Philomena. Judy Dench as an elderly Irishwoman who enlists a journalist under a shadow to track down where her son, who was forcibly adopted out (more like sold) by Irish nuns decades before. Very well done, neither as polemical nor as sentimental as it could have been. Worth watching.
Passing. From a 1920’s novel about two black women who’d been childhood friends, reuniting in Harlem’s golden age. One is respectably married to a black doctor, the other is passing for white, married to a wealthy, racist white businessman. Beautifully filmed, the cinematography as much of a presence as the actors. Subtle and powerful about the ambivalent line walked by both women. Also worth watching.
Hugo. Scorsese’s steampunk love letter to the earliest days of cinema, in the guise of a children’s film. It’s sweet.
The Green Knight. Reminded me of Ingmar Bergman. The dreamscapes – which really include everything that happens – are metaphors for questions like What is honor? What is a man’s life for? What is choice? And none of the answers are unambiguous. The hero is the opposite of the noble, unconflicted adventurer of Arthur’s round table. He clings to the chivalric ideal of honor because he can’t figure out what else to build his life around, despite the continual challenges to those beliefs the world throws at him. It’s not a simple or even satisfying film, but it sticks with you, in an intellectual way at least, after it’s over.
I have a hard time finding movies that are not about violence and adrenalin, and not about sex. I don’t mind those things in films if they are not the main reason for the film to have been made. I also find big CGI about Good Guys and Bad Guys somewhat tiring, and as for “grittiness”, you can have it. Open to suggestions …
Mr. Right with Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick. They’re both so damned charming, but something about it was just off. Not a great choice for an X-Mas Eve movie.
It is anti the execution of religion, taking the piss out of the catholic church (buddy christ) and their obsession of law (ending the world loopholes) but not against the existence of angels, god etc.
But I can see how due to angels etc being in, can be taken as not.
If you want a really quiet, thoughtful, and beautiful anime try this short movie - The Garden of Words, by Makoto Shinkai, who also made Your Name.
The full 45min movie is on YouTube. (English dub, not ideal, but probably better if you’re not into anime).
It’s subtler than it looks. Things are not spelled out. You need to take note of the details, think about it and draw your own inferences and conclusions.
Recently watched three movies on UK TV which all have themes of females and violence. Didn’t like any of them to be honest.
Revenge (2017) Woman raped and gets revenge by killing the three men who have wronged her. The desert set movie is attractively shot like a glossy perfume advert and uses literally gallons of fake blood. I found it tedious. Although seemingly set in the real world the woman endures clearly fatal injuries but (the very next day) deals with the men who also endure fatal wounds long before they actually die. Directed by a woman the rape scene isn’t gratuitous but in a reversal of what is usual in this type of movie there is an extended period of male nudity at the end. Whole thing might be meant as a joke that I didn’t get.
A Vigilante (2018) Almost like two movies in one. The first has a PTSD suffering former abused wife (Olivia Wilde who’s acting is good) as a faintly ridiculous vigilante saving the abused. It’s about as credible as an episode of the A Team. But half way through the movie she is suddenly abducted by her (previously unseen in the movie) husband and has to escape and deal with him. Sadly with so little time left in the film this far more promising plot is far too superficially dealt with. Strip out the A Team bit, do the abusive husband narrative properly and you could have a decent movie.
Peppermint (2018) All the most trite and hackneyed vigilante movie tropes and cliches are thrown at the wall in this Jennifer Garner movie which is astonishingly stupid. A total mess. Has a completely undeveloped sub-plot involving two police officers. Then for good measure throws in an even LESS developed further sub-plot with an FBI agent. Garner is capable of a far better movie. She’s not in this but Pia Zadora is capable of a far better movie!
I couldn’t sleep a wink last night, so at 3am, turned on City Slickers II. Oh my god, what a mess. Not a single funny joke in two tourtorous hours. Just horrible, stupid and tedious.
I’m watching Bridge On The River Kwai right now. A classic for sure, but as a Christmas movie, just Madness, Madness!
Just finished Don’t Look Up on Netflix. Pretty biting satire, if none too subtle.
It’s rather frightening, not because it’s about a giant comet that’s about to destroy the earth, but because the ridiculous reactions of many of the characters are entirely believable in this day and age. Hits hard at the willfully ignorant and the politically opportunistic.
Some fine performances, especially from the two leads, though I thought it could have been a good half-hour shorter. Still, a satisfying watch.
Encanto, on Disney+. I really wanted to like it and it got excellent reviews … but … meh.
The animation is great and the songs are good, and I’m sure it will win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. But the story is thin and weak and really makes no sense.
I can’t help but compare it to Moana: spunky young heroine defies her family and goes on a quest to save her culture, with songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda. It even recycles a gag from Moana (shape-shifter’s powers go on the fritz, and shifts erratically). And Mirabel looks exactly like Moana with glasses. But Moana is much better.
In the days before my Mom passed away one of her comforts was watching Turner Classic Movies pretty much non stop. Together we watched Meet me in St Louis and It happened on Fifth Avenue and a day later she was gone.
So I had to watch both movies again this weekend and found them on HBO max. Classics, made my heart full of memories and nostalgic for Christmas with my parents.
Then I was ready for something dark and atmospheric, I saw this movie a couple years ago and found it on ITunes. So I bought it because I know I’ll return to it again and again.
A documentary about brothers Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks, an incredibly prolific and hugely influential (not to mention very weird) band that I knew virtually nothing about before watching this.
It’s a fascinating look into their art and music, their rejection of commercialism alongside their frustration at not finding commercial success, their ability to adapt and persevere and continuously re-invent themselves, and so much more.
I highly recommend this doc whether you are familiar with Sparks or not. I’m definitely going to be digging into their catalog after this.
US Marshals with Tommy Lee Jones and Wesley Snipes.
The Rock with Sean Connery, Ed Harris, and Nicolas Cage
Both 90’s action movies. I enjoyed US Marshals. Interesting twist on The Fugitive. Snipes is the falsely accused man on the run. Except he’s also a trained special forces operative. Tommy Lee is great as the relentless pursuer. I want to watch again and better understand the plot.
The Rock is difficult for me to believe. It’s so ridiculous that two guys can take on an entire rogue special forces unit. The movie starts out really well. Sean Connery’s entrance with the wild hair and ruthless attitude reminds me of the menacing Hannibal Lector in a Strait jacket, strapped to the Dolly. I liked the plan to invade Alcatraz with a recon team. But then we are quickly left with 2 guys fighting a superior force by themselves. The Rock was mildly entertaining but probably wouldn’t watch again.
I finally got around to seeing Black Panther and it was okay. Even “good” but it was pretty typical MCU fare which was a little disappointing for how much people lauded it. I think a lot of people were conflating the value of a Black superhero and cast (which is legitimate) with the quality of the film itself which was your usual three part hero arc with special effects and mass battles and solo battles and all that. Don’t get me wrong: if you want to watch an MCU superhero beat 'em up you could do worse than Black Panther but I don’t know if I’d put it in the top tier based on merit.
Nightmare Alley - My Christmas Eve “celebration”. I was really looking forward to this and it did not disappoint. I also like the 1947 version but they are completely different animals. It was both beautiful to look at - the art deco sets and Cate Blanchett doing her high falutin best in fabulous outfits, and sometimes hard to watch what is up with Mr. del Toro and people getting their faces pulverized/.
Old - I’m not an M. Night Shyamalan fangirl or anything, but I seem to enjoy more of his work than most people. The reviews were mixed, for good reason. There are definitely flaws, such as not great acting by otherwise great actors and some flaws in logic. Still, I enjoyed the heck out of it. I think it should have ended right after it was revealed that it was a medical research company behind it all, and maybe showing the next group of “guinea pigs”. Having the two children survive felt kind of like the studio demanded a happy ending or something
The Battleship Island (Netflix, 2017, in Korean but CC for English) Hashima Island (also seen in Skyfall) is a real hellhole of a tiny island with a dark history. It’s an underwater coal mine used extensively during WWII mostly by forced Korean labor which faced horrendous mining conditions and the women where sent to brothels on the island to service the Japanese soldiers. The movie starts out with a Korean jazz band trying to make it to Japan to avoid conscription in the military to fight the Russians in '45. They’re instead sent to the island where the young band leader tries to protect his preteen daughter. There’s a Korean undercover OSS operative and an escape plan for a politically connected Korean politician. While mostly historical, the film also uses the island as a microcosm of occupied Korea and is full of nuance some of which I managed to gather, but no doubt missed most of it.
I wanted to like it. And for the first half I did. As I said in my Space Sweeper synopsis above, as far as production, CGI and acting go Korean cinema can now hold it’s own against Hollywood and it’s exciting to see a new perspective. Which this case is WWII Pacific Theatre from the Korean perspective. Unfortunately the last half dragged despite the action and gore. Too much was happening in too many locales for any emotional drama, it reminded me of Phantom Menace in that respect. Too much was predictable, took far too long to play out, and was unoriginal.
C grade at best, pass. Worth watching I guess if WWII history and Korean history in particular are your thing and want to see a period piece about it.
