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allenmullen
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Reviews
The Feed (2019)
Excellent on some fronts, dismal on others
The portrayal of pervasive connectivity and technology corporation power, not too far removed from current reality, is splendidly realized, the series is greatly hampered by cardboard characters and family drama. It focuses in far too much on a handful of conveniently symbolic characters. The actors deliver their lines and decent performances, but the dialogues and plotting aren't all that great.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017)
As entertaining as anything on television
I'm all for realism but film/video amounts to artifice, not real life, and can work successfully on the fairy tale level, as with this show, as it does on the nitty gritty of reality. Either way, the best movies and television series, like the best of theater, can lift us out of our daily realities and transplant us in a new one where we can escape or gain perspective.. This show is funny, intelligent comedy. Not everything works for me - the Paris sideshow at the beginning of the 2nd season, for example - and upper-class people are not among my favorite subjects , but Marvelous is simply so enjoyable that this doesn't matter.
High Maintenance (2016)
Here's to Brooklyn
A warm, insightful and compassionate slice of Brooklyn life. Well done in every way.
Jack Ryan (2018)
Season 1 was pretty good, Season 2...
The plot, script, acting, and locations in the first season worked to create a good story, clearly fictional but in touch with reality. First season rating: 8. Almost the opposite is true of the second season. The plot is far-fetched (and a disservice to current realities); the dialogue, situations, and characters resemble b-tier action films, and even Wendell Pierce, an actor I've admired in every other film/series I've seen him in,come off as a caricature rather than believable as a real person. Season 2 rating: 4.
It Takes a Lunatic (2019)
A treat for New York theater afficionados
A fitting tribute to a highly influential acting coach, theater producer, and artistic director of the American Place Theater, who has been influential in opening up dramatic, off-Broadway theater to female, African American, and Asian American playwrights.
High Maintenance (2016)
Here's to Brooklyn
A warm, insightful and compassionate slice of Brooklyn life. Well done in every way.
I Love Dick (2016)
Too intelligent for television
This series is provocative, intelligent and outspoken about sexuality, gender politics, and the art world. So its no surprise that there is such a sharp divide between those who hate it and those who appreciate it for being the thought provoking, perfectly conceived and created masterpiece it is.
The Righteous Gemstones (2019)
A fun romp
Clever, if cartoonish, fish-in-a-barrel comedy with funny, comedic acting and a gonzo script. It's superficial and generally contrived, kind of like an ironic 60s sitcom along the lines of Beverley Hillbillies or Green Acres. Despite the fun, it's like candy - not much of substance.
Frontera Verde (2019)
Haunting and beautiful
Netflix continues to release some impressive and original television series from around the world, this one from Colombia. While the supernatural elements of this series sometimes detract from immersion in the story, and the non-linear narrative can be challenging, it is a good story, well-written and convincingly cast.
Gradiva (C'est Gradiva qui vous appelle) (2006)
swan song tells the story
Contemporary history seems to indicate that talented, successful and./or powerful men used these characteristics for sexual prowess. Delacroix? What about Manet? Degas? Did Gauguin taste the young flesh of Polynesian women he painted? Robbe-Grillet follows this line of thought down an interesting tableau in post-protectorate (i.e. post-colonial sexual subjugation) Morocco.
P'tit Quinquin (2014)
Take the humor of Christopher Guest and bizarre mundanity of Korine
...overlaid with a bumbling murder investigation, and the result is a gem of comedic filmmaking and social satire embedded in a humanistic portrayal of contemporary French peasantry. Dumont dares to portray prejudices, pettiness, and brutality of rural life without malice or ridicule. Gendarmes, Van der Weyden and Carpentier, are as funny as their counterparts, Manchin and Malfoy, were in Slack Bay, yet less the buffoons of that film than simply odd and ignorant. I grealy appreciate such honest, often tender. portrayals of common people amidst a sea of films focused on elites, bourgeouisie, and artificial characters.