It cuts a lot of corners in the first 10 minutes, and I kinda wish they’d found the way to integrate most of that stuff into the first half of the broadcast, as it takes too long to get going. The possession movie it eventually morphs into is alright, albeit fairly predictable. A lot of the choices reminded me of James Wan horror vehicles, which I always have a hard time taking seriously. The movie seems to be aware of that too, because it’ll occasionally push things to a more schlocky, comical place that’ll strike a chord with Sam Raimi fans. Is it uneven because of that? Absolutely. In fact, I found a lot of this half baked. The social commentary (which feels like it’s borrowing a lot from Network) isn’t fleshed out properly, Dastmalchian’s performance should’ve been more sleazy and colourful and I just didn’t feel that much emotion by the end of it. The strength of this film lies much more in its faithful recreation of the 70s talkshow aesthetic, and I particularly like its commitment to the found footage feel, which feels lot more artful than the popular found footage stuff from over a decade ago. If only they put as much effort into making the sound as dusty and lo-fi, because the film generally sounds too clean and modern. Overall, it’s not really my thing but I can see why a lot of people like it.
4.5/10
How they all knew he'd die as soon as he cut himself. That was terrifying to look at.
I never liked Owen in movies before but in The Knick his performance was absolutely amazing.
His death almost overshadows Tom setting up Harriet. That was a big surprise for me.
I knew he is a bit iffy around the edges but generally a good and caring guy under that hard shell. But screwing her over like that?
Wouldn't have thought he is so strictly against "abortionalists" but tolerated it anyway out of love for her.
Herman getting radiation poisoning serves him right. I got a headache by simply watching him getting his first x-ray, where the salesman wanted to demonstrate the machine and told Herman he needs to stand in front of it for couple of hours.
Henry being responsible for the fire was kinda obvious but not that he is such a ruthless killer, as he threatend Cornelia. Who in return fled the country to be free from him and out of his reach. While Lucy got what she wanted all along, a man in the upper stand and a corresponding status for herself.
Soderbergh created this show as a two year arc, even though a season 3 script was ordered.
The tying up of all loose ends makes this apparent. So, in case there will be a third season, this is the "true" end.
Alongside the end for season 1 of American Crime, this is my most favourite season/show end.
Between 1983 and 1997, Jim Varney gave us the Ernest anthology of films. This series was seemingly resurrected by Martin Scorcese, in this unofficially subtitled addition "Ernest Tap Dances On My Last Nerve For 3 Hours".
Come on folks, this is a Scorcese film. The man who gives us endlessly rewatchable films like Goodfellas, Casino, Wolf of Wall Street. Fantastic pieces of work that will last forever.
This is not such a film.
It is bloated. Poorly paced. Starved of any real emotions for much of its duration. And when the end comes to finally put it out of its misery, it lacks any punch. Much to the chagrin of the director who casts himself in an overly-wrought cameo.
It isn't a catastrophe. De Niro puts in a great day's work, Di Caprio is consumed by the role. There are plenty of fine actors around them doing fine work. It's just a mess of edits and lacking focus.
I struggle to see a great film in this even if the fat was taken off it. It just isn't a masterpiece in hiding. And that's sad because the bones of the story itself is well worth telling.
They say every great fighter has one great fight left in him. I wonder if we have seen that already from Scorcese and this is one fight too many...
“You're suing Greenpeace? I like your style Greg. Who's next? Save the Children?.”
Maybe I’m being hyper critical but this season really lacks flow. It feels like there aren’t really any subplots, the main focus is just on one thing only, and that plot isn’t moving a whole lot either. It's mid season, and there's still no serious plot progression. It's like the show is just spinning wheels and doesn't know where it wants to go. Frank desperately stalling on stage this episode felt like a coded cry for help from the writers.
Not a big fan of this episode, mostly because I was expecting this to be a turning point in the season. They’ve been hyping the shareholders meeting since season 1 episode 8, and in the end, it was resolved with a few board seats and private jets. It felt pretty anticlimactic, and a total and complete cop-out. There was no tension because we already know they wouldn't lose the company or else the series ends right there. Also, we are into the 3rd season and the hierarchy hasn't been changed at all, it looks like the writers don't know a way forward without Logan in charge and keep going in circles - all the events that have taken place so far are shown to be huge but just end up being none issues. I’m surprised at how quickly they dropped Lisa Arthur or the DOJ investigation, for example.
We have watched 5 episodes of this season and I still have no clue what's the point of Kendall right now? The writers did very little with it given last season’s pivotal cliffhanger. Kendall was never this dumb before. It feels like he’s just kind of aimless this season, painfully ineffectual. I think the writers are planning to revisit this plotline of Kendall going after his dad, then fail. I hope I'm wrong.
Overall, there's still some great little moments (“It would be great to get the body up there”, Colin rushing off with the imaginary dead cat bag, “If he can do people, he can do rabbits”, the irony of saying they care about women and then cutting that video off) but I just couldn't really get into this episode. I hope the real action starts next week.
Okay, I couldn't hold these in any longer:
- Why didn't they put a knife in the "father"? I know, morality and all that jazz, but if they set their mind to kill him, wouldn't that be the most logical thought to try to actually kill him with a 100% sure method, not gamble with those crushed up pills?
- Why the hell didn't Margot just make a run for it when she opened the balcony's door? She stopped like 3 times just to make sure his "father" didn't hear anything instead of actually trying to escape.
- Lol, how TF could "father" dig a little hole into Seth's forehead just by pressing his finger into it?
- And what is Jules so depressed about since like episode 2? She's overreacting to everything, doesn't sleep, always has a dead look on her face... Oh, and...
- When Jules and Margot went through the House for the second time, why did it only contain Margot's fears in all of the rooms? I believe it would be time to know what Jules is so terrified of that she's on edge all the time.
As of the others who went in the House with them:
1) That bearded survivor guy knew too much about the system of the last "room". I'm sure he wasn't a first-timer, but then the question of his wife-or-not rises: who is she really? A girl who escaped from him and started a new life with a new husband in the House? But she didn't seem like she actually knew the bearded guy, so...
2) Remember those realistic face-statues of the participants in the first room? Only the JT replica's head wasn't torn apart. So how come he was killed by his House-self? Wouldn't that head signify that only he stayed sane or something like that? It's a shame they didn't think this through.
[9.5/10] They got me. They really did. I believed that Saul would do it, that he would find a way to lie, cheat, and steal out of suffering any real consequences for all the pain and losses he is responsible for. I believed that he would trade in Kim's freedom and chance to make a clean break after baring her soul in exchange for a damn pint of ice cream. I have long clocked Better Call Saul as a tragedy, about a man who could have been good, and yet, through both circumstance and choice, lists inexorably toward becoming a terrible, arguably evil person. I thought this would be the final thud of his descent, selling out the one person on this Earth who loved him to feather his own nest.
Maybe Walt was right when he said that Jimmy was "always like this." Maybe Chuck was right that there something inherently corrupt and untrustworthy in the heart of his little brother. This post-Breaking Bad epilogue has been an object lesson in the depths to which Gene Takovic will stoop in order to feed his addiction and get what he wants. There would be no greater affirmation of the completeness of his craven selfishness and cruelty than throwing Kim under the bus to save himself.
Only, in the end, that's the feint, that's the trick, that's the con, on the feds and the audience. When Saul hears that Kim took his words to heart and turned herself in, facing the punishments that come with it, he can't sit idly by and profit from his own lies and bullshit. He doesn't want to sell her out; he wants to fall on the sword in front of her, make sure she knows that he knows what he did wrong.Despite his earlier protestations that his only regret was not making more money or avoiding knee damage, he wants to confess in a court of law that he regrets the choices that led him here and the pain he caused, and most of all he regrets that they led to losing her.
In that final act of showmanship and grace, he lives up to the advice Chuck gives him in the flashback scene here, that if he doesn't like the road that his bad choices have led him, there's no shame in taking a different path. Much as Walt did, at the end of the line, Saul admits his genuine motives, he accepts responsibility for his choices after years of blame and evasion. Most of all, he takes his name back, a conscious return to being the person that Kim once knew, in form and substance. It is late, very late, when it happens, but after so much, Jimmy uses his incredible skills to accept his consequences, rather than sidestep them, and he finds the better path that Kim always believed he could walk, one that she motivates him to tread.
It is a wonderful finale to this all-time great show. I had long believed that this series was a tragedy. It had to be, given where Jimmy started and where the audience knew Saul ended. But as it was always so good at doing, Better Call Saul surprised me, with a measured bit of earned redemption for its protagonist, and moving suggestion that with someone we care for and who cares of us, even the worst of us can become someone and something better. In its final episode, the series offered one more transformation -- from a tale of tragedy, to a story of hope.
(On a personal note, I just want to say thank you to everyone who read and commented on my reviews here over the years. There is truly no show that's been as rewarding for me to write about than Better Call Saul, and so much of that owes to the community of people who offered me the time and consideration to share my thoughts, offered their kind words, and helped me look at the series in new ways with their thoughtful comments. I don't know what the future holds, but I am so grateful to have been so fortunate as to share this time and these words with you.)
EDIT: One last time, here is my usual, extended review of the finale in case anyone's interested -- https://thespool.net/reviews/better-call-saul-series-finale-recap-saul-gone/
Amazing,Unpredictable! Watching it was a roller coaster of emotions,sometimes the movie is a dark comedy , after that a romantic comedy, the next minute a revenge thriller, It's tonal shifts made me laught,cry,angry,fearful,happy and eventually made me think a lot about the ending , i think it's going to be devisive between people.But for me it worked and when i play the movie in my head and what this character has been dealing with in her life i think it fits perfectly.I felt satisfied
The subject matter we're dealing with here is very challenging to adress in a movie and Emerald Fennell(writer and first time director) is not afraid of exposing all the parties involved when something like that happen and how everyone involved could deal with it , she knocked it out of the park.
Carey Mulligan gives what i think migt be the best performance of her career , i really hope she could snag an Oscar nomination
She killed it as Cassandra this young woman with a tragic past who's on a journey of her own trying avenge what happened to her , perfectly casted here and i wouldn't imagine someone else taking that role.
You don't really know how to feel about her like sometimes she's likable and funny , the next minute she goes dark and very serious and frightening , those shift personnalities were well executed! The cast was great too , everyone nailed their part really !
The movie does not answer eveything that happened , there a times you wonder what happened to that guy and what happened to that woman because they don't show you so you make your own image of the events or you trust Cassandra's word's which i very much liked, it leaves you making you own assumption for some parts.
Overall, the movie is well directed , the writing is so strong here and a screenplay oscar nomination is very plausible and it's just very a beautiful movie to watch , the colours the cinematography, the sets, it's like you're in a candy world , the soundtarck is great and the use of music was on point .
This movie is ambitious and important and i don't think it will be forgotten by people , it just needs time to grow .
