Comments on: The Impossible (2012)

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 05:03:58 +0000

Sam – Thanks, as always, for your profuse compliments, and I appreciate that you prefer to take my word over the 75% who generally liked it. TESTAMENT has been on my list for a long time – time to go see it!

By: Sam Juliano

Sam Juliano — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 22:17:28 +0000

The film is loaded with laughable clichés and false drama.

It appears that the advance reviews on this film are to tune of about 75% positive. Still this is one instance where I would have to conclude that you have in great likelihood posted a well-earned takedown, when one considers the potential that this subject matter offers up. We have seen this done numerous times, and only restraint seems to yield the best results. I’ve seen the trailer a number of times and envisioned the worst. When I speak of restraint I think of a film like Lynn Litman’s 1983 TESTAMENT, which steered clear of bombast and false emotion, though that one is really more about a potential apocalytic situation. Excellent piece here!

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 14:54:19 +0000

Pat – Thank you so much for that. I find that the poison pen tends to poison me more than the object of my disdain. Still, one must be responsible to people who want some guidance on where to spend their time and money. I felt a counterbalance to the generally positive reviews this film is getting was needed.

And yes, if you can find The Writer’s Craft, get it. I’ve held onto my copy for maybe 40 years and still dip into it all the time.

By: Pat

Pat — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 20:25:46 +0000

Marilyn –

I have never known you to write a vicious, “poison pen” review; I do know you to bring your strong social concisousness and moral convictions to most every review you write. This is a fine, delicate but precise takedown of what is apparently a very bad film (no surprise to me at all, nothing in the trailers inspired me to run out and see this) and you handled it quite well. I would like to find that John Hersey book myself.

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 03:44:37 +0000

I don’t think it was Aryanization, per se, though there were an awful lot of blondes among the survivors that were featured. I think it was more English language. One of the best reviews I read was in The Guardian, which no doubt, appreciated the Britishy bent of the family.

By: Roderick

Roderick — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 03:25:41 +0000

One reason for ethnic inspecificity of the main characters seems to stem from the fact the family they’re based on were actually Spanish, but presumably the demands of international financing and distribution required…well, blonder people.

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 16:08:53 +0000

By the way, the quote comes from a collection edited by John Hersey called The Writer's Craft. It's an excellent and inspirational book that helped me on my way to being a professional editor. I hope it's still in print.

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 16:05:51 +0000

Ding ding ding! Kirk wins!

By: Kirk

Kirk — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:45:49 +0000

Um…Reader’s Digest?

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:02:58 +0000

It stuns me that this is getting great reviews in some quarters. The negative comments about it apply to the all-white take on the tragedy, but there is so, so much more wrong with it. Tom Holland is the only good component of the film, and that is said by a fan of McGregor.

By: Roderick

Roderick — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 06:00:55 +0000

Oy, an aptly lethal commentary on a film that sounds stultifyingly predictable. Lord knows when I'll get to see it. What I can say is that Bayona's last film, The Orphanage, was an extraordinarily over-rated horror flick that was filched from other, better sources.