msoprivate Reviews

The Chalet (2017–2018)

An excellent whodunnit thriller!

[8/10 · 12 August 2023]

This is an exceptionally well-crafted French whodunnit, which brings back memories of Agatha Christie works such as And Then There Were None (repurposed, as a more similar Alpine version, in the 1965 film Ten Little Indians), suspense plots by Stephen King, and the scariness of Deliverance in the early 1970s.

There are captivating performances by a number of French actors, and the intricate screenplay keeps you an edge, and constantly guessing about the guilty parties, throughout the six episodes. Careful viewer focus is needed to keep track of all the characters, and seemingly minor incidental clues later take on great significance. The primary location in a remote village in the French Alps is full of breathtaking scenery. There are acts of terrible violence, but handled tastefully without dwelling on the resulting blood and gore excessively.

The different settings....the village in 1997 and again in 2017, and the subsequent interviews of a key protagonist by a prosecuting government psychiatrist....all fit together seamlessly, although it sometimes requires close attention to follow the frequent transformations in the action from 1997 to 2017, and back again.

As with most fictional mystery thrillers, there are a number of coincidental, technical, logistical, and motivational factors that would be implausible in "real life". The tendencies of some characters to remain focused on mundane activities in the aftermath of shocking deaths don't always seem realistic. The final denouement leaves some loose ends that you wish were tied up more conclusively. But...it's all in the interests of a rip-roaring good tale!

The series was apparently removed from Netflix in 2022, and we viewed The Chalet as a boxset on the Channel 4 TV app in the UK. Unfortunately, this meant that the action was often clumsily interrupted by garish commercial breaks (that seemed impossible to fast-forward through)....but it was a highly enjoyable viewing experience nonetheless!

The Diplomat (II) (2023– )

A farce .... diplomacy as Animal House

[3/10 · 7 May 2023]

I'm seven episodes into this fiasco of a drama-comedy-thriller production, and have kept going only because of a dogged determination never to be a "mini-series quitter".

The characters are totally unbelievable, most of the acting is second or third-rate, and the plot may make sense if your main point of reference is Marvel superhero flicks, but falls completely flat if you follow international politics and diplomacy with any seriousness.

The settings initially appear sumptuous....but become very monotonous after repeated appearances, and you get the impression that limited access was provided to key locations such as the stairwell in the British Foreign Office and exterior of the U. S. ambassador's residence, with all of the filming at these locations taking place under very rushed and compressed circumstances.

The constant streams of obscenities from senior officials in every situation are outright sensationalism and don't occur in the real world unless your name is Trump. The heavy-duty boozing, pot smoking, descents into histrionics, and tasteless and improbable sex scenes involving key characters are all way out-of-synch with reality. The obsession with flaws in the main character's wardrobe and physical appearance become gross when they arise as an issue every five minutes or so.

Small oddities such as the UK registration number on the American President's Marine Force One helicopter, and the convoys of high-end British Range Rovers carrying senior American officials around London (in real life, they are subject to U. S. sourcing regulations), seem to exist because of limitations in the production budget.

Overall .... this series is OK if you want to believe that international diplomacy resembles Animal House, and is controlled by a daily high-stakes global poker game being manipulated from the London Embassy ..... but if your quest is believability and a genuinely engaging plot, look elsewhere!

The Apollo (2019)

A noble effort, but quite tedious

[5/10 · 12 March 2023]

As I started viewing this documentary on my local cable provider, I was hoping for an evening packed with musical entertainment and other archived material from the Apollo's illustrious 100-plus-years past. Unfortunately, as quickly became apparent, we are treated to a preachy cultural awareness exercise, produced during the hyper-sensitive days of the Trump presidency when America seemed on the verge of a return to the Jim Crow era. At least half of this production is comprised of contemporary poetic readings, inspirational song and dance by newcomers, and interviews with today's battlers in the culture wars that tend to become cliched for those of us who have been exposed to many lectures on BLM topics. After viewing this documentary, I read a press interview with the director where he described the great challenge he faced because of a scarcity of actual film and video footage footage from the Apollo's past, due in part to the rocky financial history of the venue. What we therefore find is that many of the clips of performances by celebrated artists contained in this documentary were actually recorded at other locations. For example, I noticed that a vintage clip of the Temptations performing "My Girl" was lifted from a video of a 1960s Detroit-area teen dance party TV show that I came across on YouTube only a couple of weeks ago. This documentary neglects to mention that a number of top white musicians appeared at the Apollo in its heyday, or that Jimi Hendrix had a ground-breaking early NYC show at the Apollo in 1967 (maybe Jimi was too "rock 'n roll" for the producers of this), or that Bob Marley also starred at the venue at a pivotal point in his career. In line with the "culture wars" theme of this documentary, attention is also devoted to the urban upheavals and rioting of the 1960-70s, and the terrible prejudices black musicians faced when touring across America....topics that are frankly dealt with much more interestingly in other documentaries that address these problems in greater detail. Anyway, I'll give "The Apollo" a 5 out of 10 for the noble effort, despite my temptation to fast-forward through parts of it!

Johnny Mercer: The Dream's on Me (2009 TV Movie)

Wonderful story...documentary somewhat flawed

[7/10 · 19 February 2023]

Mercer had a wonderful life, and was one of the true giants of 20th century popular music, and fortunately there was tons of archived material to draw on. However, the chronology in this documentary can be somewhat disjointed and, as another commenter has pointed out, it's somewhat confusing to continually display the dates when the songs were written on the screen, without the dates of the actual later performances. Personally, I would have preferred the elimination of most or all of the contemporary (2009) performances, which are often underwhelming....when a simple search of YouTube/the web reveals that there is plenty of footage of Mercer himself that wasn't used in the documentary (i.e. Classic U. S. TV shows, and full-length episodes of Mercer's 1943-44 NBC radio series), well as available vintage performances of his songs by other artists. Of course, I'm viewing this from the perspective of 2023, not a 2009 BBC Arena series audience or as a big fan of co-producer Clint Eastwood and his family/friends! It's interesting to see Paul McCartney and Bono (U2) featured prominently in the closing credits. By the way, I viewed this documentary at YouTube, where it is available nearly in full.

Resurrection (2022)

Gruesome, but groovy!

[8/10 · 12 June 2022]

I viewed Resurrection last night at the Sundance London UK premiere, complete with post-screening Q&A with Writer-Director Andrew Semans. I'm not normally a fan of horror films, but this piece stands out for originality, some great performances, and the well-crafted sterility of its Albany, NY setting. Rebecca Hall's gutsy, way-over-the-top performance as the main character is awesome, Grace Kaufman is perfect as her college-bound slacker daughter, and the two male leads are appropriately chilling and sympathetic respectively. In the flesh, Semans comes across as a mild-mannered professorial 40-year-old, with an odd predilection for shocking audiences. Here, he unleashes the mounting tension effectively, and then subjects us to a harrowing, and over-long, meltdown into frenzy. Product warnings- avoid consuming a big steak dinner prior to viewing, prepare to enter a fantasy world set in a bland think-tank environment, and remember you've already seen the worst bits in episodes of CSI! A fun evening at the cinema!

Hidden Assets (2021– )

Great, until the final episode

[7/10 · 22 May 2022]

This series is well produced, features some fine performances, and maintains the suspense until the closing moments of its intriguing plot. The final episode becomes annoying and unconvincing, however, because of sequences of glaring police recklessness and disregard for logical public-safety precautions, and highly improbable judicial leniency towards the main suspect.

The Boy from Medellín (2020)

Beautiful City, Stunning Women !!

[6/10 · 8 May 2021]

If you're looking for an entertaining video tour around Medellin and snapshots of its world-class women.....from the perspectives of the luxury SUV of a jet-set celeb, and the terraces of splendid villas in surrounding hills....then this is the show for you!!

The main downside is that J Balvin comes across as a male Reggaeton Judy Garland.......inexplicably.needing constant emotional and medical propping up from a sizeable crew of therapists, spiritualists, physicians, and general minders. Boring after the first 10 minutes......except for his constant wardrobe changes to a new 500 dollar hoodie-tee shirt combo, in each new scene!

The footage of the much-awaited concert suffers from choppy editing and a muddy sound mix, leaving you wondering what all the fuss was about. Basically, as artistically impressive as a Super Bowl Half-Time Show in an "off year".

As for Balvin's "political awakening" in reaction to a barrage of Instagram posts by protestors in Colombia's streets, coinciding with his return to his home town....you feel that his new-found "consciousness" will wear off as soon as he returns to his mansion in South Florida.

Despite my complaints, however, it was a fun couple of hours in front of the tube. Viva Las Chicas de Medellin !!!

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

First-class entertainment

[7/10 · 4 October 2020]

An enjoyable and very timely treatment of the sequence of events, from the '68 Chicago convention protests through to the completion of the main trial, with the deft touch of Aaron Sorkin providing appropriate gravitas and depth. First-class performances, although at least two of the characters who I personally met in meetings decades ago, Ramsey Clark (I spent several days with him when he was a controversial trouble-shooting NYC international attorney in 1990) and Jerry Rubin (in a small informal campus discussion group, as a protest leader in 1970), in no way resembled the actors who play them in the film, Michael Keaton and Jeremy Strong respectively. It's quite a switch seeing Strong, well-deserved Emmy winner as the emotionally unstable media executive Kendall Roy in Succession, playing a Yippie leader, but hey Jerry Rubin became a successful stockbroker later on in life which makes the link between the roles credible!