odb85 Reviews

Lisey's Story (2021)

Not Good

[15 June 2022]

I love the book, and I was excited to see this.

Unfortunately, the negative reviews are spot on.

The pacing is a huge problem, the focus is all over the place and spends way too much time on the villain. There is too much shrieking, too many repeated shots, and the direction of the fine actors in this show is poor at best.

Worst of all, the interesting subtext of the story is lost in this bizarre adaptation.

Not worth it, unfortunately.

Prometheus (I) (2012)

This is not a good film

[12 January 2021]

I've seen this 4 times. I thought it was annoying, overly complicated, and unfulfilling the first time, but I wasn't sure I hadn't missed something. To be fair, I didn't like the characters, I was unpersuaded by the plot, and I found it unclear.

As I began, I have seen it 4 more times (I was wrong above). And I believe I understand the 'plot' but I still don't like or care about the characters, I still don't find the plot persuasive, and the amount of short cuts, distortions, and frankly incoherent events overshadowed by the cinematography are entirely too much to forgive. The premise is absurd. The script is absurd. HOW did this movie happen?

This is not a good movie. It was not well cast. It was not well written. Maybe the actors did a good job giving those. The cinematography is fantastic. But this movie is not good as a whole.

Edit: The premise is maybe the worst part!

The Da Vinci Code (2006)

This movie makes the book worse

[23 December 2018]

But it's still not as bad as I thought it would be! It's impressive how much talent is wasted, given that the script is not terrible.

I'd pass on this one. It highlights the weaknesses of the book which you overlook while reading it. It also does lots of "telling" when it has every opportunity to"show". Ron Howard is better as a narrator.

Pandorum (2009)

There's a great movie under here somewhere

[6 September 2018]

Pandorum is almost a masterpiece. The potential in the story, the actors and the twist is immense. The mythology is interesting, and there are some nice moments between the characters (including the antagonists). I thought the end was a strong finish to what could/should have been a classic.

Unfortunately, the potential is not lived up to. The great film this should be was not what they ended up making. I didn't even mind the violence, which often stands in for story and feeling. In this case the big error was to allow the style to overtake the story. In other words, they kind of followed the genre tropes instead of letting this fresh and exciting idea breath. And even so, the idea is so great that I still give it a 6 instead of a 4. But it could have been a 9.5. Lots of squandered potential, but I'd certainly reccomend watching it if you like sci-fi.

Alien: Covenant (2017)

Better than Prometheus, but an unnecessary addition

[20 May 2017]

While being perhaps somewhat less abysmal than the majority of reviewers suggest, this film did not need to be made. As others mention, the characters are stupid, and the "story" is predictable, and most of it is wildly contrived.

My biggest complaint revolves around the unneeded narrative they seem to be welding together as they go. For example, the original movies had an unknown menace against whom the humans had to fight to survive. It was never made fully clear where the alien came from, nor *why* it existed... that didn't matter. In this, as in Prometheus, there is a bizarre back story that is alluded to, but doesn't develop in an interesting or even relevant way.

I find that I care less about the history of this organism the more they try to fill it in.

Unfortunately, contemporary culture precludes stopping while they are ahead, and we will no doubt see a third installment in this silly trilogy.

Much Ado About Nothing (I) (2012)

Mediocrity is catching: Aim Low!

[5 October 2014]

I love this play, and have seen many versions. I was even in a production in New Jersey.

This is an unimpressive version of a great story, and the great moments come from the "writing"as the kids are saying nowadays. The leads may not be terrible actors, but they sure failed to move me here. Even Dogberry was pretty blah and that character can really uplift a failed production. Amongst an uninspiring cast, Don Pedro's character was the best of the bunch. I didn't mind listening to him at all. Even his moments with Claudio and Beatrice were bearable. The music was okay. There were some interesting staging choices, but that doesn't make this worth watching.

I really can't get behind this film, and would recommend going to the theatre, or renting the other film versions.

Oldboy (2013)

A sincere effort at mediocrity

[20 July 2014]

When I saw that Spike Lee was going to direct, I thought there was a real possibility that this might be good. My expectations were too high.

I've read that there is an extra 40 minutes that were cut out by the producers, and I hope that's true, because given the mediocrity of the film as it stands, it would take at least 40 minutes of very quality film making to redeem it.

The remake, while not entirely without merit, tends to highlight the weak points in the story as a whole, but does little to improve upon them. However, Josh Brolin's acting is fairly good, as is Liz Olsen's, but neither character is worth the effort. The rest of the cast just fill the space and do not improve the viewing experience. There seems to be no reason for why any of the characters do the things they do, and the "emotion" generated felt like the blood often sprayed on the walls. It was just there, and it should have mattered, but it didn't.

The film becomes almost cheesy at key moments in the story, which have the potential to explore ideas about good and evil, oppression, addiction, income inequality, and vengeance. It picks up slightly with about 25 minutes to go, but then spirals back to the cheesy feel of the rest of it. My final critique is that rather then immersing the viewer in a world of experiential feelings, (which the original does) this takes away the element of having to engage the material and just explains it all away. Part of what made the original great was you had to wrestle with it.

I think 5 out of 10 is just about right for this film.