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Primrose1
Reviews
The Rig (2023)
Good cast wasted.
Utter drivel - don't waste a minute on this twaddle.
I dragged myself through 4 and a bit episodes before giving up out of sheer boredom. I couldn't find any redeeming features in this snooze-fest of mediocrity and considering several cast members have appeared in far superior productions and acquitted themselves well I would have to assume they only did this for the money and had nothing better to do with themselves. You know something is really poor when the idea of several more episodes to come seems like too much of an ordeal.
Goodness knows I've watched plenty of crap in my time but this really deserved a huge raspberry!
The Offer (2022)
Great Entertainment!
I love, love, loved this! Casting was spot on........with one exception for me: Matthew Goode. Why on earth cast an Englishman with an unreliable American accent? Why did he play Robert Evans as an adenoidal clown? I checked old interviews with Evans and he didn't sound nasal to me so there goes that excuse. I thought he overacted throughout.
Miles Teller totally owned the screen and Juno Temple as Bettye McCartt was outstanding. The Godfather was such a seminal movie it was fascinating to get some of the inside story on how it all came about while bearing in mind that it's through the highly subjective filter of Al Ruddy. Gorgeous production values too.
It really seems to capture the atmosphere of Hollywood at that time and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
One pet peeve: Why so much/any smoking? We all know it's historically accurate but it wouldn't have damaged anything to leave it out.
I'm guessing not everyone in the film industry is immune to lung cancer.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
Drivel - don't waste your time on it.
Well I watched it all and that's 2 hours and 19 minutes of my life I'll never get back. What utter rubbish. I imagine it was supposed to be a amusingly charming caper but it was just a travesty of a movie strangled by the over-acting of the entire cast.
Why on earth did Daniel Craig of the famously frozen philtrum think that he could pull off a southern accent? Who the heck cast him?
Is Edward Norton short of cash or something? Why else would he squander his talent and reputation on this nonsense?
I don't imagine it was cheap to make but it might as well have been. Whoever bankrolled it should have donated the money to a deserving charity and not squandered it on this tripe.
The Peripheral (2022)
SO disappointing.
I've read more than a few of William Gibson's books and I found them unfailingly innovative and well-written which made this leaden adaptation particularly disappointing.
The premise is interesting but the dialogue is stilted and a lot of the action pretty wooden which really jarred and detracted from any enjoyment of the storyline.
Is it shot on video? Even the visuals were strangely superficial and unengaging and if I'm honest I only kept watching because I was kinda curious to find out the ending.
I did think that Chloë Grace Moretz (and her perfect eyebrows in any crisis!) really inhabited her role although, as others have mentioned, the 'hillbilly' stereotyping was annoying although somehow they all managed to have perfect teeth.
I've seen much worse but William Gibson deserved better.
Rita (2012)
One long cliché.
One long cigarette commercial.
Messages: you're only cool if you're thin, smoke and have meaningless casual sex.
Oh and let's be cool with your kids smoking too.
The cliché of Hjördis in season one being (slightly!) plump and dressing 'frumpy' therefore not as cool as Rita while hero-worshiping her.
Parents who seem to have no idea of how to grow up and be decent to their kids.
Was anyone NOT disfunctional in that show?
As for all the reviewers who love Rita so much they want to move to Denmark? Are they all in their teens???
To be fair Rita did at least notice which of her pupils were struggling (and why) however she seemed in denial about her own daughter's dyslexia.
Maybe this series got better but I just wasn't interested enough to find out.
House of the Dragon (2022)
Watchable
It's watchable but not a patch on the mesmerising complexity of G. O. T.
Matt Smith seemed badly miscast in terms of his voice which utterly lacks gravitas and there's a dearth of attractive characters to distract from the rather leaden storyline.
The sets and CG dragons etc are however outstanding and the fact that the viewer takes them for granted is testament to their high quality and integrity.
It passed a few pleasant enough hours but on balance I'd recommend rewatching Game of Thrones itself for some real escapism.
As a footnote: Could no one have told them that the correct word was DISCOMFITED and NOT DISCOMFORTED?!
The Thing About Pam (2022)
Mixed
For what it is it's ok but it couldn't quite make its mind up what to be.
Some good performances.
Did R. Z. really need a fat suit to be credible as an 'ordinary person' ???
The First Lady (2022)
Very uneven.
I so agree with other reviewers about Viola Davis: that mouth stuff - whatever was she thinking and why did no one tell her to quit it?!
Gillian Anderson is usually excellent but for me there were too many hints of her Margaret Thatcher for her Eleanor Roosevelt to be entirely credible.
Michelle Pfeiffer shone in her understated and convincing portrayal of Betty Ford. Of the leading ladies she at least seemed to realise that an interpretation and not an impersonation was appropriate.
Smoking. Ok we know they all did it back in the day but does that mean we have to portray it if it isn't germane to the story? I would ague that smoking should just be banned from film and tv and they'd be none the worse of it.
The sermon endeth! 🤣
The Gray Man (2022)
Drivel.
This must have cost a mint!
One-dimensional video game with wooden dialogue.
Can only assume the actors needed the money.
Great stunt work.
Rubbish.
The Inheritance (2020)
Waste of time.
I only gave it two stars because the mansion setting was so atmospheric.
Everything else was execrable. The dialogue was appalling and there were so many non- sequiturs I stopped paying attention.
The money spent making this film was utterly wasted.
Worst Roommate Ever (2022)
Horrifying.
I'm so sad to see disparaging remarks by other reviewers about the victims in these awful cases. They are victims not actors. Their suffering was and is very real. They don't have to look or act 'the right way' to be deserving of our understanding and sympathy.
It would be amazing to think that one of America's many millionaires might help out Sonia who was one of Jason Brachman's victims. She'd worked so hard to get her apartment in Rockaway and lost everything through no fault of her own. I hope she and the other women are managing to find peace and safety in their own homes.
Deadwood (2004)
Utterly Peerless!
I just rewatched DEADWOOD and it's just as astonishingly great as I remembered.
There are so many standout performances it is hardly right to mention any but Raymond McKinnon as the Reverend broke my heart anew. Ian McShane bore NO relation to Lovejoy and was delicious as the devious Al (don't call me Al) Swearengen with some great lines of pitch-black humour.
This series introduced me to various actors I've subsequently followed to other roles and it took a great eye to cast them all so perfectly this time around.
I can't recommend this programme too highly (so long as 'bad language' doesn't overly offend your sensibilities!
Emily in Paris (2020)
Incroyable!
Emily is a joke. She teeters around Paris in ridiculous outfits like some kind of skinny faux-Audrey Hepburn. I don't know what this show is meant to be but it succeeds in being clichéd on virtually every level.
On the other hand it could be seen as a self-deprecating comedy of errors???
The Leftovers (2014)
Original and thought-provoking.
That's not something you can say about many tv shows.
It's open to various interpretations just as the different characters interpret events differently in the narrative.
Your own preconceptions about faith and religion will colour your views of this as of everything else.
I only took one star off because
a) Christopher Eccleston is many things: American is not one of them
b) Lindsay Duncan is many things: Australian is not one of them
why employ foreign actors who can't speak with consistently credible accents???
Star Trek: Picard (2020)
Oh dear........
I wish I didn't agree with all the other bad reviews.
BTW whose stupid idea (among many) was Rios' giant cigar? Was it supposed to make him seem macho?
Despite the Falling Snow (2016)
Lame.
Well that's 1hr 33mins I won't get back!
High production values, gorgeous cinematography, lovely music and credible period settings: those were the only plus points for me.
Everything else was predictable and simplistic and I fail to understand why clipped upper-class English accents were so prevalent.
Charles Dance and Anthony Head were wasted in this cliched tale. Utterly pedestrian.
Filinta (2014)
Pantomime!
Pantomime: so woodenly acted!
Stage sets that screamed "stage set"
I wa really looking forward to watching this as the synopsis sounded great but it was such a let-down.
Shadowplay (2020)
So so.
Production values are amazing but the script is sloppy.
Would the lead character really have peppered his conversation with 'f*****g'? It didn't add anything and became plain irritating.
Why is smoking still shown on screen? We all know it was prevalent in the past but again it added nothing to the storyline. Are actors somehow immune from lung cancer?
(Episode 2. Could no one have told Michael C. Hall that 'pulchrudinous' is not a word? If you can't say 'pulchritudinous' then use another word.)
I've watches worse but the whole thing was a bit simplistic.
Marie Antoinette (2006)
Saved by Versailles.
Luscious settings and costumes; beautiful cinematography; modern parts of the soundtrack grated on the ear.
Utterly vapid.
A Discovery of Witches (2018)
Accents and foreign languages!
Maybe Emily could use Higher Magic to get Alex Kingston a better American accent!
Why persist in casting actors who can't sound convincing in their adopted accent???
Did no one know that 'wie' in German means how and not who? (Matthew and Diana arriving in Bohemia).
When 'I' is the object of a verb it becomes 'me' - saying 'I' doesn't make it posh.
'Gotten' is a word used mainly by non-posh Americans.
Etc. Hey ho I'm a pedant........
Scenery and costumes are gorgeous and special effects fantastic.
Absentia (2017)
More than a little silly but watchable.
Bizarre storyline so the 'willing suspension of disbelief' applies.
What ruined it for me was that most of the actors were British and their accents were all over the place. Were they cheaper to hire or something???
Inheritance (2020)
Average in every way.
Funniest thing is that I'm sure I heard Simon Pegg say (twice!) that he smoked Gruyère cigarettes even if the subtitles did read 'Gauloises' ?!
Young Wallander (2020)
Not a patch on the original.
What fool decided to make this in English? Oh dear. Gives meaning to the expression 'woodentops' for cops. Not even well acted.
Rectify (2013)
Class act in every way.
I keep finding Ray McKinnon associated with great work whether it be his acting, writing or directing.
RECTIFY is outstanding in every respect and made me cry more than once with its nuanced portrayal of myriad aspects of the human condition. So many flawed characters (as are we all) were brought movingly to life on the screen by a truly talented cast.
They held me enthralled and I am one picky viewer.