Change Your Image
edmundbalnaves
Reviews
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Alloyed (2022)
A meandering vanity project let down by awful script writing
Tolkien talks of the great fleets of Númenor and of the still mighty residue that sails to Middle Earth. In what even remote way could the facile people portrayed in this silly continuation be even remotely called be imagined to be the heroic founders of Arnor and Gondor? Builders of mighty cities, NOT.
The fall of Eregion is accompanied by lots of shots of shrieking elves running around in circles back and forth. Once again, scant resemblance to the eleven people of Lord of the Rings.
"His sword was long, his lance was keen
His shining helm afar was seen.
The countless stars of heavens' field
Were mirrored in his silver shield. "
The simpering, ham-fisted portrait of Gil-galad lacks any sense of the gravitas of the past that informs the narrative of the Lord of the Rings.
Here we have another sad effort powered by huge investment in CGI and let down by bad acting and even worse script writing.
The finest visualizing of this otherwise flat continuation of the series is Khazad-dûm/Moria. Here the CGI craftsmanship shows its excellence. Sadly, once again the writers whittle down the LoTR grand portrait of greed and failure down to the individual digging of one Dwarf. Some good acting with the Dwarves is undercut by strange re-imaginings of the writers.
These are writers who clearly fear their audience. Time and again they resort to trite story lines that abandon the grand vision of Tolkien. The weird re-interpretation of mithril, the one-man digging down to the Balrog by Durin, the "singing" of the rocks. Seriously, have these writers even picked up the books?
The echoes of grand drama in the past that give depth to LoTR are lost in this meandering vanity project.
What a missed chance! With such a budget, and such brilliant visual craftsmanship, what could have been done!
Silo (2023)
Brilliantly realised production
The meticulous and brilliantly realized set of the Silo is complemented by outstanding acting - especially by Rebecca Ferguson. It is a real accomplishment to make vividly real the sense of age and crumbling societal stratification in the Silo.
It is refreshing to have some multi-dimensional characterization in a Sci Fi series production.
I hope the second season brings together such talented production values, acting and writing. Being based on a good book doesn't always guarantee a good movie or series, but in this case the series is an outstanding achievement in its own right.
Rebecca Ferguson is standout in this movie, as she is in Dune 2 and will be well worth. Tim Robbins brings alive the character of Bernard Holland brilliantly.
More please!
Vanskabte land (2022)
Not a slow burn more a boiled frog
This movie has not very much to say, very very slowly. A dour movie that is not saved by the exquisite beauty of the Icelandic backdrop. The indulgent herewegoagain long pans through the scenery are accompanied by trite character development that has endless missed opportunities. A good cutting room cull would not rescue this movie from its poorly scripted storyline.
The show stealers are the animals. The dog and the horses seem to have a joi de vivre that defy the monotonous plod of the film slowly toward its tortuous end.
There are fine moments in the movie especially in the exacting recreation of the hardiness of the people and the visceral realities of the tough living conditions. Unfortunately it is too parsimonious with the plot to cohere this fragmentary vision.
Tár (2022)
A missed opportunity
There is so much about this move that could have been good. Blanchett Blanchett was on her top form.
Probably the most important failure of this movies was to fail in contextualizing the behaviour of Tar. Part of the story of systematic abuse by predators is the story of the silence of those around. Like Tar, this is often a story of exceptionalism: forgiving those who we admire. There are hints in several scenes, but this is a big issue - abuse like this is often dependent on the assent by inaction of those around.
The film is tedious at times: showing the full credits at the opening was a an early warning, followed by a long-winded opening scene that had made its point in the first few minutes. Have directors lost the talent of "light touch"? A tighter presentation, and more left on the cutting floor would have lifted this movie a great deal.
This is a tough subject to cover, and despite the brilliance of acting by Cate Blanchett, I don't think this movie does it justice.
The Quick and the Dead (1995)
"Could be good" movie that doesn't quite make it.
This is a "could be good" movie that doesn't quite make it. Lots of heavy handed stylistic references to Western genre classics that are more "blow in" than natural.
The plot line completes with a heavy thud and the ponderous references to guns plays to the usual NRA gun-pathology. This sort of gender role switch just doesn't play well when the writers are charged more with gender make-apoint-ism than with excitement at the genre itself.
Reinvisioning the western in complex ways can be very interesting - cf. The Power of the Dog. There is some good talent in this movie. It would all work better as scene in the Westworld series where the pastiche quality of the plot would not be so troubling. It would then become interesting guessing who are the robots and who the real characters.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Partings (2022)
Partings indeed
The script writers of this series look hard for ways to contrive their own mythology around LOTR. Sadly they lack the talent of JRR Tolkien and the result is inevitably woeful. The bizarre introduction of mithril as the one metal to rule them all on which the fate of elves rests is the strangest juvenile group-think from the script writers yet.
The gulf between the concept and the realisation grows larger with each episode. I keep watching with a morbid hope that things will improve: maybe they will sack the scriptwriters, maybe Shelob will devour the wooden leads.
You know when a series is seriously off the rails when you laugh at moments that are meant to be portentously serious.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022)
No prizes for costume design and little for acting. None for the script.
Commanding a huge budget and a deep script make for a commanding visual presentation that is undermined by a stolid plot-line, drab costume design and weak acting.
Realizing the vision of Tolkien requires a mixture of gravitas and sense of grandeur in historical backdrop and in characters. It is hard to imagine that the people of Númenor portrayed here could create the wonders of Gondor let alone those hinted at in Númenor itself.
I guess that Tolkien's trilogy provided a safe guide-rope for Jacksons plot, aided by the superb acting of the cast. Lacking this guide-rope, the storyline in Rings of Power leads us through some ham-fisted plot devices on a journey guided by wooden acting, especially by Clark and Cordova. There is a reason that Tolkien, a good narrative craftsman, relegated some of the historical backdrop to appendices. There is no narrative craftsmanship on show here (at least three episodes in).
Once again a big budget CGI effort cannot lift itself above a mediocre script and agonisingly bad acting. I guess we can hope that Sauron will liven up the show a little. Otherwise, sadly it might be a decade before we can get a "reboot" on this idea.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022)
No prizes for costume design and little for acting. None for the script.
Commanding a huge budget and a deep script make for a commanding visual presentation that is undermined by a stolid plot-line, drab costume design and weak acting.
Realizing the vision of Tolkien requires a mixture of gravitas and sense of grandeur in historical backdrop and in characters. It is hard to imagine that the people of Númenor portrayed here could create the wonders of Gondor let alone those hinted at in Númenor itself.
I guess that Tolkien's trilogy provided a safe guide-rope for Jacksons plot, aided by the superb acting of the cast. Lacking this guide-rope, the storyline in Rings of Power leads us through some ham-fisted plot devices on a journey guided by wooden acting, especially by Clark and Cordova. There is a reason that Tolkien, a good narrative craftsman, relegated some of the historical backdrop to appendices. There is no narrative craftsmanship on show here (at least three episodes in).
Once again a big budget CGI effort cannot lift itself above a mediocre script and agonisingly bad acting. I guess we can hope that Sauron will liven up the show a little. Otherwise, sadly it might be a decade before we can get a "reboot" on this idea.
The Wheel of Time (2021)
High expectations dissapointed by dull acting and plot
This series should work better than it dies. It is hard to know whether it is the material on which this is based, or the failures in the depth of acting.
The series has superb production qualities, and is a feast of visual entertainment. Rosamund Pike brings great talent to the production.
Sadly these strengths cannot overcome a derivative story line and wooden acting by the rest of the cast.
There is not enough invested in the character formation to find a reason to care about the movement forward in the storyline. The series lacks the sharp bite of GoT, the characterisation of Gormenghast and to rich backdrop of LOTR. Any one of these might carry it over the line.
Sadly, too superficial to be interesting and not the Covid viewing escape I was hoping for.