greenrose

Prison Break could have been so good, but failed for several reasons typical of US dramas. It's gone on for waaaay too long, losing any semblance to quality in weekly story lines. The constant loud drumming in the background serves to work up the emotions while quite boring things are actually happening. More can be done with subtleness than manufactured suspense. Try turning down the sound when a supposed intense scene is going down and all you see is not much going on.

We already know the bulk of the "mysterious" background story, yet are still made to feel like something greatly revealing is going to happen. whoop-de-do. the acting is really very wooden once you take away the intrusive soundtrack. excitement is given to us only by creating some extreme situation each week that the bad "good" guys get out of each time. no shades of gray here, ever.

I give it a 1/10. I'll stick to my Brit dramas which are far more creative, realistic and engaging.

I really wanted to like this film because Findley's book evoked a lot of real emotion for me. Why can't Canadians make good films? This one had the look & feel of an amateur high school play, including the screenplay and the acting. I kept expecting the actors to break into giggle fits, so far removed were they from the internal feelings of the characters in the book. Horrendous! I watched half an hour and gave up, choosing to keep my positive memories of our dear Timothy's wonderful and artful fiction work intact. Dramatic arts need the full support of our Culture and Heritage departments, and they obviously aren't getting it. Very sad indeed.

I remember cheering & tearing up when Marc Hall won his case in court. I also recall seeing his parents as being a bit media shy on TV news, but still way more articulate than the actors in this poor excuse for a film. It had nothing going for it, which is a shame and a waste of money and effort on an issue that is so vital.

The actor playing Marc was way too old for the part, and his hair looked grey, not blue, through most of the film, unlike the real-life character. I gasped when I saw a thinning circle at the top of his head. Yikes, this was supposed to be a high school student? The target audience was obviously around 13-17, which was silly since this story also involved parents and teachers, and still does. The music mostly sounded like something from a child's play program at a circus, adding to the horrible comedy made out of some of the more serious elements of Marc's story, i.e., when coming out to his parents. I could barely hear much of the dialogue with it blaring in the foreground. While Marc gave his key court speech, the music turned horribly clichéd, full of sobbing violins. Of course, the music hardly mattered when Mr. & Mrs. Hall were on, since they were portrayed as unable to speak 99% of the time.

Marc's boyfriend is given an attitude that makes us wonder why they even have a relationship. We know they did split up some time after the court case and the prom, but jeesh, they showed absolutely no affection or support for each at all.

It's one thing to show viewers how stereotyping does exist, but the goofy gay males at the Hall home meeting were inexcusable. Marc's lawyer preening in the car mirror and manipulating Marc, rather than firmly supporting his case, was another item that helped push my vote way down. What really helped to plunge it down to 1/10 for "Awful" were the 3 female students who did their best to live up to the Bimbo label. Ugh, and Why?

Oh, and there was no acting done at all during this film. What a waste. Canada - we can do better than this!