"YELLOWSTONE" SEASON 5 PROVIDES GLIMPSE INTO CREATORS TRUE WEAKNESS

🎥🎞️Series Review🎞️🎥 - YELLOWSTONE [2023] - Peacock - [PG13] - Created by Taylor Sheridan. Written by John Coveny, John Linson, Brett Conrad, Eric J. Beck and Ian McCulloh...but don't let any of those names fool you, Sheridan is in charge of all the scripts, screenplay and the dialog. Stars veteran actors Kevin Costner, Kelly Reilly, Cole Hauser, and upstart actors, Luke Grimes, Kelsey Asbille, and Wes Bentley.

The series covers the life of Montana Rancher, John Dutton, whose family history has established one of the largest ranch in the United States; there are several spin offs that have flourished over the development of the series backstory to present the power and growth of the fictional Dutton family. There's a lot of dirty business that has helped a cluster of the family maintain control of the land against government officials, a local Native American tribe, environmentalists and some dark "mob-type" family rivals who have also established a foothold in the area of the ranch, known to all as Yellowstone. Even though Sheridan created & developed the show, most of the show's impact on viewership has been built by the prominent popularity and addition of Costner as the leading character. Sheridan makes a cameo appearance in the series, but his addition did not boost an increase in viewership.

THE GOOD - There are moments in the series where the drama is thick, the action is super heavy & intense, and the emotions run high. Many of the upstart actors get prime limelight in the series and are given story arcs to help develop their characters; several characters splendor off and are planning to have their own series[?]. The cinematography can be extremely breathtaking, being able to capture a multitude of epic open scenery, nature, wildlife, and environmental atmosphere that can only be described as "magnificently captured."

THE BAD - Costner has lived a life of movie making where completed scripts have given him a sense of direction where the project is going; what the final goal of the project is being developed to reveal. In contempt, he may have confronted Sheridan over the course of the series, which was obviously only planned for five seasons, but it's been alleged that Sheridan has indulged himself in a money grab movement against Paramount, wanting to expand the series to six seasons which apparently angered Costner - who has contracts with other movie studios & working on a new film - and had Costner demand that production on the series end during the fifth season. It's no secret now that Sheridan has shut off production to re-write the scripts to close out the series in the November [2023]. Each season has arranged a large volume of story and plots that seem to jumble about and throw off the series tempo. There is a large array of what I call "cowboy videos" which presents a track from a local country singer, some views of cowboys parading about doing rodeo stunts, and some colorful panoramic views of daily cowboy life. Even though the addition of these cowboy videos may seem to bring a love for the culture, but the fifth season, these little additions to the series have become nothing but filler; red taped video to extend an episode because of a lack of story. There's no doubt about it, and you can sense a little tension and dismay over these filler scenes by watching Costner's performance in the later episodes; he seemed to be dropping the same dialog over and over again. The worst parts in the series is Sheridan's constant presentation of dread that follows any spark of positive reinforcement in the show. At the time of this review posting, Costner has refused to show up for production efforts and his estranged wife was not happy with the progress of the series.

POST MORTEM - In my opinion, Season Five has been a complete waste of time and even though some of the plots tend to build some interest, the writer[s] shift the season in a different direction, completely ruining any momentum the last plotline was producing. This has been a constant weakness that all of Sheridan's projects project during their run. It's seriously becoming tiresome and a wast of series resources. Inner drama will destroy YELLOWSTONE before the final episodes of the series post in November and it's a damn shame too - the blame will be put squarely on Sheridan's shoulders; shoulders that have some big chips propped up on them.

 ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫[3.5 of 5 Stars]

EVERY GREAT WRITER HAS A BAD BEGINNING, TAYLOR SHERIDAN WAS NO EXEPTION

🎥🎞️Movie Review🎞️🎥 - WIND RIVER - Amazon Prime - [2017] - Written and Directed by Taylor Sheridan. Starring Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olson, Jon Bernthal, Graham Greene, and Kelsey Asbille. This movie was billed as an answer to the countless numbers of Indigenous Native American women that are reported missing every year in staggering numbers and mysterious circumstances. This was a planned dramatic feature film with a message to open up the investigations to the many missing women who are still missing to this day. If produced right, this movie seemed like it could make make waves in the history, and now urban legend, of why females are missing in the western regions of the United States.

With the recent successes of all of the current writings created by Taylor Sheridan, I decided to do an in-depth look into his career as a writer and filmmaker. First, I was surprised to learn that Sheridan was a film director and that he had an $11 Million film under his belt with a heavy star studded cast. Even though this film had a tremendously dramatic trailer, the film was anything but dramatic and I'm surprised that Sheridan was able to bounce back from the obvious failure of this film. I have to admit, that after watching all of the recent works written by Sheridan already released through streaming services, I was not completely impressed by this film. I truly expected a far better production and message from this film.

THE GOOD - I mentioned that there's a big lineup of infamous actors in this feature film; the talented Elizabeth Olson from the recent fame of "Wanda Vision," Jeremy Renner from the MCU's "Avengers," and the rugged Jon Bernthal from "The Punisher." There's a slight glimpse of the mountainous beauty and vast landscapes of Utah and Wyoming. The film won an award from the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, but I'm not sure why.

THE BAD - Where dramatic films are concerned, this film drags on and on with sketchy pacing and lackluster cinematography. Most of the actors seem to just be on set to earn a check and put no other energy in performing their roles which makes for a lack luster presentation in the final product of the film. The screenplay and editing of the film are almost horrific, giving an almost amateur pacing to the film and not giving a solid development of worry for the story to make its point. The explanation why the FBI sent an agent to help with the investigation of a body being found on Indian territory was very dry and Olson's part of the film feels a little far fetched. Sheridan tries to develop tension in the film, but his limited skill in directing scenes truly makes RIVER seem like a wasted effort in telling a significant story that needs explaining.

POST MORTEM - This film would have better served as a mini-series or maybe a full series production on a streaming service. Furthermore, the opening credits billed this film was a tiny, little look into the disappearance into local women in the Native American culture, but there was no tie to the actual long list of names that have been abruptly removed from the local communities. Sheridan was smart to leave the directing of his scripted creations to the professionals. His other series work wouldn't have been as successful as films and his writings are proving to work on longer running productions. WIND RIVER might have been the awakening that Sheridan needed to focus more on his writing.

⭐️⭐️💫[2.5 of 5 Stars]