JE

Christ, they really knew how to draggg this one out with a surplus of dialogue, dribbling run-on ad-libs from the two main actors and too many scenes dragging on and on (watching actors walk too many times across long rooms, long hallways, long streets, across lawns, down carparks and having to watch them park and get out and walk to a house was so banal and took too long combined with too many long stares took up so much time in total) plus plot points they seriously didn't need - one eg. I couldn't have cared less about Henry's song and dance stuff in church. I fast forwarded all those scenes. Having so many of them served nothing to the story whatsoever. That was just one thing they could've cut down on. And all the coincidental plot "twists" cobbled together to drive the story forward ... I didn't buy any of 'em as much as I tried for the sake of story. When it came to editing they did a hopeless job of it dragging it out to establish 3 seasons when it could've easily been 2 and much snappier ('Big Little Lies' knew how to do this). When I got to season 3 ep4, I literally couldn't wait for it to end and reclaim my life back so I read the last 6 episodes on Wiki just to be done with it. Even reading what happened next I couldn't stop rolling my eyes how the slapstick continued. It was an honest-to-god drain.

This film speaks very deeply to my soul. Everyone has spoken about the magnetic performances of McKellan, Redgrave and Fraser. I don't feel I can add anything more about how special they were in discovering who these characters are, particularly when audience comfort zones at times might be pushed with Whale which was central to his character. For me, Condon and his knowhow in capturing a mood, how he captures atmosphere and fragility in this film is everything in this. There are some scenes that literally take my breath away like all of the WWI reenactments and the varied dreamscapes and how the sweeping score lift those scenes into something so extraordinary and otherworldly taking it beyond the limits of perfection. I also really love how he smartly translates and weaves on screen, via the script, Clayton's awakening through the complex history and present of Whale. There are emotional twists and turns and what one might think is Whales' ultimate ulterior motive, we discover it's something else entirely. And the ending is so wonderfully perfect, tracing back to Whales' dialogue earlier, "a perfect night for mystery and horror" (my favourite line in the film and one I rehash myself during violent storms). This film is the pinnacle of American cinema to me. The perfection and value of literary cinema. I can only watch it every few years because it stirs something so profoundly deep in me I can barely handle it. If I ever bumped into Condon, I'm sure I'd dissolve into a blubbering mess telling him what it means to me. When you hear the ol' saying 'Be who you are because everyone else is taken', just goes to show, thank God Condon stayed true to himself otherwise we wouldn't have this cinematic masterpiece.

It's the scene when Ennis breaks down on a public street and punches his fist into the wall that you know he's fallen in love.

I'll watch anything with Kathryn Hahn in it. I'm so glad she got the lead with 'I Love Dick' because it paved the way for her. This series was FANTASTIC. If you love shows that sidestep the mainstream and "fambly values" you won't be disappointed with this. The only negative is there was only one season :( Wish I could watch it again for the first time. MAGIC!

As a steadfast cinephile stretching from indie to arthouse to European to surreal to mainstream Hollywood filmmaking, I always finish seeing a movie no matter how bad it is. Not this one. An hour in, I couldn't take anymore and didn't wish to waste another 2 hours of my life scratching my head over this try-hard, self-conscious attempt at being "bold." All filler, no killer. Purely a non-hit, huge miss affair. Just awful.

The most fascinating and frightening episode of our world and Nolan did an okay job although the storyline he chose, meandered. Snappy editing. Didn't linger too long in any one scene, it constantly flowed epitomising Oppenheimer's dedication. The constant, wall-to-wall music got annoying however. Can't he even wash his hands in the bathroom without the drama of sound? The love triangle showed his human side instead of portraying him as a one-dimensional scientist. In another way though, I was sitting there frustrated as hell watching a lot of men in suits as destroyers of worlds talking a lot about destroying the world. Through a feminist lens, I couldn't believe I'd paid $25 bucks to watch a dk flick.