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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 17, 2020 18:00:57 GMT
HollywoodReporter - hesitantly mixed positive: "This is a ballsy, unnerving, entertaining, overreaching show" "There's a confident wisdom and impish cleverness to what Pacino is doing, a sense of fun that comes from watching the wheels spin in this iconic star's head." Indiewire - B, mixed positive: Pacino is "affecting and fun in equal measure, even if he can’t help but overshadow Lerman" Chicago Sun-Times - mixed, with some worrying descriptions EntertainmentWeekly B+ "Strange, stunning, and darkly comic thriller" RollingStone - 3/5 but reads really negatively I don't think that Sun-Times review is mixed actually - I saw Roeper on TV and he was pretty much raving it this AM on TV - isn't that 3 1/2 out of 4 - maybe I'm misreading it? What's interesting is how much the reviews so far mirror Ozark and Ray Donovan - hit shows that needed a 2nd season to come together........also interesting how horrific these reviews read like a horror piece of work. The only times Pacino has ever broached horror I guess is Devils Advocate and Cruising unless I'm forgetting something - the first a genre mashup and the 2nd a very uncomfortable experience. This seems somewhat like a cross between them in that way - fantastically overblown and gritty combined..... Some other positives today from Joe in Canada and JoBlo in the US, Slash Film and Time are negative. That Hollywood Reporter review is a total cop out - how is that review not "I'm waiting to see what the other critics say!"
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Post by Mattsby on Feb 17, 2020 18:18:18 GMT
I don't think that Sun-Times review is mixed actually - I saw Roeper on TV and he was pretty much raving it this AM on TV - isn't that 3 1/2 out of 4 - maybe I'm misreading it? That's my bad, I sort of skimmed it - jumped the gun after seeing Jojo Rabbit and "viewer whiplash" - did he say anything more on TV about Pacino's perf? Side note on Judd Hirsch! He's apparently playing Simon Wiesenthal in one of the episodes !!
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 17, 2020 18:26:57 GMT
I don't think that Sun-Times review is mixed actually - I saw Roeper on TV and he was pretty much raving it this AM on TV - isn't that 3 1/2 out of 4 - maybe I'm misreading it? That's my bad, I sort of skimmed it - jumped the gun after seeing Jojo Rabbit and "viewer whiplash" - did he say anything more on TV about Pacino's perf? Side note on Judd Hirsch! He's apparently playing Simon Wiesenthal in one of the episodes !! Just said it was performed with great zeal by everyone and he thought it was more or less a fun time........ Hirsch seems to come in at episode 8 and based on these reviews they maybe only previewed 5 or 6 episodes for critics (I may be wrong about that but a few reviewers referenced that I think?) - so it seems no one afaik saw all 10 and if true suggests they have a rather big twist in the later episodes they maybe didn't want leaked I guess .........I'm not sure - I'm not much of a TV guy maybe that's always how it is with a new series (?)
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Post by Mattsby on Feb 17, 2020 18:35:52 GMT
AV Club interview with the co-showrunners, on Pacino - pacinoyes Yeah I think just 5 episodes were sent to critics. And someone noted that each of the eps were over an hour! As for surprises - Hirsch still isn't listed on IMDb, I wonder who else might be snuck into the cast, like if Pacino has a love interest why isn't she played by Huppert??
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Post by TerryMontana on Feb 17, 2020 19:45:31 GMT
In a couple of reviews they mentioned they watched the first 5 episodes.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 18, 2020 18:04:47 GMT
Significant pans in Variety and The New Yorker today - you notice almost all the pans are that this is in very bad taste and a Tarantino knockoff without the wit - the positive reviews are almost all that it's invigoratingly done and zips by........and is in bad taste.
Hovering in the 60's atm on RT not sure where this will end up .....
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 21, 2020 8:41:22 GMT
S1, E1 - This first episode is well sort of a batsh it crazy - but not just in ways you'd think - glass half full. While watching this I thought of the bullsh it but compulsively watchable improbabilities of Ozark, the mad giddiness of John Wick kills, hints of the modern Jewish persecution conspiracy in Mamet's great Homicide and a weird comic origin story. The best parts of this so far are the violent set pieces/tortures/deaths - ripping QT and De Palma and Saw (!?!) - or the ones that hint of much more deaths (a great and weird closing scene). Pacino gets about 5 scenes - but doesn't really act until the last 2 or 3 and has an accent that only the greatest actors like him can truly get away with - Olivier.......... Mirren.........Hopkins............ and....... that Jewish lady on my block who acted crazy and who gave out really bad Halloween candy. I can see people hating where this is going or loving it ........everyone is sorta right. Special mention to David Lynch's cinematographer Fred Elmes who shot the pilot and it looks awesome, special fnck yeah for slipping in an homage to "Seconds" (which totally fits) and a very special thumbs down to the street gang that Lerman turns to for help which rang ridiculously false.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 22, 2020 10:10:41 GMT
S1, E2-8 : Continues the show in its very strange comic book trajectory - sometimes ponderous, occasionally very cool kills, occasional (sometimes fun) stupidity with episodic thrills, a mixed bag of PC righteous sloganeering and lecturing and exploitation fnck yeah moments. Slowly becomes more grounded and emotionally affecting until...... E9 : The single worst episode and one of the worst things I've ever seen in my life maybe - a straight comic book episode - it's not just awful, it's beyond stupid whereas maybe before it was stupidly fun. This episode resembles Stranger Things actually and in a bad way. E10: Maybe the best episode I think or at least that went full wtf-is this? - an episode that is the opposite of 9, ie no comic book thrills yet still batsh it crazy. Best moments : Lena Olin looking amazingly hot at age.......um, and I don't want to know her age.......an Attica! reference......Pacino in episode 10 - finally showing off ........ Some affecting scenes in the camps scattered throughout, a Sophie's Choice moment or two, Carol Kane gets a huge part of episode 8 and makes the most of it. Judd Hirsch a marvelous scene in episode 8........use of The Weirdos punk classic We Got The Neutron Bomb in that absymal episode 9. Worst moments : A Kramer vs. Kramer reference 2 years before it existed (wtf), a mostly wasted Dylan Baker, a wasted FBI sub-plot - the Baker and FBI stories take a ton of time. For all the stuff crammed into the series it doesn't really justify 10 episodes - not 10 complete ones anyway. Too many characters......obviously, cut the characters and increase the tension since only a few characters generate the best moments.
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Post by TerryMontana on Feb 22, 2020 14:59:55 GMT
After having seen all 10 episodes, what would your ranking be? Something around 6/10 maybe? Worst moments : A Kramer vs. Kramer reference 2 years before it existed (wtf)
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Feb 22, 2020 20:24:03 GMT
Yeah this project lost me after the second trailer... and after these reactions, I can't say I'm going to be visiting it.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 22, 2020 20:36:15 GMT
After having seen all 10 episodes, what would your ranking be? Something around 6/10 maybe? Maybe like around a ~6.5 for me, but I'm weird - it's really hard to rate this series because it goes from awful to affecting in a matter of minutes, sometimes in the same scene even it goes up and down. I don't think I'm conveying how goofy it is ......... There are several moments where the show stops and goes into a commercial or a game show segment (or a fantasy dance routine!) to sort of "highlight" what they are talking about - you are either going to say "Fnck this" or "That was unfortunate" and bear with it I will say that the reviews off 5 episodes should have just waited for all 10 because episodes 6-10 to me (except for episode 9) were easier to swallow - episode 2 will be a real dealbreaker to some.........
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Post by Mattsby on Feb 22, 2020 22:15:28 GMT
Finished! 6/10 to be generous, but to me it’s pretty much a botch, sad to say. Feels far away from what it wants to be. Its seriousness is undercut by never feeling believable, the flashbacks are alright but suffer from the cable-tv feeling that mars much of the show (more on that in a second), and the humor just awkwardly doesn’t work - the dialogue across everything is forced, godawfully repetitive (lightness, monsters, superheroes) and no Jew pun goes unturned which just points to the juvenile first-draft potluck suck of the writers room.
The pilot has inspired moments of camerawork, lighting, and mood - but the rest of the episodes for the most part don’t - Ep3 & 7 fare better than the others - their directors are doing plain, bare-minimum work and add nothing to the already weak scripts. Some of the pilot’s 70s style, like the slow zooms and lav mic’d actors in the opening shot, and the almost De Palma esque crane shots, and like in the toy store with the music cues - well, that goes away, we don’t get that style like that again, and we’re left with a lot of between-scene dullness. (I’ll take junk any day over dull.)
Cast-wise: my favorites were Saul Rubinek who gives the most affecting perf, and Dylan Baker, with such put-on faux-politeness that’s only barely hidden, he’s funny in a silly, sickening way… and Kate Mulvany as Sister Harriet who was my least fav “addition” just from the promos but as a character she’s really the most qualified and useful Hunter, and plays it in an active, unfussy way. I liked Lena Olin’s scenes, I wish there was a bit more of her. Everyone does okay except Lerman who couldn’t play the role more uninterestingly…. and then, finally, there is….
Pacino…. who is an almost graceful presence before the later eps - it’s a solid performance, nothing special, though some moments stand out - the way he puts his hand over his heart after calling himself a “potato of the couch” - the banker scene that is broken up thru Ep4 but we see him gearing with resentment - the way he looks at Lerman during the wedding speech, the dancing of course, and what might be his best scene in Ep10, where he’s hurt, shaken, and a little offended, “I see clear now….you’re a boy, just a boy.”
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 22, 2020 22:28:41 GMT
I liked Lena Olin’s scenes, I wish there was a bit more of her. I liked how in almost every scene she gets THISCLOSE to every male character like she's going to totally make-out with them but she just pats their faces and walks away instead
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Post by futuretrunks on Feb 24, 2020 1:39:55 GMT
I watched 2 episodes and bailed. The writing is just so bad sometimes. The acting is fine, but they kept making Lerman's character do chump things repeatedly and I got tired of it.
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Post by futuretrunks on Feb 24, 2020 20:30:56 GMT
I'll keep watching as I've heard similar things about Ep 2 being a low point.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 24, 2020 21:11:29 GMT
I'll keep watching as I've heard similar things about Ep 2 being a low point. Yeah while I agree with that 2nd episode thing - there will be plenty of more stupid things that come up and bad writing and some of it is actually on purpose in a way like a comic book would be because first and foremost it really is a comic book origin story. I found I liked it best - as best as I could like it anyway - when I looked at the Lerman character like he was Peter Parker or something like that. But the "serious" parts make you expect it to be far more serious .............Surprisingly the reviews are pretty much on target imo in a weird way - 63 fresh right now on RT, 70 audience score - for as off-putting as it is, it's "settled" almost exactly where it should be - more or less.....people seem to get what it was trying to do and rate it based on what it actually is - which is actually a surprising thing because what it's trying to do is so.................f'n wrong?
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Post by cheesecake on Feb 25, 2020 3:17:12 GMT
Started this tonight and the tone is all over the place. The opening was so over the top and ridiculous that I was convinced it was a dream sequence or it was going to pan out to be a comedic television show. The premise is really promising but this is a rough start.
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LaraQ
Badass
English Rose
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Post by LaraQ on Feb 25, 2020 20:40:48 GMT
The first couple of episodes were pretty good and I'm definitely going to stick with it,but tonally,it is kind of a mess.I don't think it knows what it is.Serious drama?.Comedy?.Bit of both?.Who knows!.Logan Lerman is really holding his own against Pacino though.
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Post by futuretrunks on Feb 27, 2020 4:31:08 GMT
It got better. I'll tune in to the next season if that happens.
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Post by Weaver Addict on Feb 29, 2020 23:20:27 GMT
Just finished it and quite frankly, I loved it. Not sure what everyone was expecting but someone mentioned Ozark and I thought "ok, thats how I'm going to aproach this." It worked for me. Great cast of actors and all of them having their standout moments especially Carol Kane and Saul Rubinek and that sly seductress Lena Olin. Whose blood is this bitch drinkin? I'm no Pacino fan like others on here because he just doesn't get under my skin like other actors do (i.e. Jeff Bridges, Jack Lemmon) but boy oh boy was he a delightful surprise for me. Loved his character, the accent, those scenes with Lerman and especially a really terrific scene with Jeannie Berlin. Two old pros going at it in a most subtle way. I might just seek out his HBO stuff. And btw, Al has never looked better than as a chess piece. He hasn't looked that great on screen since Ricky Roma.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 29, 2020 23:40:21 GMT
Just finished it and quite frankly, I loved it. Not sure what everyone was expecting but someone mentioned Ozark and I thought "ok, thats how I'm going to aproach this." It worked for me. Great cast of actors and all of them having their standout moments especially Carol Kane and Saul Rubinek and that sly seductress Lena Olin. Whose blood is this bitch drinkin? I'm no Pacino fan like others on here because he just doesn't get under my skin like other actors do (i.e. Jeff Bridges, Jack Lemmon) but boy oh boy was he a delightful surprise for me. Loved his character, the accent, those scenes with Lerman and especially a really terrific scene with Jeannie Berlin. Two old pros going at it in a most subtle way. I might just seek out his HBO stuff. And btw, Al has never looked better than as a chess piece. He hasn't looked that great on screen since Ricky Roma. Hmmmm so you admit you're not a crazy fan, I see, that's interesting.........well just know that we have recorded your user name and will be keeping a close eye on you comrade A lot of my friends liked it way more than me (although I did like it a bit). They all seem obsessed with one scene in particular - at the end Pacino kills the doctor and says to him "it's me" and then when killed by Lerman he says to him "It's YOU" - a play on his earlier speech when he says "I thought you'd be the one but you won't be" - so in this scene we see it was never Pacino ("me") and it always the new leader of the Hunters - the "you" (Lerman) - apparently that's some really cool ass comic book origin story stuff and while I did get that scene - my buddies loved it so much it makes me feel guilty that I don't know comic book tropes well enough to fully get those things! Glad you enjoyed it
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LaraQ
Badass
English Rose
Posts: 2,301
Likes: 2,835
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Post by LaraQ on Feb 29, 2020 23:45:57 GMT
I wasn't entirely sure about this at first,but now I've finished it,I think it is one of the best shows I've watched in a while.The balance of comedy and drama,given the subject matter,was a tricky one,but they really pulled it off.The whole cast was great,Pacino is the best he's been for a while,but Logan Lerman was the real standout for me.Hope we get a second season.
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Post by Weaver Addict on Mar 1, 2020 6:42:36 GMT
Just finished it and quite frankly, I loved it. Not sure what everyone was expecting but someone mentioned Ozark and I thought "ok, thats how I'm going to aproach this." It worked for me. Great cast of actors and all of them having their standout moments especially Carol Kane and Saul Rubinek and that sly seductress Lena Olin. Whose blood is this bitch drinkin? I'm no Pacino fan like others on here because he just doesn't get under my skin like other actors do (i.e. Jeff Bridges, Jack Lemmon) but boy oh boy was he a delightful surprise for me. Loved his character, the accent, those scenes with Lerman and especially a really terrific scene with Jeannie Berlin. Two old pros going at it in a most subtle way. I might just seek out his HBO stuff. And btw, Al has never looked better than as a chess piece. He hasn't looked that great on screen since Ricky Roma. Hmmmm so you admit you're not a crazy fan, I see, that's interesting.........well just know that we have recorded your user name and will be keeping a close eye on you comrade A lot of my friends liked it way more than me (although I did like it a bit). They all seem obsessed with one scene in particular - at the end Pacino kills the doctor and says to him "it's me" and then when killed by Lerman he says to him "It's YOU" - a play on his earlier speech when he says "I thought you'd be the one but you won't be" - so in this scene we see it was never Pacino ("me") and it always the new leader of the Hunters - the "you" (Lerman) - apparently that's some really cool ass comic book origin story stuff and while I did get that scene - my buddies loved it so much it makes me feel guilty that I don't know comic book tropes well enough to fully get those things! Glad you enjoyed it Comrade? If you're going to Hunt me down and strap me to a chair please know that I would prefer No shit in my mouth. Other things are optional.
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Post by dadsburgers on Mar 7, 2020 4:56:35 GMT
I really like it! Not perfect, but best Pacino's been in a long time. The Nazis are all so villainous; it's campy of course, but it all works for me. It introduced so many important historical themes, but I wish it was more accurate/plausible so as to not miseducate audiences.
Hoping for nominations for Pacino, Baker (so underrated in general!), and Kane. Thought the whole cast was pretty great, actually.
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Mar 7, 2020 6:43:08 GMT
I really like it! Not perfect, but best Pacino's been in a long time. The Nazis are all so villainous; it's campy of course, but it all works for me. It introduced so many important historical themes, but I wish it was more accurate/plausible so as to not miseducate audiences. Hoping for nominations for Pacino, Baker (so underrated in general!), and Kane. Thought the whole cast was pretty great, actually. Him not being nominated for Damages (a series that saw a TON of acting noms) was just bewildering to me.
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