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Reviews
Troy: Fall of a City (2018)
Not a very good telling of the fall of Troy, but not as bad as some others
This series tells the story of the fall of Troy, decidedly from the Trojan standpoint. Maybe they thought they would counterbalance the accounts that were all written by Greeks, who come off as nasty, grump bad guys in this version. Yet except for fanciful license about the goings on in Troy, it doesn't deviate as badly from Homer as most other accounts. Parts are very well done, others are ridiculous. But what makes no sense is the multicultural cast. In this rendition, Achilles, the greatest warrior of the Greeks, is black. We can allow for this insofar as Shakespeare and classical theater are done like this but in a movie it is simply inauthentic and contrived. Helen as portrayed here isn't beautiful enough to launch a rowboat, let alone 1000 ships. The production values are not bad and there is some historical accuracy which makes the rest puzzling. Finally since it is told from the Trojan viewpoint it all goes bad for them in the end, very bad, so it is more of a tragedy.
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Worst Score Ever Written
The movie was bad enough, slow, plodding and populated with unpleasant characters, but it is accompanied by the worst score in history. The music never matches the action and whoever did it had a tin ear. Then a couple of classical pieces are misplaced and are completely out of context; i.e. Brahms Violin Concerto at the end. This so detracts from the rest of the film that its few virtues get buried. Sure, there is Daniel Day Lewis performance, but despite 2 hrs and 38 minutes we don't learn much about his character or why he's doing what he's doing. I had looked forward to this with anticipation but was deeply disappointed. The treatment is just terrible and watching it is a very unsatisfying experience.
The Borgias (2011)
Well produced settings but totally fabricated; little in this show ever happened
Like other recent similar series the settings of the period are captured beautifully, i.e. The Medici, but there is hardly a grain of historical truth in this show. While the names of real characters are used they bear little resemblance to the real people and most of the events here never happened or varied wildly from how they are depicted. In drama there is always some room for historical license, but there has to at least be some underlying truth and fidelity to history. This story line has none. There are some people named Borgia, but they have been made cartoon figures 100 times more evil than they actually were. This "history" is based upon there attitude prevalent in prior fiction and a historical reputation generated by enemies. The Borgias were no saints, but they were nowhere as evil as legend has it, and certainly not as depicted in this show. The screenplay is simply awful, misleading, historically inaccurate, and way off the mark. Key characters, such as the assassin, the Turk, etc. are unknown to history. The depiction of Machiavelli and the Medici is way off base, etc. etc. The other European "Borgia" series is far far better.