Reviews

Many of the people commenting here are disparaging because MBS is not a comic book action film. One commenter actually suggested you see Star Wars instead. Just because an individual doesn't like the genre does not make this a bad film. But this is a bad film.

To make a film like this work, the acting must be brilliant, compelling, overwhelming. None of that happened here and the fact that Casey Afflect won an award for this mess tells you just how much the MBA's have taken over Hollywood. For a brilliant sensitive film with nearly the same base plot watch Waterland with Jeremy Irons and Sinead Cusack. You will come away with a clear vision of two people stuck in a devastation they cannot escape. I would never consider the 90's the golden age of Hollywood but more and more it looks to be one of the last significant decades of salient filmmaking.

In the hands of a more nuanced director, this film might have risen to good. Instead, it reads like an offish attempt to turn melodrama into significance. The music is appallingly inappropriate and heavy handed. It turns the pivotal moment in the film into a cast off from the Godfather and blunts the drama unfolding on the screen to yawn-worthy. Elsewhere, it brashly proclaims what we are supposed to think and feel as if what is on the screen is not enough.

Others have commented on the scene where the chicken falls from the freezer. It's not funny. It's pitiful. But the young actor playing the role is so mediocre and the scene is so poorly directed we have no idea if what is happening is even genuine. Saying he doesn't like his father being frozen until spring is not the same as feeling it. And in this type of film, he must feel it or it doesn't work. Up to this point we've seen so little emotion from him, overt or subtle, about his father's death it almost seems like he doesn't care.

The takeaway from this film is supposed to be a portrait of a man so lost he can't escape his trauma to even care for a beloved nephew. Try to find it. It's not there and that is in large part due to Mr. Afflect's performance. He turns his character into a stereotype of stupidity, alcohol, and loss that neither engages nor compels. When he is not staring dully ahead, he pounds people in bars for no apparent reason. You may ask why? Me too. I have no idea why because Mr. Affleck never lets us in on the reason. The cast largely seems to have escaped from a tacky 70's sitcom to find themselves in a real life they have never been written to fully understand. The film itself is filled with moments of non-significance repeated over and over for an imagined dull-witted viewer to make sure they get the point.

Lastly, why was this film called Manchester by the Sea? The town, as the story was told, had absolutely nothing to do with the story. We didn't get any sort of feel for Manchester. It wasn't a character in the story. It didn't impact anything that happened so why name the film after it? This was a very sloppy heavy-handed attempt to create an Oscar worthy picture. If I didn't know better I'd think it was something software generated by a computer in a first attempt to see if the creation of films could be automated. Unless you're into how not to do this well, I'd skip it.

Torchwood. There is nothing else like it. If you're looking for serious conventional scifi that tackles the universal problems of the cosmos and ends in an epic battle between good and evil this won't be the show for you.

OTOH, if you're looking for a fun sexy romp that gets serious when it needs to, focuses on the human factor and plays fast and loose with just about every "rule" imaginable, you'll find it in Torchwood. It's just what it's billed to be - Doctor Who for the grown-up set, the open-minded set, the slightly skewed set.

John Barrowman does a terrific job as Cap'n Jack Harkness, a man whose lived a life that won't allow him to die and has taught him a flexible sense of morality to match his flexible sense of sexuality. Cap'n Jack laughs, jokes, flirts and fights his way through one set after another of impossible circumstances, but a heart of gold beats beneath his suspendered chest. His team means everything to him and he'll give anything to protect them.

Playing Alfred to Jack's Batman is Ianto Jones. Gareth David-Lloyd is a lovely young talent who adds more depth to Torchwood's favorite coffee boy with each passing episode. He's bright and soulful with a very British sense of humor that hides a deep and painful sorrow. A real find for the producers of the show. He's fascinating to watch and even more fascinating to guess his motivations.

Every superhero needs someone to keep them in touch with their humanity and that exists in the person of Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles). A terrific spunky heroine with the sensibilities of a crafty cop, she keeps her boss focused on the human factor when his instincts tell him to shoot first and ask questions later--a conscience when Jack needs one the most.

But beware, this may not be the show for family viewing on a Saturday night. It deals frankly with human sexuality. It can be violent, gruesome, bloody and heart breaking. It can make you laugh one moment and tear up the next, but it can also send chills down your spine.

All in all if your up for some alternative entertainment this show can be pretty terrific. Open your mind and dive in. It won't be for everyone but if you like, chances are you'll love it.

This flawed but compelling adaptation of Patrick Mcgrath's novel spins out a sterile world of which Stella Raphael(Natasha Richardson) is never a part. Enter Edgar Stark(Marton Csokas), sculptor, carpenter and inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane. Thus begins a sexual obsession that spins out of control and leaves no one untouched by its uncontrollable ferocity.

The brilliance of this film is Marton Csokas' Edger, who never lets Stella nor the audience forget his profound influence even when he is out of the scene. He paints the portrait of a darkly obsessed genius, ranging from intensely passionate to violently out of control on the turn of a moment. Pulling the viewer into his dance with the haunted Stella and the driven Dr. Peter Cleave, meticulously portrayed by the ever diverse Sir Ian McKellan, he robs us of our will to be horrified by his actions - no mean feat, and beckons the viewer to follow him too.

The one flaw in this otherwise darkly intense film is Ms. Richardson's Stella. Though she tries valiantly to create the portrait of a woman lost in the morass of doubt and fragility - a woman who would choose to stay with her abusive lover - Ms. Richardson's innate strength shines through. The viewer is led to wonder why she stays when she is clearly stronger emotionally than her dynamic partner. But stay she does until chance takes her back to her husband and son.

Scenes of violence and sexuality make Asylum a film not for everyone. The R rating is not to be taken lightly, but it is a do not miss for anyone interested in a powerfully intense film that plumbs the depths of the human psyche and establishes Mr. Csokas as a major film talent well on his way.

A simple story, common to any lonely dreamer, Ralph(Matt Day)wants to go to Nashville to become a country music star. With a ticket to America and a dream he heads off to Sydney only to be picked up on the road, by Boyd(Richard Roxburgh) and Patsy(Miranda Otto) On first blush, Boyd and Pasty seem to be an Australian version of the stock wise-cracking American grifter, stealing, lying and drifting to make their way in the world.

But this is just where the story begins. A fine performance by Roxburgh unfolds a character with surprising compassion and depth. Otto gives one of her better performances as the tender Patsy, too delicate to survive without the constant attention of her protective lover. And Day brings just the right touch of innocence and youthful arrogance to the young man who learns a crucial lesson from his world weary traveling companions.

If you like country music or even if you don't, this is a terrific slice of something that has the flavor of americana, but supplies the depth often lacking in American films. It's worth a look just for Roxburgh's performance alone-