Reviews

There is not a single performance that can be faulted in The Judge.

The cast is strong, talented and everyone gives their best. Everything else from photography, sets, locations, costumes and direction is top notch.

The thing that is horribly wrong with this movie - and with so many movies that have come out of Hollywood in the last two decades - is the writing. It's uninspired confused, dull and clichéd.

The device of 'wayward family member returning to family home to face dysfunctional family demons at wedding, funeral, whatever' was stale when Shakespeare was a lad, but it keeps getting dusted off, tarted up with a stellar cast and a hip soundtrack and dragged out to waft past yet another cinema audience. (August Osage County, anyone?) This film also manages to blend in some sub-standard court drama, a confusing side-line into incest (WTF?) and the inevitable resolution with hugs, meaningful looks and a dead body.

My only suggestion for this movie is turn it into a movie-buff drinking game. Cliché Bingo. You'll be squiffy before you lay eyes on the old hometown girlfriend who is still mysteriously single despite being gorgeous.

No one does political drama like the Brits (either on screen or in real life) but this felt like a drama half-written. A good cast with solid performances, but no-one's motives were clear, the twists were not especially surprising and the ending was pretty weak. Whenever there was a chance for confrontation or explanation, it was smothered in a tepid passionless bedroom scene. (And could wardrobe only afford ONE nightie for Emily, or did her character wear the same negligee for months on end?) Plot threads were left dangling, characters were introduced but not explained and scenes seem to stop mid-stream.

Shame of it is, this could have been a strong role for a woman but it was an opportunity lost.

They needed Malcolm Tucker to sort them all out.

Loring Mandel is to be applauded for an exceptional, textured script. It is one of the most chilling films I have ever seen. How men could sit about a table in a beautiful house where the owner has been 'evacuated', discussing the fate of millions based on an almost childish belief that one race being superior to another is astonishing. The level of banality and petty politicking that sets the tone of the meeting is a revelation. The beauty of the surroundings and sumptuousness of the house add to the poignancy. I can only praise this film. The quietness of it. The intelligence of the film-making and performances. It is by parts claustrophobic, terrifying, infuriating and sad. A credit to all involved in its making.

Spoilers up to the end of Series 2:

Let me first say I really wanted to love this show. Brilliant cast, great directors, strong source material with an American & 21st century reboot. It should have been an absolute winner for me. But it wasn't.

This show lets its cast and audience down with tired plot lines and faux edginess forgoing stark political intrigue for cliché and cheap plot devices. Characters behave more like petulant yuppies than Machiavellian master-manipulators. Episodes are padded out with hot- button issues like rape and abortion (which are only superficially addressed), tedious & pointless sex scenes or unnecessarily convoluted sub-plots. My heart goes out to the actress playing Rachel the runaway/hooker/witness/waitress/fugitive/Christian convert/lesbian convert/human talking book/murderess being stalked by the love-lorn/alcoholic/enforcer-with-a-creepy-heart-of-gold aide as she is lumbered with a truly ridiculous character. (BTW, why do writers think if two attractive women become friends, the natural course of things is that they end up having red-hot sex ...with the curtains open). And what is it with the animal abuse on this show?.

I loved the original British mini-series. It had a marvelous cold- blooded ruthlessness, underpinned with a delicious black humour. I think it also had the advantage that each of the three series only went for 4 episodes making it sharper and snappier. But it was from a different time, a different country and a different world and this new series should not suffer from its comparison. The US version is its own entity but ultimately doesn't aspire to be anything other than a run-of- the-mill political soap. It's a superior soap because of a stellar, supremely-talented cast and crew but it is not fresh, daring or exciting. It's the usual tits-and-bum fare with lots of back-stabbing and waffle about Congress. And the real scandal of it is it could have been so much more.