Reviews

I just finished the show yesterday, and couldn't wait to do so. While I am late to the game viewing it by years, I seriously cant understand the high ratings and hype this show gets.

I give it a 5/10 and while there are many reasons for this I will just focus on one reason. This being the clear lack of depth to the shows plots and characters. I am a viewer that wants in-depth character studies and to really grow to understand the psychology of the characters. I also enjoy layered story-lines and while they don't necessarily have to be resolved, I love analyzing multiple angles. Chase in my opinion failed in this area.

Kudos to Edie Falco and the late James Gandolfini as their performances were great but not enough to carry the show.

Mainly, Chase fails to give the characters any true depth. No - the recurrent sessions with Dr. Melfi where he appears to grapple with his issues with his mother, numerous affairs and dual lifestyle nor the "change of heart" Tony experienced does not count. And suffice it to say I almost threw my remote at the TV by the 10th time Tony kept trying to "philosophically" tell others they were "in pity for themselves". After six seasons I knew the characters no better than I did at the start of the show.

The plot jumped around entirely too much and while I have read that it is not Chase's thing to resolve his story lines, I think too much time was wasted on pointless story lines (Junior in a nursing home, the writers had no clue what to do with AJ and the whole Carmella and Furio thing really?)

In any case, I could keep going as to many other factors that held this show back from being better but it mainly boils down to the fact that this show is OK but not great. In no way does it belong in the league of truly great HBO shows such as The Wire, Six Feet Under and Boardwalk Empire.

While Witness Protection was a slight deviation in quality from Perry's previous films, I saw this one to give him another chance. This movie was awful! I think Perry touched on interesting subject matter in terms of the relationship between the two main characters and the class and race issues which surrounded them. Madea had about two or three funny lines throughout the movie which can be seen in the movie previews. However, the acting was terrible,the storyline dragged and parts of it seemed completely implausible. Who would believe that a "city girl" from Atlanta ends up living on a farm in rural Alabama and still walks around in 5 inch heels on a farm. The random phone call from her ex which started the movie also seemed unbelievable and caused the movie to get off to a very rocky and slow start. After wasting my time with this movie I think Perry should stop making Madea films. The formula is old and not working anymore. Don't waste your time seeing this.

This movie is not for everyone, it was marketed completely wrong and is in fact a very dark film but for those that value complexity and character studies this movie is great. Spritz's character provides a hard to find complexity of character in that Spritz in a sense has a dual personality being that he is a simple man on the outside but a true thinker on the inside that yet has no clear focus in life.

There are many metaphors within the film that many wrote about such as the constant references to fast food but from my perspective there lies another metaphor within the archery hobby that his character picks up. Not only is Nicholas Cage a weather man in a mid life crisis but above all he represents a man that has no focus in life. He aimlessly goes throughout his life with no clear focus in tact. This is clear throughout the movie when he cant remember to keep more than a dollar in his wallet, to bring the tartar sauce nor can he quite remember to stop saying the "F" word.

He takes up archery which is a metaphor for him finding his focus and if one pays close attention as his archery skills strengthen he begins to find what his place is in life is even though it may just be as the weather man and not the great father and son that he once wanted to be because those things were too "out of focus" for him.

I completely see why some may not like this film but I think that this movie is not only relevant to those that may be suffering mid-life crises but it is also relevant to youth and other people that may not be sure of their purpose in life and are on a quest to discover themselves while in the midst of things falling apart. This film takes patience and a certain mindset to appreciate the depressing yet intriguing atmosphere of the film but above all I thought the metaphors were great and that the acting from all cast members was well done. I recommend this film to anyone who is a thinker and is maybe misunderstood in their life.