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rlamprey
Reviews
A Nero Wolfe Mystery (2001)
Differences from Rex Stout
I have been re-watching my DVD's of this series, and I continue to be amazed at their universal high quality and how well everything adheres to the Rex Stout books. Nearly all the characters (and stories) are very close to what Stout created (even Wolfe and Archie!), and the sets and dialog are absolutely brilliant!
Purley Stebbins and Fritz Brenner (and the latter's relationship with Wolfe) are very slightly different in the series than in the books, but the modifications definitely work. The Wolfe-Brenner relationship in the series is fantastic, even if it is more regularly confrontational than in the books!
Anyone else notice differences in the televised vs. the written series?
I Am Legend (2007)
A Truly Awful Movie
This is a truly awful movie--one of the worst I have ever seen. Unsatisfying on almost all levels. I found the camera work amateurish, especially the irritating hand-held sequences. The animation was at best marginal--in order to get shock value, most of it was almost cartoon-like and extremely unrealistic. What little of a story was present was almost content-free and completely silly. Our "hero" had few heroic qualities, and even the dog's role was lame. The best thing that could be said about the movie was that it was so forgettable. The one good part was that the movie showed a clip of the movie Shrek. Had it just continued with Shrek, it would have been a far better, albeit strange, flick!
By the way, the fault was not that of Will Smith. He did a good job. He just didn't have anything decent to work with. Though he can be fun to watch, this movie is definitely not the place to watch him.