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Criminal Minds: Broken Mirror (2005)
Way too melodramatic
I'm a big fan of crime shows (true crime or old school SVU). I'd seen random bits of Criminal Minds but it never really made it onto my radar. I work with students and after a particular group of girls demanded I watch their favourite show, I figured I'd binge a few episodes.
The first 2-3 episodes weren't bad. I was definitely on board for more, until I got to this ep. I hated this. I hated the melodrama, the bland dialogue and the lack of profiling the UnSub. The scene where Gideon was taunting the UnSub on the phone, I kept groaning and snapping at me TV "why is no one taking the family members out of the room?" I tried to skip the episode from there, but Disney+ made it too tricky to navigate without crashing the app. So I stuck it out, while writing this angry review.
At the very least, I can tell my students "yeah, you're right, Spence is the best character."
Halloween Kills (2021)
Obvious filler and totally pointless
Absolutely garbage script that was full of exposition, dumb decisions and frustrating characters who are literally here to be a body count. By the 30 minute mark, we actually WANTED Michael to come in and kill everyone. Unfortunately, by the time we reach that inevitable conclusion it feels so flat and cliche that wasn't even worth suffering through the entire runtime.
Shout out to the DOP and composer/sound production for at least making a film that looked and sounded great.
Judy Greer was good. And what little we saw of Jamie Lee Curtis. Everyone else was trash.
Tiger King (2020)
Overrated and Poorly Directed - Favoring Sensationalism for Actual Story
I was late to join the bandwagon, and I do not get the hype. I'm not a fan of the episodic-like nature of the series "This episode, we're looking at Carole Baskin who maybe killed her husband" then "This episode, we're looking at a dude with a sex cult and will forget about him for a few episodes". The whole format lacked a cohesive thread to follow, and didn't keep me engaged.
Overall, this series feels like it is gaining traction because it is sensationalizing eccentric and weird characters, without really delving into the crimes, mysteries and atrocities that took place. A simple browse on Reddit debunks a lot of theories brought up in this series, fills in missing pieces, and highlights legitimately interesting information that was omitted.
I think there is some interesting material to work with here, but who ever was producing/directing this series really dropped the ball and didn't know how to create a genuinely intriguing narrative, instead copping out for "HEY LOOK HOW WACKY THIS GUY IS! HYUCK!"
I guess people need a little bit of shallow wackiness to tide them over while in lockdown.
Interrogation (2020)
Great Performances, Intriguing Premise, With Slightly Underwhelming End
As a True Crime/Crime drama, the premise of this show - a Choose Your Own Adventure, non-linear story based around different interrogation tapes - caught my eye. What sealed the deal for me was seeing Kyle Gallner - an actor whose work I loved back in the mid-2000s - was signed on as the lead.
I had my reservations over a few things - the quality of shows on CBS All-Access, the other bodies of work done by the showr unners. But after watching the entire series (I chose chronological order of when the event happened, instead of how the episodes were listed in order), I have to say the show lived up to my hype.
Gallner is perfectly cast as Eric, particularly nailing the scenes when his character is an unstable 17-year-old junkie. It's partly a time-capsule for the roles he played early in his career, partly a show for how he has grown as an actor over the years. It's so exciting to see him graduating from guest star to series lead.
Peter Sarsgaard is always a pleasant surprise when he pops up, and he plays the misguided cop in such a subtle way. This isn't a arrogant, domineering, almost stereotypical performance of the "bad cop" we usually see. Sarsgaard brings humanity and sympathy to the character, making him hard to hate when he's clearly in the wrong and impossible not to feel sorry for when we see his personal struggles.
There are some minor criticisms though. I think there could have been more effort put into make-up to make the characters look older/younger a the series jumped across 27 year. A bit of grey hair in the wigs, or a slight belly pouch for Sarsgaard doesn't really add up to much. Thankfully, the actors knew how to fill in the gaps - Gallner portrays his 17-year-old character as jumpy and fidgetty, but injects more confidence and rigidity into his body language as the character is in his 40s.
It may have been the order I chose to watch the series, but I did call the true killer quite early. Having said that, the more I watched and the more information that came up there were still moments where I questioned myself, which is a plus for a Crime Drama fan. Good writing isn't spoon feeding your audience the answer, just like it isn't pulling something completely out of left field and calling it a "plot twist". At the very least, the writers have done their job well when it comes to unraveling the murder mystery.
But ultimately, there are a few unanswered questions at the end, which maybe the writer's left for the audience to fill in on their own. Or maybe it was just a failure to tie up all the loose ends.
The questions: why didn't police check for fingerprints on the window panes? Why did Eric ramp himself up to hysteria on the second phone call to 911? Was Chris really dead, or was Amy paranoid?
I'm not completely satisfied by these hanging questions, and it does leave the ending on an underwhelming note. But overall, the performances from Gallner, Sarsgaard and Kodi Smit McPhee (Australia represent) are compelling, the main mystery, and the social commentary on the judicial system are all aces.
Sharp Objects (2018)
Once again, Marti Nixon proves that she can be trusted to butcher a great story.
Don't get me wrong. The book Sharp Objects is incredible, a masterfully told murder mystery imbedded in a toxic family drama. Gillian Flynn knows how to weave and craft a beautifully dark and twisted narrative... but sadly it does not translate from page to screen.
This was abysmally disappointing. Adora and Amma are watered down, as if the show runners were too scared to commit to a barely pubescent girl weaponising her sexuality and being literally babied (nurses and swaddled) by her mother. Or the idea that a mother, exuding that sickly sweet charm (like the artificial sweet taste of medicine) being able to outright say to her daughter "You know, I think I figured out why I don't love you."
There is A LOT wrong with this show. Pacing, structure, balancing murder mystery with pulpy family drama... the absence of tension and atmosphere.
The fact that my boyfriend, who hasn't read the book, outright called who the murderer is from the first scene the character is introduced... man, what a waste.
At least Amy Adams did a good job bringing life to Camille. At least that.