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plmillernc
Reviews
Vivarium (2019)
Depression Central
The movie places a likeable young couple in a bizarro world of a suburb you can't escape from and then adds on new responsibilities that literally drive them to despair or even murder. Hidden agents are at work and frustration turns to panic tiurns to terror turns to ..... well, let's just say, you don't want to live in this neighborhood.
It is well done, well acted and creative. It is also a downer, with a strong undertone of hopelessness.
Suggestion: do not watch with a date. Also, if a relattive of yours is troubled by depression, do not let them within a mile of this flick.
Murder Mystery (2019)
Date night treat
This is a charming, fun movie. Amidst the dark tales, twisted worlds and grim dramas of streaming movies, this is a stylish, funny and well written comedy. The acting is good, the pace brisk and the dialogue fine. Sit back and enjoy. You won't be disappointed.
The Open House (2018)
Give me my time back
Wonderful germ of an idea -- what can happen if you let strangers inside your house -- that built and built and then jerked the rug out from under you. Good acting, nice suspenseful moments, hints and false trails are all done nicely.
Then the two central characters -- already traumatized by death in the family -- are tortured by an unseen character. The ending makes the whole thing just an exercise in sadism, with no satisfactory resolution. Evil triumphs and already injured people are done in with no regard for a satisfactory resolution.
Very bad. Awful. Pathetic waste.
House of Cards: Chapter 73 (2018)
A decomposed series
This episode was absolutely the worst ending I have ever seen. It concluded a series that was terrific until Frank needed to be buried and then the series decomposed like poor Frank's corpse. Where to start?
1. Frank's death was described so differently it was hard to know how the poor shyster died. Bed?Floor?Murdered?
2. Claire spent most of the series waving the feminist banner when she wasn't having people bumped off. The most misogynistic person on planet Earth could not have created a character more over the top and unbelievable.
3. The VP never seemed defined as principled, just horny, a schemer or a political doofus. He had no center.
4. Did I mention the writing sucked?
5. Claire's speech detailing how Jane was dead, along with Catherine and Tom sounded like a ripoff from Michael Corleone detailing how he had, during the baptism, "settled all family business."
6. Claire's all female cabinet was like a Mel Brooks' parody. Were the creators and writers on coke when they wrote that?
7. Poor Tom's body was carried around, frozen, then defrosted, used as display when needed. I suspect controlled substances were at work during that writing session also.
8. And then the baby. What a plot contrivance that had no link to anything else that was happening! When was this magic baby conceived? When Claire was not returning Frank's calls, or as he lay dying on the carpet/bed/whatever? I kept thinking that her belly would rip open, an alien would pop out and Sigourney Weaver would kill it.
9. And the conclusion!!! Doug gets killed, with no resolution to his concerns, Claire is about the push the button and start nuclear war, Bill Shepherd is looking at art books, the cabinet is looking at Claire like she Pennywise, the Shepherd boy is stuck in jail and mother Annette's assassination plan came a cropper.....nothing, absolutely nothing resolved.
And we are left with Claire, Lady Macbeth with fewer scruples, a body count that would embarrass Tony Soprano, still president, still ready to destroy the world and no justice, no ending, no resolution, just several hours of my life that, along with other victims of this dumpster fire of a season, I cannot get back.