somf

The story this movie tells is fantastic and heart wrenching. The acting is superb. At times the director makes brilliant choices. Ok done with the good stuff.

What a train wreck. Seriously. I think this director has a great future, but he threw everything into this film but the kitchen sink. I hated the hand held shaky cam stuff. Why did he do that? It tended to be more shaky early in the film so it kind of set me off early and the story and acting had to win me back. The way POV was utilized throughout was very distracting. We are seeing everything unfold through the character on the screens eyes. At times it is really confusing. The camera is the character. No normal film type interactions at all. Sure if works from time to time, but overall it is annoying. The set up to when Elwood gets in trouble is very long and not well constructed. I have not read the novel but I would guess it has a section about the (limited?) legal process that occurs. It would have been a nice touch. Loved some of the odd montages. Hated others. I still gave it an 8. For the gripping story this film tells, but man ,what a weird film.

I did not read the book. I am a 70 year old male. But I thought the film was excellent. Reading between the lines my guess is the book really focused in on the main issue of abuse. And not that the film ignored it whatsoever, but it did have an more straightforward love story approach. Man, I cried 3 or 4 times. It does not hurt that I find Blake Lively to be one of the most captivatingly beautiful women on the planet. She is a really good actress, but I could watch her painting a wall for two hours and not be bored. The story was really good though. I found it melancholy as an older man that had made wrong choices in my life. I married a woman as beautiful as Ms. Lively and had so many talented and lovely women in my life as a young man. But the woman I married was the victim of some of the worst childhood abuse one could imagine. I was going to be her knight in shining armor. Instead I became her co dependent victim for over 30 years of dysfunction, addiction , and alcoholism. Abuse runs both ways.

I always told my daughter, "Never fall in love with a man that does not love and respect their mother." . That may sound trite, but seriously young men are really messed up these days. Toxic masculinity is more prevalent than ever it seems. I digress though. Everyone did a great job with this film. Ignore the haters.

What the heck happened in season 3? I had given the first two seasons 10 stars. Season 3 is a 5. Not sure I will even watch season 4 now. I will give the most egregious example here, but variations of this run all through season 3 . The Jamie Lee Curtis episode in season 2 was my favorite episode. Her malignant narcissist character was spot on, perfectly acted, written and directed. A phenomenal hour of television. She appears in season 3 in a drawn out hospital episode that is cliche and kind of boring. That is pretty much how the whole season goes. There is one very good episode that tells the Trina backstory , but it is truly the only episode all season that did not feel forced. And the Faks, don't get me started on the Faks. There is an ongoing story all season about this concept the Faks call being haunted and it is stupid beyond belief. I liked the Fak characters until this season. Now they are written as caricatures of the first two seasons. I blame the writing more than anything. Man, did it go downhill. When there were so many real emotions in the first two seasons, now everything feels forced. 2 seasons at 10 and one at 4 gives the show an average of 8 stars I guess still. Never been so disappointed about the direction of a show but for the record I did not watch Game of Thrones which apparently had a similar fate in its final season.