B-MOVIE OF THE MONTH - GULAG (TV 1985)

This month B-Movie Gazette dives into the prison genre and who doesn't like a good prison flick? Gulag is an extremely well-produced TV movie originally made for HBO before wandering out to obscurity-land. David Keith is in top form as a sportscaster and while covering an event in Moscow is framed by the KGB. Unable to prove his innocence a prison escape is now inevitable, just how will he do it? Malcolm McDowell co-stars, this is a good one folks! 2.75 stars/2.75

Monday, January 16, 2023

TAR (2022) - I'M A BIG TODD FIELD FAN BUT SOMEHOW I DIDN'T SEE THE SAME FILM EVERYONE ELSE DID

 

Never in a million years would I have thought I would land up jumping ship on a Todd Field movie. But alas it did happen - I hit the stop button about ten minutes before the end. Brilliantly directed no one can deny but I just could not get into this character. I wouldn't care if she was a conductor or lead singer for a rock band. Nor would I care if she's male, female, straight or lesbian. I just could not find anything to latch on with her character, no idea of what she wanted, where she was going, her background, nothing. It's as if I was watching a documentary on a famous conductor but with actors.

There are not many directors who can say they put out a movie and instantly the accolades and award nominations start flowing like manna from the sky. But this was and is the case with Field. I thought In The Bedroom was a brilliant achievement. He got two incredible performances out of Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson on that one. Little Children was excellent especially Winslett and Patrick Wilson but the whole inclusion of the sex offender character in the movie and particularly the ending was unsettling. Now with Tar comes a character I can't get into that also has some ugly sexual stuff going on. Even with Blanchett's obviously incredible performance there are so many other appeasable (or not) characters she could play. As far as masculine roles like this one strives for I could see her doing something amazing with a remake of The Conversation and her as a female Harry Caul character. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Anyways, that's my take on it, obviously I'm a little disappointed. I feel like a Peter Gabriel fan who's waited 16 years for an album to finally come out which I don't like and the last one wasn't that great to begin with. Objectively, I'll go 4 stars on it, in my heart more like 1.5.

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B-MOVIE GAZETTE RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars - Only awarded to the precious few.
4 Stars - Excellent, see by all means.
3 Stars - Very Good, you should like.
2 Stars - Fair, like a frozen dinner.
1 Star - Poor, like a spoiled dinner.

ALL B-MOVIES, DRIVE-IN MOVIES AND TV MOVIES HAVE A MAX AWARD OF 2.75 STARS.