Change Your Image
paulbemi-1
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Les Papillons Noirs (2022)
Doesn't plausibility matter at all?
This couple goes all over Europe slaughtering dozens of people with forks and scissors , leaving a massive trail of blood wherever they go. They don't bother to get rid of the bodies. They don't bother planning out the murders. They don't care that they are seen in public with their victims. Yet the police never even get close to them. And we are hardly aware that an investigation is underway. This is not plausible. The violence is beyond gratuitous. Once you see someone murdered with a fork you don't need to see it over and over again--we get the point. The coincidences, alliances, surprises and ironies all strain credulity. This series has frankly been a huge disappointment but I suppose I'll have to finish it, since I only have 1.5 episodes left. But I wish I had never started frankly.
The Affair (2014)
Tell a story and get it over with!
What's with these series telling protracted stories that have no denouement? This should have ended after season 2. In order to keep it going the writers had to take some absurd leaps. Why would Alison, who never wanted to see her ex-husband again, suddenly be persuaded to go into business with him? A head scratcher--and story is riddled with them. I will say that the dialogue is well written, the acting is solid, and the photography gorgeous.
PS. I've just finished watching the entire series and I can't deny that I enjoyed the acting and the characters, but I am also annoyed at the leaps and gaps the scriptwriters took.
I mean the entire season 3 or 4 is in Paris and Noah has a torrid love affair with a French woman. It is never referred to again---why?
In season 5, Noah is entangled in a #metoo scenario in which may women accuse of him wrongdoing. Wouldn't this have been the PERFECT MOMENT for Helen to come forward and sway, "this man went to jail to save me. In fact I am the one who ran over Scotty in my car." That would have resuscitated his salvaged his reputation and provided some closure. Instead we don't know what happened with the his career, with Sasha Mann, with the film, etc. Did Sasha Mann conspire to destroy Noah? It certainly seemed so, and Sasha was being set up in the plot be the villain of season 5, but that line of storytelling just peters out. Were the writers stoned, bored or suffering from ADHD?
The whole apparatus to project Joanie into the future because the actor who played her father was no longer available (so transparent) did not work. I mean, she discovered her mother's killer (different actor, didn't speak the same way that the original Ben did, barely resembled him), and yet there was no justice or closure on that front....that was a head scratcher.
Really disappointing experience, empty calories, embarrassing to tell people that I watched all five seasons. Were it not for the intoxicating performance of McNulty, er, Dominic West, I would have (and should have) bailed early on.
Suspicion (2022)
Omg it sux
Some of the worst writing you will ever see or hear. What's this modern neurosis of dragging a story out forever? The golden age of television is definitely over.
La forêt (2017)
Some people...
...Are so closed-minded in their views of what things like police are supposed to be. Read Montaigne's "Of Cannibals" --"we always think we have the perfect society, the perfect police, the perfect institutions when compared to other civilizations" (paraphrasing). So, one cop is really overweight and another is a very emotional mother, so what? In my experience cops are usually portrayed as lovable buffoons rather than macho fascists in European drama. I'm annoyed that people knock the show because of that. The series is great-it's amazing how coherent the plot is and how few details lack verisimilitude (some do for sure). The lead cop "Decker" (it cracks me up that he is called that) is an awesome character in the hard-boiled tradition. The procedural elements are rigorous and illuminating, the scenery is superb. Well acted, well written and executed-TEN!
The Flight Attendant (2020)
6 is about right
This is a classic example of a series that is too long for the story. They literally had difficulty finding enough arc in the story to fill all the episodes. Nevertheless, the characters are fun, the story is light and entertaining and the music is FABULOUS-hats off to Blake Neely!
Ps. Critic-14 who complains about "too many gay characters," go back to Fox News for your entertainment magaboy.
The Undoing (2020)
Final episodes disappoint
Spoiler : at one point in the middle of the final episode, the husband of the victim (who is he? What's his story?) bursts into a meeting room at the courthouse and starts yelling at the defense lawyer for her "vile" tactics of putting his child on the stand. In a fit of rage (transparently intended to inform us that the husband had violent tendencies), he throws a pile of books and papers on the floor before a security guard drags him away. Literally two seconds later we see the meeting room, and there are no books or papers on the floor. This crass error of continuity should give you a general idea of the lengths the creators went to to generate plausibility.
Why in the world were Nicole Kidman's and Donald Sutherland's characters chasing her husband in a helicopter along with the police? Why would Fraser keep the murder weapon? Why would Fraser's wife be taking walks late at night miles and miles from her home?
In the first episodes I was a little annoyed by emerging whodunnit structure of the story. But misgivings were outweighed by the excellent acting, especially Grant's, the guy is such a pro. I was a bit disappointed with Kidman though, because her character was virtually indistinguishable from the role she played in "Big Little Lies" (which was a far superior series BTW), including her strange diction speaking American English.
De twaalf (2019)
Absurd and incoherent but still suspenseful and entertaining
The people complaining about the inconsistencies, mom sequiturs and gaps are right but I still really enjoyed it !
Why didn't Delphine simply tell her abusive husband, "I have no choice, I must serve on the jury because the law demands it"?
What the hell happened to the friend who was murdered on 1/1/2000? Why didn't they explain how and why Frei did it?
The most massive disappointment was the fact that jury did not discuss the procedural revelations of the trial. What about the fact that the letter from the social worker was coerced? They didn't find that significant? The rush to vote on a verdict in the final episode was way too fast.
Anyway the acting was good, the situations were compelling and I really enjoyed looking forward to the next episodes.