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Paul Day
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Reviews
American Horror Story (2011)
S11 Definitely the Worst AHS Season
Why? The subject could have been so powerful. Yet the story line on AIDS was a psychedelic remix of poor 80s sounds and trite disjointed scripting. Was the director asleep? Where was the sparkle of O'Hara from Hotel, the sharpness of Quinto from Haunted House and Asylum? Why does the gorgeous Bernhard simple fizzle away mid story? And LuPone just go out with shrugged shoulders - and does nothing to reflect the spirit if Bette Midler in her bath house beginnings? And the ever angry Mantello, who must have had whiplash from flipping between manic anger and fake compassion? And what a waste of the beautiful Tovey - he tried but clearly poor direction. The cast did not gel and it feels like the series had lost its way.
The only redemption was the gay angel of death who tied in the S01 Rubber Man and offered a hand of strength in the face of so much death.
Deeply disappointed, which takes a lot for me to say given my love affair with Ryan Murphys works generally.
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
At a loss
Two and a half hours into the film and I was non the wiser on where I was being taken. Character and storyline development was sidestepped for a vulgar expression of the American psyche - overt sexuality, the glorification of the abuser with no reference at all to the abused, excess without meaning.
Many seem to believe that this is the crowning achievement of both Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese. DiCaprio clearly lacks the depth of character that he has shown in many of his previous movies. He seems to have taken a step backwards, yelling, screaming and over-acting at every instance. As for Scorsese, more and more over time I am missing the point of his movies. They are - dull and lack the intelligent treatment of characters that he had in his early films.
There are times when you seriously question why directors going off on major tangents in their careers, and why some wonderful actors continue to follow those directors. It is certainly time for DiCaprio to get out from under the shadow of Scorsese who seems to be slowly losing the plot.
I did not enjoy the film in the slightest.
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Brutal, stomach churning
It was stomach churning, pretty horrific and brutal. Clearly the film follows the New Testament scriptures closely, but unless you know the broader "story" you can leave wondering what the point is.
The comments I heard coming out of the US before release about anti-semitism do confuse me. This was about the corruption of power and politics of the religious leaders, rather than about Jewish people. The whole film was about Jewish people, those who tried to help during need and those who sought to protect their position. If anything its a reminder that religious dogmatism is destructive.
It's only half an hour after and I still feel kind of sick. Great movie? You be the judge.
Franchesca Page (1998)
Funny? Glamorous? Hmmmm I don't think so ...
Camp maybe, but I do think this film lacked something. The humour may have suited some, but in Auckland the humour seemed somewhat irrelevant. Thick false accents, bad lip-sink and a thin story line make this one of those films that you should see if you are bored. The drag aspect was charming, but really, keep it in the clubs and not on the big screen.