expect to tell a man "it's over" several times, then get miffed if the guy goes off with another girl in an attempt to drown his sorrows? Can this behavior really be considered so unforgivable? Why doesn't someone tell these women they have no right to make demands on a lover they have rejected. I can't understand it at all, and despite being a woman, I find myself on the hero's side yet again.
The ending is loose enough with the hero waiting at a train station, the clock hits 11:30, "Is she coming?" --we never find out! I felt cheated completely, and fairly angry at having spent so much time watching it. Considering that so much of the story consists of evil people plotting to foil the central lovers, which is of course infuriating, you'd think at least they could let us have a sweet wind-up after all the suffering.
If there are any knowledgeable people here on Turkish drama, please let me know if this is typical for Turkish TV series, because if so, I don't want to spend anymore time on long long long agonizing but doomed love affairs....
Kurt Seyit ve Sura (2014)
Some great acting, historical setting, but painfully slow at times
I have long suspected that there were many worthwhile films and series being made in Turkey, but until Netflix introduced a few of them just recently, it hasn't been easy to find a way to view any of them in English. So, it was an unexpected delight to finally have the chance to view one from start to finish.
One of the prime pleasures of viewing international films/series is the opportunity to experience another culture, another time and place. Sadly, so many American productions are set in the same old same old, and even our historic settings often don't seem to avoid sounding and looking contemporary.
Kurt Seyit ve Sura takes place in parts of Russia, the Crimea, Istanbul, and some other parts of today's Turkey, during WWI, the Russian Revolution, and its aftermath of British occupation of Istanbul. I learned quite a bit of history previously unknown to me, and spent some time reading related articles on Wikipedia, etc. The scenery, costumes, etc. were fascinating to me.
Also especially enjoyable in this series was some wonderful acting by Kivanç Tatlitug, Fahriye Evcen, and others who have yet to be notated in the cast list here. Among these are the husband of Güzide, the mother of Murvet, Uncle Ali, and many others.
On the downside, the pacing of this series is very slow, with emotional moments slowed down even further. I'm sure at least 2-3 entire episode- lengths could have easily been pruned from the story. The musical themes which introduce characters and situations are very obvious and annoyingly repetitive. I found myself fast-forwarding at times just to speed up musical interludes.
What I enjoyed least in the series is the character of Sura herself, whom I wanted to strangle frequently.
Possible Spoiler Alert: She begins as a charming and innocent young lady, but never seems to acquire any genuine understanding or wisdom. Why on earth does she continue to blame Seyit for disappearing on their wedding day after she learns that he was kidnapped? What on earth does she expect? Her failure to trust him or extend any forgiveness at all renders her an unlovable character to me, and so I was rooting for Murvet all along, and would have appreciated seeing a lot more of Murvet and a lot less of Sura. It was hard for me to believe in this big romance between Seyit & Sura when Sura seemed such a self-centered and immature character, who constantly rejects Seyit and then blames him for moving on with his life. What does she expect him to do? This part of the drama seemed to drag on endlessly and lend a feeling of anticlimax to the series as a whole.
Overall, I'm not sorry for having stuck out the series, and will continue to watch for more Turkish dramas. I also look forward to seeing more of Kivanç Tatlitug and Fahriye Evcen, and others.
Så som i himmelen (2004)
Histrionic, Unrealistic Drivel, full of Stereotypes
This movie seemed to be a sure winner based on reviews, yet my husband and I were shocked at the terrible acting by Michael Nyquist, the overblown behavior as well as superficiality of all the characters, the presence of everyone's (sadly, it would seem) favorite paper tiger faux-Christian pastor stereotype, and an aimless wandering plot, not to mention the completely unrealistic cop-out ending.
There are endless long shots of Daniel (Nyquist) simply staring, without any clue as to what he is thinking or feeling, and there is precious little spoken dialogue, even when he is accused irrationally and unjustly by town gossips. Is this some sort of pathetic attempt to equate him to the Christ who offers no defense in the court of Pontius Pilate? Are we supposed to think he is autistic? Why the heck doesn't he respond? It comes across as wholly unrealistic.
As a committed Christian, I find the constant view of Christians as narrow-minded, sexually repressed hypocrites downright offensive as well as unrealistic. PLEASE people. Sex just happens to be God's idea, not ours! And yes indeed I know a few hypocrites who are Christians, but I also know a whole lot of non-Christian hypocrites as well. Hypocrisy, as well as every other moral failure, is to be found in the human race as a whole. And any serious Christian would surely know how severely Jesus judged the hypocrites of his day.
At the least, the cardboard caricature of the priest was simply a crashing bore, reducing the plot lines to a childishly simple narrative of black and white without any coloration.
The musical aspect of this film was the biggest disappointment to me. Having an extensive classical music background myself, heavily weighted with choral singing experience, I found the musical examples, and the behavior of all the choir folks, and Daniel in particular, to be cheesy, atypical, and as if musical ignoramuses had made this movie.
Epic failure.
Jerichow (2008)
Meh...
This is really a movie which didn't need to be made. I watched it because I greatly admire Benno Fuhrmann's work in North Face and in Joyeux Noel (a wonderful film, BTW).
Enough folks here have done the comparisons with Double Indemnity, etc. etc. The acting and cinematography and realism of this film are all perfectly adequate. However, there isn't much character development, and therefore, not nearly enough to make me care about the 3 main characters. In fact, the one we get to know best is actually the Turkish husband, and I had more sympathy for him in a way that for the two protagonists, largely because we don't really know them. The movie isn't full of a bunch of intriguing plot twists, and the action is relatively slow-moving. The aspect of this film which most interested us was the setting in a part of Germany which none of us have seen. My husband is German, and the part we know is the extreme southwest, nothing northeast. We were also interested to see contemporary Germany actually being depicted. But, I'm sorry, this just isn't enough to justify the amount of time.
Producers and directors need to be reminded that people today have a host of other entertainment options available to them and any movie they make should be MORE interesting than say, watching a ballgame on TV, surfing the internet, playing video games, sex with spouse, camping in the woods, going out to dinner with friends, watching YouTube, etc. etc. In other words, having an interesting, entrancing story is, at least in my mind, a good half the value of a film. Unfortunately, so many movies today just don't seem to be aware of the demand for a decent story, and I don't get that. I read a lot of thriller novels, excellently written, all of which would make fantastic films, and furthermore, I know from the authors themselves that they have sold the rights to make a movie from the books. So, I ask myself, why aren't THESE stories becoming movies, instead of a lot of the ho-hum stuff that does become film?
Y tu mamá también (2001)
Depressing Story of Two Unattractive Teenaged Boys
I knew it. Invariably when I have seen a film with especially sordid unappealing characters, a lot of crude sex scenes, and a morally incoherent worldview, I know that the film will receive rave reviews from the sort of pseudo-intellectuals who think the presence of drugs and sex in a movie, along with a lack of dramatically satisfying resolution is somehow proof of a film's high merit. And I can see from many of the reviews here that I am sadly right.
Y Tu Mama Tambien is a fairly schizoid film in that on the surface the story is of two spoiled brats whiling away summer break and their coastal trip with a sad young wife who is leaving her husband, but there is a constant subtext of commentary, some of it voice-over, some woven subtly into the story about contemporary Mexico, the disillusionment of young people with their world as well as general angst of the people with their nation.
Unfortunately, the surface story is not very interesting. A lot of explicit sex scenes starring the two teenagers, Julio & Tenoch, cannot distract one from the fact that their characters, as well as the actors themselves, are, physically unattractive, dislikeable, and one-dimensional. As a result, the sex isn't even very sexy. The young woman, Luisa, is the only character in the film, other than some of the kindly villagers met during their trip, for whom I felt the slightest sympathy, and even she struck me as somewhat unbelievable. She alone seems to have something of a conscience, or to show concern for anyone other than herself. Julio and Tenoch evince no affection for their family members, no interest in anything outside of sex, nicotine and drugs, view women as receptacles, have no obligations of any sort---where are their parents? So, although Julio unlike Tenoch is not from a wealthy family, he seems to be remarkably free from responsibilities. Spending time watching them was painful, and I kept thinking, okay, surely there is something more to this film.
On the other level, the one which seems to reach for some sort of political/economic/philosophical commentary, the movie didn't really work. The voice-overs imply that we can expect something deeper, some really pithy observations, but the story doesn't really deliver anything. The narrations serve to put distance between us and the drama. I couldn't see the point in observing what would happen in a traffic accident on the road in the past or the future, for example, yet it takes up time in the film. Once it became clear that these interruptions would not develop further, the film seemed increasingly amateurish.
At the end I felt somewhat depressed at the narcissism and vacuousness of the lead characters and felt I'd been drinking from a septic tank.
Hong gao liang (1988)
Not Quite Ready for Prime Time
Well, I admit that I am a fan of Zhang Yimou's movies, but this film seems to me inept, ill-paced, tedious, poorly edited, and somewhat propagandizing in overall feel. Yes, some of the imagery and cinematography is stunning, yes, Li Gong is fabulous, but altogether, it doesn't seem to add up to much. There are long stretches of film with literally no movement at all, no narration, no sound (usually the last thing about which I complain!), and nothing happening. The lack of continuity or explanation of events makes for a disjointed story. It isn't helped by the extremely inept English subtitles which accompany the copy I viewed from my local library. I hope someone will release a version with a decent set of subtitles. Honestly, most of the international students I know, including those from China, could do a better job of translating the subtitles.
All in all, this film seems promising but extremely amateurish, a quality which seems to endear it to those buffs of "art films".
A Dangerous Method (2011)
Unpleasant Characters & Uninteresting Story
Primarily I watched this movie to see what all the Michael Fassbender fuss was about, not because I am inherently interested in either Sigmund Freud or Carl Jung. The movie fails for me for several reasons, the chief of which is that the three main characters are somewhat repellent. Most disgusting to me is the disdain Jung and deranged paramour Keira Knightly (sorry, can't remember the character's name)show for the unselfish love which maintains and nurtures a monogamous marriage. I was especially disgusted at the scene which showed the two of them lounging in the sailboat which was so sweetly given to her husband as a gift by Mrs. Jung, who should receive the Enabler of the Century Oscar for continuing to bankroll such a dirtbag. All this championing of supposed human "freedom" is just a whole lot of self-worship without any consideration of others. I found it all rather nauseating, especially the unattractive mangy-looking Dr. Gross bragging about his sexual exploits.
Now, on to my reactions to Keira Knightly. First off, I have never been a fan of hers. In my opinion, not only is she not all that pretty, but she flirts her way through every role with a simpering expression that assumes that everyone in the world is going to want to bed her. It's the cheap and obvious road to take for a female star, and she chooses it every time. I loathed her in Pride and Prejudice especially. The UK has oodles of actresses much better than KK. Her accent moves all over the map, sometimes sounding vaguely European, then English, sometimes American. Whatever, it was always inconsistent and odd. The jutting out chin is something she always has anyway, and in most roles she uses it to express romantic petulance. Ugh.
Viggo Mortensen was the best thing about this film, in my opinion. I enjoyed him in Eastern Promises, a film which I enjoyed much more than I expected. Still, I can't say that this oh so earnest story has enough that is interesting to make it worth your while to watch Viggo's Sigmund playing with his cigar. I didn't learn anything more about psychoanalysis other than the fact that these two men take it and themselves terribly seriously, and that they both are giant egos.
A lot of the film is just, well, boring.
Bordertown (1995)
Pot-Boiler Extraordinaire
I checked this out of my local library because of my admiration for Cate Blanchett. Her role in this long drama is actually a fairly minor one, and probably the least well-delineated character. I can't believe I made it through all the episodes, disliking it as much as I did. The best aspect of this drama is the outstanding acting 3 individuals: Mitchell Butel in the character of Nino, Linda Cropper as Bev, and Geoff Morrell as H. G. Bates. All three were new names for me, hence their performances were not only outstanding and subtle enough to nearly convince me to believe in the narrative, but also provided the excitement of discovering new (to me) talent!
Sadly, the drama has many flaws, the worst of which is the inability to understand clearly much of the speech, especially that of Louisa, who is the voice of the narrator. Her British dialect is so thick that throughout the first few episodes I understood more of the Italian! Had the DVD set I borrowed actually included subtitles, the whole drama would have been clearer and more enjoyable. Does such a version exist, I wonder? I also found the pace to be deadly slow, with a great deal of time spent in various characters mooning and fantasizing about unrequited or dead lovers and in small groups of sad characters drinking themselves into oblivion. As a surprising murder takes place and lovers go back and forth, pregnancies occur, miscarriages are planned and carried out, etc. It seems that the story has devolved into a huge soap opera, spinning way beyond a believable tale. All in all, many characters are just annoying if not outright wicked. Yet, somehow, the writer assumes we will find them lovable or deserving of interest anyway. The relentless self-pity of some of characters is simply tedious. I found it impossible to believe in the Louisa-Nino relationship, ditto the Bev-Joe relationship. At the end, I felt inexpressibly sad for Geoff Morrell's character. Cate Blanchett's character is unpleasant and not really comprehensible. In short, the immigrant camp is a collection of raging drama-queens! Most of the dramatic tension in this series is created by the question of whether different characters will commit suicide or not. None of them have anything on their minds other than their sex lives or alcohol. Surely, such a diverse collection of people would yield something a bit more interesting, but this writer doesn't have the imagination to go there.
Behaving Badly (1989)
Moving Farce, Not Believable But Has its Moments
Well, this is definitely a story with flaws, but I took it to be more of a work in the tradition of dry British comedy, and enjoyed it as such. It isn't quite light-hearted enough or fast-paced enough as comedy, but the situations are so clearly ridiculous, and one does so enjoy seeing the dirtbag husband placed in such awkward predicaments, I can't say I'm sorry to have watched it. Among the flaws are a serious miscasting of the part of Rebecca with Frances Barber. I am an admirer of Ms. Barber's acting, but frankly, she is simply too old for this part. Instead of looking at least 20 years younger than Judi Dench, she looks more like maybe only 10 years younger. And Ms. Barber has a rather worldly look about her (due to age, I suppose) that doesn't make the points this series attempts to make about age as clearly as it wants. All in all, I'd have to say this was an unbelievably poor mistake. The mother in law is rather tedious, but even so, she had her moments of the fantastic. I can understand that there are few people who would find this entertaining, but for what it's worth, I enjoyed it.
Gosford Park (2001)
Brilliant Cast in Unfocused Story Ultimately Unsatisfying
I know there are many fans of Robert Altman out there, mystifying though that is to me. I did somewhat enjoy Nashville, BUT, his particular style does not leave sufficient time or space on film to develop the characters in any depth, nor do we see any real growth.
I had a similar reaction to this film, but found Gosford Park even less satisfying, thanks to the very high hopes I had based on the writing of Julian Fellowes, which has been so magnificent in Downton Abbey, and on the sheer number of extremely talented actors/actresses in the cast. Sadly, all of this talent is wasted in this film. Mr. Altman seems not to have sufficient regard for his audience to feel that it is necessary to actually tell a story.
The result for me is a film which doesn't know what it wants to accomplish - will this be a rich, rewarding drama of lives affording us the opportunity to care about intriguing characters, or will this be a brain-teasing British mystery? Sadly, as a mystery it is an epic failure, since the murder in the story and its solution seem not to interest the filmmaker at all and none of it is really resolved. As a British drama, it also fails miserably, in that we don't really get much of the interactions of the characters to learn enough about them to be interested or to care what they do.
In fact, I will be forced to muddle through this film a second time (should I even waste my time?) merely to see which character goes with which name. There is no excuse for this sort of sloppiness, regardless of whether that is Robert Altman's personal style or not. Perhaps he just is an incompetent director? I would love to see this film remade with the same cast including an extra 30 minutes of screenplay written by good old J. Fellowes. As it now stands, it doesn't quite add up to a whole story.