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Reviews
Sensitive Skin (2014)
Kim Cattrall is captivating
Kim gives a truely wonderful performance, she is both subtle and overtly emotional in all the right places. She lays bare the heart and soul of her character, making her both tough as nails, then frail and vulnerable. Davina becomes a character that is immensely relateable as she navigates the uncertainties and regrets and hopes of those of us who are sliding between middle age and seniorhood.
There are also a couple of very entertaing supporting turns by Elliot Gould at his low-key , subtle comedic best, and the wonderful Mary Walsh in top form, delivering her lines with her characteristic acerbic wit and aplomb.
There was a problem for me though, with the performance of Don McKellar as Al. It was such an unevenly developed characterization, he seemed at times to be going for a Woody Allen vibe, but lacked the necessary spontenaity, wit, and energy. At other times he tried to be profound and philosophical, but the lines that were supposed to be breezy and off-the-cuff, just came across as a badly written speech and were delivered with all the subtlety of pieces of falling concrete.
But thankfully Kim was almost always onscreen, and she singlehandedly carried the entire weight of the story, with a less skilled actress at the helm, the entire premise of this series could have easily slipped into soapy melodrama. But instead it was a very engaging exploration of the human experience of aging.
Red Rose (2022)
Common formula, but executed far better than normal.
Yes the premise is rather formulaic, but there are so many aspects of this series that set it head and shoulders above all the other similar- themed attempts.
The performances are universally strong- impressive for a cast made up of mostly young actors.
There is a thread of ambiguity running throughout that creates a sustained sense of mystery and unpredictability , this made it almost addictively watchable.
The cinematography is crisp, the camera work is steady- no jarring music or camera acrobatics used for cheap effects.
There is a great sense of authenticity in the dialogue, the character development, and the pace- the story unfolds at the speed of real life. Its gritty without being bleak, and portrays the multi-faceted dynamics of friendships and family.
Highly recommended!, its a smart and engrossing take on a theme
thats in danger of becming overused.
Ozark (2017)
Its about as close to perfect as you can get.
I found myself hooked from the first few minutes in, and it never let up. Normally these kinds of series seem to drag on unecessarilly , but you never get the sense that this show is being padded with dead filler. I actually wanted it to go on much longer even after watching it right up to the end of the last season.
There is so much to like about Ozark: cinematography is spot-on, lightingis superb; direction is tight but fluid when it needs to be; plot is engrossing but also has an air of unpredictability, many things happen both unexpectedly and immediately, no character is safe, everyone is caught up in the same web.
And then there is the top-notch acting, theres hardly a weak performance to be found. Especially of note are the electrifying turns by Laura Linney and Julia Garner, you literally cannot take your eyes off them when they are onscreen. I also really enjoyed the wonderful, against-type performance of Richard Thomas as Wendy's father.
Its refreshing to watch a series like this where none of the characters need to be paragons of virtue, they are each flawed and alternate between goodness and evil, sacrifice and greed, and torn between what they want to do , what they should do, and what they ultimately need to do.
Its ultimately an extremely engrossing set of character studies caught up in the snowball effect of an ever-thickening plot, not only very watchable, but riveting.
I would have given a rating of 10, but for 2 things: Jason Bateman just comes off as wooden and uninteresting to me, i get that his character is supposed to emotionally shut off, but he always looks and sounds like he wishes he was somewhere else. And the second issue i had is the absolutely senseless and unnecessary ending where Ruth is killed, it seemed so jarring and inconsistant, very unfair to the heavily invested viewers.
However, these minor peeves aside, i highly recommend all seasons of Ozark, it was the ultimate in highly entertaing, addictive, and well crafted escapism.
Luther: The Fallen Sun (2023)
a hot mess
What might have been a fast paced, tense, clever movie is simply reduced to a pile of rubble. This has got to be the absolute worst victim of bad editing ive seen in such a big budget production.
The story is strung together in such a jarringly disjointed fashion that its all but impossible to follow. Character development is non-existant, and ive experiended more tension watching my cat chase a mouse.
The lofty reach of this movie far exceeds what it is able to grasp.
The things that should be developed and drawn out to create suspense are inexplicably rushed; and the trivial parts are given too much space. I did watch the entire thing hoping it would redeem itself, but it didn't. Chopping at least 20 minutes of its run time would have been a great improvement, for starters.
Undercover (2019)
Solid structure and highly engrossing.
This series is a perfect example of what can happen when all the elements of great film making are present:
The acting is above average, the plot is both intelligent and utterly engaging, the writing is spot-on, the pace is absolutely crackling , the tension builds and releases in all the right places.
One very refreshing thing here is that the characters make believeable decisions and actions. The characterization is very well developed and every character is allowed to be flawed= there are no 2 dimensional stereotypes.
Overall I highly rate the series and recommend it, you will be riveted by the fascinating characters and the convoluted but never confusing plots. It moves along like a roller coaster ride!
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018)
decently entertaing but severely lacking in focus.
The very best things about this series are the cinematography and the sets. There is a fairytale atmosphere seemingly inspired by some of TimBurton's best films.
The biggest flaws of the series are the horribly one dimensional characters, the lack of continuity in character development and the sledgehammer style of inserted wokeness , feminism, transgenderism, bullying, mysogeny, etc. Etc......
all of these issues are introduced awkwardly and dealt with clumsily, using stereotyped 'bad guys' as the foil. Also, none of it adds anything whatsoever to the storyline, except to bog it down and rob it of focus.
Also, somewhat disappointingly, it presents witches as both satan worshippers and cannibals! It becomes increasing difficult as the series unfolds to either sympathize with, or even like the witch characters.
Though well produced this series is unoriginal and not at all thought-provoking, and thats a shame because it could have.
Its not consistently dark enough to be frightening, not witty or self aware enough to be satirical, not campy enough to fun, and not (by a long shot) well written enough to be character study.
And it pays more than a passing homage to classic supernatural movies of yesteryear, at times it seems like outright theivery. Youll see elements of The Exorcist, Ghostbusters, Harry Potter, Sleepy Hollow, Rosemarys Baby, and there are more .....
Oerall i cant recommend this series except as an unorigal but mildly entertaing diversion that has teriffic sets.
Crooked House (2017)
Satisfyin on most levels
Whats good:
The Dame herself- Agatha Christie has written yet another unexpected twist into the end of the plot, and thankfully (and perhaps bravely as it is an unpleasant premise) this film adaptation sticks to it.
A couple of enetertaining performances: Glenn Close is fun to watch, she chews the scenery with relish, but its restrained enough when it needs to be. Gillian ANderson is a blast, she really has proved to be a master of transformation in the latter part of her career and she is almost unrecogni zeaible here, a bit over the top here to be sure, but it alleviates the solemnity of the rest of the cast.
The titular house itself is a feast for the eyes and perfect as a stage for the story to unfold itself in. It is almost a character in itself.
Whats not so good:
Some really weak performances: Max Irons who is supposed to be the leading man and also a brilliant detective just lacks the weight and the presence to pull this off convincingly, he is bland and underwhelming and lacks either much humour or much intelligence. Christina Hendricks could have done so much more with this role, she is capable of delivering a searing , sexually charged performance but unfortunately just never seems to ignite the screen here. Perhaps some of her better work was left on the cutting room floor. There are a few other disappointments here too: some of the performances seem phoned in: 2 dimensional and undeveloped. A bit more tight editing might have helped out as well, the fil could easily lose about 20 min. Of non relevant material that do nothing to propel the momentum.
Im rating the film as definitely watchable, but dont expect a masterpiece. Christie's plotting delivers the goods like always but unfortunately the film does not follow her strict sense of pacing.
The Good Liar (2019)
Lies are not quite convincing enough
The 2 lead poerformances are , as could go without saying, wonderful. The veteran actors are in fine form and deliver the goods as expected. They are both so good and so seasoned it scarcely looks like they are working.
That aside. The film left me wanting something more thaan it ultimately delivered, and i feel slightly cheated because it should have, and could have been more. It dabbled in bits of this and bits of that but never actually commited to being any one thing> Is it a con man caper movie ? A dark story of personal vengance? A labyrinthine journey where nothing is as it seems? Well as it turns out it tries by times to be all of these things and in the process became a segmented if not disjointed effort.
Those looking for any kind of real suspense had best look elsewhere, there is very little here, and what there is is clunky. There is also no real twist either in the middle or the end. The only thing we find out at the end is the reason for betty's motive, everything else is expected and known by that point.
This movie can be eagerly recommended for the performances of Mirren and Mckellan, but honestly, in the hands of lesser actors it would have been an uninspired watch.
Good Girls (2018)
mostly watchable but for a few flaws.......
Things got off to a strong start here, my attention was grabbed and held. There are a lot of things to like: quirky and imperfect characters, some convoluted but not confusing plotlines, some witty dialogue, some fantastic chemistry,and i particularily loved the cinematography and music.
There are however , some flaws that prove almost but not quite fatal: the first and most glaring of these is the length of the series, it should have been edited down to 3 seasons. There just plain and simple isnt enough material to flesh out 4 seasons without some very boring repeated scenarios. There is also a very obvious and very unnecessary wokeness that runs ramapnt .
I have to admit i binge watched the series and did a lot of editing myself by skipping thru large sections . Otherwisde i would not have made it through all 4 seasons. I found that watching the series was like mining fior gold - there was a lot of dross to be discarded, but the nuggets made it worth the effort.
There was an almost universal excellence in the quality of the performances, the exception i think being the Annie character, by the end of season 2 she had become a caracature rather than a character, annoying and underdeveloped. I loved the Retta character , i think hers was the most well rounded and grounded performance of all, she was like an anchor that held the whole story together through all the unevenness.
Also weakening the story was a rather schizophrenic dance between comedy and dark drama, which although not impossible to blend, just seemed odd and disjointed here much of the time.
Having said all this though, i did indeed like then series enough to recommend it . I believe that i may have liked it for different reasons than most people did . The most compelling and watchable thing for me was the complicated and rather twisted relationship between Beth and Rio. Watching how it grew and developed and became this weird but real combination of fear, revulsion, lust , dependence , and on some level it turned into a kind of love. Beth saw in Rio what she hated but also what she grew to desire, the way we all want to be bad sometimes but cant quite bring ourselves to live out. Are any of us as good as we think we are? And if circumstances suddenly changed and opportunities arose, would we abandon the safety of the mundane for the allure of the dark longings we all secretly have?