mikemcmillan2002

The Good Liar: A Clever Game of Deception with Mirren and McKellen at Their Best"

The Good Liar (2019) boasts a powerhouse duo-Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen-so right away, you know you're in for a treat. The film also features strong performances from Russell Tovey, Jim Carter, and John Lewis Jones.

The plot is familiar: a seasoned con man (McKellen) woos his wealthy target (Mirren) with plans to swindle her, though her wary grandson (Tovey) complicates things. While the story may not be groundbreaking, it delivers two twists-one you might see coming, and another that's more surprising.

Rather than nitpicking believability, I let the stellar performances pull me in. If you're a fan of suspenseful thrillers, this one delivers solid entertainment. While it doesn't reach the heights of more intense international mystery films, it's a well-crafted, engaging watch.

There is a feeling i get from the Batman movies, all the way back to the first Michael Keaton one. Whether he was Batman or Bruce Wayne, I would get giddy like a kid again when he was on screen. This movie didn't have it. The supporting cast...same thing. I got invested in the Penguin somewhat, but the rest of the characters were just meh, okay. Visually it was great, but even that at times looked wrong, like when Batman was gliding there was no grace, no flair. Speaking of flair, this was also missing. Batman and Bruce Wayne are gods, and require a certain mystique. This seemed like a guy with a butt load of money fumbling his way around Gotham. This is the only modern day Batman I was disappointed with, but it's Batman, so it still gets six stars.

What made the character and series Elsbeth work was making her a brilliant flake, surrounded by drama, to which she was perceived by everyone except the audience as oblivious.

The show is now making the drama spooky and, to be frank, silly, which is taking away from that great premise of season 1. The showrunners need to get back to where only Elsbeth does the comedy, and everyone else is her straight man (or woman).

The secondary plot of having everyone question who Elsbeth is spying on, which was an overarching theme in season one, should have a similar type of subplot occur in season 2. Obviously the threat and tension created needs to be focused on a different main character, but it would keep viewers coming back each week.