Charles Herold (cherold)
This pilot, directed by the brilliant Jean-Pierre Jeunet, gives us a Casanova engaged as a spy ordered to take down Madame Pompadour. It's an interesting premise, well performed and lushly designed.The pilot really tries to capture the Paris of the time. There are alchemical hucksters, torturous capital punishment, intrigue, and opera. There are also lots and lots of naked ladies.I don't actually know where this pilot was broadcast - I just found it online - but I hope it's still being shopped, because I would really like to see how it plays out.
Aktham Tashtush
The story is genuine and brought out to a new style yet the execution is still on the range of every show i'v seen talking about that era of time .. the script seems to be good ,, but there are this 10 minutes where you feel the scenario goes slow and unnecessary but it seems like the rules of Amazon prevent the show from having less than 55 continuous minutes of script !!?Stu Zicherman is a good writer and familiar with thrill as he wrote a couple of exciting episodes of the Hit spies series "The Americans" but again i really hope they work a bit more on the screenplay as it needs a bit of trimming ;)The casting was not a wowzer .. i think they casted Diego Luna cuz he get paid less than other choices ,, and i really wished he had a British accent as it would seems more appealing to the ears even if Casanova was Italian ,, i mean look at "The Musketeers" on BBC or "Da Vinci's Demons" on starz casting Tom Riley ,, same Italian look but with more charming accent the face of Diego Luna is perfect and his performance was okay but again the voice matters too .. also Bojana Novakovic is not that wonderful actress ,, i think they missed in this part of the Show ...Overall, the story is fresh and catchy but the cast doesn't really intrigue you into keep on watching more or at most into waiting for the next scene to come.
Sheng Liu
This show really threw me for a loop. At first, I thought it was going to be about debaucheries committed by Casanova as he lived his life in Paris. They show you an overwhelming amount of beautiful women with corsets that really
uh
accentuate their beauty. As the show goes on though, they really capture the personality of Casanova. You know from the very beginning that he was a sexual deviant. And then suddenly, everything takes a turn when they delved deeper into his life about Alchemy, politics, and even espionage. What really astounded me about this show was the amount of details put into the costumes and the scenery. It was absolutely AMAZING to see the amount of thought put into the show and you can actually feel the atmosphere and culture. Everything from clothing designs to walking along the street really captured the essence of France. What this show did lack, however, was suspense and pacing. There were no moments in show where I was on the edge of my seat; Casanova was never really in any danger. Something I do agree with other reviewers is that the story develops at a snail's pace. I personally didn't mind it, but I can understand how this show might be perceived as dull by others. I am certain that it will get much better further on. This first episode was more to show you the beginnings of Casanova and setting the groundwork for much better things later on. Can't wait to see more episodes, this show definitely has a lot of potential!