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Reviews
Christmas in Maple Hills (2023)
Unrelentingly slow
Good actors. Poor script which makes the story line fall way short. The movie plods along in a mundane plot line with no side plots, distractors, MacGuffins or anything to add some character to the movie. Each scene is quite sterile with minimal characters, action and emotion. It seems as if the producers limited cost by avoiding extras and scenery. Without interesting dialogue, the writers easily whipped out some lines and left it at that.
The female lead supposedly grew up on a ranch but comes across as a city girl. I could not believe she was a country girl who loved the outdoors and farm life. A basic plot is the determination of who actually owns the land. However, from the beginning, I never had any emotional tie to idea of the lead losing her family land and being evicted. No suspense at all as to how the ending would play out.
Good story line that falls way short in entertaining. So much potential. So little result.
Citadel (2023)
Banal, sophomoric and violent without purpose
So difficult to watch ten minutes of this drivel. Apparently the production crew attempted a wannabe spy thriller - James Bond, Jason Bourne, etc, and failed miserably. The opening sequence of the 'spy in the field', in radio communication to the 'big man' in charge, receiving 'reminders' as to her mission (enriched uranium in a bag????), is quite absurdly insulting. The preposterous script, written to explain to the viewers the plot line, back story, and supposedly entertain, resulted in non-stop eye rolling and head shaking from this viewer.
The opening story line was bad enough. Combined with gratuitous violence and ridiculous fight sequences sent this show straight down the crapper without a reason for being produced. With all my effort, I continued to watch up to the two protagonists surviving a bomb on a bullet train, derailment at full speed and a plunge in to the river with only a few scratches, bumps and bruises. This is an ugly display of lack of ingenuity, thought, or simply an exercise for some script writer wannabes.
Glass Onion (2022)
Painful to watch
Knives Out, the original was an interesting and intriguing movie. This one seems to be a movie version of a Graphic Novel. Very painful to watch. I could not finish the movie. I tried twice. The first go I had a guest who quickly asked me to turn it off as she couldn't watch and quickly became annoyed. Ten minutes was too much. The 2nd go, I tried for another 15 minutes and I had to stop.
The story line is goofy, the dialog is trite, most of the characters are annoying to watch and pitiful caricatures of the super rich and obnoxious influencers.
One BIG issue I have with both movies is Daniel Craig's gawd-awful accent. Sheesh. Why??? I like is performance and character, the ONLY one I liked, but cannot stand the accent.
Definite pass on this piece of trash.
The Sinner (2017)
Boring flashbacks to tell a story with bad acting
Five years after this debuted, I watch season one. Just 15 minutes in to episode 2 and I'm ready to turn it off. The acting is mediocre at best. Some better than others but certainly two main characters, Bill Pullman and Christopher Abbott in particular, performances are sub par.
The writing and direction is so-so with one huge flaw, in my eyes; the detective bullies Cora (Jessica Biel) in interrogation to open up. Not being an expert, I could be wrong, but winning the confidence of the one being interrogated seems to be of high importance.
The final straw for my dislike of this show is the over use of flashbacks to tell a story. This method of story telling seems to be the lazy way to tell a story and leaves my mind wondering confused as to what the real story is. A few flashbacks revealing an epiphany or major clue to show/movie is effective. Story telling by flashback takes away from integrity of the show, the continuity and the draw: drawing me in to a story.
I'll pass on the rest of the series.
Cranberry Christmas (2020)
Thoroughly enjoyed the acting and the story
Finally a Hallmark Christmas movie with descent acting! Every actor seems far better connected and motivated through the movie. The story line template is typical of Hallmark yet maintains a uniqueness worth watching.
The lead actors (Nikki Deloach & Ben Ayers) are especially engaging on both parts. On screen the two are certainly 'together' and in love. Both deliver emotionally connection and enticing interaction. Their timing in dialogue is spot on. Perhaps this is in part due to better direction or editing.
In Hallmark movies, even when the leads offer a good perfomrance, the supporting cast is often lacking in emotion and delivery. Not so in Cranberry Christmas. I enjoyed all of them, especailly Marci T. House, as Pamela. Pamela is THE one to offer the typical "job offer" out of town or clear across the country, naturally interfering with the love interests. Marci's performance was so very enjoyable to watch in this presentation.
One of the better Hallmark Christmas movies for sure.
Only Murders in the Building (2021)
Not funny. Not interesting. Not intriguing.
I was done after E1 but watched through E4. Gratuitous use of the F word was the first thing to turn me off and certainly adds nothing to the viewing experience. Steve Martin is usually funny and enjoyable to watch. Not so in Only Murders in the Building. Martin Short is not funny nor enjoyable to me and he continues his completely blah and forgettable acting in this production. Selena Gomez is okay. Big name actors all muted by the poor dialog, story line and directing.
After four episodes and there is nothing that keeps me interested in watching the next episode. The plot, murder in the main character's apartment building, is lost behind extraneous the yawn fest of each episode. No character, including the murder victim, draws me in to caring for them nor understanding about them. Everyone is completely forgettable and uninteresting.
Once again an 'Original' series which is just left behind and forgotten.
See (2019)
See Can't.....Can't do anything to make sense
A blind, barbaric Moses type leads his blind people, with no modern conveniences except plastic water bottles, to the promised land chased by another blind barbaric group out to destroy them led by a queen. That about sums it up.