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richardwalmsley
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Dune: Part Two (2024)
Artistic license has its lmits!
I really wanted to like this.
Having read every novel written in the Dune universe, I find the current treatment somewhat sacrilegious. Despite my respect for the body of work by Vllleneuve, when undertaking a film based on the Bible, one doesn't switch the roles of the apostles. Dune is quite literally both a religious epic as much as Sci Fi and is often treated as biblical in the Sci Fi genre. So much of the story's pivotal events were skipped over despite taking two long movies to deal with the subject matter.
I don't know if the impetus for changing some of the key character relationships was some sort of attempt to blend the story into our world's modern wokeness or just some vanity on the part of the director but, either way it should NOT have been done. Keeping in mind the story takes place over 8000 years into OUR future (Yes, earth exists in the Dune universe) any attempt to address our present cultural sensibilities is simply ridiculous.
The Night Agent (2023)
Good start then a steady decline...
This show started out quite well. A bit of character back story and development. A plausible conspiracy. An initial event to intertwine our main characters. All of which was quite well acted by an ensemble of a less than well known cast.
Then we quickly start taking short cuts in good story telling that make any reasonable viewer cringe. OK, our initial survivor in need of protection does have a high tech security business backstory so maybe just maybe she would have some serious hacking skills. Still doubtful she'd be able to penetrate the highest levels of US government security.
The serious issues arise as our victim heroine also develops a serious desire to fight instead of flight. Something the entertainment industry seems to default to these days but is far less accurate in real life.
Our dynamic duo continues to infiltrate and access high security locations literally within feet of the bad guys but make their escape every time.
What started out promising devolved into stereotypical triteness unfortunately all to common in today's entertainment.
The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
A Return to the Philosophic Roots; the Problem is Choice.
Large portions of this films true magic have been completely overlooked or missed by those looking for a visual feast of special effects as the basis for their entertainment. They likely also failed to notice at least 5 appearances from Sense 8 Alumni; a particularly nice touch given the relationship values concurrent between the projects as well as the cast and creator.
Did anyone else notice how the problem of choice was no longer just a human condition? This alone was a very intriguing evolutionary plot device aiding the return to the story some 20 years later (but only in our time reference - watch the reflections).
The many levels of the complexity of consciousness were again freshly explored. Weaving this together is the more simplistic straining of the detente relationship between humans and AI we arrived at in the last movie.
The ability to manipulate choice is very clever and requires one to recognize the messianic influence of a Neo character on any populace or culture. Hope has always influenced choice and the addition of treating the Neo Trinity relationship as an addition to the AI hope manipulation is both clever and uncomfortably close to reality.
For anyone who doesn't understand what I'm talking about, please watch the film again, open your mind and remember, I can only show you the door.
Staged (2020)
Just Brilliant!
Like many good things that come out of the UK, I had to stumble across this rather than have it offered to me by any local media outlet. I say stumbled but, the truth is I've made a habit of looking for these things because they so rarely appear in my part of the world.
What these two actors have given us in this time of Covid lock-downs, social distancing, etc. Is shear comic brilliance relatable to all of our Covid experiences. They combine their well seasoned acting talents to play off one another at times serious and at others like spoiled brats fighting over a toy. In both circumstances the results are hilarious! The whole thing takes place in a virtual setting and actually seems to include the viewer even more than if we were a live audience.
There are also various guest stars that get involved with the two; sometimes to their peril while others scold their poorer behavior.
If you can find this - watch it! One small caution about raw language; doesn't offend me but possibly not for everyone.
Without Remorse (2021)
Sadly, with the death of Tom Clancy in 2013 (RIP) so to died hollywood reverence for his works.
Imagine the "Red October" as a space station. How about "Jack Ryan" as a plastic surgeon to the Hollywood stars. Maybe "James Greer" was the White House Santa Claus.
That's just a small idea of how far this movie is from the Tom Clancy source material. With Clancy's works some of the very best of their kind and the sales of his novels to prove it; I simply cannot understand how anyone can so callously steal his title and apply it to this crap. I hope there is someone left in Hollywood who will make a movie from this actual novel as it remains one of my favorites.
The Flight Attendant (2020)
The fresh subtext treatment of psychological trauma and triggers made this great.
The entire story of how our heroine deals with waking up next to a dead body and her ongoing struggle to escape the bad guys chasing her for information she doesn't even know she has is entertaining but, to be honest a bit weak. You really don't have to look to hard to find some fairly big plot holes but for me; that wasn't the story being told in the first place.
This series uses a fresh and unique series of flashbacks that draw a clear link between the current trauma of waking up in a strange country next to a dead body and the earlier childhood trauma that shaped our heroine's self abusive persona wherein she places very little value on herself.
It is the flashback dialogues with the dead man combined with the childhood flashbacks where the real story of our heroine is found. Her evolution from self abuse to one of self awareness and recognition of the harm her personal traumas have cause herself and those around her are very freshly tackled and very well done. Nothing about this subtext story is ever in your face and you could honestly miss it if you chose only to watch a good guy verses bad guy mystery. Using the present day dead body as a psychological trigger to her childhood trauma isn't even obvious at first but is a very real possibility in psychology.
I personally enjoyed that the producers resisted explaining the subtext story and very real trigger effects of psychological trauma. It was daring to leave the audience to get it or not and I wish more productions would treat their audiences as intelligent adults rather than systematically sneaking in educational devices or even hitting us between the eyes to make sure we get their point.
Now that the path to healing from her traumas has been taken, the series leaves me wanting more. The writer have offered several paths for possible story lines in any future season. There are likely many more opportunities for further treatment of the subtext story as well as none of the flashback timelines delved into adolescence or earlier adult events.
I hope another season is coming.
Departure (2019)
Lacks reality on many levels.
I was looking forward to this series based on the previews and cast but have found myself very disappointed.
In episode two we are supposed to believe a crash investigation team and the Royal Navy would actually disagree over ocean search location instead of collaboration and agreement - doubtful. Then we are supposed to accept that a trained Naval Officer and one man sub operator would violate his training and the equipment's operating parameters and dive deep enough to implode - ridiculous. Perhaps the writers have forgotten that there are enough reality shows out there dealing with exactly this subject that have educated the viewers about remote submersibles that have become the norm in all such black box recoveries the world over.
Now lets turn to a supporting cast of clashing personalities each with just enough screen time for us to wonder what their job is in all this without any real character development to speak of. Then provide our leads with hidden and hinted at backstory issues we are supposed to accept with the tiniest of added tidbits of information revealed in each episode. And lets not forget the possibly evil corporate baddy with the stock vaguely eluded to hidden agenda. Add to this absurd representation of a procedural the stereotypical angst ridden teen who is of course completely capable of hacking into privileged communications etc. and mask it all within a super high tech office environment and what could an audience complain about?
Did I forget to mention the survivor who fell out of the plane at over 30,000 feet, hit the ocean and lived? Really????
My prediction is a one season and done early cancellation.
Paul Williams: Still Alive (2011)
Much more that Nostalgia
This documentary works on many levels and doesn't compare to any other film-making style; including documentary.
For those of us who grew up around Paul Williams music and celebrity, it can't help but be a wonderful ride down memory lane. Far more powerful and important is the recovery from addiction and positive outlook that Mr. Williams has forged for himself.
The critiques many review's make of the directors own nostalgic adventure being self indulgent have missed a lot. This method of story telling wasn't scripted or designed at the start of the project at all. What we got to see was a completely natural, organic development of the relationship that allowed Mr. Williams the level of assurance with which he could trust his life's representation would be accurate, fair and a cautionary tale for the future only possible because he was lucky enough to come through it "still alive".
The only thing even close for comparison to the sobriety struggle might be Darren Aronofsky's "Requiem for a Dream". This story however, shows a much more human side of a real person that we rarely get to see. Not only is Mr. Williams "still alive", he is actively working and continues to support the recovery of others.
I thoroughly enjoyed this film on multiple levels and still enjoy Mr. Williams body of work.
New Girl (2011)
Not a formula I enjoy, though very common in comedy today.
New girl and so many others fall into a comedy genre that uses the characters themselves as a abject affectation to produce the comedy. This completely omits the situation from situation comedy in that there is an over-reliance on the characters themselves to be funny usually via over the top behaviors that are not believable.
Compare this to Modern Family, Big Bang, Mom and many other more successful comedies in which the characters are believable and the comedy is generally derived from an interaction between situations and character flaws an audience can find relatable.
Nothing relatable here for me.
The 100 (2014)
Reality Check Please!
This review is based on the series own admission that only 100 years have passed when our youths descend back onto the planet.
In that time, earth based survivors have descended into primal warring tribal ensembles and forgotten their basic language skills. I am amazed that any working vehicle exists after so long and they never do explain where the gas, oil and other consumables to keep a vehicle running come from. Amazing to me how so much tech is still able to be powered and operational as well.
My favorite was the scene in the parking garage with all the old abandoned vehicles not one of which had developed a flat in a century!
I do enjoy Sci-fi a great deal but it simply must be believable both in premise and execution.
Blindspot (2015)
Formulamaticly Rife with Error
I came to this as the tattoo story memory loss concept sounded interesting. I didn't take long to realize that this was just another concept to be chewed up through the meat grinder of formula television with it's requisite collection of cheap tension building plots that fail to live up to basic reality played out with a cast of stock 2 dimensional characters. These actors and today's audiences deserve better.
The D.I. (1957)
All the good of Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" without any of the fowl language.
My father turned me on to this movie years ago after we rented Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket". Dad found much of the Kubrick story a rip off of this and didn't appreciate R. Lee Emery's abusive language (RIP). Though I always appreciated the Lee character and his rise in pop culture reference; Jack Webb's DI was just as powerful, frightening to his underlings and equally imposing a presence. Webb's DI did all of this without uttering a single swear word in the entire film. The only detractor was the type cast Webb's association in both radio and TV with his Joe Friday character. For anyone who is open minded enough to look beyond Dragnet; The D.I. stands up to the test of time and remains a good story to this day.
Emergence (2019)
Fiction?; Yes. Science?; Not even close.
Neil deGrasse Tyson and Salman Rushdie probably gave the best definition of science fiction I have ever heard in a StarTalk episode. Essentially take only one thing tech based and unable to be explained by today's world and expand it into a plausible concept. The rest, just has to be a good story.
This show so far is asking viewers to accept that a (sub-plot "evil" as noted by the addition of Terry O'Quinn) company has advanced; robotics, AI, magnetism, battery technology, machine learning and a host of yet to be revealed tech way beyond anyone else in the known universe and rolled it all up into a single experimental package. The battery tech alone has vast global profit implications it is hard to believe any company would not have marketed before adapting it to a pet project in robotics.
I do like Terry O'Quinn and Clancy Brown as actors and am sorry to see them involved here. I just can't see this lasting past the first season without a major reality check.
I appreciate that the show can take several pathways from the ethics of self aware machine intelligence, the issues of ownership vs. freedom etc... but most of these have been done and done well elsewhere. On the surface, the show is generally well presented and the acting is believable and well done. Maybe I've just been alive too long to tolerate recycled concepts in my entertainment but I suspect the truth is; nobody really wants to break new ground and venture into the unexplored.
Prodigal Son (2019)
I had such hope...
I can sympathize with the continual use of comparison to other shows; it is an effective way to draw common knowledge to the forefront and reach a consensus. For this show, Its weaknesses are its own and not due to any failure to effectively copy that which came before.
It is barely procedural and not much of an outright drama. So much effort has been put into character backstory introduction there remains little room for development going forward. I find it annoying that the show didn't leave anything for us to want to learn about Malcolm. Rather, we were inundated with so much information we could quickly decide whether or not we even liked him enough to care. Sadly, the character left as much of a distinctive first impression as a door to door cellular plan salesperson.
Our main character is so damaged it is hard to imagine how on earth he ever got the job he lost in episode 1 or how he so quickly became vetted and engaged in his current role. Despite the vast list of psychosis, flaws, quirks, family dysfunction, academic excellence and uncanny criminal insight capabilities; our main character still manages to appear like a 2 dimensional cardboard cutout.
Michael Sheen is a welcome relief, though unlikely to be permitted much development in this role. He is the sole reason for my 3 stars. The rest of the ensemble is an intentional and very lackluster attempt at divisiveness: either pro or con Malcolm and a poor and obvious tension building mechanism that is unlikely to be effective.
Not likely to carry on with this one.
Another Life (2019)
Ever wonder why Netflix stop allowing user reviews?
I think this show exemplifies exactly why Netflix stopped with their own user reviews. We know its bad, they know its bad and they don't want to talk about it.
This show has followed suit with so many other recent forays into sci-fi that Netflix has attempted of late. Bad science that doesn't stand up to the most basic understanding of the universe seems to be the formula at play.
Combine that with a crew assembled of all the worst traits of the millennial generation and its a wonder they didn't crash on take off. Even the computer suffers from almost crippling angst. I would like to issue a call to all millennial's to stop allowing yourselves to be portrayed this way.
I would also like to issue a call to Netflix to just stop with the sci-fi for at least a year. Send your executives and writers off to a desert island with nothing but Herbert, Asimov, Wells, Dick, Clarke... and many more until they get it. Then, if they decide not to commit suicide to atone for their sins; give them another chance.
God Friended Me (2018)
Fresh take on risky material.
It is always a risk to bring religion to TV and the premise here has found a way to do exactly that without pushing any single agenda. In fact the built in dichotomy between 2 characters never suggests a bias for one view over the other. The only reason I did not give this a 10 is my fear that some character relationships are evolving in only the first season into territory that has killed other shows. The writers have openly revealed an overarching interconnections between individual episode characters that can be explored much further and I hope this direction takes hold more so moving forward.
Religion aside, it is nice to be able to sit down with the entire family for an hour watching a good story with people behaving well, speaking well (no swearing) and genuinely caring about one another.
The Twilight Zone: The Comedian (2019)
This episode and hopefully not the series scores 1/10!
I grew up with the original and every iteration of this and other similar shows that have tried to "return". To be successful, this series MUST BE ORIGINAL AND PUSH A FEW BOUNDARIES. I don't know for certain if this was a remake of original Rod Serling material but I do know I figured it out in the first 7 minutes. The remainder of the show became a tired cliche and was painful to sit through. If the producers think they have a sure thing by just remaking or updating previous material then they are doomed to a miserable failure. Yes, the format can succeed but, don't forget that the format is to BE ORIGINAL AND PUSH A FEW BOUNDARIES!
Mother! (2017)
Many reviewers seem to have forgotten the visual art side of film.
What Darren Aronofsky has done with this film is create a visually stunning feast for the eyes. In the same manner with which Bryan Fuller (and team) took Hannibal and besieged viewers with some of the most stunning visual sets and scenes ever produced for television, Aronofsky has painted an Old Testament masterpiece with a modernist flare that seems largely misunderstood.
It is a given that any film portrayal of religious subject matter is going to create controversy, and this one is no different. I view it from the artistic side and enjoyed the updated visual ride as opposed to the structured religious paintings that we are used to. Don't think for a second that I am not a fan of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling et al; I merely appreciate that in today's world, Aronofsky didn't require papal approval to produce and display his portrait.
Many of the negative reviews seem to find common ground is accusing Aronofsky of self indulgence. I simply don't understand these opinions. Filmmakers like Aronofsky are artists and whether you are talking about Van Gogh, Goya, Orson Wells or Mozart; their interpretation of the subject they are sharing with the world is by default, self indulgent. These naysayers are entitled to not enjoy the art but accusations of self indulgence on the part of the artists are ridiculous and I suggest they stick to commercial cookie cutter comic book films instead.
The Godfather Part III (1990)
Unjustly Underrated!
The first two films were for most part, historical in nature. They did not place as many demands on the viewer to be aware of anything beyond basic common knowledge of the eras in which the stories took place. The stories told in these first two films are interwoven around the reality of their respective time periods; many American immigrants received new names at Ellis Island, that little desert town in Nevada truly evolved out of vice and corruption, the drug trade began in earnest after WWII and so on...
Part three, at the time of its release required an understanding of real world recent events as the story was set in the time of its release and weaved the plot though some very real and controversial events of the time. Lest you forgot, Roberto Calvi, a banker with close Vatican ties, truly was found hanging under Blackfriar's Bridge in London England in 1982.
The only real fault one could claim was that the story could not be told in one film if it had to spend extra effort explaining the links between recent events and the "family business".
Personally, I enjoy being challenged by a film in this manner and found the continuation of the story and its conclusion very effective and satisfying.