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Reviews
House of Cards: Chapter 73 (2018)
Totally confused- a complete mess!
This series came highly recommended and it was for the most part entertaining and held my interest for the first three seasons. It began to lag somewhere in the fourth season with the belief that the writers were running out of steam with ideas. Too much politics for my liking but of course to be expected as set within that world. I would like to have seen more time devoted to the investigation of finding out the killer(s) of certain characters so they could be exposed to the proper authorities. It was intriguing at first and believable but somewhere along the line that storyline became an 'afterthought' thrown in to an episode now and again for variety. Sloppy and an injustice to the viewer in not seeing a resolution to the come uppance of the guilty parties. It was not enough that we knew who was responsible in some cases but not others & they needed to be exposed in Washington, the country, and the world. It also went from drama to comical farce with so many key figures being bumped off. The last episode was a complete mess in the way it ended and left so many issues undetermined. Not sure if it was canceled due to certain reasons (Spacey's fall from grace perhaps?) or the writers intended it to end like that. It seems the former because whatever happened to the character of Max for instance? The stand off between the USA and Russia in the last episode? Of course the best part of the series was Kevin Spacey who was outstanding throughout. Robin Wright was okay but her character was too robotic behind the facade of supposed warmth. Michael Kelly was wonderful as the die hard obsessive who gave his complete devotion to one man. Overall, glad I saw it but quite frankly, found the last two seasons very disappointing, especially the last episode!
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Gritty, depressing but oh so good!
My admiration for Ben Affleck has gone way up after realizing this film is his directorial debut. Depressing in that it shows the seedy underbelly of life and the truly horrible flaws of human beings, it sucks you in with the excellent acting of the principle characters. When I first saw his brother Casey on the screen my reaction was probably the same as most viewers - this guy is way too young to play the character written for him and he's out of his depth. I was so wrong on both points. Casey Affleck is great in a very understated way as a man haunted by his morality in what is right and wrong and you see the struggle he goes through as the film develops towards its heartbreaking conclusion. Everyone played their parts well and any film with Morgan Freeman in it is worth a look as he is a fine actor. The only criticism I have about the film is the use of the 'f' word in almost every sentence. I guess a film about the underbelly of life in Boston would not be realistic without the 'f' word but it was 'overkill' to me and shows a lack of originality. However, the script is amazing and the story is well told as it unfolds to its conclusion. I found the ending scene so profound and powerful in its predictability and ordinariness that it's impact was like a punch to the gut. Without giving anything away, the ending scene shows that life goes on, one way or another!
Searching (2018)
Not sure, but then....
I taped this to watch as it sounded interesting. However, as soon as I started watching it I was disappointed as the story was told through digital gobblygook that is beyond me. I don't understand tech stuff and barely get by with it. However, I decided to stick with it and was very glad I did. This film is surprisingly (for me anyway) good and I know the 'youngsters' with love it. I guess John Cho's acting sucked me in initially as his performance was so compelling and believable. I really felt his child was missing as he went through the range of emotions of being an irritated dad to his daughter's slovenly behaviors to slowly getting anxious at not being able to reach her. I found my anxiety built with his and that is the true measure of a great actor when the viewer gets sucked in. I finally found that the technology, which is so crucial to the story, didn't annoy me so much after a while and I was quite fascinated at how it can be utilized in trying to find someone. It was nice to see Messing in a more serious role (like her appearance in a previous Law & Order: SVU episode) and her performance sucked me in too. I did early on think something 'fishy' was going on but was completely off base with the final outcome. A film worth watching for the suspense, intrigue, Cho's believable performance, and above all, the incident of a teenager going missing which unfortunately in real life is all too real and terrifying for parents who go through this nightmare.