tsmithjr
Joined Sep 2003
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tsmithjr's rating
I had high expectations for this movie but was so disappointed with the "Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks". I expected a movie more in the vein of "And The Band Played On" (HBO 1993).
Henrietta Lacks deserved a much stronger depiction of her story. The injustices she received were wrong. Period. Instead, the movie focused more on her descendant family while only fleetingly brushing the injustices she received into the movie.
The folks who wrote and directed the movie should be embarrassed. They had a great opportunity but failed to deliver.
Henrietta Lacks deserved a much stronger depiction of her story. The injustices she received were wrong. Period. Instead, the movie focused more on her descendant family while only fleetingly brushing the injustices she received into the movie.
The folks who wrote and directed the movie should be embarrassed. They had a great opportunity but failed to deliver.
"Day Night Day Night" was awful. The first 80 minutes of "Day Night Day Night" contained "maybe" a combined total of 5 minutes of dialog and I don't think it had that. The rest of the 95 minute "Day Night Day Night" was filled with tiresome white noise, background noise, showering, sleeping, eating, a self manicure and self pedicure and so many more monotonous activities. It was pure insidious humdrum monotony.
The only positive was that "Day Night Day Night" did capture the pure monotonous (notice a theme in the use of the word) repetitiveness of a suicide bomber as she waits, prepares, waits and waits even more in what surely had to be complete and total boredom. During all this, the arduous and even torturously tedious monotony is transferred onto the viewer over and over and over again.
It was extremely disappointing not to have used some of the 90 plus minute film to explain why or how she became a suicide bomber. Was she unhappy? Was she "brainwashed" or coerced? It didn't require 90 plus minutes of monotonous viewing to convey the tedium as she prepared herself.
The only positive was that "Day Night Day Night" did capture the pure monotonous (notice a theme in the use of the word) repetitiveness of a suicide bomber as she waits, prepares, waits and waits even more in what surely had to be complete and total boredom. During all this, the arduous and even torturously tedious monotony is transferred onto the viewer over and over and over again.
It was extremely disappointing not to have used some of the 90 plus minute film to explain why or how she became a suicide bomber. Was she unhappy? Was she "brainwashed" or coerced? It didn't require 90 plus minutes of monotonous viewing to convey the tedium as she prepared herself.
Ondine was so disappointing primarily because I couldn't understand 90% of what was said due to the excessively strong accents. The strong accents may have been accurate, but most of the English speaking population aren't familiar with such strong accents.
There were several great actors in Ondine, so I was really looking forward to watching it. Unfortunately, not being familiar with the "strongest" of Irish accents (and I'm part Irish) I just couldn't understand what many and especially Colin Farrell were saying. It sounded like mumbling.
Today movies can easily be made for the general population and incorporate mechanisms to help facilitate the audience easily understanding the message. The subtitling in Avatar is a great example. They did everything possible to make the subtitling easy and quick to read. Many movies "don't care" if you can read the subtitles or see in the dark scene or understand what was said or not.
My point is that it's LAZINESS on the part of the movie maker if they don't put any effort in broadening the appeal to the audience. In the case of Ondine, you can have a "strong" accent but still have it understandable by the general populous.
There were several great actors in Ondine, so I was really looking forward to watching it. Unfortunately, not being familiar with the "strongest" of Irish accents (and I'm part Irish) I just couldn't understand what many and especially Colin Farrell were saying. It sounded like mumbling.
Today movies can easily be made for the general population and incorporate mechanisms to help facilitate the audience easily understanding the message. The subtitling in Avatar is a great example. They did everything possible to make the subtitling easy and quick to read. Many movies "don't care" if you can read the subtitles or see in the dark scene or understand what was said or not.
My point is that it's LAZINESS on the part of the movie maker if they don't put any effort in broadening the appeal to the audience. In the case of Ondine, you can have a "strong" accent but still have it understandable by the general populous.
