ScottieFerg Reviews

The Gray Man (2022)

A Poor Adaptation

[3/10 · 3 September 2022]

If you've read any of 'The Gray Man' books. I think you will be disappointed in this film. Ryan Gosling is way too smooth, too pretty. He looks like he went to good private schools, never missed a meal in his life and got lots of toys at Christmas time. This is not like the character in Mark Greaney's books. Court Gentry is a rural Floridian who drove a Bronco and outwitted SWAT teams in paintball exercises as a teenager. He was a rough-hewn, gritty, simple boy. Clever as hell, though.

And, aside from the PC insertion of a female cohort, the treatment is way too cute. Cheeky! The darkness of the books is turned in to a colorful world filled with music and cute one-liners.

AND - they turned Claire (whose character in the book is wonderful: clever, smart, tough and resourceful) into a weak, helpless child.

Hopefully, in the future, someone will produce a multi-episode series based on the Gray Man novels. Amazon did a fine job in 'Reacher'.

Rain Fall (2009)

Bourne Again?

[3/10 · 4 June 2013]

I'm writing after watching the movie and reading the previous reviews. Watching the film I couldn't help seeing nearly every segment as yet another sad attempt at recapturing the thrills, twists, relationships, etc. carried out so wonderfully in "The Bourne Identity". I felt embarrassed for Gary Oldman playing this cardboard cut-out of the Chris Cooper's 'Conklin' character. I won't bother listing the plagiarized elements- they are too numerous, too obvious, and would take more time than this sad film deserves. I'll take a tip from you earlier reviewers and sample a Barry Eisler novel. I'm so deeply into Martin Cruz Smith's 'Arkady Renko' novels (again!) that I'm liable to be disappointed. I'll need a trip to the Gulag to get my hunger back.

The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

Self-obsessed, unoriginal movie producer takes advantage of friend, star and script writer.

[5/10 · 28 December 2011]

I find this movie rather flat overall. I don't feel the fire, the anger, the intensity it requires. Lana Turner doesn't quite rise up to her star position, much like her character early on in the film. Kirk Douglas has never seemed so uninvolved in a role. Thank goodness for Dick Powell, always a natural, and Gloria Grahame, who shows more emotional depth in her first few minutes on the screen than Ms.Turner manages in the first 3rd of the film. The ever compelling Ms.Grahame well deserving her Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Cinematography, supporting cast, soundtrack and sets are all quite wonderful but the 2 main stars seem to move like ghosts through this lush noir world.