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johnrhoten
Reviews
Strange Empire (2014)
No good, Eh?
This is one of the worst shows I have ever watched. I gave it all 13 episodes and was left wanting. There is absolutely no redeeming character on the show at all. Even the righteous Kate Loving who is good with a gun with her moral compass; she is weak and ineffective. She couldn't stop the miners from brawling and then she was working for the mine. Isabelle is ruthless and greedy with no shame or remorse. She was willing to kill the young mother just to keep her father-in-law on the hook. Which brings us to John Slotter who posses no charm, no wit, no vision and no sense. I don't just hate his characterization I really find the actor not very good either. It is a quagmire of bad writing and almost claustrophobic in the stylization of 1880s. If we are to believe this is the Canadian wilderness where is it? The smaller, simpler charters are not completely fleshed out but at least allow for some kind of hope of manna in the wilderness.
Okay, maybe the young doctor wanting to do right is not too bad...
Apology for Murder (1945)
It lacked in a lot of things but not talent...
I too have seen this rather bad production and had a discussion with Anne Savage after. The film was shut down due to the larger, Paramount Pictures, who had just released Double Indemnity a year earlier. The story by James M Cain was actually based on a true story from the thirties. Appology was based on the actual story and not the Cain novel. Paramount wanted to sue the PRC studio because it felt that they stolen the story. This would have crippled the already small production house. And yes, while Double Indemnity is a much better movie, Apology is true to the real life story.