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mannin11
Reviews
Killing Eve (2018)
Silly.
Baffling to understand all the acclaim this show has received. Multiple plotholes,, illogical actions by characters and scenes that go nowhere. Good acting all around but the storyline veers all over the place. A lot of lesbian overtones and tasteless humor regarding castration of men. A final episode that lands with a loud klunk and merely sets up the show for a second season. Hard to work out what the whole point of this show is as it is called Killing Eve but the opportunities for the assassin Oksana to do so are constantly sidestepped for absolutely no reason than to move the story in another direction. Baffling illogicalities in the character's actions and unconvincing dialog that merely illustrates the writer's mindset at the moment of writing, possibly inspired by one too many gin and tonics and merely composed for self-amusement. A disappointment this viewer would rather not repeat.
The Wedding Guest (2018)
Great concept, but...!!!
Terrific concept of a man hired to rescue a bride from an arranged marriage in India. Unfortunately not enough twists and turns and a third act with a dopey, sentimental ending. When the girl turns out not to be as much of a victim as one surmised and the story veers towards a will she/won't she double-cross her kidnapper/savior one hopes that the plotting will veer into darker territory. Alas the story becomes merely sentimental and the ending sputters out. A shame as this could have been a terrific watch. The vast majority of the movie is filmed on the streets of India and is a delight to observe. Dev Patel gives a wonderful performance that ALMOST makes up for the deficiencies of the script. One minor observation, late in the film it is very obviously pointed out that Dev's character does not know how to swim, which makes one wonder if the runaway bride will attempt to drown him -- which fails to happen, but thinking back to an earlier scene Dev is observed swimming in a hotel swimming pool. Curious mistake. The film fails to work due to a lackluster script and dialogue that seems improvised. A cut above a lot of low budget movies but needed a better script.
Catherine the Great (2019)
Plodding, vulgar and dull
I was so looking forward to this mini-series but was woefully disappointed. Helen Mirren is a wonderful actress and proves it yet again. Alas, the script was deadly dull, Jason Clark was miscast in the role of her lover Potemkin, having zero chemistry with Mirren, and the beginning, with the murder of Catherine's husband, Peter, which should have been shown as a flashback with a much younger actress, is instead shown with the seventy something Mirren. Historically inaccurate on more than one level, including the reference to Istanbul instead of Constantinople. After two episodes this viewer was reluctant to watch the last two episodes and it was a plodding deadly dull task. The language was vulgar and the sex scenes crude. All in all it needed a much better writer. Dragging yesterday's historical figures down into the gutter to satisfy today's mores is not the way to go. Major disappointment.
Late Night (2019)
Wanted soooo much to like this movie...
Emma Thompson is one of my favorite actresses and I couldn't wait to see her in Late Night, which looks terrific in the trailers. She gives a faultless performance as a late night talk show host about to be canned by the network, who adds a woman to her writing team in hopes of shaking things up and avoiding the inevitable. Screenwriter/ actress Mindy Kaling is unquestionably talented as the former but lacks screen presence as the latter, which happens to be a cruelty of the film-making process. Actresses are as famous for their looks as for their talent and Kaling emerges as a runner-up in the looks department. A lot of wasted opportunities with regard to the predominantly male TV writers who have virtually nothing to distinguish them one from the other. and the wonderful John Lithgow is totally wasted as Thompson's husband, who seems to be simply shuttled out from time to time to provide character background. Thompson's character as written appears to be a knock-off of Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, cold as ice but extremely professional. Highly unlikely that the Kalin character is likely to alter her trajectory. The first half of the movie is entertaining enough but the second half sinks, particularly with a twist towards the end that appears out of nowhere and seems merely convenient to the plot line. The movie lost forty million at the box office in terms of marketing costs, which is a shame. Thompson is superb as always but one wonders how much more successful the movie might have been with a more recognizable actress in the Kaling role. She is a a very talented write,r which might be where she ought to better focus her efforts in the future. I reeeeally wanted to like this movie!
Damn Yankees (1958)
Fun musical but needed a younger leading lady.
Gwen Verdon is recognized as a Broadway legend but in Damn Yankees (the movie) she comes across as waaay too old for the role of the temptress Lola. She was only thirty three but looks at least ten years older and her vamp performance in the hit song Whatever Lola Wants, attempting to seduce baseball player Joe Hardy (Tab Hunter) makes one wince in disbelief at her unattractiveness. Tab Hunter was tagged as a triple threat (can't sing, can't dance, can't act) but his turn in the role of the baseball hero is perfect. While Verdon is unquestionably a superb dancer her lack of looks sinks her performance and turns it into a camp non-starter. The music is great, Ray Walston is superb as the devil, the show is hugely entertaining but one can't help but wonder how much better the movie would have been with a more attractive leading lady. From a distance, onstage, Verdon must have come across as the perfect choice for the role of Lola, but with the closeness of the camera the audience cringes in disbelief. No wonder she had no career as a movie star. This particular reviewer caught her performance in the original stage production of the musical Chicago, together with Chita Rivera, and the immediate reaction was "how old are these two old bags?" Onstage their performances were "acceptable" but on film they would never have worked. There is a lot of talent at work in Damn Yankees, including Tab Hunter, whom NOBODY wanted (except the producer) and this is perfect casting. Alas, Verdon's looks kill what should have been an unforgettable screen role. In years to come historians will look at her performance and wonder why somebody else (less talented perhaps, but more attractive) wasn't cast in the role of Lola. Despite this the movie is still very enjoyable.
A Discovery of Witches (2018)
Witches and vampires and demons, oh my!
Witches, vampires, demons and lesbians! Everything the American viewer yearns for. (What, no zombies?) A twilight saga for the female twenty something, stuck in her college dorm room and pining for escape. Short on action and looong on talk, the first few episodes were interesting enough but the last two episodes sat there like a dead duck. A bunch of people sitting around talking. It seemed like the entire series suddenly hit a brick wall. By the time the eight episode dragged to an end this viewer regretted ever sitting down to watch the series. Definitely a no-no for any subsequent seasons. Competent actors in a lackluster story. A Hallmark Hall of Fame romance for vampire and witch lovers. One for the lonely hearts market.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (2010)
Old bags of Beverly Hills.
Well past their sell-by date, these old broads are frightening to look at. How many hours do they spend in front of the mirror to end up looking like this?. Like an episode of some RuPaul drag queen contest -- without the smarts or personality. These fifty something women are under the impression they are nineteen. Embarrassing to watch. How much plastic surgery have they had and what happened to the spare skin that was thrown away? Dumb, inane, hopelessly untalented, one hopes they have a prenup because once their husbands latch onto something twenty or thirty years younger they are going to be kicked to the curb. One is reminded of the Stepford Wives but they were all young and beautiful and these are -- well, you know what I mean. Not even on a dark and stormy night.
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
A knockout!
Loved, loved, loved this movie! A true story, wholly original with wonderful performances from Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant, this seems like a smalltime heist movie but the performances put it waaay over the top. Funny, sad, HILARIOUSLY funny with the greed and gullibility of booksellers anxious to make a killing from forged letters penned by failed author Lee Israel, purportedly from famous celebrities. Melissa McCarthy proves that her acting talent is far beyond acting in knockabout farces. For a really enjoyable couple of hours viewing I would recommend this to anyone.
The Favourite (2018)
Godawful direction saved by superb performances
The first thing that strikes one once the story begins is how "peculiar" the direction is. Like a film student just out of college who needs to learn that tricks. fish eye lenses, weird camera angles and fancy flourishes are totally unnecessary and merely distract from telling the story. This viewer's reaction was that the director needs to go back to film school to learn how to direct. The second thing that becomes blatantly obvious is that the director is neither American or British (without actually knowing that he is Greek). The directing style is simply odd and leaves one wondering how much better this movie could have been with a more traditional storyteller. Obviously such an off the wall director is instantly embraced as a critic's darling, which kicks the mass audience's appreciation to the curb. What saves this movie is the superb performances from the three supremely talented actresses, all at the top of their form. A lurid script, needlessly peppered with the most graphic four letter words, is saved by the fascinating story and the onscreen battle between all three actresses. Olivia Colman gives an Oscar worthy performance and it would be hard to choose between Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz for best supporting actress. All in all this is an enthralling story that really kicks into action in the third act, when the director stops directing and just allows the actresses to do their work. No question this movie will be nominated for a bunch of Oscars but the tiresome distraction of the director who needs to stop drawing attention to his peculiar style (look at me, look at me, I'm the star of this movie!) would be the least deserved. No question it's going to happen as the critics love him. Oh well, at least we have the fine performances of three wonderful leading ladies.
Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954)
Embarrassingly bad.
VERY low on the totem when it comes to sword and sandals epics. A follow up to the much superior The Robe, this is a Noo Yawk version of events with actors from Noo Joisey or de Bronx. The one standout actor who puts all to shame is the British actor Michael Rennie who wipes everyone else off the screen. Character actor Jay Robinson as the deranges Caligula gives a screeching harpy of a performance, flouncing across the screen in chiffon scarves and cut-off cocktail gowns that belie the real Caligula's ruthless mentality. Victor Mature (who had an impressive presence in gangster movies and rakish charm in musicals) flashes his muscles yet again in another sword and sandals epic, although his outing in Samson and Delilah was vastly superior thanks to Cecil B, De Mille. The glorious Susan Hayward is very badly underserved in the listless role of the evil Messalina who seems to exist merely as a couple of plot points. Hayward was a fine actress and had she been given the opportunity to unsheath her claws could have stolen every scene she appears in. As it is, she spends waaay too much time just lounging around in 20th Century evening gowns and negligees being bad just for the sake of being bad. Audiences were obviously in the mood for this type of movie at the time, evidenced by the fortune it made at the box office, but it benefited from earlier, much better movies. As a critic once said of Victor Mature, "I don't want to see any movie in which the leading man's tits are bigger than the leading lady's." Not a good recommendation.
Bird Box (2018)
Must I FORCE myself to be scared?
America loves zombie apocalypse movies and this is another variation on the theme. Good acting fails to make up for genuine thrills in this outing and one sits there thinking"I guess I'm supposed to be scared in this scene." A Quiet Place, to which this movie has been unfairly compared, is genuinely scary, this one is an acceptable manufactured outing, graced by a major movie star (Bullock) and by a way-too short turn by the wonderful Sarah Paulson. The initial premise -- that anyone who opens their eyes out of doors will go mad and commit suicide -- could be an allegory for anyone who follows Trump, but the real world is scarier than this invented version. Shades of Charlton Heston's Omega Man or Will Smith's remake I Am Legend (which blew it for a sequel when the producers filmed a second, cheesy ending that killed Smith off) come to mind that provided much greater thrills and chills. If you want to see an incredibly scary, beautifully realized forever-classic example of a zombie apocalypse movie that will nail you to your seat in excitement watch the dazzling South Korean movie Train To Busan, with myriad twists and turns and characters you really care about. (When will Hollywood buy it and totally destroy it in a dumb as a brick remake? I beg you, watch the original!) Bird Box can only be described as a halfway decent effort in the horror/zombie genre that fails to rise to the occasion. READ MY LIPS: WATCH TRAIN TO BUSAN!
A Simple Favor (2018)
Absolute claptrap.
One has to wonder how on earth the producers managed to get two popular actresses to appear in this appalling piece of rubbish. What starts off as a serious thriller soon descends into a ridiculous piece of absurd comedy with twists and turns that seem to have been dropped into the mix without any conscious thought about where the story is headed. The tone is wholly uneven, constantly veering into ridiculous lack of logic that leaves one groaning at the sheer stupidity and unbelievability of events. The ending is a WTF did I just watch moment -- and why did I waste my time? Please do yourself a favor -- and don"t waste yours!
The ODESSA File (1974)
Almost works but Forsyth deserved better.
A highly praised thriller writer, William Forsyth is always reliable for providing enthralling stories. The acting in this film adaptation is excellent, especially with Voight and Maximilian Schell. Unfortunately director Neame, a reliable director in so many other movies, stumbles with this interpretation. From a lackluster, plodding opening that should have been cut, together with flashback sequences that badly needed editing, the movie seems dated, particularly with the unnecessary voice overs that would work on the page but don't work on the screen. The movie lacks the speed and flashiness that similar thrillers provide. Neame comes across as too much of a British tradiionalist for the material. Good acting and an explosive final confrontation between Voight and Schell makes up for what would have been a drawn out ending had the story stuck closer to the book's original conclusion. The movie would have been a whole lot better had it been about twenty minutes shorter. Needed a firmer hand in the editing process. Watchable for the acting.
Galveston (2018)
Terrific acting from Ben Foster.
Noir film, brilliantly acted by Ben Foster, who deserves to be a major star. Familiar premise of a hitman who rescues a teenage prostitute and goes on the lam with her and her young daughter. Somewhat overacted by Elle Fanning, who needed to rein in the histrionics - a mistake by the director.. The story holds up well, with twists and turns along the way. Unfortunately the ending lets the whole thing down. Illogical and rushed (as other reviewers have noted!) the story simply peters out instead of ending with a bang. A shame as there was enough good acting and originality to the story to have made it a good watch. Interesting to note that Wikipedia reports the write took his name of the credits when the director made changes he disagreed with. Would have been nice to have seen the original ending instead of the director's.
Ordeal by Innocence (2018)
Plodding and dislikable.
A two hour story stretched out over three hours. Not a single likable character in the whole cast. Agatha Christie stories are always entertaining but this interpretation was dull as ditch water. I understand the ending was changed from the book, not particularly unsatisfying but why mess with the work of a master craftswoman? Overall way too slow and not particularly enjoyable. Wouldn't recommend it.
Flip or Flop Vegas (2017)
Cheap, gaudy, tacky, tasteless. And that's just the hosts. How did this ever get on TV???
First off, Bristol and Aubrey are no Tarek and Christina. Where did HGTV find them, in line at Wal Mart? Zero talent, zero acting ability. Their design capability could only appeal to anyone into either Goth or the Addams Family. Hideous, hideous, hideous! The favorite design color appears to be black. Nothing is cohesive, nothing is original, nothing that would appeal to a discerning buyer. These redesigned homes could only possibly appeal to lower working class individuals who have previously lived in a tenement slum. What qualifications do Bristol and Aubrey have, that they can take a neglected home and make it look even worse? Just how desperate are HGTV that they can renew this show and present it to the public as a quality product? When the hosts ask prospective buyers if they know of anyone who might be interested in purchasing these properties you have to hoot with laughter as the first thing any buyer would have to do is totally redecorate from top to bottom. Doesn't anyone at HGTV realize this couple has ZERO talent? This program is really scraping the bottom of the barrel!
Papillon (2017)
Tired and plodding.
Talented actors merely go through their paces in this lackluster remake of the 1973 flick starring screen legends Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. The director seems to just point the camera and shoot the scenes with no sense of imagination or originality. This could just as well be a video recording for all the dull exchanges. Cliches abound. Everything seems artificial and posed. Did anyone do any in-depth research? If you're going to do a remake of a classic then look for an original angle and provide a sense of movement rather than just pointing the camera and telling the actors to get on with it. The scenery is as pretty as a douche commercial. Unrelentingly "nice". The story lacks any tension. Seen it all before. Perhaps a better writer and a better director? The actors were there but the movie-makers failed to support them. This movie made four and a half million worldwide. What does that tell you?
Collateral (2018)
Too many subplots.
Very well acted, very well written. This series would have been much better in three episodes rather than four. There are soooo many subplots and soooo many characters the viewer spends way too much time trying to put the pieces together and make a coherent whole of things. Endless subplots about an MP and his drug-addicted ex-wife, another concerning a lesbian priest and her illegal immigrant partner, another regarding a female army officer suffering from PTSD. The story wanders all over the place and detracts from the main plot. The whole thing drags in the third episode and wears out the viewer's patience for the conclusion -- which cannot arrive too soon. Shame as the actors are good, the writer is more than qualified but the whole thing needs to be edited down. No wonder there wasn't a second series.
Blue Iguana (2018)
Awful!
Love Sam Rockwell but this movie is an appalling mess. The script seems to have been made up as the film went along. So many untalented English actors. Where the Hell did the producers find them? On the street? Odd scenes thrown in with older upper-class actors that are filth for the sake of filth with nothing to do with the plot and don't shock, merely leave one baffled by their inclusion and aware of the lack of talent of the screenwriter. You'd have to be a sniggering schoolboy to get anything out of these scenes. Rockwell is lost in this mess and should have passed. The wonderful Amanda Donahoe conquers all her scenes and the producers should have been glad to have had her. If you're a fan of Rockwell's (as I am) then give this one a miss. Sam, we love you but you should have passed!
Molly's Game (2017)
Like being talked to death by an ex-girlfriend
First of all, this is a well made movie with excellent performances. Both Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba give Oscar worthy performances. Having said that, the movie is overlong and has WAAAY too much talk. From the opening scene, which gives boring details about ski jumping (who cares -- just cut to the accident which ends Molly Bloom's athletic career and get into he story) to endless, endless unnecessary details about poker terminology, where Molly buys her dresses, what brand of liquor she buys. what labels are on the cheese she serves (who cares?). Aaron Sorkin is a hugely talented TV writer and producer but he seems to have ignored the first rule of film-making and that is that you show, don't tell. EVERYTHING that is shown on the screen is explained in voice over by Chastain, who seems to have been forced to read the book aloud as well as act in the movie. The result is a talk-fest that kills any chance this movie might have at the box office in foreign countries, where action takes precedence over dialog. At two hours and twenty minutes this movie is about half an hour too long. Molly Bloom is the kind of role that actresses would kill for but all the damn talk just wears the viewer down. If ever there was a case of over-writing on the part of the writer, this is it. A shame as the story is there, the performances are there but everything is explained down to the minutest detail that leaves the viewer overwhelmed and drowning in the unnecessary verbiage.
The Durrells (2016)
Great opportunity let down by poor writing
Familiar with the writings of Gerald Durrell, this viewer was looking forward to this "fish out of water" series based on the Corfu trilogy. Alas, alas, the series writer Simon Nye has completely ignored the one basic rule of writing, that your main characters should be likable and interesting. Keeley Hawes plays the put upon mother of the most obnoxious and thoroughly dislikable trio of young adults ever to appear on a TV screen. The only likable child is the fourth and youngest, animal loving Gerald Durrell himself. who unfortunately appears to be lumbered with the one note story line of saving every living thing in sight. Where the older siblings are concerned, the two older brothers are one note characters, arrogant, obnoxious, rude, self-centered and lazy, while their younger sister is more of the same, condescending to the Greek locals, oblivious to her own unattractiveness and unable to understand why no man is interested in her. Whoever selected the actors to fill the roles of the three siblings should be shot for failing to recognize just how bland and unattractive they are and how they totally fail to form a cohesive and believable family whole. Just how ugly and untalented were the actors who were passed over for these roles? This series has so much potential but everything from the writing to the casting is wrong. That the series is running into its third year can only be put down to its premise, DEFINITELY NOT the writing, which only inspires contempt for the three horrid and unsympathetic siblings who treat their mother like dirt and she accepts it!!! Keeley Hawes is an attractive and talented actress but is totally wasted in this godawful interpretation of the Durrell family's life in Corfu. Did nobody bother to read the scripts before this series went into production? What an insult to the memory of Gerald Durrell!
Amy Schumer: The Leather Special (2017)
Crude and vulgar
Filthy, filthy dirty. Crude, vulgar and disgustingly unfunny. An insult to the viewer. What the hell was she thinking? Now that she's made a truckload of money from Trainwreck (which was delightfully inventive and charmingly funny) Schumer has taken a nosedive into the sewer and produced a special that needs to be flushed down the toilet. Every kind of bodily and sexual function is thrown haphazardly at the audience with no rhyme or reason except to prove that women can be foulmouthed skanks. The only thing Schumer misses out on is having a bowel movement onstage. I watched about fifteen minutes of this filth and switched it off. I used to like her as a comedian but if this is the best she can come up with then I'm outta here.
Havenhurst (2016)
Awful, awful, awful!
It all starts with the script -- and this one stinks. Seemingly inspired by the true story of H.H. Holmes, the Torture Doctor of Chicago, who murdered anything up to 200 people, most of them in his mansion/castle full of blind corridors, rooms that could only be opened from the outside, equipped with secret gas lines, and a basement used for dissection, Havenhurst bears many similarities. The movie opens with a great hook but alas, after that it's all downhill. A dopey story that is annoying more than scary, there are good actors in this movie with nothing to do but react to manufactured scares lifted from so many other (better) movies. A great musical soundtrack that is wasted on this inane story. The viewer wants so much to become immersed in the story but the only reaction is how soon does this godawful thing end? The one rave review which this movie gets on IMDb would appear to have been written by someone connected with the production who also knows of a bridge in Brooklyn that is for sale. With so many low budget horror movies being released, there are far better choices than this flick to spend one's money on.
Collide (2016)
What were Hopkins and Kingsley thinking?
When I saw Anthony Hopkins and Ben Kingley's names attached to this movie I thought how bad could it be? Well, it's bad. Really bad. Dumb as a brick. Great chase sequences on the autobahns but a story that is as lame as they come. Girl needs kidney operation so boyfriend hijacks truck full of drugs and gangsters come after him. Endless escapes that happen SOOOO conveniently to keep the story going. Couldn't the producers have sprung for an extra couple of writers to punch up the story and make it less predictable? Were Hopkins and Kingsley so desperate for a paycheck that they were willing to stoop to acting in this trash? Your heart bleeds for them. When I saw the movie cost twenty one million to make I was astounded as I figured well below ten. The distribution company that picked up this movie when the first distributor went bankrupt should pray to God that they don't join the first company in the bankruptcy courts. Don't hold your breath for any solid figures at the box office. And who are the fools likening this to the Fast and the Furious franchise? Not even close!
Eye in the Sky (2015)
Absolute tripe.
I really wanted to see this movie after all the accolades it was given by critics. Just goes to show what a bunch of dimwits they can be when confronted by a cast of good actors saddled with a naff script. A quality production of a totally unconvincing story with a dodgy premise. When a handful of Islamic terrorists, including a radicalized British woman, gather together in a house in a village in Kenya, both British and American military are prepared to take them captive but change their plan to a kill mission on observing two of them being fitted with suicide vests. The pilot of a drone to be used to take them out decides to abort the mission when a small girl is seen selling bread outside the house. Instead of somebody shooting this moron through the head and following through with the mission an interminable series of dumb as a brick arguments takes place between the military brass and their respective British and American governments as to whether the killing of a small girl (selling endless loaves of bread that are replaced as soon as they disappear) is justified when eighty or more civilians might be killed by the suicide bombers. A couple of nifty twists fails to justify what comes across as a totally unconvincing story based on a low ranking pilot's refusal to obey orders. When this halfwit is applauded for his actions at the end of the movie it comes across as merely laughable -- at the very least he should either have been court-martialled for disobeying orders or (preferably) be put up against a wall and shot. And what kind of soldier lapses into tears when finally following through with an order? What a bunch of hand-wringing wimps inhabit this sorry story. The sledgehammer message (is one innocent death justified to save eighty) comes across as absurd in this day and age of widespread terrorism in the world. Good actors can't save this godawful tale. And what a shame that this should be the wonderful Alan Rickman's last. What a huge disappointment.