darrelltill

If you haven't heard of this film, it is certainly not because it was bad. It was the number 1 film in cinemas in October 2001, but in a time of low attendance because the world was still reeling from 9/11. It's a near-perfect film. Fascinating, odd, funny, cool, poignant, sad. The two leads are perfect together. It's impossible to talk about any aspect of the film without giving spoilers, but I'll say that the film has both a satisfactory ending and an open-ended one. You are left with questions but are not bewildered, and I've found myself wanting to re-watch this film many, many times. Sometimes I'll hang off every word and take in all the amazing details, but the film is so beautifully shot with a chilled-out soundtrack and diffused lighting (that is part of the plot) that I can also enjoy it without overthinking. It has elements of sci-fi, but is a very human drama. If you have never seen it, your absolutely must rectify that.

It's not highbrow, it's not clever, it's not indie or artsy - it's just bad. Badly written, badly acted - even by the great Kate Winslet. You know a script is bad when the opening lines rely on heavy swearing to try and get laughs (not a titter from me). There are lots of familiar faces from things that do make me laugh and yet every one gives such an awkward performance it made me cringe. It's still early days for Apple TV and it feels like they are green-lighting a lot of stuff they don't really understand but are hoping finds an audience. I don't know who this will land with but it certainly didn't with me.

There is nothing good in this film. It's badly written - not just full of clichés but full of dialogue that is meant to sound like cliché superhero idioms yet butchered until they make no sense. It is nothing but a costume parade with players that are dead behind the eyes. You can tell that everybody involved knows it's going to be a stinker but they'd already signed on and it was too late. It would be great if this was the flop that made Disney rethink their output (I know, this is actually an SSU movie not an MCU movie, but they are all heading down the same path) but I fear it will take a few more. The solution is really simple - they need to adjust their hiring policy to include persons of talent.