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danaire-99611
Reviews
Sanditon (2019)
Poor writing, terrible acting, unimpressive cinematography
How anyone could like this is beyond me. From the very beginning the lead actress bothered me. Her puppy dog expression (with wide-eyed sideways glances at literally every comment and her pouty face and furrowed brow) is so overdone that it gives the impression she's not merely innocent, but an imbecile. I found her unwatchable.
Disliking the lead character meant I wasn't going to last long with this series, but I held out hope for the writing. Sadly, that disappointed too. The dialogue lacks every bit of charm and wit that Austin was known for. I was hoping for some dry humor, some clever, wry statements on society and a bit of clever dialogue, but I never found any of that. Austen is so quotable and this series abandons her bon mots for cheap Lifetime channel dialogue.
As if all that wasn't enough, I didn't think the backdrop and cinematography was inspiring either. You would think a show named after the vacation beach town it takes place in would be stunning, but it's just dreary. I was hoping for some gorgeous, almost sensuous, Poldark-like shots of gorgeous clear, blue skies and sparkling water, but instead I got a hazy, foggy sky and murky, gross water and artificial set lighting and occasional cheap CGI. This is not a glamorous period piece, it's a muddy, sad, dreary beach town filled with unimaginative, boring, deviants. What a waste of film!
There's Always a Woman (1938)
A Joyless Version of The Thin Man
Well, this movie is certainly a pale imitation of The Thin Man series. I admit to a few laugh out loud moments (watching Sally exhaust her interrogators was a great scene) but the interaction between the husband and wife duo here, Sally and Bill, wasn't nearly as rewarding as watching The Thin Man's Nick and Nora. Bill's constant exclamations that he wanted to murder Sally seemed more bitter than humorous and his constant threats of physical violence (with Sally retreating in fear and cowering like an abused puppy) manage to be both boring and offensive at the same time. Some of the lines are great but there's no warmth here, so it falls flat. Even the great kiss in final scene of the movie involves Sally and Bill pulling each other's hair. Watching Nick and Nora's witty repartee and loving lampooning of each other is a joy because you see warmth between the characters and the characters seem to respect each other (Nora doesn't cower) and they have class and joie de vivre. Sadly, Sally and Bill just seem like a couple of boring, bitter, cranks.
Good Neighbor Sam (1964)
Dull
When this movie started I enjoyed the contrast of the quirky characters who own pet ducks and create fantastical art in their backyard with the strait laced mid century suburbia. I expected a quirky, funny, comedy poking a few good natured jabs at middle class 1960 American ideals. Unfortunately, after about 15-20 minutes this movie just devolves into a fairly predictable, wife swap plot. I don't think I even chuckled once. Such a shame.
Foyle's War (2002)
A thought provoking masterpiece
This is a stunningly good series...one of the best I've ever seen. The acting is wonderful. The protagonist is one of my favorites of any show of all time. Foyle is strong and intelligent and witty and fascinating and he's played to perfection by Michael Kitchen. In addition to being entertaining the show was also thought provoking. It inspired me to learn more about WWII and the British experience. Watch it. It's truly great.
Grantchester (2014)
Stop after Season 3
There's nothing spectacular here. The show is mildly amusing. I enjoyed the setting - 1950s England with its beautiful British countryside and charming cottages and the occasional glamorous estate. But the plot and the characters grew predictable and tiresome as the series went on and by the end of Season 3 I was debating about whether to watch more. What finally got me to shut it off was Season 4, Episode 1 when the actress who played Violet showed up. She's supposed to be an American from Alabama, but she's obviously a British actress because she does the worst, most painful, imitation of an American accent possible! I'm an American and I've lived in the south and this woman's accent is laughably bad. I couldn't take even a minute more of her horrific accent, so I finally abandoned this series midway through the first episode of Season 4. I guess I should thank the producers for being too lazy or cheap to hire someone who could do an American accent (or god forbid an actual American) because it saved me wasting more time on a series that was obviously going down hill.
A Place in the Sun (1951)
A failure
Great plot, but everything else is terrible. First, except for a few excerpts from the play, the script is dull and lifeless. It feels like a complex story that has been turned it into a cheap and simplistic Lifetime movie. The actors have so little to work with here. The characters are portrayed as simplistic and one dimensional. Unfortunately, the acting is terrible too. I'm sorry, but Clift is terrible in this! He is morose and expressionless throughout the entire film. I can't tell if he is supposed to really be in love with Angela Vickers or if he is pretending to be in love with her for her money because he certainly has no spark of life for a man who is supposed to be ruled by passion and ambition. I kept waiting for him to show some life, but it never happened. Taylor plays the same character in every movie, so if you like that then this is her usual typecast role. The breathy voice and ditsy lines are exhausting and boring, but at least her face shows some emotion, unlike Clift. Poor Winters was badly cast and poorly directed. She's forced to play such an extremely pathetic creature that it's almost comical and doesn't giver her anything to work with. There was so much opportunity to create a complex and sympathetic person with her character, but what we got was a stereotypical spinster/wall flower and I can't help but think she looked way too old to play the role of naive, easily manipulated, poor, factory girl. The play this movie was based on gave the director such a great story to work with, but he and the actors failed miserably.
Howards End (2017)
Unwatchable
I love period dramas and I was excited to watch this, but I couldn't finish it. The set is gorgeous and I kept wanting to continue to watch it just for the costumes and gorgeous scenery, but the characters are so obnoxious and the dialogue is so irritating that I had to quit part way through the series. I found the three Schlegel siblings to be absolutely grating. They are obnoxious, pushy, pompous, opinionated, boring and loud. The dialogue (if you can call it that) is like listening to finger nails on a chalkboard. The obnoxious Schlegel siblings never shut up and constantly talk over each other. If the characters talking over each other in a loud obnoxious way was supposed to make their thoughts more interesting it didn't work. These three imbeciles have nothing to say and yet they won't shut up! I got the impression their obnoxious prattle and social blunders were supposed to be endearing and "quirky," but they ended up just being insufferable idiots. If the characters and dialogue weren't bad enough then there's the plot...or at least there is supposed to be a plot. Good luck finding it. NOTHING of interest happens! This series could have been made into one 90 minute movie and it would still be bad.
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)
Unwatchable for adults
This movie wasn't offensive and entertained our kids for 90 minutes, so it earned 3 stars, but believe me this was a truly painful viewing experience for the adults in our family. Our whole family, adults and children, enjoyed the first Ice Age film, but only the kids (all under 8 yrs) could watch this sequel in its entirety. The storyline is terrible and lacks verisimilitude - I still don't understand how ice age mammals ended up battling dinosaurs.
The addition of new characters drug down the acting in this sequel. The original characters are still okay and have a few (just a few) comedic lines and some good comedic timing, but Ellie is the most dull and lifeless character imaginable. She adds nothing to the movie. And Queen Latifah's acting is cringeworthy in its blandness and total lack of emotion. The new character, Buck, is equally irritating. His voice is grating and his whole Indiana Jones persona is such a boring, overused, "hero" stereotype. We bought this movie at a thrift store for 50 cents and I don't think it's worth a penny more.