Change Your Image
theaantoniaskindle
Reviews
The Devil's Hour (2022)
Utterly absurd plot, wretched ending
The only reason this tediously silly plot held my attention was the amazing acting of the protagonist 's son, played with precocious aplomb by the talented Benjamin Cheevers. In addition, Jessica Raines, as Lucy Chambers, makes a sympathetic, if dimwitted and irresponsible, mother to Benjamin's Issac. Alex Ferns as the tough Scottish Detective Sergeant and his intelligent but squeamish Detective Inspector are brilliant in their supporting roles. Finally, Barbara Marten as the mother of Lucy Chambers gives a convincing portrait of an elderly woman suffering from dementia. The story tries and fails to give other wordly explanations for dementia, autism, delusions of grandeur and psychopathology. All of these real mental aberrations are instead explained away by some pathetically silly ideas of reincarnation into a reality that never advances in time. I found the ending lacked closure. I left feeling cheated of any sense of justice or any redeeming social value at all.
The Morning Show (2019)
I enjoyed hate watching this barely watchable soap opera
I did not know hate watching was a thing. But what I loved about the show was how much I hated these superficial, back stabbing, phony, pretentious, hypocrites. Anyway, when I described how I was watching the show to my husband, he explained that hate watching is what people do when watching a sports event, movie or series in order to mock the events on the screen. "The Morning Show" provides lots of opportunity with a seemingly infinite supply of one creepy, contemptible, untrustworthy character after another in one cringe worthy scene after another.
I know that Paul Marks was supposed to be a play on Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his dubious take over of Twitter. Musk really destroyed Twitter but that was not a main stream news outfit. The only character I really liked was Paul Marks, and this is in no small part due to the incredible performance by Jon Hamm, who by the way, is not to be missed in Season 2 of "Good Omens." The idea that Alex Levy, who is just a high paid talking (air) head, and did not do one minute of journalism during the entirety of Season 3, would try to preserve UBA through a merger with another failing corporate media giant, rather than have a leading role in the creation of a new company while being in a relationship with a billionaire, stretched credibility. At the end of the day, it was a hilarious farce.
Are we supposed to feel sorry for a huge MSM (Main Stream Media) conglomerate, who has never met a war they did not love, or played a role in stirring up the public against some foreign (but imaginary) enemy, as if people are not the same the world over and there are not bad people (with a few good people) everywhere. Profits are what drives corporate news. If you want real journalism, you need to find an independent media outlet, not the original of which UBA was based on. As if these journalists, whose salaries could feed and house an entire town of poor people for a year really care about the truth or about the lives of their viewers.
If you want to indulge in a little hate watching schadenfreude, this one is for you. If not, your life will be no poorer for having skipped it.
Invasion (2021)
The ending was as absurd as the rest of the series
I fast forwarded through much of the second half of this series just to see if by any chance a trillion dollar corporation could manage to produce a series worth watching. My effort was not rewarded however. This is analogous to eating a high calorie meal at a fast food outlet while going undernourished. The plot seems to be a rehash of the Borg story line from Star Trek, but at least Star Trek had some engaging characters whose backstories were interesting. I guess the actors did the best they could with the poor material they were handed. While I applaud the multi-racial, multi-cultural approach to entertainment which has become Apple's trademark, one good thing to come out of a huge multi-national corporation which depends on worldwide markets for its sales, the fact that their script writing is so incredibly subpar in almost every series is a waste of it acting talent and an insult to its subscribers' intelligence. The only commendable effort so far this season is "Flora and Son" which I highly recommend.
Flora and Son (2023)
Finally, Apple shows it can make a very good movie
Finally, something worth watching on AppleTV+ this season. "Flora and Son" is a wonderful Rom Com, not a genre I usually enjoy. But this story about people who have had a tough time but whose spirit is indomitable is both hilarious and touching. The brash, bold heroine is obviously Flora, a challenging role, played with grace and panache by the Irish star Eve Hewson. Her son,Max, played by Oren Kinlan, is a talented newcomer and perfect as a confused teen dealing with the divorce of his parents. And Jeff, the L. A. based musician whom Flora meets online when she signs up for guitar lessons is perfectly played in a low key, understated way by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
On display in the raw and tender script by John Carney who also directed this perfect gem, is the Irish sense of humor, the sarcasm, quick witted repartee, and sense of community. The viewer quickly feels empathy for the characters and is cheering them on. I thought the tough-love mother and son scenes were especially moving.
This season, I was beginning to wonder why I subscribe to AppleTV+. They are one of the largest corporations on the planet. They do make high quality products for a premium price. However, their subscription is relatively reasonable. But the quality has really deteriorated recently. "Invasion" was the most boring soap opera I have watched in a while. This is not science fiction. I dislike the cast so much that I am cheering for the aliens! "Foundation" was not bad but certainly not great. And "Sharper" was so absurd and depressing I stopped watching after 20 minutes and did not even waste time to see how things ended.
Please Apple, bring us more quality, shorter, tighter series which are both entertaining and intelligent.
Foundation (2021)
Wonderful sets, silly plot, unpleasant characters
There is a fair amount of eye candy in this movie. If anyone should get ten stars, it is the set and art designers in the production department. The story line relies significantly on historical accounts of the Roman Empire. In fact Asimov claimed to have just finished reading "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by the British historian Edmund Gibbon before he started on his seven volume serial. Although the Roman emperor's were not clones, they were blood descendants of Emperor Octavian, Augustus Caesar. And starting with Julius Caesar, the father who adopted Octavian, and moving right along through Titus, five emperors were deified to give them immortality. Here they are cloned instead. I did not find it hard to watch, largely because it is rather fun to make fun of some of what is going on.
I found the character of Hari Seldon, who seems to be a stand in for the puppet master himself, Mr. Asimov, truly repulsive. His megalomania and manipulative behavior seemed far more contemptible than that of the Cleon Clones who rule the empire. It is kind of amusing that Cleon is an anagram for Clone!
The presence of so many amorous encounters in this version is also right in keeping with Asimov's reputation as a groper and sexual predator. But in his day, people were inclined to laugh this contemptible conduct off, even though here both partners are eager to engage and there is no abuse or rape.
The acting is generally OK with a few wonderful performances. The actors do the best they can given the sophomoric script. There are a few stand outs. Brother Day, played by Lee Pace, is outstanding. He is a very relatable emperor. And Demerzel, the long lived AI humanoid robot, played by Laura Birn, manages to be both sympathetic and chilling at the same time. And one of the most difficult roles, that of Phara Keaen, played by Kubbra Sait, is an excellent villain. As the Grand Huntress of Anacreon, she leads the rebel faction who is trying to destroy the empire. She is driven solely by revenge and has no grand plan for world domination. The empire destroyed much of her planet and all of her family as retaliation for an attack on Trantor, home planet of the Empire. However, as far as we know, the Anacreon's were innocent.
The plot is based on the super-hero model. A couple of characters, Gaal Dornick, a math prodigy who can also sense the future, and her biological daughter, Salvor Hardin, a loner impervious to the power of the "Vault," an imposing immense floating bisected diamond, which emanates some kind of invisible destructive field which affects everyone on the planet Terminus except Salvor. These are not your typical superheros dressed up in ridiculous costumes but simply humans who have superhuman abilities which drive the plot along.
The notion that the future can be predicted because of the history of our species is not all that far fetched, since we are obviously condemned to repeat the same large patterns over and over. Thucydides, 2500 years ago, made the same observation in his great work, "The History of the Peloponnesian War." However, the idea that Hari Seldon proved this mathematically is indeed absurd. One thing which the movie does bring to light is the fact that humans will go to great lengths in terms of the magical thinking surrounding religion. And there are several mumbo jumbo religious cults in the Empire who must be appeased. In this way, the production of "Foundation" makes a valuable commentary on our own times.
I will start Season 2 soon. I think it is worth watching.
After watching the first 5 episodes of Season 2, I see I was too optimistic. Season 2 fails in all areas except the sets and art work. The hair styles have remained consistently absurd. The dialog is juvenile and it is hard to find any part of the plot worth investing another 10 hours of your life in.
Cocaine Bear (2023)
Hilarious, offbeat and original
I had no idea that I would enjoy this movie as much as I did. It is refreshingly original, absolutely hilarious, well acted, well directed and wonderfully entertaining. So many movies are the same old, same old story line. Streaming media is predictably boring. It is loosely based on a true story, that of a black bear found dead in Georgia's Chattahoochee National Forest in 1985 after consuming drugs dropped from a plane by cop turned drug smuggler Andrew Thornton. (He subsequently baled out and was found dead in a Knoxville driveway with an unopened parachute, a bulletproof vest and $15m-worth of cocaine). It is a bit gory but its cartoonish aspect makes it more tolerable. The movie's sympathy lies completely with the bear as the incompetent, corrupt, and hopelessly flawed humans stumble and bumble from one absurd situation to the next. Do not let the other negative reviews put you off. It is offbeat, clever, and slyly critical of humans of all kinds.
Prostoy karandash (2019)
A Brilliant, Thought Provoking, Understated Film
I was transfixed by this wonderful film. The setting is incredibly beautiful in contrast to the town and it's suppressed and resigned population. A true teacher, a thoughtful and caring woman comes to the town because her husband, also an artist, has been wrongfully convicted of a crime. She still loves him and tries to cheer him but he is cold and distant. Instead she pours her love and deeply felt ideas of the emotions great art can convey into her teaching. The town seems incapable of dealing with a bully who has cowed the local population and who has an older brother who is a violent criminal who is about to be released from prison. This kind and caring woman is also brave and determined to see justice done. She is severely beaten by the brother. In the last shot, the young and talented student she tried to save is looking at someone on a boat out of this hellish place. So whether or not she survived the attack and can return to St. Petersburg is ambiguous. I chose to believe she did. I do not think the film is overtly political but rather a story about the choices people make and how fear can make life not worth living. It shows that to have a good, safe and rewarding life, one must also have ideals and courage and be willing to stand up to Injustice. Corruption takes many forms, most of them when good people stand by and let bullies win.
Tár (2022)
Brilliant tour de force by writer-director Todd Field and star Cate Blanchett
I was so engaged by this movie that time literally stood still as I forgot everything around me and even my own identity, so taken up was I by the magic unfolding on the screen. In Tar, everything is inverted. The credits role first. The sexual predator is a woman rather than a man. The arena is not pop culture but the high culture of European symphonic music. There is much art and symbolism in the film. The central character, played to perfection by the amazing and versatile Cate Blanchett (whom I have adored ever since I first saw her as Galadriel in Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit) is an arrogant, manipulative sociopath, who takes advantage of her talent and her revered place in the world of big name classical orchestras to prey upon her inferiors and those who depend upon her good opinion, until finally the merry-go-round stops and her true persona is laid bare before the world. Then all her self-deceptions and self-delusions fall apart and leave her psychologically destroyed. She tries to cope but those whom she has hurt have the last laugh. It is a story of both predation but also of revenge. This must be the emotional horror of the Harvey Weinsteins of the world. Tar goes from total self control to complete insanity. The film taunts us with incomplete stories (Krista, Tar's family roots, her need to control and manipulate others) as well as obscure symbols (the maze, the odd supernatural sounds, the strange down-at-heels apartment, the screams outside, the growls in a rundown cellar, holding her daughter's foot). There is plenty here to keep one thinking for a long time.
The Last Thing He Told Me (2023)
The main character is too stupid to be real.
In the first episode, when the main character, a woman called Hannah, is willing to talk to some guy who flashes a phoney looking badge and says he is a US Marshall and who then writes a phone number on a napkin, I realized this production was going to be ridiculous. She didn't ask for a photo ID or a business card? And when she calls the number and asks to speak to the person named, and finds out there is a marshall with that last name there, she just hangs up! That proves NOTHING. There could be a marshall with that name there but it may not be the sloppy looking dude who flashed a toy badge. Whoever wrote this script , a tired hackneyed prop, could not even give the lead character a brain? There is much more of the same. And the annoying teen just was the final straw. I stopped watching after two episodes and could care less how it ends. A real DUD Apple.
1899 (2022)
What is lost will NOT be found.
Another pretentious waste of time Netflix production. A totally pointless plot grinds on to a completely nonsensical conclusion. The only thing lost will be the time you waste watching this absurd series. And that can never be found or regained. The first episode was promising. By the end of the second it was clear that the story was going nowhere. I skipped to the last episode and found unsurprisingly that I had missed nothing. There was no there there. The last two minutes made no sense in the context of what came before. However, if they had started with this scene and actually told a story it could have had potential. Instead it is a lot of emotional Sturm and Drang, silly secrets and tragedies amounting to no big deal and totally unrelated to the silly, paranoid plot. Whoever Netflix has employed to choose scripts, they are not deserving of their position. For me, it is time to cancel my subscription.
Behind Her Eyes (2021)
A Paranoid Twisted Psycho Thriller
The story really drew me in only to totally let me down. The crazy ending with its ominous note at the very end made me wish I had never started the series. On the plus side, the acting is superb, the direction flawless. But the special effects were only mediocre. The ending was totally unpredictable. I never saw it coming and so I just felt totally blindsided. Apparently, all the characters were totally clueless too! Just the plot and the story we're creepy and depressing. I hope my review will be a warning that if you are at all empathic, or if you want some closure in the ending, then please learn from my mistake and give this one a miss.
The White Princess (2017)
This series had both highs and lows
The acting was in general exceptionally good. The main problem was the historical inaccuracy. The series makes Henry VII look weak and helpless when in fact he was highly intelligent, faithful to his wife with whom he shared a long and happy marriage, and incredibly deft at maintain peace in a fractious kingdom. He was also very greedy and acquisitive, and took great care not to expose himself to traitors in his midst. Hence, the plot sort of wobbles its way through some absurd plots, like welcoming the pretender, a known fraud, into the castle, instead of executing him immediately as was actually done. Henry VII is barely a footnote to the machinations of his mother and mother-in-law. That is not to say they could not have played a part, but to give them so much ahistorical power simply made this boring. Much more could have been made of the marriage negotiations for Prince Arthur and with Spain in general. Much more background on the history of the various aristocratic families would also had added some very good plot lines. So this was basically underwhelming and a waste of great talent. Clearly, Starz was not happy with the viewership since a brilliant sequel could have followed about the death of Prince Arthur and the early reign of Henry VIII, which often gets little air time due to the interest in Anne Boleyn and his latter marital exploits.
Munich: The Edge of War (2021)
Wonderful script and screenplay, sympathetic portrayal of Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain is rarely given the benefit of the doubt. However, this film has chosen to portray a man who preferred to err on the side of caution and avoid an immediate war. This was in part because England and France were far, far behind in their military preparedness compared to the Third Reich which knew from the outset that it was heading to war. The plot by the wonderful novelist Robert Harris is rendered very well and the acting is simply first rate. I was fully engaged for the entire movie and found that it made me think that Chamberlain was not the naive fool in which history generally paints him to be. I am highly skeptical of the notion that there were German military officers who were ready to take action against Hitler's megalomania in the event of an illegal invasion of Czechoslovakia. But I do not doubt that Chamberlain and the Allied powers were well informed of Hitler's plans and also of his intention to purge Germany of its Jewish population. It is ironic that the Nazis brutal action against the Jews and the failure of Europe and the US to respond appropriately led to a huge Jewish migration into Palestine and the entire history of the latter third of the 20th century and the current century so far live under the shadow of the illegal expropriation of the Palestinians, who had nothing to do with the holocaust, from their homes. It turns out the Jews are no more ethical than the Nazis.
My one quibble with the screen play is the portrayal of Hugh Legat's wife, Pamela Legat, as the stereotypical woman who is unsympathetic to the demands of her husband's work ethic. Knowing that they have received a gas mask for her young son, and knowing that her husband is a secretary for the British PM who is now facing down Hitler does not seem to convince her that his priority for now must be his work for the government. This is totally idiotic and unrealistic unless a woman is mentally ill, which she clearly is not. So for that outrageous anti-female portrayal I took off 2 stars. Never the less, for an entertaining, thought provoking and thrilling evening, I recommend watching this wonderful film.
Broken English (2007)
Tedious, trite, boring
Why do women make movies about neurotic single women? I have never actually met a woman like the character played by Parker Posey. The fact that marriage is her goal in life, to be a housewife and raise children, while not unusual, is totally uninteresting. Why didn't the director cast an unattractive, slightly overweight actress for the part and make her slightly sarcastic and demanding instead of meek and pliable and pathetic? While the character is not the brightest bulb on the tree, and Posey is no great beauty, she is very pretty, very skinny, and would never have trouble getting a proposal. She plays the part of an airhead, slightly dimwitted, uninteresting, and unaccomplished hotel gofer who cannot manage to put an important number in her mobile phone but who drinks too much and falls into bed with predatory hotel guests. This would make her chances of getting a proposal from a self absorbed, equally uninteresting man who wants someone to do his laundry and grocery shopping and have great sex with even more likely. That the unusual, sensitive, talented, and interesting French character is interested in her is what is totally unbelievable in this story. Puleeeeez.
Goya's Ghosts (2006)
Depravity on Steroids
We are all well aware that the Spanish Inquisition represents a low point in the generally debased and sordid history of the RCC (Roman Catholic Corporation). So what is the point of a story which graphically depicts such horrors? This was not entertainment. This did not deepen my understanding of the darker side of human nature. I stopped watching after they started torturing Natalie Portman. Who knew that Milos Foreman had sunk to such depths?
Gunpowder (2017)
Violent scenes of torture and humiliation
This film's only redeeming quality is that it shows the idiocy of religion. The people in the film suffer from the long held human illusion that there is some god or gods out there who care a whit what is happening to humans.
Otherwise, it is simply a disgusting portrayal of a debased period in history when the chocolate and vanilla flavors of christianity was put to a shocking amount of murder, mutilation and miserable misconduct so that one side or the other could get into heaven.
The Last Days on Mars (2013)
The Real Title is "Zombies Frolic on Mars"
It is hard to imagine a movie as bad as this. Why does science fiction attract the worst writers and directors? For 15 minutes, this looked like it might actually be an interesting movie. The description said that after 6 months on Mars, alien life in the form of bacteria are found. After that intriguing initial concept, it quickly deteriorated into another hour and fifteen minutes of bad editing, complete with jiggling camera, blackness with glaring lights, and attempts at horror. The whole thing was pretty laughable. Fast forwarding over the worst parts in the hope of reaching at least one scene worth watching proved futile. I can't believe I paid to watch this. So much for the theory that Prime charges for the better films. Going by this experience, the reverse is true. Wish I read other reviews here first. Don't be as foolish as I was and take a pass.
La faille (2019)
A Violent, Horrific Waste of Time
This was without doubt one of the most debased and depraved series I have had the misfortune to watch. It did not start out so bad. There are 8 episodes. By Episode 5, I had had enough. It is merely an excuse to watch men abuse women, portray women in degrading and dehumanizing conditions, blame the women for their situation, and in most other ways offend viewers sensibilities. A creepy town and a creepy plot. And I thought Canada was a pretty nice country!
I Am Not Okay with This (2020)
Refreshingly original and highly entertaining
This refreshingly original story shows us what it is like to be a high school student in 2020. The dialog is clever and snappy. The characters are realistic and honest, despite the underlying super hero theme. There is an overarching respect for each other among the various characters with the obvious exception of the villains of the piece. It shows what true friendship can be, how mothers and daughters can find common ground, and how hard life can be to understand. The acting is superb, the action fast paced, and the plot engrossing. I demand that Netflix re-consider its decision not to make a Season 2. Of all the truly mediocre, boring and tedious series they have continued, this one stands out as a gem. How could they disappoint so many of the fans of this show?
The White Queen (2013)
Seems like an excuse for some T&A rather than a historical drama
To be clear, I gave up after suffering through the first episode. The acting is stiff and unnatural, the costumes look like costumes, not clothing contemporary to 15th century nobility, and the dialog is dull, unintelligent and boring.
There are no battle scenes, very little history. The sex seems to be the main feature here and the historical aspects which are quite dramatic on their own barely come into it.
If this is your thing, you will enjoy the series. But I did not think I could put up with another hour of this poor excuse for a historical dramatization of the War of the Roses.
L'apparition (2018)
Complete and utter disappointment
From the start, I feared this movie would land in a ditch and it did. The story is basically about how a charlatan used a troubled young girl's trauma to launch a fake religious scam on a group of gullible Catholics. Along the way, we meet the hysterical heroine at the center of the charade. She is all too aware that she did not see the "Virgin Mary". It turned out it was her friend at the foster home who did. Now the friend is volunteering in Syria for the UN. How the "adults" involved allowed this troubled young woman to starve herself to death is beyond child abuse. But hey what can you expect from the RCC, Roman Catholic Corporation. Certainly not concern for the lives of the children trapped in their faith. The whole thing was a tawdry mess. Too many obscure sub-plots to mention here. I still have no clue what the damaged icon of the "Virgin Mary" had to do with the whole thing.
The problem is that the acting is good. And it really leads you down the garden path gradually sucking your in, because it seems to be a mystery which can and should be solved. But no, the director/writer failed utterly to deliver any satisfaction to the audience, the minimum any movie owes its audience. Instead we get some pathetic philosophical drivel that people "lost their way" leading to the death of the would-be saint. If there were a god, there would be no reason to be coy about it. He, she or it would just perform some wondrous things for all to see, and we would all become believers. But it is abundantly clear that there is no god. Just look at the misery of the lives of most humans on the planet. On the other hand, god may exist but is powerless, i.e. no-god or is not interested in kindness, caring or love, all the things that make life worth living. Save yourself 2 hours and 15 minutes and take my word for it that you do not want to watch this waste of time.
Il commissario Montalbano (1999)
Boring, repetitive, and tedious
This series of 36 episodes runs out of steam at episode 5. I find the fact that every episode has to show some T&A disgusting. It shows they did not think the drama could hold our attention, and it does not.
Il giovane Montalbano (2012)
Stunningly good!
This series is much more about the relationships between the various characters than about the crimes and criminals. The lead actors are absolutely pitch perfect for their parts. The cinematography is wonderful. You feel like you live in Vigata. The extra frisson of tension added by the mafia builds tension. But the tension is also about each character and how they manage to work together and support each other.
This series is SO MUCH BETTER than the old Montalbano series in every way. We watched all 12 in the two seasons and wanted to watch 12 more. We watch about 5 of the other series, which has many more episodes, and got bored.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
To Keep the Light (2016)
Brilliant tour de force by Erica Fae
The film is a powerful statement about the determination of one woman to create her own destiny. It is visually stunning and pitch perfect in both story line and in the austere acting which complement the barren Maine island where most of the action occurs. Ms. Fae, wrote, directed and starred in this wonderful, feminist film which has taken a host of awards. I hope she will have a long and productive career as we cannot wait to see her next production.
Case (2015)
Misogynistic thriller with no socially redeeming merit
I found this series depressingly predictable. It is your typical misogynistic drama powered by scenes where young women are terrorized, abused, and murdered by depraved men, usually older than the victim but not always. I confess that after the crotch grabbing scene in the supermarket, I turned it off and wrote an angry letter to Netflix. The fact that this movie was made in Iceland is ironic because Iceland is a country where women have real power and do not put up with this kind of mistreatment. Anything to make a krona I guess. Of course, in addition to the grizzly yet cinematic crime itself, their are the numerous couplings between attractive and appealing young women and unattractive and unappealing old men, usually unshowered and unshaven. The idea that this movie has any socially redeeming value and does anything more than pander to the misogyny of its viewers is IMHO preposterous.