Change Your Image
rnorthro14
Reviews
Your Sister's Sister (2011)
Character driven dramedy
I generally liked "Your Sister's Sister" due to it's humor and warm-heartedness. I'd rate it higher than your typical "chick flick" for character development and acting as well maturity and grace. It deserves recognition for it's strong but under-used cinematography. But where it owes it's greatest strength is in the development of the three central characters.
Mark Duplass plays an emotionally insecure but likable Jack, a gentle soul, who is so self- aware of his foibles, that his awareness feeds his insecurities. His awkwardness during the focal "act" of the film belies his insecurity and social isolation. Instead of addressing these insecurities, he chooses to flee or, in the case of the opening scene, invoke hostility towards himself from others.
Iris (Emily Blunt) is the one character that presents herself as the most "together". She is the only one with a secure job. She provides Jack guidance and direction with humor and delicacy. She loves her sister but shows understandable outrage at her actions. She receives the least amount of character development because she is the least flawed of the three. Emily Blunt is charming and beautiful as always, but Iris is probably the least compelling of the three partially due to her relative "perfection" when compared to her two on-screen counter-parts.
Hanna (Rosemarie DeWitt), like Jack, is emotionally flawed and vulnerable. Hanna is Iris's older sister and at a vulnerable point in her life finds herself as the one who needs the emotional support that Iris is able to provide. I found her as a flawed but redeemable character for the remorse she demonstrates for her deception. DeWitt, to me, really shines in this role.
Overall, I'd give this about a 7.5 which is excellent for a "chick flick". The setting is beautiful; the acting is strong and the blend of drama and humor gives it soul. The film's weakest part probably comes at the end. It uses a flawed plot technique for it's conclusion which drives me crazy, but leading up to that point, it's funny and heartwarming.
Bionic Woman (2007)
Choppy, disjointed
I had high hopes, being a fan of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series but the "Bionic Woman" series premiere was something of a disappointment.
I can live with recycled story lines. I can also deal with the pedestrian plot. This episode was just poorly spliced together with little to no transition from one scene to the next. One gets the impression that the premiere had been intended to run during a 90-120 minute time slot but was seriously over edited and cut down to 43 minutes. What results is basically little more than an extended trailer with very little character development.
This strategy is unfortunate because there are interesting characters with which to work here. The strained relationship between Jaime Sommers (played by English actress Michelle Ryan) and her live-in teenage sister is a bit of an overdone cliché (can you say Party of Five, Buffy the Vampire Slayer?), however I like the possibilities to explore some of the secondary characters. I want to know more about Miguel Ferrer's character as a shady project leader. I am interested in finding out about the story behind Will Andros - Jaime's love interest - and his seemingly villainous brother Anthony. Will Yun Lee's character also has potential.
If I were to describe the series premiere in two words, it would be "missed opportunity". Hopefully this is just a case of overzealous film editors overdoing it in the cutting room; the first episodes of many series start off a bit shaky compared to the series as a whole. There is some decent parts with this cast and a storyline with an opportunity to create some intriguing plot twists. I can only hope that the creators of the show put all these parts and create a decent show.