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HMVincent
Reviews
Penny Dreadful (2014)
Magic of editing
I watched this some time ago, then again. Every scene was framed and cut so beautifully it was a great pleasure to watch it. A frame could be divided by 4 or 6 or 8 and all the elements fit into those spaces. A wonderful experience..
Hold the Dark (2018)
Relentless & violent
Relentless. Violent. Puzzling. Not a horror flick, but a thriller surrounded by ice and cold and darkness. It takes place in the days around the winter solstice, when daylight, if clouds are few, lasts only five or six hours, and the sun barely tops the trees. The massacre is a breathless wonder. There is great scenic beauty in the film if you're not stuck in the dark.
Now for a MASSIVE SPOILER. Watching this film led me to buy the book, a lyrical thing like Cormac McCarthy's novels, full of men's thoughts and violence and beauty but not nearly as long. There is a good reason why she kills the boy and why he and she walk off in the end. There is a reason why they look so much alike. The people in the village will never tell the police that the husband and wife are brother and sister.
Defying Gravity (2009)
Silly but lovely
I had no expectations for this show. I'd never heard of it till the week before its eighth (and maybe last) episode. I have no television: I watch shows online. I was looking for something with Ron Livingston in it, after watching "Band of Brothers".
The science and junior-high atmosphere are ridiculous, of course, but I enjoy the slow pace and the wonderment of space. In one narration Donner says, "How the hell did I get here?" I think, if I were aboard Antares as a trained astronaut, I would wonder how I got there, often. After an all-hands meeting, Mintz suggests that they take a moment to remember where they are, then he lowers the light so that they may gaze on Earth and the Moon. That was a nice moment. I think I would alternate between gazing in awe at what surrounds the ship, and cringing in fear at what DOESN'T surround the ship: air.
The mystery of Beta is lovely. I don't care what it is, it's enough that it makes it okay to add weirdness to the story. I'm not familiar with Laura Harris, but she is a lovely and talented actress, and makes a nice foil to Livingston's Donner. Livingston does an extraordinary job, particularly when he reacts with fear and confusion to his hallucinations.
The episodes have improved as the show progresses. At this writing the show has stopped after episode eight, and may not resume. I will be sorry not to see the remainder of the season.
Wire in the Blood: Prayer of the Bone (2008)
Very good but also cartoonish
While watching "Prayer of the Bone" I thought of "No Country for Old Men". This episode is very good but could have been VERY good, on a par with "Space: Above & Beyond" episodes "River of Stars" and "Who Monitors the Birds?" The story takes place in Austin, Texas, which is in the Texas Hill Country. Tony refers to the landscape as "flat," but it is not flat there, and "hot" which it is.
Tony Hill, as a hired expert, is asked to determine if a murder suspect, Grady, was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder when he killed his wife and children. No one questions that Grady killed them, only his motive for doing so.
There are not that many main characters, but they are not well-developed. A woman who belongs to some organization (I couldn't catch the name or its purpose) comes to Tony's motel room twice, uninvited, to rail at him. The defense attorney never seems to act in Grady's defense. The sheriff's character is paper-thin; so is that of his son, with a dollop of weird and hostile that is over-acted, I think. And then the fellow with the pet rattlesnakes is entertaining, but huh? That last died from multiple rattlesnake bites after an enemy sets the snakes loose from their cages by BREAKING the GLASS walls of the cages - surely he could have just lifted the lids??? And the sheriff's officers never said a word about the smashed glass - "Well, a man who keeps snakes should expect to get bitten." That's my take, it's not a quote.
A storyline is introduced involving drug dealers, a lot of money, corruption, and politics, but it's just to move the main story along. But then, what is this? The real murderer's motive is lust for Grady's wife, not money or power? There is some silly editing here and there, compressing some action into a second or two: Tony's rented car bounces in a vaudeville way on an uneven road; the mysterious woman scoots from one area of a prison yard to another. What is the purpose of that? If the story were stronger without the side trips, if the characters were developed a little more, if the silliness were removed, this episode could have been as good as a standalone movie.
Kitchen (2007)
Too much frill on the plate.
I agree, "Kitchen" is fun for the first half, and the character Danny is likable. It is also fun to see actors who played parts in "Rome." All hail to the Scots, but the Scottish accent is difficult to interpret, for this American. It does not affect the quality of the production, only my enjoyment of it.
Danny's antics are fun until they take a strange and unbelievable twist. At about the same time, other characters' stories take twists, too, mostly hard to believe. Eddie's character Nick is almost hidden by all the melodrama.
The food looked okay - I wouldn't mind eating at that restaurant as long as I don't know what they do in the kitchen.
Dr. Fischer of Geneva (1984)
Humiliating
I haven't seen this since it aired twenty years ago. How I would love to see it again, to see the excruciating, humiliating dinner parties with the "toads" as guests, greedy for their gifts from the host for whom they care nothing. The last party, so beautiful with the torches and carpets outside in the snow, has the one trick gift that will put an end to it all. The principals turn in wonderful performances, and there are a number of character actors whose performances are memorable.
Please, let us see this on DVD, before there is no one left to add commentary.
Die Kinder (1990)
Kinder Lost
I liked this series, which aired on PBS back in the day. I have always been a Frederic Forrest fan, and to see the character he played, cynical and pot-gutted, was a treat. I wish the series were available on DVD, as is "Traffik."
If I remember correctly, a woman loses her children. Police and so on either can't or won't help her to find them. She hires Forrest's character to help her to find them. He is in it for the money, but at the end he finds that he actually cares about what they are doing, and makes an effort and a sacrifice.
As the series progresses, you learn that terrorists are involved. The opening credits reflect this, by revealing a tiny bit more each episode (blurry images become sharper, a short scene gets longer). I thought it was clever.
I've seen other reviews of this sort written by people who did not like this series at all. I may be the only one who does; who knows?
Stories of Lost Souls (2005)
Pointless
The stories are (1) "A Whole New Day" with James Gandolfini; (2) "Euston Road" with Paul Bettany; (3) "Standing Room Only" with Hugh Jackman, Michael Gambon, et al.; (4) "New Year's Eve" with Keira Knightley and other more interesting people; (5) "Sniper 470" with Billy Boyd; (6) "Bangers" with Cate Blanchett.
These are all made very well, but they are pointless. When each ends, you ask, "But what was that all ABOUT." I can see a case for "Sniper 470" and for "Bangers." In "A Whole New Day," Gandolfini's character wakes up with a hangover, in his own apartment that's been emptied of family, furniture, and decoration. His cell phone works, but he can't call his wife, because she, in their stuffed home with screaming kids, is calling around looking for him. The story looks like it will turn Twilight Zoney, but very soon we learn the boring reason for it all.
In "Euston Road," con man Bettany invites a gullible mark to make seven guesses as to why the con man has no money. The mark bites, the con man wins, the end.
"Standing Room Only" has no dialogue. You see people line up for a stage show, and one character gets in a snit because she can't get one of the last tickets. Later, after the show, the people who were in line meet up outside the backstage door, and take pictures of each other. A trick is revealed. You will know what the trick is long beforehand, because of the heaviness of heavy makeup.
In "New Year's Eve," a shallow man gets a comeuppance. However, others deserving the same are not touched.
"Sniper 470" is a long piece, or at least it feels long, with Billy Boyd as the title character and no one else is in view. He is a sniper in space during an interplanetary conflict, and most of the short shows what he does during his actionless days in weightless space. The boredom leads nicely into a terrifying (for him) ending.
"Bangers" shows a Cate Blanchett's character preparing bangers and mash for herself and her mother, all the while talking to the cat and showing that she is coming apart at the seams. I would give Ms. Blanchett an award for this one - she is utterly convincing.
Fureur (2003)
Not cartoonish; sex & violence not gratuitous
This seems to be marketed as a martial arts film, but it's really a love story with the necessary conflict and heartbreak. The kickboxing scenes are limited to ring events; arson and fights outside the ring are realistic and not cartoonish. I watched a Region 0 DVD with English subtitles; I could not tell, exactly, which audio was French, which was Chinese, which was Thai. Samuel Le Bihan sings in Thai! I read elsewhere that the Ramirez brothers are first-generation French of Spanish parents; maybe I'm a barbarian American, but I don't see where that's explained or hinted at in the film, unless it's the name "Ramirez." The actors all do a good job. A lot of the personal conflicts do not get resolved; how many do in real life? I am glad I saw this movie.