Reviews

We all love a good zombie apocalypse story, no problem there. For me the biggest, most distracting issue with this production is the camerawork. If you are showing an alarm clock on a nightstand next to someone sleeping, is it really necessary to use an unsteady camera? Shaky-cam, hand-held camera techniques and quick-cuts should be used sparingly, if at all, and certainly not in almost every scene of the production -- even still shots where nothing is moving at all! It makes the viewer feel dizzy and disoriented.

The production is also heavily laden with "The Message" -- I made it through to the middle of episode three. When Frank and Bill starting kissing and climbed into bed together, that was it for me. DNF. Have fun all -- moving on.

There were clearly a few things left on the CUTTING room floor. They did a real HATCHET job with this one. I could count the things they SLASHED on the digits of ONE HAND.

It started off fine, even touching, and then descended into a torturous unraveling of all sense, logic and character. Sansa breaks a promise made to Jon not two minutes after swearing to him to uphold it. What? Arya says we have to stay together as a family and then rides off saying she will never return. Jon bids goodbye to his injured and faithful direwolf Ghost with no embrace or sentiment whatsoever. The jump shock scene in which Rhaegal is killed after all those years in such senseless and non-productive manner sent me over the edge. Dany descends into madness, emotionally outcast, alone. What? The final sequence in front of King's Landing makes no sense at all. They could have been overrun right them and there. And Tyrion pleads yet again to Cersei after he knows that Bronn was sent by her to kill him? Doesn't anyone review the scripts for basic logical consistency? I wish they would stop focusing so obsessively on "battle sequences" and visuals and write DRAMA. Such a lack of imagination -- manipulative, unsophisticated and unforgivable.

For me the basic question is, "Was I moved at all by the episode?" and I have to give a resounding yes. There were a some extraordinary cinematics in this episode, especially the lighting of the Dothraki swords, the view of them charging from above as a cluster of fire -- stunning to see. The lighting of the trench, also amazing and just a terrific way to close out Melisandre's story. Ser Jorah's story was closed out in fine fashion and I am so glad they made his death meaningful.

I am also glad they chose to end the NK story in this episode because there really is no place else to go with it within the confines of such a short season and in the total absence of GRRM source material. GoT, to my mind, is more about the human politics and not the horror story, so I think they made a good choice. It made sense to me that Arya had the honors because it focuses all her years becoming the powerful assassin she became and gave it a constructive purpose.

Finally I must mention Ramin Djawadi's score as I thought he did a fantastic job once again. He returned to the piano for this one and his use of somber motifs while blending in his other themes really added something to the episode.

Loved it.

That moves me emotionally like few other movies can. Hachi: A Dog's Tale is the Americanized version of the original 1987 Japanese original "Hachiko Monogatari," both based on the true life story of the famous Japanese Akita named Hachiko who lived from 1923 to 1935. Hachi: A dog's Tale is set in Rhode Island and follows the life of Hachi from his haphazard arrival at the train station where the film is set and subsequent discovery there by Richard Gere, the music professor who takes him in and bonds with him. Joan Allen is Gere's wife and, while not particularly enthralled with Hachi at first, ultimately sees the special bond forming between her husband and the Akita and thus comes to accept Hachi.

Hachi begins a routine of escorting Gere to the train station each morning and waiting for him to return in the evening where they both go home together. There are a few smaller characters in the film, the hot dog vendor, the train station attendant and Ken, a Japanese professor friend of Gere who serves as the wise man who knows instinctively there is something majestic about the Akita breed -- "not a dog to play fetch with" -- he sees this dog as the regal creature that it is. We are reminded of this majesty later in the film, when Ken talks to Hachi alone, in Japanese, one spiritual Japanese talking to another.

The are two distinct tragedies in the film, the first being the sudden and untimely death of the main human character (Gere), but the film focuses in its last acts on the second and far deeper tragedy -- Hachi's belief that one day his master will return on the train, thus careening the rest of his life into a never-ending cycle of returning to the train station and waiting in vain for his return. The film uses sparse but effective special effects to show the relentless passage of time and how the poor dog continues, unabated to return to the station. These final sequences place the film squarely in the genre of horror as nothing can dissuade Hachi from waiting and nothing can bring his master back. The animal is doomed to a life of endless waiting.

Along with the marvelous dog makeup and training used to present an aged and slowing dog, the soundtrack by Jan Kaczmarek deserves special mention as it is simply beautiful with several memorable themes of mostly piano and strings, used to both playful and melancholy effect. Indeed by the end of the film, it is almost impossible not to weep profoundly for poor Hachi, walking ever so slowly to the train station, in his lifelong demonstration of love, loyalty and hope. It is not an exaggeration to say that few films have such an emotional impact.

An enjoyable family film about the transcendent bond between a dog and a boy, later a man, however some of the themes I found to be unsettling and difficult to appreciate. First the voice-over narration from the dog's perspective, a very common film practice, tends to diminish the mystery and dignity of the dog and turn him into a babbling human child. Movies often anthropomorphize animals in this way, sometimes very effectively, but this one loses emotional depth as a result. The other problem I had here is the theme of reincarnation. We witness several of Bailey's lives, some good and some more challenging. but through them all he retains memory of his previous lives. I suppose this is perfectly fine fare for a dog movie, but I found the premise rather horrifying. A Dog's Purpose is enjoyable, but not top-tier on my canine film list.