"The "Zeroville" that screenwriters Paul Feltan and Ian Olds strip-mined from Erickson's book is all surface. And it's not even a convincing surface at that, but rather a mess of cheap gels and jaundiced lighting; at worst it looks like an insult to everything the source material held sacred."David Ehrlich, IndieWire.
Reviews
16 Reviews
Georgetown
(2019)
Criminally squandered great story and great actors
7 March 2022
Only after reading the New York Times article The Worst Marriage in Georgetown on which the poor movie is based on, one can fully comprehend how badly this great story was squandered by poor scriptwriting and dilettante director. One of the best actresses on the planet Annette Bening was suffering with cliche lines which resulted in poor performance. It should have been directed by a real director and developed as a TV series. To quote Benjamin Lee from Guardian:
"Scenes feel like rehearsals, lines read like early drafts, the score is intrusive and staging seems awkward, the end result a clear example of someone biting off far more than they can chew."
Munich: The Edge of War
(2021)
If it weren't for the horrible editing, the writing would be the worst part
6 February 2022
The editing is so unnecessary hectic, and it wants to artificially make up for the lack of dramatic intensity in this poorly made film that is hard to believe is made by always amazing British filmmakers. A lot of wasted talent in the acting department.
Yentl
(1983)
The kitsch ending summarizes all the faults of the adaptation -I.B. Singer
30 October 2021
The Nobel prize winner, Isaac Bashevis Singer written of ''Yentl the Yeshiva Boy,'' that Streisand adapted into a film:
"I did not find artistic merit neither in the adaptation, nor in the directing. ....Miss Streisand lacked guidance. She got much, perhaps too much advice and information from various rabbis, but rabbis cannot replace a director. The Talmudic quotations and allusions did not help.
Let's imagine a scriptwriter who decides that Mme. Bovary should end up taking a cruise along the Riviera or that Anna Karenina should marry an American millionaire instead of committing suicide, and Dostoyevski's Raskolnikov should become a Wall Street broker instead of going to Siberia. This is what Miss Streisand did by making Yentl, whose greatest passion was the Torah, go on a ship to America, singing at the top of her lungs. Why would she decide to go to America? Weren't there enough yeshivas in Poland or in Lithuania where she could continue to study? Was going to America Miss Streisand's idea of a happy ending for Yentl? What would Yentl have done in America? Worked in a sweatshop 12 hours a day where there is no time for learning? Would she try to marry a salesman in New York, move to the Bronx or to Brooklyn and rent an apartment with an ice box and a dumbwaiter? This kitsch ending summarizes all the faults of the adaptation. It was done without any kinship to Yentl's character, her ideals, her sacrifice, her great passion for spiritual achievement. As it is, the whole splashy production has nothing but a commercial value.
Let's imagine a scriptwriter who decides that Mme. Bovary should end up taking a cruise along the Riviera or that Anna Karenina should marry an American millionaire instead of committing suicide, and Dostoyevski's Raskolnikov should become a Wall Street broker instead of going to Siberia. This is what Miss Streisand did by making Yentl, whose greatest passion was the Torah, go on a ship to America, singing at the top of her lungs. Why would she decide to go to America? Weren't there enough yeshivas in Poland or in Lithuania where she could continue to study? Was going to America Miss Streisand's idea of a happy ending for Yentl? What would Yentl have done in America? Worked in a sweatshop 12 hours a day where there is no time for learning? Would she try to marry a salesman in New York, move to the Bronx or to Brooklyn and rent an apartment with an ice box and a dumbwaiter? This kitsch ending summarizes all the faults of the adaptation. It was done without any kinship to Yentl's character, her ideals, her sacrifice, her great passion for spiritual achievement. As it is, the whole splashy production has nothing but a commercial value.
News of the World
(2020)
Love T. Hanks but didn't finish the move
6 March 2021
Well acted, well filmed, but so predictable that you don't have the urge to finish watching it.
Variety said the the best:""News of the World" may work for those who find themselves invested in the relationship between this wounded officer and his feral charge, but as the story of a man who reads the news to "anyone with 10 cents and the time to hear it," your time and your dime might be better invested somewhere else."
The Prince of Tides
(1991)
Midlife crissis vanity project
13 August 2020
The whole time while watching it, I was wandering what director would make this ludicrously pompous, self congratulating character out of Streisand's character, and insisting on the ridiculous "sexy" shots of her legs in high heals so not subtly and totally out of story context. The whole character of Barbara Streisand and the story line with her son was so ludicrous , naive and unearned, like it was inserted from the other film. Then at the end I have learned from the credits that she was a director and and her son played the character of her son. That explained a lot! And also explained how this sappy, contrived, artificial film that cannot decide whether is sappy melodrama or "serious family drama" film got 7 Oscar Nominations! Nick Nolte is great but he acts in his own film.
Space Force
(2020–2022)
Amazing technical features, cringe-worthy lines, cheap jokes that never land
31 May 2020
Under-developed father-daughter bonding moments, ineffective social commentary, obvious discussions about racist stereotypes and the odd serious moment of self-reflection which doesn't work. Space Force seems to be so concerned with trying to be both a light comedy and a serious drama about real political issues that it ends up forgetting about the most basic things. We are never given a reason to like any of the characters: the lack of backstory to explain their motives, combined with a lead whose most memorable feature is a very annoying, fake-sounding voice, makes for a show in which each of the ten thirthy-minute long episodes is perceived like a very long Terrence Malick film in itself.
Despite its amazing technical features, Space Force suffers from a screenplay that gets us used to jokes that never land and exciting things that never happen, as well as cringe-worthy lines such as "my fuel makes your rocket burn" and "have you addressed the possible hazard of werewolves on the moon?". One episode after the other (that is, if you get past Episode 2's animal weirdness), you get used to the lenghty conversations and cheap jokes.
McMillions
(2020)
This series-bigger scam than the scam it portraits. Way bellow HBO standard
11 March 2020
The whole series is disgrace, but especially the last 2 episodes are disgraceful example of milking of shallow subjects and non existing theme, repeating the same points while delaying the predicable, irrelevant end. Disgrace for the HBO. Pretensions empty 30 minute TV reportage blown to TV series.
Shalow, glamorizing portrait on a rasist narcissist
28 December 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Shallow, glamorizing portrait on a rasist narcissist. The artificial emotion is not earned. The ending of spelling ashes, filmed by amateurs, is ridiculously fitting end of pretentious life that was not tragic at all. The film tried to make it "tragic".
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