Reviews

I've seen both the original 1916 Les Vampires and the 1996 Irma Vep, so I "get" what the director is trying to do with this series. I'm two episodes in and it seems this is written exclusively for critics, cinephiles, and fans of French film history. 7/10 is generous, but my memory of the original 1916 series keeps me interested.

The original series is "wacky" and very hard to describe. It certainly had energy. Cinema was still in its infancy, so they could just make it up as they went along and dream up ridiculous situations. You'll notice the actors in the HBO series keep lamenting that no one would say or do these things in 2022.

Musidora wasn't classically beautiful but had a strange, magnetic sex appeal. Maggie Cheung in the 1996 version was brilliant, odd casting and incredibly sexy. Her befuddlement added to the chaos. Alicia Vikander is not quite inspired casting. She's done a good job on her American accent, but her character is bland, listless, and gives off little sexual energy. Musidora was voluptuous; Vikander is a twig. Perhaps more inspired casting could have better captured the essence of Irma Vep.

I don't think the world was waiting for another version of Irma Vep. I'll watch to the end, but I can't recommend this to the casual viewer.

UPDATE: I have now finished the series and downgraded my score to 6/10. In 8 hours of tedium there were only 2 interesting characters; Rene, played tenderly by Vincent Macaigne, and Gottfried, channeling Keith Richards, played with reckless abandon by Lars Eidinger. Both deserve future Emmy nominations. Oddly, Irma Vep/Mira is the most poorly written character in the series. Mira really has nothing interesting to say or do, and Vikander infuses her with zero charisma. Fala Chen, in a bit part, lights up the screen as Lily Flower. Perhaps she should have played Mira/Irma Vep?

I'm working my way through 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, and Faces is the worst I've seen. I'm puzzled by the high score. Everything about this movie is awful: the script, most of the acting, the cinematography, the sound, everything. People laugh uncontrollably over jokes that aren't even funny (Peter Piper picked a peck...), then fly into a rage over nothing at all. People sing a lot...badly. All conversations were tedious and pointless...was there a real script or was this improvised? My advice: if you don't like the first 5 minutes, turn it off.

Quality has definitely moved to TV. If you want thoughtful superhero action, watch Loki or Wandavision. This was the cinematic equivalent of The Fast and the Furious 9.

Let's be clear: this movie is not half as good as the original. The backstory for Charlie was deleted, while a clichéd backstory for Wonka was added. Wilder's Wonka was charming and magical, Depp's Wonka was creepy and mean. The original was a movie for adults dressed up as a movie for kids, this one is strictly for the kiddies. The oompa-loompas are played by an old man (can't figure out what they were thinking). The children were zero dimensional, most of their parents had little to say, the acting was one-note at best. The only actor in the film to give a good performance is Charlie, but the script gives him little to say.

Yes, I am biased because I loved the original. If you've never seen the original this movie would be easier to like. But if you love the original you will not love this one. It's inferior in every category.

This is the dumbest movie of all time. The average 3rd grader knows enough science to debunk all the gibberish the main characters dish out. At some critical moments I burst out laughing. I have no idea why they don't give a grad student in physics some Hot Pockets and Xena tapes in exchange for cleaning up some of the silliness of this script.