tovelise

This is one of the very best series I have ever seen, and it is a true story as told in a book by a direct descendant of this family. The writing, the acting, the cinematography, the intricate weaving of the interconnected threads of people's lives - all is carefully crafted to draw you in to the horror of the Nazi regime as well as the resiliency of these people and the strength they derived from their families and their cultural and spiritual traditions. After following the horrendous hardships and torments they endured through seven episodes and seven years of their lives, how could I help but weep through the last one? My tears flowed freely. The real-life Kurc family photos were the perfect ending. An amazing story told amazingly well. Wow. Just wow.

I like Nicholas Cage movies a lot - usually. Not this time. This movie felt promising at the beginning but slowed and slowed and eventually went nowhere - it just ended. I think it's because it had wandered aimlessly for so long that the end point was forgotten. Ugh. Seriously, this is a very boring movie about very boring people that I did not care about - in fact, I had no sympathy for Cage's whiny, self-pitying character and wished he would disappear. Good idea, poorly executed. There are lots of other things to watch that are creepy or horror-filled or just plain interesting. This is none of those.

I've always thought Lindsay Lohan was a good actress, Ed Speleers was a heartless, conniving, splendid villain as Stephen Bonnet in Outlander, and Alexander Vlahos was excellent as Mordred in Merlin. This production is a typical romcom tale, which is usually reliably entertaining. Where, then, did this movie go wrong?

The dialogue was horrible. It is difficult for actors to make much of poorly written lines. I don't know if it was the lines or the direction at fault - quite possibly both - but everyone seemed stilted and somewhat awkward rather than natural and relaxed. They were people reciting lines rather than actors creating their characters.

The costumes are horrible as well. Lohan in endless plaids, unflattering bridesmaids dresses that showed every line beneath, the groom clad in a suit of black, blue and green plaid that MIGHT have been an Irish tartan but looked suspiciously like a black watch design, which would be beyond wrong, the wedding venue all in deep PINK. No - just no.

Look, I did not expect great things from this movie, but even my low level expectations were unmet. It was so bad in places that it was laughable - and I am quite sure that the folks who put this together did not intend to generate the sort of laughter that burst out of me at the peculiar absurdities of this movie.

Jane Seymour stole the show, no question. She was delightful.

I expected Marvel. I got boring. The lead is wooden. The "story" is disjointed and uninteresting. I have no reason to be invested or interested in any of these flat characters. The best is Graham Greene's "Skully" and only because he is good-natured with a sense of humor (and I generally like Graham Greene). I gave it a good try hoping it would get better, but after enduring until the beginning of episode 3 I had to bail. This is not worth your time. There are far, far better things to watch. This is poorly conceived, poorly written, poorly directed and poorly edited. Even the "recap" at the beginning of each episode is disjointed, with no logical progression from start to present. Ugh.

Tim Burton plus Terry Gilliam plus Wes Anderson, plus a bit of that old classic "Freaks" and a whole lotta raw sex bordering on porn. I was very excited to see this movie but I walked out feeling as though I'd been in a not-at-all funhouse. Emma Stone is a good actress but I find nothing even remotely feminist about this movie - quite the contrary. Mark Ruffalo should never, NEVER AGAIN attempt any kind of accent in any role because he is absolutely terrible at it - right up there with Kevin Costner. The movie is way too long; I kept checking my watch. I would not see this again, nor would I recommend it to anyone. There are far better things to see than this artsy for artsy's sake, bizarre, rather pointless movie.

If you want a faithful representation of the book, you'll probably be disappointed; still, it's a good story told pretty well. The huge weakness in this production is Mark Ruffalo, who is apparently unable to do any accent but his own. His attempts were jarring, to say the least. Ugh. The casting was just okay; I'd hoped the French would sound French and the Germans would sound German, but almost no one sounded or looked authentic. And then there was Ruffalo. I don't know what they were thinking.

Anyway, it's entertaining enough but - no surprise here - the book is a superlative experience in every way.

In substance, this series utterly fails. They've changed the characters and the story so much that it is nearly unrecognizable. I wish Peter Jackson or Ronald Moore had been in charge of adapting these books to the screen; they would not have displayed such utter disrespect for the source material. And a Rosamund Pike is as unlike petite Moiraine as it is possible to be - tall, husky-voiced and utterly wooden. What a travesty. So much of the series story line is a complete departure from the books, and while I expect differences, these are just too far off the mark to merit the Wheel of Time label.

The medical terminology and scenarios are absolutely, ridiculously wrong. There is no effort to get anywhere near real medical practice. I am watching season 1 episode 4 and the ambulance personnel are ridiculous. Pleurodesis, VATS and mediastinoscopy are not emergencies; they are scheduled procedures and those patients would be transported WITHOUT flashing lights or sirens, if they were transported at all. In an emergency triage situation those patients would stay put and their procedures would simply be postponed. An ER doc directs someone to mix a levophed drip, which is ancient history in terms of medical practice; drips are commercially prepared or mixed in a sterile room under strict sterile conditions because mixing drips on the spot entails risk for contamination and for drug dilution errors. The hospital accreditation organizations would have a heyday with that. An OR scene has a junior doctor urging the surgeon to prematurely declare the patient dead when her heart won't restart after mitral valve surgery and only a few attempts have been made to shock the heart back into beating; no surgical team would consider declaring a young woman dead after only a few minutes of resuscitation efforts, and there are bridge to recovery and bridge to transplant options if the heart does not restart. Pretty pitiful excuse for a cardiothoracic surgery team. This is like Gray's Anatomy when a doctor cut a patient's VAD (heart device) line so that the only way to save his life would be give him the heart that was en route for someone else's transplant (which ignored cross matching, sizing, etc.). That "doctor" kept her medical license. Nope. Never watched that soap opera medical drama after that.

It is nice to see a show about a medical director who puts patients ahead of profits in the barbaric, profit-driven U. S. healthcare system. It's too bad they did not pay more attention to the details.

Apparently the wolf-lion relationship is true in real life, and the scenes of the animals together are wonderful. The humans spoil this film. To be fair, the writing is abysmal, which is a challenge for any actor, but these actors are pretty horrible. The plot is absolutely ridiculous: a lion cub falls from a tree into a girl's arms? A veritable horde of heavily armed officers are on a shoot-to-kill crusade in a large, unpopulated forest? Really? Add in the circus guy who is the worst role model on earth for his son as he drugs, whips and terrorizes the animal and then carefully, repeatedly, teaches his son to lie. Not a film I would want any kids of mine to watch. Never mind that a mother dies within the opening moments of the movie; in all other respects this ain't Disney. Go watch Togo instead - a real story of a heroic animal told quite well.

I understand why Depp had to be axed, but Madds Mickelson is horribly miscast in the role. He is about the most boring Grindelwald imaginable, with no personality whatsoever - no quirks, no distinguishing traits, no menace, no sense of maniacal evil - just cold, flat and boring. He basically plays an emotionless fascist dictator rising to power, which is just not very entertaining. As for the plot - well, there is one. It's buried pretty thoroughly. Seriously, I loved the first two movies and watched them several times but this? Nope. I made it through once but there are much, much better things to watch than this. I am a huge fan and was very excited to see this movie, but I am sorry to say that I was very disappointed.

This has to be one of the very worst movies I've ever seen. It may feature big names but they are not enough to redeem this story, which is pointless. Comedy? Not even remotely. Horror? No, because I found nearly all the characters so dislikable that I really did not care what happened to them or their world. Oh, and the chickens - Belinda? - what the heck? No, no, please no. Nothing to see here. Move along.

The first seasons were entertaining, but then came an episode with annoying camera angles (done so many times that it became a ridiculous) and the "background" music became intrusive and incredibly irritating. The story lines became more and more ridiculous, and the Keane character is a total joke in every way; the actress is mediocre and the character she plays belongs behind bars. The show appears to have no medical advisors whatsoever. James Spader's acting can't make up for the other characters' cheesy lines.

There are far better ways to spend your time and far better series to watch.

Suspenseful? Yes. Twisty? Yes. Believable? Um, no. This was a contrived plot that could not have unfolded without reality being conveniently ignored at times in order to advance the story line. I am asked to believe that the police are technologically incompetent. I am asked to believe that a teacher's teenage kids are stupid - not just impetuous or immature, but outright idiotic. This led me on just to let me down. Waste of time.

Christopher Walken is not Irish. Nowhere is that more resoundingly confirmed than in this movie. His occasional failed attempts at an Irish brogue and his decidedly New York accent made me laugh although I feel fairly certain that was not the filmmaker's intent. Blunt's character is quirky and strong yet I am supposed to believe that she has spent years silently waiting for a man to notice her. Really? Dornan's character is so emotionally insecure and dysfunctional that I wonder how anyone could find him appealing. I stuck with this until the end hoping it would turn around, but it didn't. I was bored and I could not have cared less what happened to any of the characters. I watched this movie because I have liked the actors in other films, but this one was, sadly, a complete waste of my time.

It started well enough - good cast, nice scenery, typical teenage issues including cliques, cheerleader with the cool guy, teased misfit, etc. About halfway in it took a turn toward much poorer quality across the board, and the last third was pretty painful to watch. As for the end, well yes - it certainly was an end. BOOM. No more money for any more script or filming, folks - let's call it a WRAP!

Just don't. There are far better uses of your time, and there are far better movies about teens, witches or magic than this cliched attempt that leaves you wondering "Um - that's it?"