Serena

Are you a fan of Persian cinema? If so, it's possible you might enjoy this story. It does have a somewhat-satisfying progression of terrible events, leading to a really terrible scenario, with an utterly terrible ending.If you don't enjoy stories where circumstances just get worse and worse and then end with everything just awful, then this might be painful to watch. As a film, it's just OK, not something I'd ever watch on purpose. As a story, pure agony.I'm going to have to binge-watch "My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic" just to get over this

terribly miscast in this movie, there is not a single moment, at least for me, that I didn't find myself just saying: This isn't Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. If they sold their film characters, I sure didn't see it.....In what turns out to be a long journey into tedium, slogging along predictable lines, the director has far too many shots of people staring at other people without speaking any words....Accepting Sexiest man of the year, Cooper, as the owner of a logging camp was the furthest stretch of the imagination possible: he was too...well....too...COOPERISH: with the 2 day old beard, neatly trimmed, wearing clean nice clothes....sorry, it didn't cut it for me.and the romance between them?? very rushed, and very unbelievable, especially, when you know how Lawrence feels about all of her leading men in real life, when she rips them to shreds in interviews.So: I was left with the only prospect that gave me hope: rooting for the mountain lion, a picture long metaphor, of Cooper searching for something that never seemed to be, namely bagging this magnificent creature. Inevitably, it was a case of : be careful what you wish for, and I, for one, wasn't the least bit sorry!!

I fail to understand why this film was not a box office hit. Cooper and Lawrence's chemistry adds spice to this raw story of envy, betrayal, perverse love, blood bonds, and determination, in a time when survival needs were immediate, rendering it both impossible and impractical to consider the long-term implications of denuded forests or other economic, environmental, or psychological consequences The complicated, passionate characters fighting for life in a non-forgiving environment give life to a dark world rarely shown in historical context. Excellent!

This movie .... I had seen before on Nt-flx .. some years ago... It seems like Bradley Cooper and his leading lady enjoy one another's chemistry in front of the camera.. To be perfectly honest .. I have never heard or seen any promo's for the movie when it was released years ago. ? Yes the story is rather sinister and the director doesn't mince visual material when it comes to the "XXX" scenes and the violence... Let's be honest Jennifer Lawrence is a young actress who deserved to win her Oscar.. Julia Roberts should be very careful because she is losing her status as "America's Sweet-Heart"...at the end of the day. A new Queen ..has arrived in Hollywood ... There wasn't any understanding related to why he was being investigated ..? Maybe it was lost in the script.. ? The Costume's,Cars and the Set were absolutely spot on for the era. Many of the actor's like the guy who played the sheriff .. Toby Jones is an out-standing actor.. and he is well regarded as such in his native United Kingdom.

Spoiler alert. Excellent acting and high production values, but a seriously flawed story. Maybe the novel is great (I assume it's based on a novel), but the movie doesn't work. It's two stories: first half, a strong, driven woman developing a timber empire; second half, a woman falling apart over not being able to have a baby, complicated by her guilt over the death of her siblings in a house fire. Also, the protagonists are corrupt and they are murderers. Kinda hard to like successful people who got there through corruption and murder. Both thumbs down.

About shallow people who just can't deal with real life without screwing the pooch four ways to Sunday, resulting in absolutely painful, depressing and unsatisfied (unless your a sadist or masochist. you'll have to decide) If you enjoyed this movie or gave it 4 stars or more - now you know... your one of the two. Somebody please tell me what the F*** is the point of trash like this. And if you don't want to sound really dumb - avoid using the word "ART".

The big disappointment with SERENA is that it had the potential to be so much better and somehow everything got lost in a story that begins to collapse. SERENA stars two of Hollywood's hottest young actors - BRADLEY COOPER and JENNIFER LAWRENCE. These stars alone should make SERENA worth the watch yet somehow everything gets lost. A hot love story that sizzles quickly fizzles into darkness and despair.Bradley Cooper is rich timber baron George Pemberton. In a highly unlikely scenario, he meets Serena (Lawrence) and their passion explodes on screen or at least it should.All is bliss and Serena joins George as an equal party in the dangerous timber business as the local sheriff and others try to buy their land for a national park. The Depression era setting is interesting yet the film doesn't have the vibrancy that period pieces usually have. The look and feel of the movie did not seem right. Although it is set in North Carolina, I had a feeling it was filmed in Europe as was COLD MOUNTAIN. I checked and it was filmed in the CZECH REPUBLIC. Somehow some of the authenticity was lost.As our love story unfolds, love turns into murder and despair. All is lost and no one is safe. No surprise that our Serena has secrets. It seemed that both Cooper and Lawrence were trying their best to shine as actors. Maybe they knew the movie was a lost cause and doing the best they could might save the movie--a little. These two stars deserved better (and they did find better films) SERENA is an all-around disappointment.

Some might perceive that there could be a possible spoiler in this review.“Serena” opens with a magnificent shot of the setting for this film – the Smoky Mountains in 1929, which together with beautiful music (acoustic guitar and orchestra) sets up the start of what should be a very good film (for me). I’ve seen and enjoyed some of director Susanne Bier’s other films, and there is a talented cast and it is a film based on a successful novel, but sadly this film just didn’t do it for me.Maybe my expectations were too high but I don’t think so. I haven’t read the novel so I’m not basing my disappointment on that (and I think that it can often be unfair to compare a film with a novel as they can rarely compete equally), but I didn’t get to be particularly interested in the main characters maybe due to lack of character development, the story and it’s narrative weren’t original particularly, some of the lines seem poor “I suppose Mrs “X” pays no interest” as we are shown Serena questioning the sexual orientation of one of the characters – and it just looks so corny, there is a good deal of badly dubbed dialogue (something of a pet-hate of mine), some of the film seemed rushed (possible spoiler to the end of this paragraph) and especially towards the end - for example when someone is being sought and they are found but with no explanation of why anyone knew where they were (this shouldn’t be a spoiler).I could probably go on but I won’t.On the plus side the scenery is magnificent, there is good music and (some of) the acting is good.Two-and-a-half stars out of five.On the DVD you get:“Serena” (1 hour 45 minutes)Scene SelectionSet Up:2.0 Stereo5.1 Dolby DigitalAudio DescriptionOptional English HOH SubtitlesExtras:Featurettes:Interview with Susanne Bier and Christopher Kyle (4 minutes)Trailer

Having read the book I can say that the film lacks the power that the author placed in the story. The acting is good but there are too many things missing that made the book really good. It is segmented instead of having continuity. It breaks your heart to see all the forests being cut down specially knowing that it happens ever day in many parts of the world.The photogaphy gives the idea of what places like that feel like and the sense of destruction both of nature and of men is always present.Of course, the actors are good but are not as described in the book. No their fault. They have done the best with the material thery have been given.It woud be better if the people going to see the film, did not read the book first.

It is full of surprises and you can't quite guess what is coming next .

Great movie. Bradley Cooper at his best..

Just an okay movie