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Swampfire (8)


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Afraid I'm having a difficult time imagining that yours is not a sarcastic review. I am 25 minutes in and that entire stretch has been completely sucking away any interest or appreciation that had been earned by previous installments. It is like a cheesy soap opera without the self awareness that it is a cheesy soap opera. As another commenter here wrote - "Suddenly devoting time to them as if any serious drama has been imparted along the way in this circus is ridiculous." The weak dialogue, long pointless moments of dull "reflection", and hackneyed swells of symphonic nonsense leave me hesitant to devote another 156 minutes to it. p.s. Downey's mumbling has progressed to the point where I don't think I've understood 10% of what he uttered - which is a shame because his lines were likely the most amusing by far. I have not finished watching this because my sweetie wanted to bail on it for the thing you point out - at least regarding the women. They were pretty, perfect and polished by Hollywood and it was near impossible to accept them as struggling addicts. In general, the performances are quality and I intend to continue watching - though the one nitpick I am having trouble getting past is that on multiple occasions Lewis' character says he wants a pint, but goes right to the fifths and half gallons as if he, an alcoholic, didn't know the difference. Sloppy. Should have put "accept" in quote marks. As in "sometimes I 'accept' sloppy writing". ;) Pretty good movie all in all - some sloppy storytelling and the rushed ending were made more acceptable because of what I considered very good performances. My biggest gripes were the aforementioned rushed ending, the horrendous pop debasement of his lovely song in her histrionic final tribute to him (though that may well have been intentional to show the shallowness of her new marketed direction), and the fact that Jackson appeared to have not washed his hair since he left the family ranch. That was quite grotesque. Wondered about that too. It did appear that they were together from the market scene until daylight, so I had to accept the idea that they went over it through the night. Yeah - I'm not sure what his function is to the story, but that brief meeting in the season finale was remarkably underwhelming. The actor seemed to have very little "presence" for a character apparently intended to be a key and potent force in the evolution of Bruce. Having seen C. Affleck (assuming that is who you are referring to) in several films, I have concluded that he is congenitally incapable of expressing emotion. I am baffled as to why he is employed as an actor, and have been consistently annoyed by his insipid performances. Meh is right. Emotional restraint may or may not have been correct for this character (I may never know as the remarkably poor dialogue and acting in the opening scenes caused me to bail out quite early), but I have seen Casey Affleck in several films, and unless he chooses roles in a very particular way, his inability to display emotions seems to be congenital. NOT much of an actor. View all replies >