Movies seen in January (2026)
Feb. 1st, 2026 08:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessAs I said I wanted to, I went to see Hamnet and it lived up to my expectations – it’s weird to go and see your first film in a new year and wonder if you’ve already seen the best film of the year. It made me tear up. I can mostly understand why they made the changes they made from the novel, though I wonder if people who haven’t read it will feel confused about some things or feel that they were missing some things. The acting is fabulous from the adults (and the kids are naturalistic.) I will note that they went for natural light so some bits of indoor scenes felt too dark to always make out what was going on. And yeah, I know there's been a backlash subsequently, and some valid criticisms have been made too.
I knew less about Song Sung Blue going in, which is based on a couple who were a real life Neil Diamond tribute act, and only in a film based on true events could you depict what they go through. Hugh Jackman does his thing as Lightning/Mike, but Kate Hudson is a bit of a revelation as Thunder/Claire. There’s a lot of performances of Neil Diamond songs, but the more touching bits come because of the close-ups that show the lines on the faces of the adults having this second-chance romance [I’m in the camp that thought Jackman should have retired as Wolverine after Logan] and chance to perform, as both their teen daughters discuss their parents’ baggage and the family blends. Sometimes it’s too broad, but it is warm hearted.
I posted about it more fully here, but I went to see the extended edition of The Fellowship of the Ring on a big screen, and it was well worth it, even though there was no break, and it required planning and having to put up with some people’s smartphone addiction. The ticket was cheaper than it normally is for films at that cinema at that time. Is this what cinema has to do to keep going – hark back to the glory days of a quarter of a century ago? If the other two have been released, they weren't in my neck of the woods, I think.
I don't know if I'll be doing this monthly, we'll see what the year brings. I'm glad it's February, personally.
I knew less about Song Sung Blue going in, which is based on a couple who were a real life Neil Diamond tribute act, and only in a film based on true events could you depict what they go through. Hugh Jackman does his thing as Lightning/Mike, but Kate Hudson is a bit of a revelation as Thunder/Claire. There’s a lot of performances of Neil Diamond songs, but the more touching bits come because of the close-ups that show the lines on the faces of the adults having this second-chance romance [I’m in the camp that thought Jackman should have retired as Wolverine after Logan] and chance to perform, as both their teen daughters discuss their parents’ baggage and the family blends. Sometimes it’s too broad, but it is warm hearted.
I posted about it more fully here, but I went to see the extended edition of The Fellowship of the Ring on a big screen, and it was well worth it, even though there was no break, and it required planning and having to put up with some people’s smartphone addiction. The ticket was cheaper than it normally is for films at that cinema at that time. Is this what cinema has to do to keep going – hark back to the glory days of a quarter of a century ago? If the other two have been released, they weren't in my neck of the woods, I think.
I don't know if I'll be doing this monthly, we'll see what the year brings. I'm glad it's February, personally.
