Change Your Image
scvj-06911
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Three Pines (2022)
Nothing like the books
I love Alfred Molina but he is not Gamache; actually none of the actors match the characters that Louise Penny created. Not even a little bit. Maybe I could enjoy the series if I had not read the books? It seems many people who state that they didn't read the books like the series, so, maybe, but I can't get past how shallow and ridiculous the characterizations and plots seem to me in comparison. If you want mysteries that are smart, thoughtful and emotionally engaging, read the books! I learned something new from each and every book.
Write an entirely new, original show that deals with the horrible "education" of native children and the many abuses perpetrated on the native population past and present. THAT and rural vs. Urban values, police insensitivity to non-white cultures... all that and more can be a great basis for a show. Run with it! Why ruin a brilliant series of books?
Comrade Detective (2017)
So much fun to watch!
That they dubbed this Romanian detective series from the '80s was irritating at first, but after the first episode it became a part of the appeal. Whose voice is that? Why it's Daniel Craig guesting as the voice of the evil priest who smuggles bibles and leads good Communists astray.
I grew up in the coldest years of the Cold War: hearing the Communist spin on the evils of capitalism, how America always rigged Olympic judging, seeing their version of dangerous New York or the decadent/slutty American ambassador with her minion eating a mountain of hamburgers for lunch. It was eerily similar to the stuff I was taught about the Soviet Union.
I'm a little confused by the reviewer who seems to think this is a spoof--I think that reviewer probably thinks the moon landing was faked too.
The Collection (2016)
Why no French actors?
The series is wonderful on so many levels: well written, splendid acting, gorgeous costume design, intrigue and drama... I just find it disconcerting to hear all the clipped, beautifully elegant, veddy British voices in a show set in post WWII Paris. About Paris fashion, French couture, France recovering from German occupancy. Really, the only thing that seems French is the frequent use of "Monsieur," which gives me a jolt now and then. I'll bet there are plenty of English speaking French actors who would have been great, and they would have made the series more credible.
My other reason for giving the show a so-so 7 is that Monsieur Sabine has the dumbest henchman in history. Possible Spoiler: He buries a body in a shallow grave in the garden of the house Sabine bought for his mother! And clubbing the viewer over the head with the frequent foreshadowing shots of clinking tin cans? That is just irritating.
War Machine (2017)
Pitt mugs a caricature
War Machine has a fine script and a cast of incredibly talented actors who gave their all to the characters they portrayed-except for the star. I like Brad Pitt and think he's a terrific actor, but he needs a strong director who isn't afraid to tell him to stop mugging and start acting. Unfortunately, for most of the movie he delivered a nudge-nudge-wink-wink "I think this guy I'm playing is a real tool" caricature of a performance. I don't know if he thinks the audience is incapable of not swooning over his handsome face every time we see it, or he lacks the confidence to play a non-romantic, semi-unsympathetic lead character with the straight respect every character (and the audience) deserves. This movie would have been near perfect if only he'd done that.
The movie makes important and interesting points about career soldiers who are true-believers, enlistees caught in something they don't understand but who're committed to give everything, the politics and big business of war, futility of thinking we can win the hearts of a people whose country we've invaded... and does so entertainingly!
There's no shortage of stand-out performances: Meg Tilly, Ben Kingsley, Will Poulter, Alan Ruck, Lakeith Stanfield, Tilda Swinton, Emory Cohen are just a few of the amazing players in this large-as-an-army cast. In the end I found myself wishing Brad Pitt and Russell Crowe had switched parts.
Jamestown (2017)
Well acted ridiculous script
I thought, "oooh, from the producers of Downtown Abbey, that bodes well." I quickly decided that the producers should have stayed in the 19th - early 20th centuries, and across the pond. There's only so much suspension of disbelief one can expect from a viewer, and this is Historical Fiction not SciFi/Fantasy.
Examples: There was no gold in or anywhere near colonial Jamestown. Wolves do not spontaneously attack humans. Clothes do not walk themselves magically clean after a struggle in a swamp. In a society where men are so terribly starved for women, how is it there's a handy ladies' maid waiting patiently for an imported mistress to serve? No idiot would publicly admit that he cheats at dice in a culture that hangs thieves. And another reviewer mentioned the nagging detail about an ocean-going vessel docking in obviously shallow water at a small upriver pier. Even the music sounds unoriginal--I swear it's recycled from the show, Hell on Wheels.
I sincerely hope they get a script writer who has read some history. The cast deserves it. (And note to the reviewer who complained about the bleached blonde: that actress is actually blonde. It's the red head who was dyed for the part.)
Rogue One (2016)
It was a great movie in 1977
The reason I rated Rogue One at only a five is that I saw (and loved) the movie in 1977. And that's the spoiler: the plot is basically a repeat of the original--with a CGI Peter Cushing thrown in (because we can?) providing way more distraction than intimidation. There's a single-child family living an isolated existence on a lonely planet whose lives are bulldozed by evil empire troops. Comic-relief android. Assorted species quirky characters interacting over drinks in a bar. Crucial holographic message to launch the ACTION. Idealistic rebellion pilots volunteering to go to their deaths to save the galaxy... I felt like I should have attended the film with a clip board handy in order to check off the greatest hits of the first movie.
Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Donnie Yen, Wen Jiang and Alan Tudyk's K-2SO made a great team--thank The Force the writers didn't copy Luke, Leia and Han along with the plot--but they deserved a completely original story, and so did I. Still, the kids loved it--as did I. In 1977.