d_anast

As someone who has been an avid fan of TOS from its very beginning as a pre teen, the TOS films, TNG and its movies, DSN (any other including recent incarnations not so much: for instance, SNW is tedious and besides, Jeffrey Hunter will always be Christopher Pike) I can say Picard Season 3 IS a true continuation of TNG both in spirit and execution. It follows my belief that a sequel must involve the original characters and capture the feel, tension and excitement of the best episodes, as Season 3 does wonderfully well. And the acting! Kudos to Amanda Plummer, so much like her dad as Chang, playing Vadic and who'd ever think Jonathan Frakes could be so good as he is now as a senior Ryker. (I can see him playing Orson Welles!)The first two seasons left me cold and wasted Q, Data looked weird, but this one makes up for them totally. You will be "transported" back to the thrill you first got with the best of TOS and TNG.

I have been an enormous fan of Dietrich, even though I was born when she was 53 years old and discovered her when a package of old Paramount pictures with their contracted 30's stars (Fields, The Marx Bros, West) was shown on local television when I was a kid. I'll never forget sitting in front of the TV set when her special aired in 73, amazed at her durability; and when "Just A Gigolo" showed at a local art house to an audience of 10(!) I was still there, still enthralled in my mid twenties. What is so refreshing about "Blonde Venus" is that for the very first time Sternberg didn't present her as an ice maiden. Her warmth and love for her child in the film comes across like a breath of fresh air. She radiates mother love, and plays a sympathetic character for one of the few times in her great career, which was an odds with her accepted image as a cold idol. If she had more opportunities like this, to show her range and skill at capturing human feeling, it would have been great! Pity too that her co-star, Cary Grant, and she didn't play together again when he was much more seasoned.

Some good moments in this story of Paul Gauguin and his Tahitian period, emphasizing his relationship with Tehura, but mostly I found the film overly self-indulgent, and narcissistic on the part of the film creators. I am a bit critical on the subject since Gauguin is my favorite Impressionist, more brilliant in my mind than Vincent. If it had been tighter, with less stream of consciousness and more emphasis on the narrative it would have been more effective. Paul Gauguin has been played by George Sanders (as "Strickland" in Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence) Anthony Quinn, David Carradine, and now Vincent Cassel. All good in their way, each capturing elements of the artist's personality. Surprisingly, of all the actors to play Gauguin David Carradine gives the best performance. Find it if you can in another so-so try at capturing this story, Gauguin the Savage.