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Reviews
The Omen (2006)
Brilliant in Spite of Itself
This movie has plot holes you could drive a truck through, and the downer ending was not necessary, but there are several brilliant moments throughout and Liev Schreiber's performance is fantastic.
The audience laughed at all of the Julia Stiles character's dream sequences. Halfway through the film I was unimpressed. Damien was just spazzing out occasionally and a lot of it was just lame. But the scene where the Priest tries to run to the church, only to have its doors shut was my first sign that there was some brilliance in it. This is a film whose second half is much better than the first. Unfortunately, that's where the plot holes start.
Why doesn't the man at Mediggo just kill Damien himself? Why does Robert speed and get cops following him instead of going slowly? Why must he recite "The Lord's Prayer?" Why not just kill the bastard? At the beginning, Father Spiletto seems to be responsible for the situation. Why does he then inform Robert where to find the jackal's remains? Maybe I need to see it again, but after one viewing these plot holes were vexing to say the least.
I saw this shortly after seeing Silent Hill (spoilers for that one follow as well!), going with the same person both times. The movies are similar in that both are generally epic battles between good and evil. Both my friend and I agreed that Silent Hill was the better film, partly because in Silent Hill good triumphs. My audience (a 10:40 screening) was very rowdy and we were all rooting for Damien to die. When he doesn't, it's a let down. It would have been the movie's logical ending.
Les Misérables (1998)
Not as good as the musical
I really like the characterization of Javert and the actor who played him, I think that was somewhat of an improvement over the somewhat two-dimensional Javert from the musical. But otherwise, it doesn't work half as well as the musical does in getting to the audience's emotions. This is the kind of work where you should laugh and cry and clap at the end and be changed. The movie just doesn't do it.
They tried to put too much story into too little time and cut out several important characters in the process. Val Jean is well played, but I think the Marius and Cosette actors were somewhat abysmal. And without Éponine, Enjolras, and the Thénardiers, such a big story feels kind of small.
Knots Landing (1979)
A Guilty Pleasure, but nothing more
I think people exaggerate what "Knots Landing" was a little. It was an amazing show, and an incredibly addictive one at that, but it wasn't this deep, realistic show that people say it was. Even in the early years, there were episodes that never could have happened in real life. Knots Landing was as much of a soap opera as "Dynasty," "Dallas," or "Falcon Crest." The special thing about Knots is that the story lines were very intelligent and well-thought out (and I think people confuse "intelligent" with "realistic" because while they probably COULD have happened, it was a 1 in a billion chance.) The Knots writers were able to keep things consistent for the most part, come up with storyline based on the characters, and have multiple story lines going at once. The show was fantastic because the storyline was so engrossing.
Then in season 8, Knots Landing started getting self-conscious. THIS is when the show started trying to be "realistic" and a "social commentary." IMO, once they started taking themselves too seriously, the show lost its brilliance. I couldn't have cared less about the season 12 child abuse. In seasons 1-7, Knots Landing was so good because it was so FUN. In seasons 8-14, it became increasingly less fun to watch (and also, the show in seasons 9-10 lost actresses Constance McCashin, Donna Mills, and Julie Harris who'd been there since seasons 1, 2, and 3 respectively.) So when I say Knots Landing is engrossing drama that everyone needs to see, I'm really only talking about the first seven seasons .