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gorbals406
Reviews
Marriage (2022)
The S-L-O-W-E-S-T story in years...
If this "story" went any more slowly, it would be going backwards. Even Nicola Walker and Sean Bean couldn't save this one. Two of my favourite actors were just sacrificed in a boring disaster of a series. I truly couldn't finish even the first episode!
I honestly found myself questioning whether this production even had a script or whether it was one of those "avant-garde" follies that allowed its leads to ad lib their lines. Somehow, even between my two favourite actors, Sean Bean's "performance" was absolutely, embarrassingly appalling. The words "cringe worthy" just sprang to mind.
For their sakes, I tried to stick with it, but the last straw was the visit of a daughter and her boyfriend - and still NOTHING added to the story OR TO THE PACE of the story
These are potentially hours that you will never get back...
Parfum (2018)
Too weird!
ANYTHING I could say about the acting or the cinematography would be a waste of words because everything about this series is completely counteracted by the weirdness. Don't waste your time!
My Son (2021)
A Major Disappointment
I tried very hard to like this movie. I liked the actors. I loved the scenery. The story could have been intriguing but it degenerated into nonsense. The hero beats and hospitalises his ex-wife's new boyfriend (husband?) because there was no bedroom designated for his son in the house plans. He then tortures a stranger because of a hunch that he is involved in his son's kidnapping. After that, he decides to invade a house not knowing who is inside, how many are inside, or how well-armed they are. Pure nonsense!
Finally, the last straw, the movie ends so suddenly, so abruptly, that I felt as though "they" had run out of funding for the movie and had to cancel the last fifteen minutes or so. Even with the movie being partially produced with several French entities, none of them seem to have heard of the need for a dénouement.
Disparu à jamais (2021)
What were they thinking?
Although I liked the show quite a bit, I gave it a 1-star rating. One or two flashbacks in a story can be useful. One or two flashbacks in a couple of episodes would be all right. One or two flashbacks in EVERY episode would be TOO MUCH. Using a flashback for EVERY SECOND OR THIRD SCENE in the entire series was mind-numbing.
The story and the characters became so hard to follow that it ruined what could have been a good show! Flashbacks are a poor substitute for plot development and story-telling!
Hope Street (2020)
The audience can figure out for themselves where each scene takes place
The show was a pleasant enough distraction from gloomy COVID boredom. However, the single most annoying thing about it was the never-ending external shots of where each new scene was about to take place. Without exaggeration, EVERY time the "action" was about to happen in one of the usual spots like the police station, the Commodore pub, Investigation Room 1, or Concepta's house, the exterior of that place would be shown first.
It felt as though the makers of Hope Street had decided that their audience would not be clever enough to recognise the new settings in spite of the scores of times shown. Either that or the exterior shots were used as time-fillers. I have never seen this "device" used like that before. I was tempted to go back and count the number of times the exteriors of the station, the pub, and the house were shown IN EACH AND EVERY EPISODE, but I'm not that masochistic.
Murdertown (2018)
S-L-O-W-E-R than S-L-O-W!
If this show went any more slowly, it would be going backwards. I finally gave up after REALLY trying to stick it out for eight episodes of Season 1. The slow-motion walking by the main characters gets old before the end of even the first episode. The close-up of the extremely blurry facial shots of the victims adds a whole new dimension to repetitious. The aerial shots of the various towns leaves the viewer with the inevitable question of WHY. And don't get me started on the constant views of Ms Kelly pretending to drive. Who thought that in-vehicle shots of the narrator was a good idea?
In my opinion, all in all, each of these episodes would have been much better as, at most, 10-minute descriptions of horrendous crimes.