GaelinW Reviews

Vortex (2022)

Well made but typical of French dramas....

[8/10 · 10 June 2023]

TLDR Very well made. Excellent production values. Excellent actors (for the most part.) But in my experience it suffers from the flaw I've seen in many French dramas - in order to keep up the tension and drama, the characters behave stupidly.

I spent most of the time screaming at the screen because they just kept doing dumb stuff and never learning from the experience. My biggest peeve was their telling others despite knowing their actions could have an effect on the timeline.

Longer The characters make bad decisions that make no sense relative to who they are supposed to be. This seems particularly common when characters are supposed to be in law enforcement. (Or maybe it's just that mystery/police procedural are my go-to genre.)

They have no situational awareness. Whatever skills and knowledge that led them to be among the best at their jobs go completely out the window when the story starts.

I'm not a big fan of time travel or sci fi mysteries, but this aspect is really only part of the set up and doesn't overwhelm the story.

The series was at least one episode longer than it needed to be.

Longest (with spoilers) It's obvious who the killer is from the very first appearance on screen and it's only strengthened with each additional appearance. But the writers do a great job of throwing out plausible red herrings that give the viewer second thoughts until they are ruled out.

As is common of the genre, the phenomenon that makes it possible for the two main characters to connect across decades is never explained. I guess, the viewer is left to believe it's their great love/relationship (?) that binds them.

For me, that didn't really make sense given that the male lead had moved on with his life and really didn't want to give up his new life.

Also because of this, it was obvious they weren't going to live happily ever after despite my being able to come up with a few scenarios that made it possible, even if they didn't stay together.

Interestingly, the writers didn't follow/include the trope of others/the killer having access to the time travel phenomenon. Which I expecting to happen.

In any event, this brings me back to characters behaving outside their alleged knowledge. The ending seemed, I don't know the word, cheap, lazy, a cop out.

A lawyer and a cop couldn't come up with an explanation of events that would lead to a better resolution?!?

Lastly, three final peeves:

1-The god-awful wig. They couldn't do better than that? Really?!? It was a huge distraction.

2-While the actors were well cast in terms of acting skill and were good for their respective roles, they had very little romantic chemistry which also made the great love idea implausible.

3 - There was one actor for both the past and present but almost no difference in makeup. With nearly 30yrs separating the two, it didn't work all that well.

It's not as noticeable with the supporting characters but absolutely obvious for the 2 main characters who appear in both time periods most often.

The male lead's actual age is late 40s. While he looks great, he absolutely does not pass for anywhere near 25, the character's approx age in the past scenes. At best he looks to be in his mid-30s in the past scenes which should make him mid-60s in the present day. He's said to be 52.

The female actress is about 30 which fits the character's age in the story - given her place in life - though a specific age isn't given. She also doesn't really seem to be early 20s.

But in present day, if the character's age is the same as that of the actress, she would be almost 60. Again, no way. Especially given:

BIG SPOILER:

Nearly a couple of decades on the run and/or in prison.

Which it was was a bit unclear.

We were given details via a news report. I didn't see a date for that report. Since it mentioned kidnapping, I'm guessing the daughter was a child. But how old of a child is unclear.

The Next 365 Days (2022)

That went downhill fast

[2/10 · 30 March 2023]

The only vaguely sympathetic character in Movie #1 was Lara. That went out the door about halfway thru Movie #2 when she got mad at her kidnapper, uh, husband because he's a jerk. Well, she knew that when she married him. Why so upset now?

To make matters worse, she gets even more upset when she thinks hubby has cheated so she runs off and ends up with kidnapper #2, a much more charming jerk. With whom, you guessed it, she falls in love.

And to top it all off, the jerk of a husband never cheats but she eventually does in Movie #3.

When the victim is so vapid and annoying that you're feeling sympathy for the victimizer, you know you've wasted 6 hours of your life. Turned out the only one with any common sense was Olga the comic relief in the story.

Footnote: The 2 male leads could be (fraternal) twin brothers. I'm sure there was some message there.

Footnote2: So much s3x and not a condom in sight.

Alert: Missing Persons Unit (2023– )

Spent the hour shaking my head. So far not so good.

[2/10 · 10 January 2023]

Updated: 3 episodes in. The cops get dumber and the writing lazier.

Original 4 stars

It was the pilot, so I will give it another couple of episodes before I give up on it but so far....

It's full of cliches and lazy plot devices. Including alleged experienced police officers who seem to have lost their ability with situational awareness and looking for verification before proceeding.

Now the Spoilers

Their kid who has been missing 6 years suddenly shows up looking at least 10 yrs older and unrecognizable to them. But he's adopted so they presumably can't use DNA to prove he's their kid despite his room being unchanged. They kept everything except a tooth or hair brush, I guess.

Oh, and this is after a $1 million ransom demand 6 yrs LATER to two working class parents. No proof of life given nor ransom paid but the kid shows up alone anyway. Kidnapper is in wind. Gee, what luck.

How about they rescue a kid and instead of the parents coming to the station or a hospital to get her, they take her home like a DoorDash delivery where she is conveniently kidnapped again. An officer who feels something is wrong, can't say, sorry I'll take the next one.

Turns out that Dad is ex-CIA and must reveal classified info that could get him jailed. Funny, no one considered reaching to the CIA or FBI for help.

Oh and the episode opens with the main character dad who is a military contractor rescuing the daughter of a military target while, of course defusing a bomb while talking all about their mission to kill her father. She apparently doesn't understand English, until well, she does.

Did I mention this is the daughter of a presumably Taliban-esque target and she is wearing red nail polish?

Good Grief.

Knightfall (2017–2019)

Okay as fiction, but....

[7/10 · 4 September 2022]

It's okay as fictionalized history goes. Entertaining in a similar way as soap operas are entertaining. It's biggest problem is that there is really no one to root for. The bad guys are obnoxiously evil. The good guys are more grey.

The biggest problem is that everyone seems to be a dumbass.

That's the way the writers have chosen to create drama and conflict. No one has any common/good sense. They make stupid choices. Talk too much...to the wrong people. And when they do realize their mistakes they compound them by making yet another wrong choice.

Other than perhaps the King, there is no real clarity on what these characters want. Duty? Honor? Well, most seem hypocritical about those things. Honorable only when and to whom they (randomly choose).

The main character holds everyone around him to a higher standard than himself which to some extent makes him more plain unlikable than an antihero.

Ice (2016–2018)

Started off well. Went downhill fast

[6/10 · 19 July 2022]

Started off with great potential. The story wasn't unique. Screw up brother who is the parent's real favorite. Smart, successful brother who has to spend his life cleaning up after him. Cleaning up a new mess that pits them against a very dangerous Queenpin is what launches the story.

Story is moving along fine. One point for the brothers. One point for Lady Rah. Then Lady Rah's sociopath boss shows up, humanizing her - a good thing. But it also turns everyone stupid. Each subsequent action is worse than the last. All the cleverness and street smarts, staying a step ahead go out the window.

Season 2 is worse out of the gate.

Part of me thinks this was done so as not to be cliched. Well, it just made them annoying.

The Many Saints of Newark (2021)

Huh?

[4/10 · 3 October 2021]

This isn't Tony Sopranos's story. It's a few mentions out of the life of Dickie Moltisanti's. They just drag out Tony and a few others from the series every so often as a reminder this is *supposed* to be related to that.

Even as Dickie's story it is a series of semi-related events where mostly nothing happens. There isn't really a story here. Just a bunch of occurrences that don't clearly lead anywhere.

The lead cast are faces you know but it's talent wasted. Alessandro Nivola as Dickie is a character you kinda want to care about, but his story is so pedestrian, so meh, you ultimately feel why bother.

The same could be said for Leslie Odom Jr. As Harold. But his character is just so confusing that you give up caring. Does he want to be "woke" or just a better bad guy. He doesn't seem to care until he falls for the white woman who also happens to be Dickie's sidepiece (and former stepmother). Then he just comes across as p@#%y - whipped.

I appreciate their trying to bring in some diversity with Harold and the 1967 race riots and Frank Lucas but it's a weak tie to the Soprano story and feels like obligatory filler.

Overall, a weak plot and badly written.

The Queen's Gambit (2020)

You won't be able to look away.

[9/10 · 5 December 2020]

This is not something I would usually watch. I'm more of a mystery, action, police procedural kind of girl. I only started to watch because I needed something in English on the TV in the background while I multi-tasked. (I've recently turned to foreign movies and TV for decent, engaging stories but didn't want to be tied to the subtitles.)

I was hooked from the second episode and cried my way through the last, rooting for Beth.

My only complaints are that the pacing is a little uneven. It drags unnecessarily in places and rushes through others for the first half of the series. But by episode 4 you can't look away. And the timeline is hard to follow. I'm still not sure how old Beth is supposed to be by the end of the series.

Other than that, it was a great show.

Dark Desire (2020–2022)

Entertaining but WUT?!?!

[7/10 · 3 December 2020]

As someone else described (in paraphrase) starts off well then gets stupid. Over use of flashback and delusional thinking to depict an unreliable narrator. It has so many characters "flashing back" to moments that didn't happen, it's hard to tell them from the flashbacks/events that did. I don't know if the makers had to meet a minimum episode requirement, but the use of repeated scenes and the utter stupidity of some of the exchanges seem like filler.

There are a few other noticeable flaws in writing. "Are you married?" (asked while the woman is wearing a bridal set with a huge diamond.) And the final pool scene - WTF happened there?!?!?

My bigger peeve with the story is the depiction of - for the vast majority of the story - otherwise intelligent, accomplished women as becoming stupid after a good f*%&$k. On the other hand, the story closes out pondering that plot point, so, much like with the flashbacks, it feels like you - the viewer - were punk'd. I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

Reminds me a bit of those B horror films that are so bad, they're good. The makers knew this and are laughing all the way to the bank. Which is why it gets an 7 instead of 5.

Overall, the mystery is gripping enough to make one want to hang around to see whodunit and why. But the urge to do something else while watching or fast forwarding is overwhelming.

Oh, and that whodunit. Who = resolved. Well, at least one of them. Why = not so much - for all of them. Which sets the stage for season 2.

The Dovekeepers (2015)

Dumb women and predatory men

[4/10 · 13 July 2020]

I never read the book so I don't know what the intention or full story was. (This version seems to exclude a lot). And I can forgive the lack to authenticity. (Blue eyed, flame haired Judean 2000 years ago? Yeah, right.) It's fictionalized history.

What's unforgivable is the the lack of likeable characters (except maybe the German slave and Josephus who was at least a realist/pragmatist.)

I'm all for love and romance, but come on! The women come across as dumb, weak, easily seduced and/or mean (scorned wives mad at mistresses). The men predatory when not just complete a-holes.

Perhaps it was the way this particular story was told, but what the Jews were fighting for wasn't really emphasized/shown. We see the Romans take revenge, but (based on the story here) they were attacked first. Revenge is what the Romans do. Sure, revolt/rebellion/dying for freedom is a topic of argument between Shirah and Josephus, but it's never made visceral for the viewer.

Ultimately, I didn't really care what happened to the Romans or the Jews. The only ones I felt bad for were the children with such lousy parents.

Hightown (2020–2024)

Meh.

[5/10 · 27 May 2020]

I'm 2 episodes in....I have absolutely no issues with the subject matter. It's just that none of characters are likeable and I just don't care about what happens to them. (except maybe the drug kingpin and I'm not sure that's from this show or all the others I've seen the actor in.) It's slow moving and the alleged mystery (?) doesn't really feel like a mystery. At least not one to care about. The murdered character was on camera less than 5 mins. I don't think we've learned anything about that person since other than that person was maybe some kind of informant. (?) That too is kinda unclear. Other than a sorta/kinda passing reference, nada.

Who are we rooting for? Why? What are we rooting for? What are we waiting to see happen? What do these characters want? What's the goal here?

Oh, and if you're familiar with Dawson from Chicago Fire, Monica Raymund's character here is like Dawson magnified 100 times. So there you go.

King Arthur (2004)

Great Action, Bad "History"

[8/10 · 26 December 2004]

To really enjoy this movie, you have move beyond the obvious.

Within in the first 10 mins, I was disappointed. The chronology is a joke. And the set up of the major characters is laughable.

Since when are Arthur and Lancelot the same age? And the 15yrs later thing would make Arthur around 25, 27 at the very most (given the approx age of the kid in the beginning). Clive Owen is young looking for his age (I guess), but c'mon.!!! And didn't Romans require 20-25 years of service? Needless to say, as a retelling of the Arthurian myth, this movie is substandard.

This has nothing to do with Arthur as Roman. It's about trying to mesh that early 5th century myth with the Medieval French details. "Lancelot", "Dagonet", etc...Those names just scream medieval French.

Guinevere's character came across as an after-thought and frankly, could have been left out completely. Especially given Knightley's lack of chemistry with the two male leads.

HOWEVER....

If you look at this movie as telling a story of men caught between honor, duty, loyalty, friendship and the longing to be "free" and finding their place, this is a great movie.

Others have described the main performances as wooden and lacking emotion. But given that these are men who have spent 15+ years killing other men up close and personal, as their duty - Men taken from their homes as children and taught to kill - How much emotion can we expect? I saw this lack of emotion as men who had grown used to distancing themselves from the world around them. And who had become just plain tired of the killing (obvious in their longing to be free).

Clive Owen played this brilliantly. Every so often there's a glimpse of the turmoil beneath and we watch as he struggles to bring it under control.

Watch the actors and their faces. It is the subtleties of their performances that provide the passion and make this movie. Moreover, even these "good guys" aren't so black and white. And that makes them all the more believable.

This is an action movie first and foremost, and one of the best kind. NOT a "history". (good thing there isn't much dialogue, cuz the script sucks big time.) Overall, one I will add to my collection.

Wall of Secrets (2003 TV Movie)

Pure BS!!

[30 May 2004]

This has a fairly decent plot idea and a competent cast, but the characterizations are just pure BS.

The main character played by Nicole Eggert is supposed to be an up and coming criminal attorney, on her way to a junior partnership before she leaves Seattle and moves with her new hubby to Chicago. Yet, she is beaten and later choked unconscious by a supposed police officer only to wake up handcuffed to chair. Then she finds out that she has been under surveillance since moving into their new apartment. No private moment has gone unrecorded.

After all this, she doesn't ask to see a warrant or any proof that these "policemen" are who they say they are? She doesn't protest about her rights having been violated??!?! Not to mention how she has been assaulted!!

Just what kind of attorney is she?!?! One you would hire only if you have a death wish and lethal injection sounds like what the doctor ordered

The Last Samurai (2003)

Much Better Than I Thought

[8/10 · 30 May 2004]

It took me 3 weeks after receiving this DVD to watch it. I'm thinking 3 hrs, Tom Cruise and historical epic. Yeah Right. I figured I'd wait till I had nothing better to do. Well, today was that day, and I was wrong. This is a really good movie.

Cruise may have had top billing, but this movie belongs to Ken Watanabe, the rest of the Japanese cast and beauty of the shooting locations. TLS is beautifully shot, and has a very emotional and thought-provoking take on history. (Don't get me wrong, I have an advanced degree in the history of a sorely misunderstood part of the world, so I know better than most not to look to Hollyweird for any kind of historical or cultural accuracy.) But this movie sure makes the history look and sound good, and one does get caught up in the emotion of it all.

I think Cruise does an adequate job with his role, and eventually one does come to admire his character in the same way the Japanese do. But really, I never took Allgren as being focal point of the film. The movie gets off to a slow start, but the pace and emotion builds and stays almost to the end. The end was somewhat far-fetched, and disappointing in its way.

Overall, a movie worth seeing. I plan to add it to my collection for the battle scenes and armor alone.

The Lion in Winter (2003 TV Movie)

Not Better, But Different and Just as Good

[28 May 2004]

I can't say this is better than the original, but it certainly is different. This version is darker and far more intense than the original. The love, the hate, the pain are so much more evident here than they were in the original, especially that of the children.

Of course, I'll have to watch the original to compare, but what I recall is that the original came across as light, fast moving and clever.

Close and Stewart don't have the chemistry of Hepburn and O'Toole, and the exchange of dialogue isn't as snappy. And I think that perhaps, this ultimately aids in the depth of that dialogue coming across better. Though, Close does play the B**ch very, very well.

Andrew Howard as Richard and John Light as Geoffrey were awesome. Richard's pain at being the constant pawn stuck in the middle of his parents' war and Geoffrey's pain at being no one's favorite were, well, painful to watch.

While I adore the original version of Lion in Winter, I just *get* this version so much more. Maybe it's because these actors are from my generation whereas those of the original are from my mother's, I don't know. So, overall, while TLIW 2003 is not better than the original, it is as good as the original, just in a different way.

Tears of the Sun (2003)

Well Done, But Released At the Wrong Time

[9/10 · 10 August 2003]

In reading the criticisms of this movie, here and elsewhere, my response is, TEARS OF THE SUN is a militarily based action MOVIE, not a war documentary. If all such movies were done in correct and exact military fashion without any Hollywood embellishment, only military tacticians would go see them. That said, all the information you need to know to understand the background of this film is there if you look and listen for it.

In the beginning, a newscaster reads, 'In a land with 120 million people and over 250 ethnic groups, there has been a long-standing history of ethnic enmity. Particularly between the Fulani Muslims in the North and the Christian Ebo in the South.' Soon afterward, mentioned are `ethnic cleansing,' `ethnic unrest,' and `control of Nigeria's vast oil supplies.' What else is there to know about why the `war' is going on in the film?

Also told is that the US is evacuating foreign nationals. And Monica Bellucci's character is described as being, `a critical personality,' code words for `from a family with money and influence.' What else do you need to know about why a Seal team goes in?

The violence, gore, the emotions of the refugees and the faces of the Seals after witnessing the gore tell you the rest. The evil that men are capable of doing to other men, is something that can never be explained or understood, no matter how many expository scenes a film has.

The Serbs/Croatians in Eastern Europe. The Catholics/Protestants in Ireland. The Kurds in Iraq. The Palestinians/Jews. Tibet and China. The `background' could, unfortunately, fit any number of peoples, not only those in Africa.

OVERALL, a very well done movie, in terms of action, actually having a plot, and a cast that can carry it all off. I'm sure this film would have done better at the box office had it been released at another time. With all that's going on in the world these past couple of years, the last thing movie goers want to see is another film about war on foreign soil. Too bad for TEARS OF THE SUN, because it it deserved to do much, much better.