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saul-hudson
Reviews
From (2022)
Lazy writing and REALLY bad science!
The series started off well and then dropped into endless relationship cliches and we ended up on a well trodden path just in a different setting. Basically this is LOST set inland instead of on an island and people arrive by road instead of in a plane crash. The first season became gradually slower and slower with a lot of relationship filler. The final few episodes revolved around trying to power a simple transceiver with first loads of car batteries chained together...which it does not need, one battery is all that is required. Then they spent an age creating an antenna which they fixed to the top of the tallest building in town, again not needed, a simple long wire aerial was all that was required. And then, they ditched the car battery idea and wired the thing to the mains! Which would have resulted in a loud bang and a box of burned out bits, it is a 12v DC transceiver. It also did not require the construction of a ridiculous external transmitter. I could go on but, just lazy writing with no one bothering to check what is actually needed. It was cringe inducing to watch all the faffing about by the whole town just to do a simple job.
There are so many plot holes and poor script writing. The actors for the most part are all fine. I couldn't fault any of them. I felt sorry for some of the lead characters having to carry through some of the frankly embarrassing plot lines but, they did the best with what they had.
It was not an entire shambles though. It was going fairly well up to season one episode 6 and then it seems they just went for sloppy writing in order to drag it all out to a second season. It has lost momentum though. I would not say don't watch it but, lower your expectations. Classic tv this is not.
Beyond the Mask (2015)
Bad...very bad!
Sometimes you really have to wonder at IMDb's review system. It is very obvious that either this movies production staff have been bigging it up or the reviewers who scored this amateurish production 10/10 have extremely low standards.
The first 5 minutes were 'ok' apart from the terrible cgi and I hoped it would pick up from there but alas 30 minutes in and I'm marvelling at how easy it is for people who can't act to get into a movie these days.
This is a very painful movie to watch. I can liken the acting to the sort of wooden performances given by children at a kindergarten nativity play. Of course a lot of the blame needs to go to the script writer..who is obviously independently wealthy or has friends with too much money and no idea what to do with it. A script like this should never get anywhere near a movie production.
As for the director Chad burns? well you only have to look at his resume to understand what went wrong there and his wife Angela(casting dept) didn't help matters much either.
Talking of cast, I don't think this bunch really gelled together. John Rhys-Davies seems to have made a career out of trying to carry budget films and TV series with varying degrees of success...didn't work in this case by the way. Kara Kilmer is not really leading lady stuff, at least not with a script like this and Andrew Chaney has only made two previous movies, both of which were not glowing examples of the craft and were obviously some sort of vanity vehicle, casting himself as lead in both cases. Nope, ain't happening. Extra or bit part player maybe but lead? I have no idea who funded this movie but given it's Christian overtones and the way religion in the USA is actively involved in promoting itself through 'good wholesome movies' I would not be surprised if this is yet another example of money over talent in the name of preaching the Christian gospel. Do yourselves and us a favour and leave movie making to those who know how to do it properly? If you have a couple of hours to kill....well, kill it somewhere else. This travesty of a movie is not worth the time or money.
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
From previous reviews I had high hopes but, they were sorely dashed
I am not quite sure what other people were seeing in this film but whatever it was it certainly eluded not only me but the people who were viewing with me. Beasts Of The Southern Wild is 93 minutes of self indulgent tedium. From the moment of the first "shaky cam" scenes I knew this would be tough going. Honestly, has the hand held camera approach not been done to death by now? If I wanted to watch such an amateurish way of filming I am quite capable of creating my own tepid production and at least I could make it a LOT shorter into the bargain.
Someone earlier compared this movie to Avatar in terms of cinematography? I think that "someone" has seen a different 'Avatar' to everyone else because this doesn't even get close! I won't go into the subject matter of the movie because many others have trodden that ground before me, the only thing I will say is don't be fooled by the producers synopsis! There is one shining star in this otherwise lacklustre fair and that comes in the form of little Quvenzhané Wallis who plays the central character, Hushpuppy. She has a long career ahead of her. As for the other 'actors' well, I'm not sure they really had that much to work with. The script, if there is one is pretty sparse and most scenes seem to comprise of brainless drunks falling about and saying very little that is coherent throughout the entire film. The terrible creatures released from the melting ice caps are farcical, basically pigs with horns stuck on. Honestly it's cringe inducing! If you have nothing else to do by all means give this movie a go but I have already wasted 93 minutes on this as so will finish now so as not to waste any more time on it.