Reviews

No dancers, no scantily dressed women, no fancy projections or awesome lighting. What you do have is an evening of joy! Talking Heads' music is always intricate but easy to listen to. David Byrne may not a great singer but he easily carries off his delightful music with great skill and quirky enthusiasm. The band is just superb with each player at the top of their game. What does come across is they all seem to be having great fun. Jonathan Demme has managed to capture the fun and excitement on film.

Flash forward some forty years: if you haven't seen the Heads' recent concert film American Utopia, it's a light year ahead of the Stop film; same wonderful music - old and new - but presented in a fascinating new way.

Where to begin - just an awful movie with an incomprehensible story. It just gets worse as the movie progresses. Obviously, Matt Damon was in it for the money, as it certainly didn't burnish his reputation as a talented actor. The CGI monsters are strangely amateurish and seem to be motivated only by strangely conceived reproductive necessities. The battle sequences were obviously inspired by the Cirque du Soleil with truly impossible death-defying actions. Typical of Chinese epics, it seems to have a cast of hundreds. I did think the costumes were interesting, although why soldiers in battle would wear flowing capes is truly beyond me. Not worth your time.

Only if you're desperate for something to kill time should you watch this movie. The cumbersome plot creaks along offering the occasional attempt at shock. The dialogue is clumsy and artificial. Mr. Branagh continues his mush mouthed Poirot, accompanied my his ludicrous scene-stealing mustache. The otherwise delightful Ms. Fey is out her depth here, bringing little to the dramatic role. I can, however, give praise to the various design teams, making beautiful Venice appear positively spooky, not always easy to do with an old but elegant location. I do wish Branagh would leave Agatha Christie alone; her stories are much better in capable hands. David Suchet will always be the Poirot standard to meet. Of the many actors that have played the role, Branagh is neat the bottom of the list.

I'm almost through the second season. I've been a science fiction fan since the 1960's but just find this series to just be ridiculous. It almost seems the writers have pulled in every SS trope there is without any thought of what makes sense. Yes, it's pretty to watch and most of the acting is solid, but wouldn't an orderly and sensible plot have been nice? The story meanders hither and yon with previously unknown technological miracles popping up whenever needed to save the day. I think the last great space opera series was The Expanse, even in its truncated form. Maybe the best is yet to come; sadly, it wasn't Foundation.

It's gratifying to see that Netflix has made 2016's 'Arrival' available to stream. It's far superior to Apple's devastatingly boring 'Invasion' and pretty, but plot challenged 'Foundation.' 'Arrival' comes with its own challenges. The aliens don't experience time as linear as we do. Eventually, the lead character, Louise, also experiences time as circular, like the way the aliens communicate. The narrative is spun out with this understanding, so the plot is not in itself strictly linear, which leads to a beautiful bit of storytelling, which may at first be confusing. There's no razzledazzle CGI, but there are sensitive performances by Adam's, Renner and Whitaker. It's a beautiful piece of filmmaking and worth your time. Approach with an open mind and let the pieces fall into place.

Painkiller is a rather fantistical retelling of a sad story that is all too familiar to many of us. It doesn't compare very favorably with Dopesick, counting on flashy visuals that almost overwhelm a compelling narrative. The acting is excellent, as are the technical aspects, and the show is, in it's way, entertaining. It's always a pleasure to watch Matthew Broderick. The most moving aspect of the series may be the heartfelt disclaimers that introduce each episode. As the deplorable Sacklers have now been shielded from further lawsuits, they will now be able to slink off the stage to enjoy their off-shore millions. None have served jail time, none have been prosecuted. Perhaps the only bit of satisfaction is to see the Sackler name obliterated from the many art museum wings and hospitals that they funded with their ill gotten fortune. Disgrace is their only legacy.

In case you were wondering why this lumbering mess of a movie was made, look no further than the world-wide gross - $ 1,001,978,080 as of this writing, against an estimated budget of $165,000,000. The movie is entirely too long, with incredulous science and a "see dinosaur, run from dinosaur" script. I don't blame the actors, as actors like to work. I do blame the writers and greedy producers.

Perhaps, it is time to stop milking the venerable franchise any more. It is notable that not even Steven Spielberg managed to recreate the magic of the original 1993 film in the sequel. Dinosaurs are fun to watch but not when we are being bombarded with these movies every couple of years.

All this posturing about power- should be an exciting subject. Instead this is a House of boring people, who are not helped by sluggish writing. So many Lord this, Ser that and Lady so-and-so come and go with little impact on the plot. And the look of the production is just plain cheap looking. Perhaps the omnipresent dim lighting is trying to hide the fact that there's nothing to look at. I seldom found GOT slow; on those rare occasions there was usually something interesting to view. And I didn't have to struggle to see what was on the screen.

It's apples and oranges of course, but visually alone, the Rings of Power is light years ahead of this series. It's full of brilliant visuals that are filled with beauty and wonder. Is the plot better? I'm not so sure yet, but it seems like a lot more more fun.

I certainly don't consider this show hilarious, but it is amusing and fairly interesting. Jean Smart does her best with rather clumsy writing- she's always a delight. I do wonder why the writers made the Ava character so very hard to like. Ava is constantly a drag on scenes. My problem is the writing, not the actress.

.

I was pretty much with this short series all the way through, even though I had to side-step some gaping holes in the plot. I enjoyed the cast, especially Agyness Deyn . I thought the unexpected ending was terrific.

I wasn't aware that the National Enquirer was into filmmaking. The gossipy information and opinions of the various vloggers was so enlightening, not to mention their helpful makeup tips.

Brittany Murphy deserves better.

I just wasted seven bucks on this piece of garbage. Idiot plot, bad acting, and extremely cheesy special effects. I do wonder how this thing ever got made.

Not being much of a Ryan Murphy fan, I hadn't expected to enjoy this as much as I did. Sure, the plot doesn't always make a lot of sense and some of the performances are way over the top, but the clothes, the sets, the locations, the cars! There's always something interesting to look at. As far as performances go, I think Judy Davis walks away with the show.