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trajan96
Reviews
A Murder at the End of the World: Chapter 1: Homme Fatal (2023)
So far an expensive failure
Film making is exactly like a souflee. One mistake and it deflates. Multiple mistakes and it becomes tedious and torturous to get through. First episode in a series is effectively a pilot and it better be close to perfect. This one is rife with pacing and directing errors. Why does the lead character wobble through scenes like she's on tranquilizers? Instead of making her enigmatic it's so devoid of energy as to be outright boring. It's an intriguing story line that properly handled could be very compelling. Extraneous dialog , unsympathetic woke characters, dull pacing miss a multitude of what could be stellar moments. Hire a director who has the talent to create suspense. Great locations and technical standards.
Love and Other Impossible Pursuits (2009)
Punishing
A matrix of spoiled, unattractive immature characters whose development apparently ceased at the mean girl high school stage. It's a reasonably accurate portrait of neurotic snowflake culture in New York and that's depressing enough. No wonder half of Manhattan is on Prozac. There is no one likable enough to root for. The home wrecker Portman wallowing in self pity competing with her young step son for her husband's approval, Kudrow the betrayed ex wife seething with hatred and using her son to deliver it, the weak husband incapable of providing the male role model his son desperately needs, and they all behave with a petty vulgarity without a trace of class or dignity. As one European commentator wrote, America extends childhood to an absurd degree, where many 40 year olds have not outgrown it.
About Alex (2014)
Poster child for declining America
What an exercise in torture. A group of college students meet in a country house to have what one supposes the writer thought were meaningful and insightful interactions after an attempted suicide. Instead what transpires is endlessly juvenile self pitying blather by pampered entitled overgrown brats who can't decide if they're gender fluid or not. It's as if the entire group are the offspring of progressive therapists who taught them to glorify every neuroses, micro aggression, and narcissism as it were a grandiose philosophical manifestation. The reality is it's just juvenile pretentions and the romantic predicaments have all the ardor of a Bugs Bunny cartoon.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
Wasted potential
A great cast and interesting plot line completely wasted by a sophomoric script with pretentious delusions of grandeur and direction that crushed any sliver of potential excitement. By having the actors sail through their dialog as if they were medically tranquilized, their robotic delivery and bland expressions frozen in place like a bad table read, the director makes it impossible to empathize as the insidious plot mysteriously unfolds. Relationships between the characters are borderline absurd and with antagonist Martin that border is obliterated. I can't imagine a patient's father who's also a Dr having less initiative or being more ineffectual. There are also some annoying choices with the Musical score. Surrealism is fine as a platform but the audience must still care . In better hands this could be a terrifying horror show.
Far from the Madding Crowd (2015)
A COLLAPSED SOUFFLE'
Poor casting, flat uninspired directing wreck this ill fated remake of a classic Hardy novel. Two key premises of Hardy's work are a ravishing somewhat independent heroine with a number of diverse men in her orbit and her inner journey from naive coquette victimized by attractive rogue to
wise and loyal woman. The crucial sexual and romantic tension that drives the story is completely absent here. Actors move through the scenes as if on thorazine, dully reciting lines from cue cards. It rings false, and that is death for a romance. By comparison, check out the brilliant Schlesinger directed version with Julie Christie, Peter Finch, Alan Bates and Terence Stamp.
Jessica Jones (2015)
Good show
Jessica Jones is a part of the darker adult dystopian Marvel universe of serial killers, addicts, malevolent narcissists and various other deviants. Cast is excellent. Ritter as the world weary , cynical lead is great as are all the supporting players. Rachel Taylor , Mike Colter, and the brilliant Carrie Ann Moss are standouts. The writers performed above their weight class in a show that could easily have have been a short lived ride to oblivion. Sure handed direction, editing, and technicals on a budget is never a given. Honorable mention to the musical score by Sean Callery, whose moody jazz and techno elements blend perfectly with the urban landscape. My two complaints are the show could have expanded into a larger universe and worse, the premature ending was a betrayal of how we know the characters would have behaved. At the last, the writers dropped the ball.
Prometheus (2012)
How to butcher a brilliant franchise
One of the more egregious screw the pooch exercises in movie history. A legendary franchise, a stellar cast, an Oscar winning director whose original ALIEN is still one of greatest Sci fi films ever, and they came up with this incomprehensible mess. The biggest problem was a laughably awful script. Characters supposedly great scientists behaving like juvenile idiots repeatedly. No safety protocols whatsoever on an alien planet with unknown life forms crawling around everywhere? Characters with apparently conflicting agendas that were never clarified. Characters behaving like shrieking idiots. Weak shots, poor pacing, painful dialog. Here and there some beautiful cinematography and visuals but not nearly enough to rescue the overall. Watching Alien then Prometheus back to back, one would never guess the same direction helmed both. Was he drunk? Relationship troubles?
The Lobster (2015)
Biggest waste of money and talent ever
The incredible mystery is how this unbelievable train wreck of a screenplay got financed and all these fine actors were convinced to participate. There is literally not a single scene that makes the remotest sense, not one character to root for, dialog that is painfully ridiculous, and a premise that to call absurd is woefully inadequate to describe the mind numbing pointlessness of every second of this exercise in futility. It's as if some rich dilettante hired a top cast crew and locations without a page of story, and then scribbled drunken ideas on a cocktail napkin the night before each day's shoot. I gave it three stars in respect of the cast and crew. .
Come and Find Me (2016)
Good plot and cast marred by poor directing choices
The story of the beautiful girl who mysteriously disappears can be a treat. The problem with this iteration is the protagonist, Aaron Paul's character, David, is directed to be a pitiful bungling incompetent who is is so charmless that it impossible to find a reason for Claire to be with him. Fish out of water films can be great, but the hero must be likeable. How are we supposed to root for a guy who's stupid, whose actions are incomprehensible, who blunders from scene to scene generally being annoying? Why Claire would care about David is the biggest mystery in this tragically butchered exercise. Rewrite and a better director and could have been a neat little thriller.
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Big miss
It's amazing how Hollywood can assemble a top notch cast and a big budget for a sequel of an iconic masterpiece and fail to polish this incoherent mess of a script, the cheapest thing in the entire complex equation to fix. Motivations are unclear or even contradictory, relationships between characters cover the spectrum from absurd to nonsensical, gratuitous violence that adds even more confusion, alliances that defy logic. Too many plotting mistakes to count. Two weeks with a couple of top writers to fix the screenplay and this could have been great. It's watchable for the beautiful cinematography, dreamy atmosphere, and the cast.
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
Incredible wasted opportunity
A classic thrilling adventure novel, great locations, fabulous cast, all wasted because a very weak script and a hack director absolutely butchered what should have been a historical epic for the ages. It was directed like a bad TV movie of the week. Scene after scene wo a hint of drama, humor or suspense. Pacing was like a first table read. I'm not sure I've ever seen such a colossal misuse of resources . Dicaprio, Malkovich, Byrne, Irons, Depardieu. Laurie. Several of France's most stunning actresses. A couple of hundred grand on a rewrite and a creative director this tragic blunder could have been amazing. Did anyone watching the dailies notice the dialog was absolutely God awful? Maybe English wasn't their native language ?
Alien: Covenant (2017)
Visually stunning with a ridiculous script
Scott directed the original Alien. A brilliant groundbreaking Sci fi horror film with a great cast, An almost perfect script. And an iron grip of mounting tension to an explosively satisfying climax. These subsequent iterations have big budgets, some good actors, but the scripts? Omg the tortured writing, pretentiously forced dramatics. The unbelievable stupidity of a space crew of supposed professionals who act like Beavis and Butthead on a mission. Inexplicable motivations. Incoherent plotting. Oblivious to obvious dangers. On a big budget film, the cheapest thing and the most important to get right is the screenplay. Apparently they didn't have one when they started filming.
The Bourne Legacy (2012)
Could have been good
First half of the film was great. Strong set up. Story working, great cast. Good production values. 2nd half director made the inexplicable decision to direct Rachel Weiz's character, a top secret PhD doctor doing cutting edge research, as if she were a gibbering sniveling receptionist on her 3rd day. Apparently having her chew the scenery was supposed to create drama. Her whining was as ridiculous as it was annoying. In reality such a character would be ten times tougher than he allowed her to be. There was zero chemistry between the characters which is a big drawback when they are in jeopardy together. A shame they didn't figure this out on the first day of dailies.
Sucker Punch (2011)
Technically superb, somewhat overwritten
A video game come to life. Superb and gorgeous cast, action sequences were stunning and inventive. Top class cinematography. Interesting enough premise. Performances were fine. Sometimes the pacing got a bit frenetic and rushed , not allowing the dramatic action to breathe. Now the bad news.. The C minus musical score was a big negative. Like bad temp music. The back to reality exposition scenes lacked drama , were overwritten, and were just plain boring. The last thing a video game action packed fantasy world spectacular needs is a lot of whining and complaining. First law of dialog in this genre? Less is more. 5 lines of chatter when a look would have sufficed. A better score and a talented editor and this could have been a classic.
Jessica Jones: A.K.A. Everything (2019)
Absurd
Ridiculous turn of events. JESSICA turns in her closest friend Trish for killing 3 serial killers, including the one who killedTrish's mom.. Suddenly she's throwing her into the jaws of a system that repeatedly failed to provide justice and routinely let killers go free. Her whole persona was predicated on her rebel pov, and suddenly she's making sanctimonious statements and being an advocate for the government she'd always held in contempt, wo an ounce of loyalty. Her entire misanthropic persona was saved by the glimmerings of compassion and connection she had,, particularly with Trish, and at the end she literally treats her like a veritable stranger.. Very disappointing writing.
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Marvel
High technical standard, top notch cast marred by overly complicated and often painfully ridiculous script. A sharp editor could have helped considerably.
Spartacus: Blood and Sand (2010)
Favorite show of all time.
Incredible achievement. Brilliant entertainment as long as sex and violence is acceptable. Gorgeous production and cast. Epic scale. Inspired casting of unknowns who more than delivered. Whitfield was headed for superstar status.
Pig (2021)
Some brilliance here
Cage is great in this little tale about a misanthropic curmudgeon living in exile in the woods. He survives by selling truffles he finds with the help of his beloved pet pig. When the pig is stolen he is compelled to re-engage with his former life. Beautifully shot and directed with a script whose slight flaws the fine acting made me willing to overlook. It is Cage, however, who finally reminds us of his prodigious talent. One hopes he doesn't spend another ten years in exile.
6 Underground (2019)
Script a juvenile mess
Great cast, beautifully shot, some fantastic action sequences all marred by relentlessly sophomoric and often ridiculous dialogue masquerading as wit and a convoluted story arc that went from A to A. Could have been a gripping success with better pages. Epic wasted opportunity.
Westworld (2016)
Expensive fail
Big problem with this story is no character to care for. Purple prose, heavy handed , mediocre direction, weak casting with a blatant preponderance of an unsympathetic type. When a homicidal robot is the most charismatic person on screen, someone screwed the pooch.
Intelligence (2005)
Gripping drama
Intelligence is a hidden gem among crime shows. Depicting the illegal drug world of Vancouver, the characters are 3 dimensional, the stories compelling, and the direction sure handed , energetic, and fast paced without being frenetic . Great , attractive cast and moody jazz soundtrack all add up to a real treat. It's a shame the show was cancelled. Another year would have been well earned.
American Woman (2018)
Too notch writing and seamless organic direction
A great tough little drama highlighted by Sienna Miller in her finest role. Deftly directed the lean script avoids the pitfalls of cheap sentimentality and produces fine understated performances from a talented cast. Well worth seeing.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)
Disappointing
Story was weak with very questionable decisions. Film arc was flat with an unimaginative and underwhelming third act. Considering the cast, the franchise and the budget, the writing and direction were sub par.
Indiscreet (1958)
Sheer delight
Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman shine and shimmer in this delightful and witty romantic comedy. They epitomize the glamour of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
They make most modern actors look banal and coarse by comparison.
The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018)
Decent but uninspired
The second Hollywood iteration of the Girl with the Dragon trilogy fails to surpass the promise of the Rooney Mara version. The director is a bit of a hack, failing to scupt contrast where necessary and directing a far too emotional performance out of Foy, not at all faithful to the book''s icy and confident character. Musical score was mediocre. Shot well with some great locations male it watchable, but disappointing for true fans of the characters envisioned by the books' author.