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Reviews
Everything Will Be Fine in the End (2023)
Powerful work in a first-time feature
One of the things I love about some films is that they don't spell everything out for the audience, leaving room for personal experience to paint a picture. "Everything Will Be Fine in the End" certainly isn't a paint-by-numbers effort, as it effortlessly swerves from absurdist comedy to existential angst to the brutality of the banal, while offering up moments of what could be either enlightenment or self-delusion (possibly both). It's a powerful film, made more so by the fact that, for better or worse, I pretty much know real-life examples of all these characters. The casting is pretty spot on, with actors who very much inhabit their characters on a sometimes disturbing level. Of note is also the score, by director/writer Joe Bartone. This is definitely one that deserves a much wider audience, and I'm looking forward to Bartone's next effort.
Nero Wolfe (1981)
Not even close
Lee Horsley as Archie? You've got to be kidding me. There's zero sense of Archie's intelligence or ability to shift with a situation - traits that are abundantly evident in the books. Horsley just doesn't have the depth of nuance to pull it off. Pretty much the same with Conrad's Wolfe - no sense that he's the smartest person in the room, knows it, and takes satisfaction in rubbing it in everybody's face, especially Inspector Cramer's. Pedestrian scripts, mediocre direction, and lackluster performances are the rule for this short-lived series.