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Reviews
A Christmas Melody (2015)
Hallmark Casting sometimes stinks!
When this Hallmark film was made (2015) Lacey Chabert was 33, Brennan Elliott was 40 and Mariah Carey was 46. Yet, they are cast as "former classmates" in the same school and grade. That is just lazy on the part of casting. Do they EVEN READ THE SCRIPT? The actors on Hallmark seem to be interchangeable. The "boy / girl" combos seem to match everyone in their stable, at least once. They certainly could have found three actors who were close to the same age (a year or two either way) and use three disparate actors on other projects.
There is something about Mariah Carey that makes me ill. I truly cannot watch her. I have to turn away or change the channel. The skin on her face seems to be so tight that she looks like her skin is ready to pop open and ooze. Perhaps they could use a whole lot less filler and grease and wild coloring on her cheeks. She looks a bit like a mannequin or a mad rodent. Her acting is pathetic. Yet, she looks SMUG while ruining her scenes in the movie. I understand that she makes a great deal of income with her "music" (whatever that is) so I wonder why she also feels a need to inflict herself on an audience who only want to watch a good Hallmark film.
Lacey Chabert and Brennan Elliott are so familiar and so "accomplished" in this medium, so it is not fair to them to hang an albatross like Mariah Carey around their necks, just because Mariah Carey wants "everything' and refuses to say "no" to her excessive desires. I have known many singers who are not good actors. MC is in that category. Why can't she accept her inability to act with grace and move on? Why must SHE have "everything" even if her talent does not qualify for "everything?" At the very least, MC could take a few years of private acting classes and not demand Hallmark provide her with unlimited "on the job training."
In Merry Measure (2022)
Casting does matter; this film has ZERO chemistry between Brendan Penny and Patti Murin.
Brendan Penny is an extraordinary actor. I looked forward to his new Hallmark film. Evidently the casting director just matches any male with any female and counts on the story line to compel a "romantic match."
In this case, Patti Murin is a mess and a miss! She plays an aging pop star/song writer who had one hit song years ago. She has relocated from New York City to Dayton (Ohio) and is staying with her sister while she recharges her depleted creative batteries. Her character is arrogant and insensitive and jumps to conclusions, making her an obnoxious character. As an actress, Patti Murin has a huge mouth, in an uninteresting face, with gloppy hair and scrunched eyes (as if her contacts are really bothering her). Her scenes seem forced and fake. She should be playing a neighbor who sells Tupperware. That is the caliber of her "charm."
Brendan Penny plays a long-suffering local music teacher, who is forced to work with this local "celebrity" interloper while she tries to organize and promote those music students who auditioned but did not make the cut for the high school's chorus singers (led by Penny), as they prepare for a competition.
Murin's character "smart mouths" Penny at every turn. (He should have tossed her butt out, "old celebrity" or not. She is pushy, obnoxious, has no actual knowledge of music theory, or any sense of discipline, and appears to be worthless. Her only "contribution" is that of carping and nagging.
Lastly, the "modern" twist on traditional Christmas music may be "edgy" to some, but I found the "modern" renditions to be to be loud, forgettable, and no improvement on traditional Christmas music. As if Iambic pentameter has no value in the new modern age of jazzy hip-hop, or whatever the "new noise" was supposed to be. As if changing the syllabic verse, or beat, could improve the old standards. The song arrangements are cheap and cheesy; merely "changed" for the sake of "change" with no significant improvement.
I was VERY disappointed with "In Merry Measure!" It is the ONLY Brendan Penny film I will NOT rewatch. It's too painful. Patti Murin is simply too old and frumpy to play this kind of role. She is like an older aunt who is carrying too much weight and breathes through her mouth OR she is trying to draw attention to her new dentures. When Penny had to kiss Murin at the close, it was just embarrassing. He gave her a quick smack, since it was in the script. Murin never closes her mouth so he must have had to kiss her teeth. He deserves a cute young leading lady who is not so vulgar.
Incidentally, Penny's retro glasses are exactly what a music teacher would wear. They are VERY au courant and not "old" at all. The glasses are truly "edgy," while the "progressive" (awkward) dancing is not.)
Unforgotten: Episode #4.6 (2021)
Great series, cheesy ending!
The final episode was a grave disappointment. The writers chose an easy out and the viewers were side-whacked. This "surprise ending" forced "Suni" to over-act (Sanjeev is just not good at "chewing the furniture").
(As opposed to Clair Calbraith, who has no other acting style. She specializes in not being able to "cope," where even breathing is an effort; she is so proud of always being "on the edge" and expecting others to assume her burden and free her from her drama prison.)
Anyway, over-acting does NOT suit Sanjeev ("Suni") but he had no choice but to follow the instructions of the director. Sanjeev is a wonderfully understated actor, who communicates much wtih his face and eyes. That has been part of the charm of this "Unforgotten" series.
The Nicola Walker ("Cas Stuart") character began communicating with Sanjeev "Suni" on a business only level, but soon began to communicate with him on a deeper and more human and humane level. I'm probably going to watch the FIRST season again (to help erase the last one from my memory bank).
Innan vi dör (2017)
Dubbing is preferable to subtitles
If a production company (from Sweden) is NOT willing to dub in English, then they are not expecting a very large audience. The USA, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand are ALL potential audiences, as are many European countries who teach English as a secondary language, plus the enormous numbers of English speakers in Indian. It is "elite" and "divisive" to NOT dub in English. They have the right to not dub and only subtitle, but it means they are intentionally excluding an enormous audience. All of their actors suffer when they refuse to prepare for a larger audience. There are 10 thousand in Sweden and 500 million in English speaking countries, and another billion who speak English around the world. So, 10 million can hear it in Swedish while upwards of 1.5 billion could hear it dubbed in English. The math is astronomical at six tenths of a percent.
Press (2018)
Reality versus a pretend newspaper
I worked for a local NBC affiliate in a major city. The "breathless drama" portrayed in this "Press" series, is fantasy. Yes, there can OCCASIONALLY be tense situations (plane crashes, fires, children in danger, grisly murders) but they are few and far between. Most of the time, it is just a matter of everyone doing their job and going home. There is an occasional affair, and some urgent deadlines; but, again, they are few and far between. Professionals are not "drama queens." And, anyone who is UNKIND to their co-workers would have a "talking to" and a memo in their personnel file.
As to the actors, I agree that Al Weaver is wasted; his character is not much different than that of a high school student.
Ben Chaplin's character (Duncan Allen) is SO malevolent (and completely without any redeeming features) that he is not even interesting since he appears to be less than human. In fact, his character makes Jack Farthing (George Warleggan in Poldark) look like a charming lad.
I don't care if Ben Chapin's character cheats, since Natasha Little ALWAYS eats the furniture.
The question remains, who is more annoying; Charlotte Riley's meaningful stares, or Ellie Hendrickson's voice and sly perkiness?
ONE more point of reality! When the CHARACTER of editor Amina Chaudury lost the middle of the night application to stop an injunction against her paper, and she could not publish that edition, she just gave up, and quit; her reaction was "drama queen" and STUPID!! In fact, when something like that happens, a NORMAL (intelligent) editor would PULL THE STORY and then REPRINT the edition. Even if they had to run a "blank spot" it would make great conversation. It would only cost a few dollars in extra newsprint, and some overtime. But EVERYONE ON THE PAPER WOULD PULL TOGETHER and the paper would have been in the racks. MAYBE not by 6 AM, but certainly by 8 or 9 AM and that would have been JUST FINE (given the alternative). (Yes, I have seen this happen! ONCE due to an injunction and ONCE due to a disabling break in the major printing press. But, in both instances, the paper was printed! The "injunction" paper had a blank spot with a black profile (clip art) and a big "question mark" and the broken press required a part to be ordered and flown in that same day. In both cases, the papers were printed (but delivered LATE). So what? In both cases, my mother had to BUY A COPY to go with her morning coffee break, instead of bringing the delivered version from home to read on the mass transit ride into the city. The world did not quit turning on its axis.
In Press, when Chaudury did NOT reprint, I knew it was a FAKE story done for drama! Things like this happen; you do NOT "give up" but you work around it. It is actually MORE dramatic to see the entire printing crew double timing it for a few hours!!!!! The employees ALL PULLED TOGETHER, PHYSICALLY RUNNING to reprint. Those machines were SMOKING! And, they all knew it was a BIG DEAL and they didn't miss a beat. Some of them would have done it WITHOUT the overtime. They care about their paper! And, in the case of a broken main printer, another printer in town printed the inserts so when the part came, all the printer had to do was print the normal paper; the inserts were done by our "competitors." (They all pull together out of professional respect. We would help them if it happened to them.)