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rondakchurchill
Reviews
Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields (2022)
Poorly executed
I feel this was a terrible execution of truly terrible events that needed to be told. The production should have concentrated on the story with less theatrics. A case of: less is more, let the story tell itself through the great interviews and players.
For instance, there were so many of the same repetitive b-roll shots of crosses, aerials and street signs in all three episodes. The victims photos on the table that were placed and then moved by hands as if they were playing cards was such a distracting, almost disrespectful (in regards to repetition of this gesture) gimmick. I would have really liked to have seen this story executed differently. There were super strong interviews and powerful grieving family members.
I was very confused why this docuseries made the connection with the three murders that had not taken place in the namesake of the show, The Killing Field. I felt these could have been mentioned but not covered as much as the four victims in the field, and it really took away from the series, IMO.
Lastly, I would have really liked to have seen journalistic efforts into everything that went wrong with the initial investigation... the botched autopsy (skull), the shoddy police work, etc. So much was not told and just glossed over, like the NASA scientist that ended up potentially killing himself. Let's get his family an interview and tell every side to this story.
The Captive (2014)
I would rather have read this as a book.
because my imagination would have been better.
There are times where I've watched a movie that was an adaptation of a book, and I thought, "Wow, I liked the book so much better
the movie totally left out a lot of good parts/executed that poorly." This exactly what I would say if "The Captive" was first a great book that I had read; The story and idea are fantastic. The acting is okay. The execution, was bad. The ending was terrible.
There were so many things that were just left out. Viewers were shown bits and pieces of partial story lines A, B, and so forth as well as characters that were never developed. The jumping back and forth in time was definitely confusing. I would like to consider myself a bright individual, and I had to pause and rewind the movie twice in the beginning. There were never clues to give viewers passage of time except when we saw the captive as a teenager. We feel lost and tricked.
Speaking of "tricked," the whole "gimmick" thing is overplayed. It never was developed itself. Why bring it up again and again, when it never comes full circle. Whatever "it" may be.
I think the movie did not allow for any real character depth. The movie is titled for the one that is abducted. However, throughout the entire movie, we know nothing about Cass' personal/internal life as a captive. Why does she want to comply with these people? The teenage character lacks depth entirely. Also, I personally found Cass's mother character to be completely annoying.
Lastly, the cast line-up was very promising. It is the reason why I decided to give the movie a try after seeing the low ratings. However, I think I would have rather just gone to bed early tonight. Dang it, Ryan Reynolds! I'm sure you are not happy with this.