Bodleian Library Souvenir Guide
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This richly illustrated guide to the historical buildings of the Bodleian Library not only makes an...
Improvisation and Social Aesthetics
Georgina Born, Eric Lewis and Will Straw
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Addressing a wide range of improvised art and music forms-from jazz and cinema to dance and...
Christmas Past
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Behind every Christmas tradition is a story — usually, a forgotten one. Each year, as we decorate...
After the Titanic: A Life of Derek Mahon
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Over forty-five years have elapsed since Derek Mahon announced his arrival at the forefront of Irish...
Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology in the Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray
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Exploring the medieval heritage of Aberdeenshire and Moray, the essays in this volume contain...
Dictionary of Classical Mythology
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Jenny March's acclaimed Dictionary of Classical Mythology, first published in 1998 but long out of...
The Lifeboat Service in England: The North West and the Isle of Man: Station by Station
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The Royal National Lifeboat Institution was established in 1824 and has a long and proud tradition...
The Lifeboat Service in England: The South West and Bristol Channel: Station by Station
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The Royal National Lifeboat Institution was established in 1824 and has a long and proud tradition...
Richard Hell recommended Kiss Me Deadly (2008) in Movies (curated)
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Endless (2020) in Movies
Oct 19, 2020
But fate is about to push them even further apart as - with an advert as to why drinking, texting and driving don't mix - Chris is killed in a car crash. Tragedy - when the feeling's gone and you can't go on! Can their love for each other reach beyond death itself, and if so, at what cost?
We've been here before of course with the Demi Moore / Patrick Swayze hit "Ghost" from 1990. That was an Oscar winner (Best Supporting Actress for Whoopi Goldberg and screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin). Will "Endless" - a teen-love version - match this potential? Unfortunately, without a potter's wheel in sight, it doesn't stand a ghost of a chance.
It feels like it's not for the want of trying from the five youngsters* at the heart of the action, with Eddie Ramos and Zoë Belkin playing the lover's best friends and DeRon Horton being the limbo-trapped ghost-guide equivalent to the subway dropout from "Ghost". (* I say "youngsters", but most seem to be in their late twenties!) )
All seem to invest their energy into the project. Unfortunately, with the exception of Alexandra Shipp, the energy is not matched with great acting talent. Poor Nicholas Hamilton (the bully from "It") seems to have a particularly limited range, with his resting expression being "gormless".
None of the adult actors fair much better, with Famke Janssen being particularly unconvincing.
As I said, the exception here is Alexandra Shipp, who had a supporting role in "Love, Simon" and a more centre-stage role as "Storm" in the otherwise disappointing "X-Men: Dark Phoenix". Here she remains eminently watchable, but is hog-bound by a seriously dodgy script.
If you read my bob-the-movie-man blog regularly, you will know I reach for my flame-thrower at the appearance of voiceovers. And the start of this movie made me shudder with fear as a "tell, not show" approach was followed. It's a mild blessing that the script - by Andre Case and O'Neil Sharma - used this device purely as a slightly lazy way to set the scene and the voiceover didn't rear its ugly head again.
However, on a broader basis, the screenplay doesn't excite - predictability is its middle name - and it contains lines of dialogue that are absolute stinkers. There are whole sections of the movie that defy belief, with a police investigation in particular appearing completely incompetent. The result is that it adds neither drama or tension.
Through my career in IT I've had the great fortune to travel to a number of small cities in Canada, and all have appealed with their consistently picturesque qualities and consistently quirky individuals! Here we have the cities of Kelowna and Vernon in British Columbia playing California, and the drone cinematography (by Frank Borin and Mark Dobrescu) displays the dramatic lake-filled scenery to the full.
With so many cookie-cutter movies out there, it feels like the non-horror "Ghost" recipe (or "Heaven Can Wait" / "It's a Wonderful Life" / "A Matter of Life and Death" / delete per your preference) is well overdue for a makeover. Unfortunately, director Scott Speer's attempt just isn't good enough to fill the void. And that's a shame.
(For the full graphical review, please check out the bob-the-movie-man review here - https://rb.gy/mzq6jx . Thanks.)