Reviews

This is an interesting character study of Enzo Ferrari, you see the man and his struggles with both his business and his personal life. It is well acted and produced, not every performance is perfect, but still a solid movie.

The problem I have is the story... there really isn't one. It tells of the events around the breakup with his family(s), his failing business, and his desire to win auto races. However, none of these actually come to any real conclusion in the movie, which leads to a disjointed story and unsatisfying conclusion. A good script usually involves the main character changing, learning, and evolving... not so in this case. The Ferrari at the end of this movie is exactly the same person as he was at the start. Lots of things happen... but nothing none of those happening seem to really impact the main character and drive him forward.

I think if the script had focused more on one or two of these story lines, and followed them from beginning to end, it would have been a better movie. For example, the movie spends a significant time on if Enzo will accept his illegitimate son as his heir, but the movie just ends with the note "Pietro became an engineer at Ferrari." It felt rushed, like the writers didn't know how to convey this in the actual movie. The same with the climactic car crash, the negotiations with Fiat to save the business, etc.

I honestly was surprised at how they left so much unresolved when the end credits started to roll.

I admit, I am not a huge Anderson fan. I generally like his world building and story telling, but there are very view of this movies I really like and would watch again.

This movie is just a jumble of ideas that don't seem to have a point. Ironically, I think that is the point of the movie, that these non sequiturs don't actually make sense. The movie even makes this point when the characters leave the movie and complain complain that doesn't understand the 'play.' In the end, the movie is about grief, and overcoming grief, but there is so much weirdness that Anderson has to resort to having characters literally talk to the camera to explain his own movie.

The movie is ultimately too much like an "arthouse" theater production to be an entertaining experience.

Unlike many people, I don't have a problem with the acting. The problem I think lies in the writing, and by extension, the directing.

One important aspect of a good movie is that the characters changes over the course of the movie. They learn something, or become a better (or worse) person through the events of the story. Consider Thor, he learns to take responsibility. Or, Iron Man, he comes to realize the harm his weapons cause and so becomes a hero to fight his former customers.

There is no such "lesson" learned in Morbius. The Morbius at the end of this move is the essentially same person as he was at the start. Yes, he has become a vampire, but his vampirism doesn't fundamentally change his character. The same is true of every character in the movie. There is one moment in the movie where he loses control, but for the rest of the movie the 'struggle' against the beast within is largely is only implied.

This would have been a MUCH better movie if the villain was the beast within, and if Morbius cannot at first resist his urges, and then the movie is him overcoming them and finding an outlet for them. Instead, they keep Morbius fundamentally "good" and introduce another villain for him to battle. The end result is ultimately unsatisfying.

I really enjoyed this show at first, enough to recommend it to a friend. The characters were funny, the stories generally entertaining. Etc.

But, as the series continues it started to feel like the writers got lazy... making characters make dumb decisions or being just plain annoying. For example, in one episode, Janet wins $500 on a lottery ticket and is told it is against the law for claim the ticket as an employee of the store. Everyone she asks to turn in the ticket for her freaks out about getting into trouble and she likewise acts like an idiot when she tries to turn it in herself. In the same episode her mother wears an expensive coat that doesn't belong to her and it gets ruined, prompting them to try and hide the damage through stupid tricks. This represented a clear trend in the writing on the show and the episode was so annoying, predictable, and cliched that I turned off the show and likely won't watch it any more. It is really a shame, it was fun, light hearted entertainment (good for when you're stuck at home).

This version follows the original source material extremely closely.

Well acted. The leads do and exceptional job playing their characters.

Well produced. There are a few cut corners (the "Paris mob" at one point is about 15 people, which is a little sketchy). But, in general, you are pulled into the world of 19th century Paris. The production pulls no punches in telling the story, nothing is romanticized, e.g. the life of a prisoner and Fantine's descent into prostitution are played in full view.

It is a commitment... 6 episodes. And, at times, it can start to feel a little long. However, when the last episode ends you wish there were six more.

I got into the series based on the first few episodes. It presented a gritty reality of Hollywood where high powered executives and the famous exploited those desperate for a taste of the fame of Hollywood mixed with tongue in cheek silliness (such as a male prostitution ring run out of a gas station with the name "The Golden Tip"). Add to all of that the favoritism inherent in the studio system and the racism, sexism, and homophobia of the 1950s. It would have been a great series if it had stuck to those themes and allowed it all to end naturally.

Then came the last couple of episodes where all of that great character and story building was thrown away. Hated adversaries suddenly reconcile without significant motivation. Inconvenient story lines ended or troublesome characters disappeared without significant consequence. New, significant characters suddenly appear out of nowhere. And, an ending that almost more unsatisfying than the ending of "Game of Thrones."

At one point, one character is told he is an idiot for wanting to end the picture within a picture with a "huge Ester Williams swimming musical number." That is more or less what this movie does, it ends with a big happy ending that is every bit as idiotic as they predicted.

First, this is NOT the original, or even a modernized version of the original (like the Tom Cruise movie from a few years ago). This is a complete reimagining that captures with the tone of the original. The original was based around idea of a arrogant and over confident humanity suddenly facing an enemy who was both much more powerful and more cruel.

What really impressed me the most about this series is that it pulls no punches. And, unlike many American productions where there are certain accepted rules about killing children, killing main characters, etc. In this version, people die. Children die. Main characters to die. Their deaths are, they would be in real life, shocking and random.

The only significant complaint I have is that the aliens we see throughout - drone like creatures - are a little underwhelming. They look like mechanical dogs, and at one point, are stopped by a barricaded hospital door. It would seem to me they would be easy to avoid.