contentFatal Acquittal (2014)
Denise Richards, Joely Fisher and Patrick Muldoon star in this crappy tv movie. A woman is acquitted of killing her husband. As she (Fisher) walks free her brother in law (Muldoon) lurks. A loud crass reporter (Richards) has no concept of balanced reporting or ethics. There is moral doubt about the wife's innocence.
There is deep and bitter antipathy toward the widow. She's harassed by her husband's mistress, a cop and the reporter. Her bratty teen daughter brats and feels morally justified in rejecting her mother. The widow is demonised. There is bad acting. This was depressingly predictable. This wasn't dark, challenging or complicated. The non- incendiary atmosphere comes to a cliched end.
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The Innkeepers (2011)
This is a dull Ti West film. Kelly McGillis and Lena Dunham star. This was written, directed and edited by West. This was barely adequate and is much abhorred. This was crap and not scary or dread inducing. There is no haunted intensity and is insincere and studided trivality
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Mary Queen Of Scots (2018)
A study in subtlety, this is not. This is a story of 2 Queens whose legacies have been warped by by media and myth. This was not intriguing, mesmerising or delicately drawn. The 2 Queens have faced personal challenges and Mary was ruined by scandals and vilified. Mary had the respectable lineage and made calculated unions of marriage but still lost 3 husbands and 3 kingdoms and finally her head.
This was unsentimental and un-nuanced. Elizabeth I attained and kept her position of pwer and influence. She ruled for 45 years and died in her bed. The Tudors and the Stuarts were duelling influential dynasties. Mary causes frustration with her sensationalised aggressive bad choices. Elizabeth I was motivated by power and social dominance. This was okay if not utterly fascianting and has no deep resonance.
The comlex context for the decisions Mary made is not shown fully. Elizabeth I yielded her influence and was a formidable ruler. Her ultimate success was to keep what was hers by right. Mary's end is inevitable and entirely satisfactory. This was not complex or dramatic. Characters are larger than life. There are dark characters with a propensity for emotional and physical violence. There is a web of bleeding, breeding, envy, pox, misunderstandings and lies. There are tensions, lies and Bess Of Hardwick. Betrayal is always on the cards and Mary was undermined from the start.
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Death To Smoochy (2002)
Robin Williams plays a disgraced kids tv host who is replaced by Edward Norton, who dresses up as a pink rhino and sings about getting junkies off smack. Williams tries to sabotage Norton. A brain-damaged boxer gurns. The Irish mob lurk. Smoochy is framed as a neo-nazi and there are murders, gun violence and despair. This was okay.
Best Lines:
“Do you sense my complete lack of interest?”
“Degenerate scumbag.”
“Moral anchor.”
“Wake up in the morning and like myself.”
“Here to sell sugar and plastic.”
“Welcome to Fatty Arbuckle land!”
“Twat du jour.”
“I am still here.”
“I'm hoping to correct that.”
“Fetish for ethics.”
“Suing your Riverdance ass!”
“Bastard son of Barney!”
“Muppet from hell!”