Movies watched in February 2025
Mar. 1st, 2025 09:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessIn the cinema:
Companion is, arguably, a film you should know as little as possible about before going to see, (I had seen the trailer, which maybe gave too much away) although I’d say it’s probably not a date move and it got a 15 certificate in the UK, mainly for violence. I thought the script was excellent. And I found there were twists aplenty. The strength of the metaphor for coercive relationships and devaluing people makes it relatable. I enjoyed the Niska from Humans energy, and preferred this to Ex Machina. It was scored by Hrishikesh Hirway of The West Wing Weekly, and the song choices are very good.
I posted about Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy here. I laughed and I cried and thought bits of it were a mess. I should perhaps issue the trigger warning that the first thing on screen is the Miramax logo (ew), which speaks to when the first Bridget Jones movie was made.
On streaming (Prime):
I watched Modern Persuasion (2019) and enjoyed it and as it’s the kind of thing I’d rec if it were a fic, I thought I’d reference it here. Yes, the title is clunky, but accurate: Persuasion is transferred to twenty-first century NYC but lets the premise breathe there. I loved most of the translations to the new setting – the Elliots and Musgraves are our Anne stand-in Ren’s work family. She’s played sympathetically by Alicia Witt, I didn’t really know any of the rest of the cast from before, other than Babe Neurith, who plays Vanessa. The Mary equivalent made me laugh the most. So, if watching a Persuasion modern day AU by people who love the original appeals to you, it’s worth a look. (Admittedly, it’s no Clueless or Lizzie Bennet Diaries.)
The Wanting Mare (2022) was described as sci-fi, and I suppose it is, but not hard sci-fi, they use modern-enough tech (electricity, modes of transport, guns) and the folk tale elements are stronger. You could just as well call it science fantasy. It’s way more about the atmosphere than the plot, and though you get some answers, it sticks to its mysteries, and the ending left me with a completely different interpretation of what we’d seen. I found it really powerful. The trailer gives you a good sense of the mood, but a misleading sense of what will happen. (It’s rated 16+, mainly for brief but graphic injuries.) Give it five or ten minutes after the mumbling opening scene, and see if the sound of the sea, the use of montage and the glimpse of horses have drawn you in.
Companion is, arguably, a film you should know as little as possible about before going to see, (I had seen the trailer, which maybe gave too much away) although I’d say it’s probably not a date move and it got a 15 certificate in the UK, mainly for violence. I thought the script was excellent. And I found there were twists aplenty. The strength of the metaphor for coercive relationships and devaluing people makes it relatable. I enjoyed the Niska from Humans energy, and preferred this to Ex Machina. It was scored by Hrishikesh Hirway of The West Wing Weekly, and the song choices are very good.
I posted about Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy here. I laughed and I cried and thought bits of it were a mess. I should perhaps issue the trigger warning that the first thing on screen is the Miramax logo (ew), which speaks to when the first Bridget Jones movie was made.
On streaming (Prime):
I watched Modern Persuasion (2019) and enjoyed it and as it’s the kind of thing I’d rec if it were a fic, I thought I’d reference it here. Yes, the title is clunky, but accurate: Persuasion is transferred to twenty-first century NYC but lets the premise breathe there. I loved most of the translations to the new setting – the Elliots and Musgraves are our Anne stand-in Ren’s work family. She’s played sympathetically by Alicia Witt, I didn’t really know any of the rest of the cast from before, other than Babe Neurith, who plays Vanessa. The Mary equivalent made me laugh the most. So, if watching a Persuasion modern day AU by people who love the original appeals to you, it’s worth a look. (Admittedly, it’s no Clueless or Lizzie Bennet Diaries.)
The Wanting Mare (2022) was described as sci-fi, and I suppose it is, but not hard sci-fi, they use modern-enough tech (electricity, modes of transport, guns) and the folk tale elements are stronger. You could just as well call it science fantasy. It’s way more about the atmosphere than the plot, and though you get some answers, it sticks to its mysteries, and the ending left me with a completely different interpretation of what we’d seen. I found it really powerful. The trailer gives you a good sense of the mood, but a misleading sense of what will happen. (It’s rated 16+, mainly for brief but graphic injuries.) Give it five or ten minutes after the mumbling opening scene, and see if the sound of the sea, the use of montage and the glimpse of horses have drawn you in.
