Post by Salzmank on Mar 29, 2018 20:56:21 GMT
Unfortunately, yesterday I took a look not at one of the ‘movies’ politicidal recommended but, rather, at Masks of Evil. It was—well, I don’t know. Parts were quite good, and other parts were terrible. The two episodes that make it up have nothing to do with each other, and the transition was remarkably forced.
The first episode, set in Istanbul with Flanery’s Indy masquerading as a Swedish journalist, was a bit slow and didn’t feel very Indiana Jones-esque. Some decent moments, but the acting wasn’t as good as Peacock’s Eye—though Flanery gets a chance to emote and does a good job with it. Some of the shots of Istanbul were lovely…
…as were the shots of Venice for the second episode. (Did they actually go to these cities to film? It seems like it, and—boy—that Lucas money…) I rather wish the whole story were set in Venice, as the director did an excellent job in these parts. There’s one particularly good sweeping pan that impressed me for a TV production. The opening shots of Venice, the ominous scene with the fortune-teller, the introduction Col. Waters (played by a guy who looks like he could be William H. Macy’s brother), even the build-up to the mission—all excellent. Even when they get to Transylvania, we have a great Castle Dracula, a fair amount of foreboding, a good jump-scare with the impaled corpses, and two nice horrific rooms, one that drips blood. The build-up is so good, in fact, that the last quarter of the episode is all the more disappointing. Bob Peck’s Vlad is laughable, as is the blatant insertion of the supernatural; with this kind of episode, we should be unsure if the man’s actually a vampire or just off his rocker. The climax seems a bit of a cop-out (“I don’t drink before dinner”?), and it’s too graphic—not fun at all. But the opening’s excellent. Ah, well…
The first episode, set in Istanbul with Flanery’s Indy masquerading as a Swedish journalist, was a bit slow and didn’t feel very Indiana Jones-esque. Some decent moments, but the acting wasn’t as good as Peacock’s Eye—though Flanery gets a chance to emote and does a good job with it. Some of the shots of Istanbul were lovely…
…as were the shots of Venice for the second episode. (Did they actually go to these cities to film? It seems like it, and—boy—that Lucas money…) I rather wish the whole story were set in Venice, as the director did an excellent job in these parts. There’s one particularly good sweeping pan that impressed me for a TV production. The opening shots of Venice, the ominous scene with the fortune-teller, the introduction Col. Waters (played by a guy who looks like he could be William H. Macy’s brother), even the build-up to the mission—all excellent. Even when they get to Transylvania, we have a great Castle Dracula, a fair amount of foreboding, a good jump-scare with the impaled corpses, and two nice horrific rooms, one that drips blood. The build-up is so good, in fact, that the last quarter of the episode is all the more disappointing. Bob Peck’s Vlad is laughable, as is the blatant insertion of the supernatural; with this kind of episode, we should be unsure if the man’s actually a vampire or just off his rocker. The climax seems a bit of a cop-out (“I don’t drink before dinner”?), and it’s too graphic—not fun at all. But the opening’s excellent. Ah, well…