Lamb Taylor

What a disappointment. Not about Civil War but war photography and really superficial with every cliche in the book. I’m waiting for the next attempt at a US Civil War film that will really cover the deep reasons why it could happen. 😝

Already Napoleon was born in August not February as stated at his wedding in the film!!Apart from the historical inaccuracies ( no frozen lake at Austerlitz etc) which Scott justifies as cinematic justification the film doesn’t show the magnificence of this epoch. The costumes are wonderful but unfortunately in battle we never really see their importance and beauty especially the Imperial Guard, the elite corps of his army and the French cavalry. Joaquin Phoenix’s performance is terrible and feels like he is so out of depth in this role that it’s hard to believe he can really do something that isn't a character that is either marginal, eccentric or crazy. I think Scott allowed him moments of improvisation that really didn’t fit the tone of the film. And the portrayal of Napoleon and Josephine’s relationship just didn’t work. There was no chemistry between Vanessa Kirby and Phoenix. I was able to forget the American accents in Marie Antoinette because the film was so well crafted but in this. Oh Joachim!! And the French public hated the film contrary to some people’s reviews!! If only Kubrick had made his version!!

Please tell me this was written and directed using ChatGPT!! The orders were- «  ChatGPT please write me a scenario with a time loop spanning 3 epochs- one past, one present, one future. Make the cast as representative of our society as possible. Choose one or two reputable actors for credibility. Use as much overbearing music as you want. ( It could add to the melodrama). PS. Don’t make the Time Machine too elaborate. Those lamps they used to use in early operating rooms could be an inspiration for the design.Don’t pay much too attention to improbable situations and unbelievable events. Throw in as many subplots as you want. The diversity of the cast will make criticism difficult. » It’s a shame. It could have been something really interesting but instead it’s a series with too many ideas most of which we have already seen. Great to see diversity in a series but when the work is badly constructed and the diversity is unnecessary then, it’s just a waste. KYAnotL.

Where do I start. Slow moving, incredibly boring monologues and dialogues, characters that you are so irritated by you hope they will be killed by the aliens. This terrible production with its suspenseful pauses before a character speaks and the completely irrational behaviour of its characters combined with sub plots that do nothing to improve the scenario, finishes with an equally ridiculous final episode. There are so many other things to watch…watch them!

I want to give this a chance as it’s difficult to criticise after just one episode but I’m not optimistic that it will get better. But I would like to put forward a few ideas. The criticism of LRD is a little unjustified. She is playing her role as she should as a young beautiful mixed up singer and she’s credible. But, I can’t say the same for Mr. Weeknd or is it Weakend. He might be one of the most popular artists around at the moment but I’m sorry he’s about as believable, in his role, as Heyden Christensen was as the young Darth Vader. Way out of his depth. There was something fresh, sharp, and innovative about ‘Euphoria’, who’s producers are behind this show, but ‘The Idol’ just seems to be a mildly pornographic and obvious cliche about the music industry with unimaginative dialogue. I do hope I’m wrong and the series writers produce something that makes us forget how good it’s predecessor,‘Succession’, really was.

Probably one of the biggest film disappointments of my life. Where do I start. I could not believe Oliver Stone could make such a bad film. Anthony Hopkins, Christopher Plummer, what were you doing here? A dialogue so banal a first year cinema scriptwriter would have been thrown out of school for writing it. Let’s not talk about Alexander’s Irish accent and Angelina’s Eastern European soviet socialist elocution, before the terrible casting. Val Kilmer and Colin Farrell as Phillip and Alexander? Should we send the casting director to Siberia as punishment? She’s already been! It’s the only explanation for Angelina’s accent. A musical score so uninterestingly obvious, that we are relieved when the terrible dialogue returns. Never has the synthesiser , harp and xylophone been so blatantly tortured in a film soundtrack. But how could anyone desecrate a famous historical character as important as Alexander the Great with a film so superficial, so badly written, so mis-cast (all be it with very good actors) that it is almost a parody worthy of Monty Python. Especially when the director is Oliver Stone. PS. Maybe watch it for the battles.

I can’t understand how a film with such great actors could be so bad. I felt that maybe it had been edited down so that the logic of the plot had been lost by losing important scenes. But I fear it’s not the case. An effort was made to save it with an often overbearing music score but I still fell asleep watching ridiculous unbelievable moments of a plot that seemed to bore itself to death. Sorry.

Boring, lacking imagination and terrible art direction and casting ( not mentioning its political correctness which, although noble, is ridiculous at times ) are just small problems compared with the horrendous dialogue and storyline. Tolkien is not an easy author to adapt which is why Peter Jackson’s work was so successful. Unfortunately this series is not only short of his standard but to other series appearing on streaming channels at the moment.

Where the hell do I start!!! Black actors in a Lovecraft inspired horror series. Sounds interesting. Sounds ground breaking. But after suffering the first few I realized this was a downhill ride. But I did have a few good laughs especially the space alien with the Afro looking like a cross between George Clinton and Donna Summer. Overacting, a worse than boring dialogue and a complete waste of several really great black actors. And another annoying background soundtrack which at times leads you to believe that the person who chose it wasn’t actually seeing the images at the same time. HBO you had better choose your productions with more care. There’s now a lot of competition out there.

People have already said how wonderful the cinematography, costumes, art direction bla bla bla. But please, with the great actors there should be more than this. Ridiculous dialogue, a story lacking any sort of credibility, and a hugely irritating background soundtrack that nearly puts JJ Abrahms efforts to shame. Ryan turn off the bright lights (we already saw them in the American Horror Story Seies) and think about story and dialogue and choose an original subject (as you did in the earlier American Horror Story series) instead of vandalizing an amazing character from One Flew Over’. Incredibly self indulgent.