pagen Reviews

Fringe (2008–2013)

I will watch more

[8/10 · 19 June 2008]

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

I think there is room to improve. But if you go back and watch the first X Files, you will see they had similar trouble at the start.

The good: Graphics and Special Effects were excellent. Horror factor and what they allowed on TV was great. Attractive cast. Wide range of plot ideas introduced early (like Eureka). Great sense of humor in general and comic timing in dialog. Good SciFi! There is sex in this show! Smart bad guys and smarter good girls. Something bigger going on - bad and good or perhaps the same entity. Excellent homage to X-Files with "The Truth . . ."

The Bad: No Chemistry between the leads. Not enough humor. Dark but too slick (as one other commenter noted). The first Indiana Jones used the same horror scene with the face melting. To much the average viewer had to fill in. Pacing was not consistent throughout. Chase scene was wasteful in viewer time and as a plot device. Poor choice of plot devices in general (perhaps I am just jaded). Sex in the pilot may leave us wanting more but perhaps not in a good way if there is no more for a while. And wanting a sexual relationship between the leads is a TIRED plot device for this genre - (Saving Grace is a nice contrast). The dramatic dialog felt stale and very direct. Needed to steal some dialog styles from X-Files (Cryptic) and Millennium (Prophetic).

I will watch the next one!

The Baxter (2005)

The Apartment

[7/10 · 1 January 2006]

Is it just me, or was this an homage to The Apartment (Best Picture – 1960)? Baxter, was played by Jack Lemon in the Billy Wilder classic. I got a feel for it here, but it was a tad shy of a full load for my tastes, but the subtly in places and the "everyone is a Baxter" message were warm and sincere.

Recently I have been spoiled by faster and smother paced silly, love stories by the likes of the Friends' cast, Sandler, and Stiller. Even the classics from the 50's through the 70's often found a more stable pace to encourage us to follow along.

The glacially slow development of the main characters' true desires takes something away from this movie for me. But perhaps that was just the point. Sometimes it takes us to be pushed to the edge to face what we want to do with our love. A little better pacing, a better mixing of the silly and the subtle would have made this an exceptional movie. I will wait hopefully for Michael Showalter's (director/writer ) next effort.