Poorly written with a supreme lack of deep plot structure. Husband's a bit nuts, wife's a bit nuts and lots of syringes available. Acting was good - script was bad. Over and dusted in about one episode I'd have thought.
Reviews
10 Reviews
Widows
(2018)
A PALE COPY
23 November 2018
Why this was even made, is the only mystery with any drama, in this annoying film. The original English series based on the Lynda de Plante novel and her screenplay, was terrific. Filled with strong performances that made sense, and actresses who brought serious dimensions, it made you believe in the widows' quest and hope for a win.
All out the window with this overblown and soppy version. Viola Davis does her haunted and pained "woman against the world but I will triumph" look all the way through. Worked once in 'The Help" but tedious after being re-cycled time and time again. Paired with Lian Neeson, she runs off the rails and into a limp biscuit. What a waste of Colin Farrell, and what an example of how American movies overthink the English subtle production.
I'm too underwhelmed too comment further!
All out the window with this overblown and soppy version. Viola Davis does her haunted and pained "woman against the world but I will triumph" look all the way through. Worked once in 'The Help" but tedious after being re-cycled time and time again. Paired with Lian Neeson, she runs off the rails and into a limp biscuit. What a waste of Colin Farrell, and what an example of how American movies overthink the English subtle production.
I'm too underwhelmed too comment further!
Sherlack of
4 June 2018
Oh my god indeed you predictable church members! Sadly the director cast a weird ensemble of hits and misses.
However crime of high darkness was casting someone similar to an Irish nearly made it ex boy band member as the key reality character Inspector. Long scruff hair and sweetly high pitch voice asks too much for suspension of disbelief that this leprechaun could ever get to pound around Scotland Yard. Grated. Script holes as big as Sherlock's magnifying glass and tedious sound imbalance makes the good as dribbled out treat.
Just no my dear Watson.
Visual treat. Plot mess
2 June 2018
Warning: Spoilers
OMG this is stunning to watch! You are transported immediately into an era of lavish furnishings, overstuffed drawing rooms and gorgeous, rustling taffetas. The interior house shots are lit and filmed with a disturbing gloominess. The camera work is excellent.
However. The plot and execution are tedious. One or two shock revelations and a roaming leopard is the drama total. The slim plot about a cunning bachelor who marries three times for mortgage payments is padded out more than an over-stuffed footstool.
Jeremy Brett nearly falls into hysteria but reins in his acting, which given a coherent script could have been a legendary performance
Given the lavish production, it's frustrating to not see a perfect match with the script.
However. The plot and execution are tedious. One or two shock revelations and a roaming leopard is the drama total. The slim plot about a cunning bachelor who marries three times for mortgage payments is padded out more than an over-stuffed footstool.
Jeremy Brett nearly falls into hysteria but reins in his acting, which given a coherent script could have been a legendary performance
Given the lavish production, it's frustrating to not see a perfect match with the script.
Manhattan Romance
(2014)
Subtle and European
3 November 2017
A genuine modern tale. O'Brien takes the role of a gentle and nice guy with strength and depth. He has written dialogue for the messed up of today. His complicated guy actually is one of the most interesting male characters in a contemporary movie. He doesn't fall over for the strong and articulate women and holds his own. Being alone is part of his completeness and he doesn't see it as a problem. He bats off the usual gay slings so pointedly thrown at single guys today without a concern of personal intrusion. And he moves gracefully around complicated sexual people with ease. Scattered throughout are tiny snips of relationships as they fall, rise and find their centres. It's a talky movie and all the better for it.
Before We Go
(I) (2014)
Lite 'n easy
18 June 2017
Nearly deep but drifts away when it could have got stuck in. Alice Eve just could not add a layer of drama to turn the delicate script into a serious examination of what holds hearts in place. By the end of their night the words "Entitled whinger" crept into my brain as her slight pout and dull eyes brought nothing. How true the words "don't make a man your shrink". Poor old Nick had to listen and listen. She needed passion and fire to convince the audience she was more than another princess having a naughty husband. Chris Evans acts deeply with the script but paired with an acting queen could have made a rocket instead of a dumpling.
Bad Moms
(2016)
Nearly.
28 May 2017
Hangover writers know guys. End of their list from this attempt to lay lads'behaviour over moms. Mothers behaving badly need writers who know how to write girly dirty but tight. Frustratingly, everything good was in place with a great cast and production. But the material gets a big fat "C". For big fat clichés. Plus suspension of disbelief gets a workout. Main husband provides glossy house but too big a stretch to imagine him having any business success, let alone a mid-life crisis car. Martha Stewart handing out jelly shots, fbombs at PTA's and non-mom sex jokes. It makes it all cross between a frat house loser party and Sex In The City except in the suburbs.
Pl
23 September 2015
No cringing here. This is vintage Australian movie making at its best. Script, casting, directions, delicate camera work - just a perfect production.This had all the ingredients for being soppy and clichéd, but tight scripting and direction keeps it together all the way to its simple ending. It recognizes Peter Allen career as being one filled with the gritty boringness of trying to make it,until his ship sailed in with the all-sails blazing Judy Garland, played in perfect balance by Sigrid Thornton, a role that could have so easily slipped into parody. The clever flatness of colour at times poignantly captures an era of post war Australia when all was not easy on the home-front, but new sounds and media were innocently arising. This series reveals how the Australian film industry has been so dreadfully neglected, as it showcases the ability of our homegrown talent to make world class entertainment.
The Trip to Italy
(2014)
If only the inflatable boat in the early scene had sunk.
26 November 2014
Could only be called two idiots abroad. Calculated 'rambles' and cringe-inducing dialogue of nothingness.
Full screen filled with their fairly boring faces while frustratingly, Italy, in all its green and aromatic glory is reduced to playing a background fleeting extra. Beautiful food is given a brisk token summary of a Benidorm-type review, while unbearable fractured Italian and pompous guide-book knowledge makes one wish their inflated boat would sink immediately with their over-inflated egos.
An arrogant treatment of Italy, combined with the most pathetic belief that these two have anything interesting to say, will leave you searching for Italian for 'where is a Borgia when you need one?"
Full screen filled with their fairly boring faces while frustratingly, Italy, in all its green and aromatic glory is reduced to playing a background fleeting extra. Beautiful food is given a brisk token summary of a Benidorm-type review, while unbearable fractured Italian and pompous guide-book knowledge makes one wish their inflated boat would sink immediately with their over-inflated egos.
An arrogant treatment of Italy, combined with the most pathetic belief that these two have anything interesting to say, will leave you searching for Italian for 'where is a Borgia when you need one?"
A beautiful construction about the feelings of growing up, rather than just what happens.
23 March 2014
I avoided this at the movies as I - a) had not read the book, b) thought from the title it would about high school proms, mean girls and a Cinderella make-over. So here was The Perks of Being a Wallflower, on PayTv. A tale of three people in High School, with the main character, Charlie battling through a long hard back story.There I was at the end of this absorbing, beautiful film in gratitude for the combined talents that brought this to the screen.
Where Stephen Chbosky and his team succeed is the refreshing presumption that not everything has to be explained. Scenes move on quickly, words are spare.The audience has to think its way through - just as the characters need to do in their confusing corridors of life.
Every character cast provides such a solid acting framework, which meant there was never a moment when the film loses its pace. For example, short scene psychiatrists are often portrayed by an anonymous name, stereo sympathy and a low key performance in a white coat. But Joan Cusack's performance leaps out to allow the suffering Charlie onto a hefty key point platform which keeps the film strong. Elegant acting and artistic direction bring us parents who let us imagine their suffering, rather than the usual high drama scenes of wringing hands and sobbing mothers.And Paul Rudd's performance as an English teacher could have fallen straight into an overdrawn caricature. Thankfully, like all the cast, he acts with refined restraint.
This is a sophisticated film with incredible subtlety, that shows not all teenage films have to have shrieking, long haired blondes or dumbed down story-lines. And by using actors who can really act, suspension of disbelief is easy. It also brings home that successful books, which authors have spent time and care in getting right, make the best translation to film when Hollywood doesn't decide to put a 'spin' on them!
Where Stephen Chbosky and his team succeed is the refreshing presumption that not everything has to be explained. Scenes move on quickly, words are spare.The audience has to think its way through - just as the characters need to do in their confusing corridors of life.
Every character cast provides such a solid acting framework, which meant there was never a moment when the film loses its pace. For example, short scene psychiatrists are often portrayed by an anonymous name, stereo sympathy and a low key performance in a white coat. But Joan Cusack's performance leaps out to allow the suffering Charlie onto a hefty key point platform which keeps the film strong. Elegant acting and artistic direction bring us parents who let us imagine their suffering, rather than the usual high drama scenes of wringing hands and sobbing mothers.And Paul Rudd's performance as an English teacher could have fallen straight into an overdrawn caricature. Thankfully, like all the cast, he acts with refined restraint.
This is a sophisticated film with incredible subtlety, that shows not all teenage films have to have shrieking, long haired blondes or dumbed down story-lines. And by using actors who can really act, suspension of disbelief is easy. It also brings home that successful books, which authors have spent time and care in getting right, make the best translation to film when Hollywood doesn't decide to put a 'spin' on them!
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