Reviews

This flick is sooo busy. Shot after shot is hazy/lousy lighting, dumb cinematographic angles and movement, extra fast edit after edit and the list goes on. I'm sad to say that I got a headache just getting through the first ten minutes.

I love the actors, but I'm sorry, they're just miscast for all the wrong reasons that Hollywood has allowed itself to succumb to. Let's face it, cultural appropriation works in all directions and this is one of those instances that would be stupid to sweep under the rug...And I come from the part of the world that most of the cast comes from. So it's not a race thing, so much as it is historical factuality!

Beyond that the producers/director seem to be unsure of whether they intended to make a live action film or an animation or what. All in all, a serious disappointment.

First, I don't really understand why this is a film about American history and all but TWO roles are played by Brits!

Next, the story is just too silly. The rhythm is off and the pace, lacks drive. It also tries so hard to be true to Poe's narrative disposition, but it's too contrived. The actor who plays Poe is clearly very talented, but he's trying SO hard, and his performance is so forced, it's painful to watch. His 19th century pseudo-American accent and delivery leaves much to be desired.

The directing is erratic, it's not well-lit and the dialogue is as stilted as it gets. Much of the dialogue is hard to follow; sometimes because the sound recording is lousy, other times because the actors are mumbling.

This is a lovely story, though it is a tad too in love with itself. It's directionless for sure, though it's not too heady to miss the premise and what it's trying to get across.

I've never been the hugest fan of Swinton but she's good in this. She really suits the part. Elba is marvelous; he truly embodies a Djinn.

I like the character arcs and I like one thread of the story but then it just becomes too lyrical and goes off track. The ending leaves too many questions that the first three quarters of the story makes you ask, unanswered and turns into a disjointed second act that unfortunately detracts from all that it builds up to.

I'll start out by saying that Lily Collins is awful! Not only that, but also the character she plays is nothing more than one-dimensional rage, unexplained confusion and some deer-in-the-headlines rationalisation. Nothing more to say about her.

Simon Pegg should stick to comedy or at least a more interesting role if he insists on doing dramas. The rest of the cast is inconsequential.

This film is hideous in every sense of the word. The plot is a joke, the acting is bad, and all in all I feel sorry for those who were dumb enough to finance it.

Don't bother seeing it. It's asinine, as can be.

Benning knows how to make you grit your teeth; her portrayal of the emphatic and annoying Grace displays her incredible talent. She has the nuances down to a tee. Nighy plays the hen-pecked husband who "gets a pair" finally and acts on it. He nails it with his usual subtlety. Josh O'Connor, whom I had never noticed before is a masterful young actor.

The casting is just excellent, and like everything else about this tight little lyrical film, the storyline flows nicely. The location really underlines it too.

William Nicholson doesn't make too many films, but the ones he has made definitely stand out.

Hate to say it but you've seen one Gaiman, you've seen'em all. This may as well be an extension of American Gods and that, an extension of Good Omens. He is a very talented researcher of myths, legends and history even, but the hyper wild rides that are every one of his stories becomes monotonous and dizzingly predictable.

This is one yawny movie! The script just goes around and around, doesn't build up to much of anything and generally flatlines in every sequence. It tries to build up to what you hope, is a revelatory arc, several times throughout but then just collapses. Many fits and starts but it basically goes nowhere.

Mel Gibson is surprisingly good. Human and Friend are also quite decent, as always. I was TRULY disappointed that they hired some Italian guy to play an Iranian or Afghan...as if there aren't enough of those in Hollywood.

Generally, this movie is a non-starter waste of time.

There are SO few likable characters in this show that one can hardly relate to any of them. They're either snooty, hyper-conservative and self-imposed lower-classes and then their snooty, arrogant, controlling and irrelevant so-called upper classes. Either way, they're both hideous and superfluous.

This show is a perfect representation of how the bloated British elite and their adoring toadies bullied their way through society, with some of the most backward laws and utterly outrageous rules. Sadly, Brits don't realize that they're STILL just like this when it comes to their unspoken social mores.

Frankly, this is nothing more than a glorified soap opera performed in cute costumes and pompous settings.

I was hoping that this Brit holiday flick would not be a syrupy repurposing of LOVE ACTUALLY. Turns out that this flick is the exact obnoxious other end of extreme; it's a woke, cynical, and enervating script performed by an ensemble of very decent actors.

Like Peter's Friends (1992) it has that cuddly clique of friends (kids and spouses in tow) doing an idyllic country X-mas get-together and then they all get on each others' nerves and the rest is history. In the interim, however, the writers took the opportunity to write in a few oh-so-woke and pseudo-insightful children characters, who lecture their parents and blame the globe's impending doom on them! #BeenThereSickOfThat.

I can write endlessly about this tired program.

First, Rosemund Pike is ridiculous. Next, the rest of the cast are at best "meh".

The scenery, cinematography, costumes, editing, music, and overall characters, are all a regurgitation of all the big hit series of the last couple of decades, that immediately pop into your mind; so from the logo that looks like the Game of Thrones, all the way down to the rest...The Hobbit, The Vikings, Britannia, The Witcher, on and on. There's not a single original thing about this that we have not seen. I gave it a fair shake by sitting through all 3 episodes and all I can say is noted in the title of my comment.

Incredible that a star-studded cast came together to do this hop-along-Cazadeesh of a flick. Every sequence of this movie is a direct lift off of some other Mafia or mob'ish movie. Even the utterly LOUSY and I do mean obviously ear-bending music/constant-cacophonous noise is appropriated.

I have to wonder what on earth the financiers and then the actors were thinking when they signed on...or were they?!

This show is practically unwatchable. I sat through 3 full episodes and halfway through a fourth HOPING something will happen...NOTHING does. As ever, this is another of the no-talent Stephen King's directionless and confused pseudo plots. The ONLY thing that kept me watching was Ben Mendelson, Cynthia Erivo and a few other excellent actors who were cast. Beyond that, this mini-series goes nowhere, does nothing and just puffs itself up on it's hot air.

WOW is this flick lousy! The original Blier film was nothing much to write home about, as it took crassness to a new height; that was the '70's. It was the day and age of the Situationists and they though banal was oh so shocking and existentially chic.

That said, one has to wonder why Torturro, an otherwise talented actor and I'm guessing cinema enthusiast picked a story that was awful the first go around and hasn't improved with age at all (eyeroll)! After about 45 minutes you realize that the whole thing is just a cavalcade of stars who in fact go nowhere and do nothing. Full stop!

So this is a study in dementia. It left me feeling like I had dementia because I spent 137 watching a flick whose narrative was revealed within the first 10 minutes and then did not really go anywhere particularly interesting, after that.

If it wasn't for the actors and in particular Hopkins' performance, I would not have bothered, Florian Zeller/Christopher Hampton or not!!

Clearly the people who produced this thought they were doing something meaningful for and during the days of Covid; sadly, they failed.

This series is nothing but an excuse for soliloquies by a bunch of name actors.

The narratives are weak at best and the whole thing wreaks of producers TRYING oh so hard to output something "relatable."

Gave up after episode four.

First of all the pace if off. It's a mishmash of blurred timelines and inexplicable snapshot that leaves you wondering how things went from point A to point B...you're just told it is. That makes the storyline cursory and almost throwaway.

Next, you never get a real sense of WHO Halston was other than a cookie-cutter gay guy who wants to get ahead in the frenzied fashion world of NYC circa '60's and '70's. His personality and inner character never flesh out well enough to depict an actual person vs. The cardboard cutout of the guy as a product of his time, place and job.

Finally, the acting was phoned in. This was one of THE worst things I've ever seen Ewan McGregor in. And the rest of the cast...well, again like Halston himself, none of them fleshed out as 'people' vs. The pastiche the filmmakers try to pass off.

All in all, this seems to be an excuse to get mileage out of the NYC "glitz" of the '70's disco era, etc. And it's not all that well done, in the least.

Another glib story attempting to be artistic and avant-garde. Frankly one has to wonder why wonderful actors like Sally Hawkins pigeonhole themselves into these types of roles; quirky does get boring after a half dozen performances. Add this to her now-becoming a long list of those choices.

The rest of the cast just seem to sleepwalk through the movie; an unfortunate testament to the lack of narrative direction or meaningful enough character arcs.

This movie doesn't work, in my opinion. The juxtaposition of the weird and unpleasantly peculiar Mr. Rogers (and sorry...but to me his tone, demeanor and everything else, was always cringey) with a humdrum life-changing story of a glib journalist makes this a mediocre movie at best.

Beyond all that's listed above, the sentimental weight of it, makes it even less worthwhile to watch. The only reason why I gave it three stars is because of the three stars who as always, are marvelous: Hanks, Rhys and the eternally brilliant Chris Cooper, who's always worth watching.

The fact is that cultural influences of this movie - mainly being Russian - simply does not translate.

The cinematography is COMPLETELY horrible. The storyline is slapdash and the set design is crap! They've spent tons of money on Western stars and what they've got is something reminiscent of Russian fantasies of the 1950's. They've thrown in some Chinese martial arts and Wushu for good measure and mixed it with a batch of European pseudo-historical slop and called a movie. Don't waste your time. Russians simply haven't figured out how to make movies that relate anything worth seeing to an international movie audience yet. Certainly not where strong narrative of any kind is concerned and not since Eisenstein (and even then...yawn)!

This film is just lovely! Everything about it is beautifully balanced, without being sentimental. It's not longwinded or teary; nor does it bash you over the head with a message. It just flows and washes over the viewer.

Parts of it remind me of the Japanese filmmaker Ozu, in its musing on nature and the importance and specialness of reflecting on a moment.

Frances McDormand is utterly marvelous, as ever and David Strathairn's solid-but-subtle performance is also captivating. The nomads, each of whom played themselves were a treasure...and SUCH stars!

More mind-numbing garbage: a forgettable exercise in Hollywood attempting to keep those in lockdown "entertained".

There's NO chemistry between Wilson and Hayek and the storyline is unengaging and wobbly. The only thing this flick has going for it is decent cinematography and editing. Beyond that, believe me, it's as mundane as can get.

Nothing at all new goes on...more of the same, except now in season two it's also directionless and ALL over the place.

Season one, there was a thread and it was written very tightly. It was all thrown together and every bit worked and arced nicely.

Season two begins from a place that not only doesn't make sense, it just gets dumbly more confusing.

I'm SOOO disappointed. Funny enough the actors all look lost and miserable too!!

Disappointing to be sure. I've never known Jarmusch to be so precious and sentimental, but this story is. It's actually a bit cringey, uncomfortably self-conscious and pretentious.

In some sequences, I got the feeling that even they squirmed as they delivered some of the lines. The dialogue is so silted, it sounds like a high school kid wrote it. There's no hint of the wonderful humor and irony that Jarmusch excels at.

The cast is obviously top-notch, as ever, but in my humble opinion, they were miscast. Hiddelston is so boring and broody, he'll put you to sleep. Swinton is alright but she's the one who looks most unsure of what's going on! Wasikowska is also out of place. Wright and Hurt are alright, in as much as their roles make sense.

Not that everything always has to snap in place, in any narrative, but this seems like an idea that was discussed around a kitchen table, notes were made and then it was thrown together...bippidy, bopiddy, boop. And that's about as much order as you can expect from the whole drama.