rhawdon-297-344030 Reviews

Transfusion (I) (2023)

Serious movie with flawed ending.

[6/10 · 29 January 2023]

A well acted and moving account of a loving family torn apart by a tragic accident. Explores what effect this can have on a father and son in particular. However I found the violent ending somewhat mystifying and unsatisfactory. It was as though the writer wasn't quite sure how to finish the story. Would have been better with an ultimate.redemption for both parent and child.

Good to see Sam Worthington in a serious role though, and the boy's performance is very moving. Also good to have a script without an excess of dialogue. In this case the silences, especially from Worthington's character, speak more than words. Writers take note.

Inventing Anna (2022)

Spoilt by the casting

[4/10 · 19 February 2022]

Interesting subject, good script, but spoilt by the casting of the central character. She's supposed to be this incredibly seductive, charismatic con-woman, but instead we get a suburban, squeaky-voiced nobody who wouldn't seduce anyone. Julia Garner is a good actress, but quite miscast.

Departure (2019–2022)

Wrecked by clunky script.

[3/10 · 26 November 2021]

Starts off with a promising situation, but gradually declines into cliched dialogue, contrived situations, and highly unconvincing explanations. And I'm afraid the heroine is far to weak and sentimental to carry a thing like this.

Red Election (2021– )

Amateur spy thriller

[2/10 · 30 October 2021]

Surely the most outdated spy script and the most amateurish anti-terrorist outfit ever. They discuss state secrets aloud in streetside cafes, they have no idea of surveillance protection, they let Russian killers run rings round them and escape by back doors, the cyber unit can only track phones and squabble about coffee - and the head of the station apparently has nothing better to do in a national crisis than play grandmaster chess with himself. Who dreamt up this nonsense?

Temple (2019–2021)

Not credible

[3/10 · 11 October 2021]

Ridiculous premise. We are supposed to believe that the man can set up an underground mini-hospital in the middle of London, which (a) would have cost a small fortune, and (b) would have been discovered by the authorities in five minutes - and all to cure his wife because the top London hospitals couldn't - and meanwhile he has to operate on gangsters in order to keep it going. Do me a favour.

Eiffel (2021)

Shame about the ending.

[6/10 · 14 September 2021]

Beautifully produced film with great story, great filming, great actors, but spoilt by very poor ending. Eiffel, the architect of the amazing tower, is beset by huge financial problems, huge construction problems, huge political problems, yet suddenly we cut to the completed tower, with crowds cheering and champagne flowing, and no explanation as to how any of these issues were resolved! Did someone let an amateur editor loose on the movie?