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adamcek-robert
Reviews
Elvis (1979)
Could have been perfect, but...
...the story simply has too many inaccuracies and some other issues to be overlooked.
Firstly though, let me say how impressed I was with Kurt Russell. He's by far the best Elvis of all that played him (we'll see how Austin Butler does in the highly anticipated Elvis movie with Tom Hanks as Tom Parker), and at times I really felt I was looking at the man himself. That said, I did notice though his moves from 1969 Vegas comeback were off, Elvis lost those twitches and ticks by then, and his moves were more precise, focused and based on karate. Still, you could see Kurt was enjoying playing Elvis, and he was great.
Other actors were mostly good too, and it was great to see Elvis' buddy Charlie Hodge playing himself. Must have been a surreal experience for him.
What really bothered me, apart from no mention of his '68 comeback special, was that the timeline was just off later on. Elvis was still very much with Priscilla at the point where the movie ends (1969), in fact she only left him three years later and they got divorced in late 1973.
Also, those death threats came a year later
The suit he wore was a real Elvis-worn suit which is great, but it was from 1972.
Songs he sang at the end also came later.
Now, I can accept that Carpenter tried to push in more information into the movie, like Prisvilla leaving, but some mistakes simply serve no purpose and seem like lazy writing.
Too many important aspects and events of Elvis' life were omitted, but that's what you get for trying to fit most of his life in one movie (without even touching his latter decline).
Overall, the movie succeeded in making me believe in what I was watching,amd most of it had to do with Kurt Russell. Probably the best movie about Elvis to date.
Star Trek: Discovery: The Sanctuary (2020)
The absolute nadir of Star Trek...
Yet, somehow, I'm sure they'll make it even worse.
They were saying this season is when Discovery will finally take off, being in future helps and creates immense opportunities for the show...well, it started off okay, and just when the story is suppposed to get going...nothing. These writers are shi... We're in a far future, talking about pronouns that matter today. Two thirds of a season gone, and all these 8 episodes could fit in 2 to make them interesting. Lazyass writers with no imagination. Of 13 episodes in a season, to make fillers out of two thirds ofthem is outrageous. The day Kurtzmann gets fired can't come fast enough.
Star Trek: Picard: Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2 (2020)
After watching the whole season...a true ST fan review!
So, let me say first that this review is in no way meant to be biased because of my preference to the oldskool Roddenberry Star Trek, nor is it automatically a critique based on me not liking KurtzmanTrek.
I'm a huge ST fan, especially TNG and Voyager, though I learned to like DS9, OS and Enterprise over time.
Now, that does in no way mean I like all the episodes of every series. There are some average and sure, absolutely bad episodes. But what I have come to realize over time is that it's hard to write every episode with a new plot and storyline, and make it work every time. It takes a lot of creativity, imagination and writing ability. Not every writer pulled it off.
Which brings me to new Star Trek. I'm perfectly open to innovation, change, improvement and controversial solutions IF they're well supported and if there's a good reason for them.
While there are some good moments in STP, intreaguing situations and quality visualisations, there are a number of issues with the series.
What this show is missing, is the subtle way in which all the controversial issues were done in Roddenberry ST. Everything feels forced, from women literally controling all aspects of Starfleet, Romulan Empire and the series itself really, to 7 of 9 being deemed unnecesserily as a bisexual (or homosexual, depending on wether you take her past with Chakotay into consideration).
This - "in your face" approach is fine by me if it's not done for the sake of doing it. Unfortunately, this is not the case here.
You had only 10 episodes with only one main plot. You had a decent ( if not original and overly inspiring) story. You had Patrick Stewart. Ther rest is on writers and directors. Too bad they were average at best.
Again- some good, even great moments. But overall, not very good episodes. Bad writers can do only so much.
Think about this: they had 10 episodes, yet most of them feel like filler episodes. They had to resort to "cheap" tricks to keep you entertained, like forced swearing, killing, overall darkness and CGI action all over the place. The dialogues are just terrible at times, and it's so hard to connect with any character apart from those we know from past series.
Unlike in other Star Trek series where there are some bad, but also some of the best episodes ever written for a TV show, here we don't have a single really good or great episode (just like in Discovery). Now, if there's only one main storyline, less chance of hit or miss, why is that?
It's really simple. It's the writing. It's just limited. You can only get so much from Kurtzman & Co., and even that is mostly borrowed from other shows.
In conclusion, Stewart deserved better. Picard deserved better. Seven deserved better.
Ultimately, true fans of Star Trek who may have had differences in opinion about past shows but never could complain about the very essence and feel of Roddenberry Star Trek deserve better.