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The Alpines (2021)
One of the worst movies I've seen in recent memory
The premise my havehad some merit, but the writing was bad and the acting worse. A good ensemble can sometimes save bad writing, but not this group. There was also a few points where I wondered if a scene must have been cut out, because the plot skipped over things without explanation? It reminds me of some student films I've seen at film festivals, in which they are still figuring out skills of plot and pace.
When the voiceover at the end came, and it was just too much. It's clear whoever wrote and directed this thought this was all very highminded and sophisticated, but, I'm sorry, it was simply trite and disjointed, and ultimately just kinda superficial.
1923: Nothing Left to Lose (2023)
Jut like Yellowstone &and1883 before it, this series started with promise, then evolves into a silly soap opera
Won't go into details (spoilers), just focus on overall direction. There is a lot of interesting premise and characters laid out in early episodes, but the character development after that is minimal & the plot becomes increasingly 1) implausible (soap opera effect) and 2) gratuitously sexual. BDSM, really? Fine maybe to have given the brief taste in previous episode for character development reasons, but the extended screen time added in this episode is just ... extraneous titillation. Plus lots of other "dramatic diversions" which don't appear to further the main story at all, just ... draw out the telling of it. How many episodes in a row now could just be described as "The Duttons try to hang on in Montana waiting for Spencer, while Spencer & wife encounter and overcome yet another impediment to their journey. Plus some T&A."
A good writer would figure out the "big picture" of the story they tell, then conceive a large number scenes to drive it, plus background and character development to make it feel "real." A good writer, doing this well, would than have so many scenes that they would have to pare away some because of pacing, lack of screen time, and/or redundancy to achieving the overall objectives of the storytelling. A bad writer would have so little supporting story development that they would be compelled to throw stuff in to fill the minutes, and maybe exploit prurient aspects of their viewers to keep at least SOME of them from getting bored or impatient. Taylor Sheriden, I am increasingly concluding, is a bad writer.
Becoming Elizabeth (2022)
Quality/subtle series, writing & acting - so OF COURSE it gets cancelled after one season :(
Just finished watching Season 1. This has a pretty high production value with quality writing and acting, and is also *relatively* historically accurate (per my semi-limited knowledge of the period, maybe better than most, but not expert by any means). It might be a little hard for some to follow what is going on at times, because of the complexity of the political machinations, but for me at least that is what made it engrossing. Arguably this is the best "Starz Princess" production since the first one "The White Princess"; IMO it is probably better than "White Queen," and definitely better than "Spanish Princess." Part of the quality of the writing and acting is what is NOT said, how thoughts, worries etc are emoted through expression. A lesser series and set of writers would not (do not) have faith in their audience, and annoyingly stuff dialog into characters' mouths to explicate plot in a way that feels totally unrealistic.
So I google with anticipation, to see when Season 2 is coming out and ... discover it was canceled by Starz earlier this month! The reason given being apparently only older people were watching it, there was not enough of the 18-49 demographic that advertisers care most about (us old farts are less gullible I guess lol). Oh well, another show I like canceled quickly, and presumably for the exact reasons I liked it, subtlety & complexity, requiring you to think a little to follow it. Sigh.
1883 (2021)
Waited to see full season before I reviewed
... and good thing I did! If I had rated this series halfway through, I might have given it 8-9 stars? Multiple really compelling storylines, and a bit of a revelation how well Tim McGraw can act. Maybe not Emmy-worthy or anything, but still humbling/depressing to me that acting is (at best) the SECOND best skill he has.
But then came the 2nd half, the final ~5 episodes All of the interesting groundwork laid for most of those multiple storylines was basically left lying there, to rot away, until the writers could find a spare minute or two to dispatch the characters with a momentary interlude in what ultimately became the overriding, monolithic theme & storyline -- one which had very little to do with the title year, 1883, frankly. I'm avoiding spoilers here, but frankly you will know anyway from looking at all the 10-star reviews, gushing about one character/actor.
So, first half of season = 8, second half = 4, yielding final 6 rating. But really, I'm putting this review here more for future viewers with similar tastes as me: strong, believable writing, and complex storylines. The first episodes will get you excited, the final episodes will let you down - HARD. But, on the bright side, the cinematography throughout was beautiful.
1883: This Is Not Your Heaven (2022)
Probably most satisfying for the Elsa groupies
All the highly rated reviews so far (two days after airing) seem to be from people emotionally invested in Elsa's story, looking for a big, theatrical moment for her exit. Well, from THAT perspective it certainly delivered -- right down to the little bird appearing at the spot she chose to be laid to rest. For those who have forgotten, that (plus leaning against a tree to "rest for a while") was a nod to one of the earliest S1 episodes of Yellowstone, where John Dutton (Costner) was leaning against a similar tree, trying to pick a place to bury HIS child, whose body he was embracing in a similar way.
So I get all the 10-star reviews, if that kind of melodrama is what you were looking for, you got it -- in spades. But for anyone who cared at all about ANY of the other story threads? You get short shrift. I guess Shea's story was adequately "completed," but Thomas + Noemi got just a nod, and Josef's even less (I'm presuming none of those characters appear at all in Season 2, since they are now widely geographically dispersed, there is no way for them to continue to interact -- so, I guess that's all the ending their stories ever get). Heck, we got LITERALLY nothing about the Duttons, or Yellowstone. What was that first winter like in Montana, before the non-Duttons pushed on for Oregon in the spring? How did the Duttons go about creating their ranch? I'm sure it must have been intense! But we will never know.
Nope, this was all The Elsa Show -- as it increasingly became in each of the episodes in the 2nd half of the season. Well, I'm glad all these ten-star raters got what they want I guess, if in exchange it means that next season, maybe I can get what brought ME here, the quality writing & multiple non-superficial story lines of the FIRST half of this season?
And allow me to leave things with a moment of reflection for poor Ennis. He was the hired cowhand & love of Elsa's life in the first half of the season -- until he was gone, and she'd fallen in love again before he was even cold in the ground. But hey, here's this gratuitous Elsa-in-Heaven scene tacked on to the end of Episode 10! (yes, Mr Sheridan, I got the meaning from Graham Green's dialog, confusing paradise & Heaven - you didn't need to hit me over the head with it!). Surely this would be also Ennis' curtain call - I mean him being dead & all too? Nope, just Sam there with her (somehow). Adding insult to injury, Elsa's final weird-accent voiceover refers to him as "the man I love" -- note the singular!
Let us pause a moment, then, in memory of Ennis. Even if Elsa does not ;)
The Man in the High Castle (2015)
A high-tech train wreck is a fitting metaphor for Season 4
I write this 18 months after the finale, and there's not much for me to add that hasn't already been said already (it appears a LOT of people had my same reaction). While I am purposely avoiding spoilers, since this is aimed at anyone else who might be considering starting to watch like I did, I don't think it is giving much away to say that this series is like the train wreck. It was VERY sophisticated in some ways -- particularly set design! -- it had such a sophisticated design, the first two (arguably even three) seasons were quite promising. But then it so easily went off the rails in the final quarter of its journey, for reasons that make no sense, that any competent conductor/writer would have easily taken precautions to avoid.
But as promising at the first seasons were, the last season ... OMG. It went further off track with each episode, and the last ten minutes were at least as bad as the last 30 minutes of Battlestar Galactica. But at least BG had wrapped up most of its philosophical storytelling by that point. TMitHC just leaves so story seeded in the first three seasons untended, AND throws in a frankly completely disjointed and incomprehensible conclusion?!?! I just read an interview with the series 4 showrunner, and apparently it isn't me that is the problem -- he openly states he WANTED it to be incomprehensible. I also learned that this showrunner only even came onto the show for the last season, and knew from the start it would be the last. It explains maybe why it took such a drastic fall in quality in the last year, but it does not explain why he still could not have a reasonable conclusion to existing storylines from previous seasons, why he instead decided to actually devote a lot of screen time to developing BRAND NEW ones?!?
For All Mankind: Pathfinder (2021)
An adult drama
This episode of continued focus on the dynamics of the Baldwin family, in conjunction with the last episode & of course the final episodes of last season, along with the personal challenges in his Jamestown crewmates' lives which quietly fester out of public sight. This series does not play to superficial hero-worship; each are real human beings, with unique flaws. Like previous episodes, the most powerful moments were its most subtle, most quiet -- and yes, they happened on Earth, not in space. The ripples of the "alternate history" triggered by the one change in Season 1 Episode 1 also continue, often in the background (television newscasts, asides in conversations, etc)
I can't say anything more without giving a spoiler, ruining it for others. But what I can say (and want to, strongly) is if all you are looking for is "More rockets, more Soviets, more explosions and more SPACE !" (as the only other review of this episode demands), you have of *ton* of other CGI-fest options out there to pick from. If this stuff bores you because there aren't enough explosions, that's ok -- just move on? You have about 95% of the entertainment output produced today to get your fill of that kind of thing from. The other review reminds me of the Battlestar Galactica fans that also turned on Ronald Moore for the non-space battle directions that series also went.
The Irishman (2019)
I really wanted to like this, and did enjoy it the first 1/3, but ... the editing, the terrible pacing, ugh
First, the good: some great acting, especially the supporting roles (Pesci in particular, but also Pacino).
Next, the adequate: DeNiro was not as great as he has been, so many, many times before. I'm judging his performance by the standards that he had a difficult task, to convey his character motivations though body language and facial expressions, because he had a ton of lingering shots in this 3+ hour movie, and not a whole lot of dialog towards that end, that was mostly driving plot action (memorable phone call and conversation with daughter near end notable exceptions). Perhaps the message he was trying to convey is that Sheeran was not that interesting or motivated a person, he just did what he was told and tried to (and mostly succeeded in) not thinking about it, but if that was the intent, then I have to question, why even make the movie, especially one this long & this focused on one person's experience?
Now the bad. This movie was in SERIOUS need of a strong editor; vast sections could have been cut out. Understand I'm not saying there are sections that are inherently bad in & of themselves, I'm saying there are just too many good or even greatly acted scenes that are simply just too redundant to each other, or too extraneous to the central theme. The movie was stuffed chock full of "moments," ominous conversations etc that probably would seem great in an isolated clip, but in aggregate bog the pacing down too much. I think less of this indulgence earlier in the movie could have allowed Scorsese to make the climactic action (the last, most significant hit -- avoiding spoilers here!) have the big buildup that he clearly wanted it to have, without having to "dial it up to 11" to achieve that. It's like putting salt on food: if you use it sparingly in general, where it's really needed you don't have to add much to really have an effect. But if you pour salt on everything, all the time, at a certain point if you really want to get that flavor you have to dump a ton on, and it will end up covering up whatever flavor nuance you have. This is what I felt like was happening in the buildup to the climactic moment. Since watching I've been reading about the history of this movie, trying to figure out why there was so little editorial control put on this movie, why no one could stand up to Scorsese to tell him to tighten it up. As far as I can tell, Netflix just wanted the "prestige" so badly that they gave him total control, and, well, while I guess I can't blame him for reveling in that, I think (like most creative storytelling) it would have benefited greatly from a good strong editor, but Scorsese got the agreement to indulge himself from the start (not unlike Jackson with "The Hobbit")
Also "bad" was that was such a literal, true retelling of a story from a book that any and nearly every objective, informed observer knows was a load of BS. Read the article "The Lies of the Irishman" in Slate for the full explanation. Sheeran simply made up stuff in his last months so his daughters could share in the profits of the book that was made from it; his claim he was the hitman in the Crazy Joe hit is particularly contradictory to eyewitness accounts that the real killer was a short Italian guy (Sheeran was Irish & 6'4" ! ). Another example, regarding the FBI agent depicted in the book and end of movie as begging him to tell the story because he was the last one still alive -- well, in real life the FBI agent this was based upon didn't do that, simply because he didn't believe most of the stories Sheeran told. Far from being eager to hear the "truth" before Sheeran took it to the grave, the actual guy could care less, because he'd already figured out it was mostly fiction anyway.
Sense8 (2015)
Call me old fashioned, but stunning visual don't make up for incoherent plot & pacing
To quote Jerry Garcia, "what a long, strange trip it's been" (the entire two seasons). The train "left the station" sssssoooooo slowly, the first two or three episodes of season 1 it felt like almost nothing happened. But I thought, OK, this is what Netflix is good for, they can afford to take a long time to do just basic exposition without the pressures of losing their audience because they have to keep tuning in every week for a month until things start jelling. Also I recognize that a big part of the intent of this is to be a visual spectacle (something Netflix seems to prioritize in general), plus maybe LGBTQ empowerment. By the end of season 1 and into season 2 plot was still moving too much in fits and starts -- too many "music video" (or even soft group pron?) interludes that ground story progression to a complete halt for 10-15 minutes at a time -- but there seemed to be a movement towards exploring some more meatier issues as well, most prominently human (homo sapien) difficulty accepting differences, and on two levels, one with the whole fictional "sensorium" angle, and the parallel issue of LGBTQ acceptance.
So it felt like we were finally going someplace, if still only in fits and starts. But then the last handful of episodes of season 2 became a complete trainwreck, betraying all the investment of time I'd put into watching this, hoping for some kind of meaningful payoff. Instead we got the train going completely off the rails, entire storylines that they'd spent a lot of screentime developing and seemed like they were the core developments to the theme of acceptance (specifically the election and the movie) were *completely* abandoned, with literally *zero* mention, once the final assemblage of the cluster for the "boss battle" took center stage. or rather worse, they showed the two characters involved in those storylines fretting for parts of one episode how they were going to get back to those things (I'm trying to be vague so as to not give spoilers) but then after a bit of that ... poof, over the arc of the last few episodes they seem to have amnesia that these things ever happened ... these things that at one point seemed like key plot points, with a *ton* of time investment made into the buildup? I wondered if maybe the series was expected to go longer but cancelled with only those few episodes left to film? But even that excuse would not hold up, because they STILL chose to devote a *ton* of screentime to the plot-empty "visual spectacles" (partying and sex) -- to the point of making even the "boss battle" (their great triumph) seem perfunctory -- it wasn't clear how they got there, how it all came together, what the motivation of the "collaborator" allies were, why some of the surprise plot twists couldn't have happened a long time before ... and so on.
In summary, I guess if your overwhelming priority is watching pretty people on a screen go to beautiful locations and achieving heartwarming intimate bonding with each other (in equal doses emotional and physical), then you may find this great. But if you also want to find a well-written coherent, thought provoking PLOT, then not so much, you may just end up as frustrated as I am, where the more you think about it the more lousy it seems and the more you feel like you want those ~20 hours of your life back.
Sex Education (2019)
"Empty Calories" like chips: Best if you binge watch it, not having time to reflect on how superficial and absurd it is
1. As many others have said before me, even the setting and costumes (time period) are hard to figure out. I attended school in both US and UK and I honestly couldn't tell what they were aiming for here: a transplant of a John Hughes"Breakfast Club" type "dramedy" to current day UK, except like some Shakepseare adaptations, only making the adaption to alternate locale and time in visuals only?
2. I cold forgive that more (indeed, totally) if they could deliver deeper & more meaningful characterizations, like say "Freaks and Geeks" or "My So-Called Life." It feels like they *tried* to mine some the plotlines and feel of those two, along with movies like "Mean Girls" (the whole Ruby angle). The problem is with this derivative feel is that frankly it didn't do it as well as ANY of those. For an almost 8 hour season, with all the advantages that Netflix gives it to build more continuous storylines, it still fell far short of F&G and MSCL achieved -- and those programs literally had the pressure to hold & build the audience with each episode (Freaks and Geeks famously was cancelled partway through first season, with some episodes completed but not even aired until later)
In summary, I think it might be possible to enjoy this if you watch all episodes in rapid succession and don't pause to reflect on what you saw. Because once you do, and if you have any familiarity with the prior shows it is so obviously mimicing, the superficiality of the entertainment just melts away, it tastes very "sacharine." Sadly this seems to be the Netflix business model: The are the McDonald's of video entertainment, they let you buy a LOT of shows (calories) for a cheap price, and those shows are definitely tweaked to manipulate yoru taste buds (like the salt and fat at MacDonalds), but most of it will never be mistaken for "fine dining"
Bodyguard (2018)
Started fantastic, plot started getting too cute, then ended awfully
The first three episodes or so were great, I was really hooked, but by the last half hour of the last episode I was starting to get disgusted, the plot had so jumped the couch. I recognize how hard it is to write good endings to thrillers, but -- COME ON!
Jack Ryan (2018)
Another vote for great production values, good acting, but all for naught due to writing and plot vastly inferior to Clancy
I really can't say much that hasn't been said already: Tom Clancy was a fantastic writer in terms of plot and pacing, but whoever they hired to write this can't hold a candle to him. Everything else was pretty good, but it all washes away without the framework of writing and plot to make it believable and interesting, and if one should expect decent writing in anything, it would be a Tom Clancy adaptation. Instead we have lots of cliches and many plotlines that seem more designed to set up nude scenes or create momentary drama than further an overarching plot.
Krasnowski did OK, if you can separate some of the lines that come out of his mouth from everything else (he had no choice about those), but ... oh what a disappoint, I was so anticipating this, but all it ended up being, outside of production values, was mostly forgettable network-quality drama :(
Britannia (2017)
Visual spectacle, but a plodding, over-the-top, and ultimately incoherent storyline
After nine episodes -- I can't believe I watched the whole thing, but I just wanted to find out how it would end -- you find out it simply goes nowhere, except for a few bizarre and pointless tangents that completely bloat out the last couple penultimate episodes.
I could perhaps live with the total abandonment of the actual history of this campaign, but I can't forgive the pathetic plot.
Reminds me of the latest season of The Vikings in its over-the-top drama but narrative pointlessness. But at least with Vikings we got some fairly decent entertainment out of the first few seasons, before the writers jumped the shark there. Here, they go for the camp by maybe the fourth episode, with it completely snowballing by the 7th or 8th?
Godless (2017)
Okay for what it is, but baffled by all the 10 star reviews
I think what this series strove to be was a modern twist on the Ford/Wayne classic "The Searchers?" and/or the Leone/Eastwood trilogy. It had the same overriding theme of the former, a protagonist who is simultaneously the salvation for civilization but a necessary outsider to it himself, and the slow scenes, interesting camera angles, and mysterious motivations of the latter. Added to this are the modern themes of lesbianism, women's rights, interracial relationships, identity/"daddy" issues (Frank/Roy, Roy/Truckee), crazed spiritual mumbo-jumbo, and so on.
Unlike others with lower ratings, I didn't mind all the completely anachronistic additions. I even could tolerate the the obvious exaggeration of mayhem in the gunfight in the finale (honestly, as depicted Frank could not have had only 32 men, I feel we must have witnessed at least twice that number get shot, and how on earth did they kill everyone int he Blackdom gunfight without losing a single man?) But I think what drove me nuts was the pacing. I felt a good director could have squeezed this all into a 2-3 hour movie, which would have been much more satisfying. This felt interminable towards the end, I half watched only because I'd made a commitment to do so, even though I knew exactly how it would end (every plot outcome in the final episode was COMPLETELY predictable IMO -- well at least I anticipated it all). The big La Belle gunfight went from an engrossing climax to the series, to something I kept thinking "are they really going to drag THIS out that long too?" after 10, 15, 20 or however minutes it lasted. If I were bored I might go back and count all the bullet impacts shown, there must be many hundred.
In short, something worth watching, but hardly the "masterpiece" all these 10-star ratings imply. Even more baffling is that the paint-by-numbers final episode is the highest rated one of the seven as of the time I am positing this, it is rated 9.1, while the next highest of the other six is 8.5