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jay-lees
Reviews
H2O (2004)
H20 doesn't hold water
I watched this mini-series because I had seen Paul Gross in Due South and Slings and Arrows. I don't have to be a "spoiler" to say that this was a truly inane mini-series. The issue of Canada withholding water from the USA was an interesting one that was quickly and completely drowned. There was good acting but only in scenes meant to show off good acting rather than to move the plot in any understandable direction (watch the interminable "mother of the prime minister" scenes). Dissecting this misconceived film is hardly worthwhile. Canada has a fine talent in Mr. Gross, but that talent doesn't extent to script writing. H20 does not hold water.
The Trojan Horse (2008)
Canada joins the USA and then you watch 3 hours of a movie going down the toilet.
No spoiler needed to steer you clear of this...well, bizarre film. Canada becomes part of the USA. OK. So, I guess I'm unusual, but I expected something about the implications of Canada becoming part of the USA. Silly me. Continue with this movie and you are off to cloud coocoo land. The opening premise has nothing to do with the rest of the film in which you will (trust me) not care a squat for any of the characters. Slings and Arrows and Due South have to be among the most imaginative series ever. But in this case, Paul Gross, I'm so very sorry to say, didn't have a clue about making a coherent film and wasted a lot of talented actors in the process. A real disappointment.
Appaloosa (2008)
A transparent movie: two gunslingers who make a living as sheriffs find trouble with bad guys and women. That's pretty much the plot.
A transparent movie: two gunslingers who make a living as sheriffs find trouble with bad guys and women. That's pretty much the plot of this movie. What happens isn't particularly interesting. You've got great actors doing their stuff but the story doesn't pull you in. Jeremy Irons does a wonderful job as the villain but is given almost nothing to work with (perhaps worth watching to see what a pro can make of zilch). Renée Zellweger delivers a great performance with pathetically little—really, less than Irons (the two must have been drawn into this movie by friendship with Harris). In writing these reviews one is warned about indicating whether one is giving a review with a spoiler, but with this movie there is nothing to spoil. The ending is a low key attempt—one almost feels sorry for Jeremy Irons—to camouflage the fact that the writers and director didn't really know what to do with the story. Bottom line, good acting in a terrible script with, sad to say, bad directing from Ed Harris, who apparently wanted to place a slow moving somberness over the whole but ended up making a frankly boring movie.