the_oracle_of_oz

I am a huge fan of Kidman, Grant, and Sutherland. The supporting cast do terrific work and this will be, no doubt, up for Emmys in the ensuing months. What annoys me? Kidman's character Grace. Throughout the whole series she speaks softy, quietly, in whispers; she exhales, she gasps, she sighs; she looks into the middle ground with a look as if she is trying to bend spoons with her mind. For being a published clinical psychologist, the character doesn't seem to have much of a grasp of herself. I put it down to poor direction. It was distracting. The rest of the production, as I said, is brilliant! Sutherland plays his standard father role well, the young actor, Noah Jupe, playing Henry should get special mention, Edgar Ramirez as the detective excels, and Grant proves ability to play in a dramatic role admirably. Sure, there are a few minor plot holes - or are they red herrings - but they're The Undoing is very, very much worth watching. Even if the excellent Nicole is exasperating in her various forms of exhaling!

An atrocious waste of time. The story plods along so slowly, I expected the clothing trends to change as the movie went on. Woodenly acted, poorly directed, even Charlotte Rampling with her limited but "70s-pretty-faced" range can't help that, especially after the only interesting thing about her character gets sidelined thirty minutes in. An absolute disgrace to the novel, the south of France, the Romani, and movie-making generally.

I gleaned all that from the first 54 minutes. I couldn't bear another.

I only gave it three stars because of the countryside, the Fiat X-19, and the absolutely abhorrent continuity in the first ten minutes re the gun used. Three stars for putting a silencer on a revolver, it turning into an automatic later in the scene (with a non-suppressed report when fired), then back to a revolver the scene following. That was the entertainment.

Seriously, you're better off watching a 1970's Film Studies end-of-year project.

Snappy writing focussing on the medical procedures and politics of a hospital. Sure, the repetitiveness of either family members, or doctors being admitted to the ER, was tolerated due to the tight direction, dialogue, and acting. The introduction of Ariel in the penultimate episode of season two ruined it. Yes, I'm aware of the original episode she appeared earlier but her return as a regular in episode nine and her spoiled attitude ruined the show for me. It became a farce. I stopped and went to the last episode of season two and she was still in it, demanding from people she had no right to and those people being ridiculous in their treatment of her. I then looked up on IMDb and found she was in every episode of season three. I've not bothered even putting the disc in for season three. Whole the actor's acting in the role was engaging, the story arc containing her character was ludicrous and it detracted from the rest of this excellent show. Another uncessary inclusion of spoiled, self-centred, demanding, petulent character ruining my viewing. If I wanted to see that, I'd go to a shopping centre or a school. The first 18 episodes of this show were first rate.