shallowness

It’s been a somewhat Regency-tinged Christmas, in that I rewatched the 2020 adaptation of Emma, and most of what I thought the first time around applies, only the song selection particularly struck me this time. I also watched Mr Malcom’s List on DVD,

( My generally positive review if you embrace what it is )

Strictly Christmas special

I planned to sit down and watch this through on catch up, but it turned out to be a stop-start affair.

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Ghosts: It’s Behind You

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[Edited for typos 24/2/25.]

There have been a couple of articles in the Guardian, The Bourne Identity at 20 and Minority Report at 20 that have made me go, ‘huh, yeah, it IS 20 years.’

( A bit more reaction. )

I have been taking the opportunity to watch films I never got around to seeing in the cinema on TV. One of them was ‘Radioactive’, a Rosamond Pike-starring biopic of Marie Curie. It was worth watching, but not great.

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I also watched ‘What Maisie Knew’ which is based on a Henry James novella that I’d heard of, but never read, shifted forward to the early 21st century. It got to me emotionally.

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I’ve also been reading ‘Thick as Thieves’ by Megan Whalen Turner, the fifth in the Thief of Attolia series, which is YA fantasy if you don't know it, although I suspect most people in these parts will.

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I finally saw it! It’s unavoidable that I would have preferred to see it on a big screen, but I couldn’t, but at least I got to see it and it stirred up ‘girls with swords’ and wushu feels.

( I liked it, but there were bumps. )

Crossposts: https://profshallowness.livejournal.com/936189.html

I watched ‘Promising Young Woman’ on DVD the other night, and it was even better than I expected, given all the award-bothering.

( No major spoilers )

Crossposts: https://profshallowness.livejournal.com/935607.html

I watched this on Christmas Day, having hoarded it up for that,

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But I mostly enjoyed it and I’m glad that I got a Black Widow calendar for next year.

Crossposts: https://profshallowness.livejournal.com/933600.html

I feel like I should rec a source before getting to the recs. Cairo Time (2009) is a romantic drama, written and directed by Ruba Nedda, a Canadian of Egyptian descent. Despite being about an emotional affair between a married woman and the friend her husband asks to show her Cairo and look out for her when he can’t join her there (infidelity squick), it reeled me in. There’s a touch of ‘Lost in Translation’ about Juliette (Patricia Clarkson) initially, as she suffers discombobulation on top of empty-nest syndrome and spousal abandonment, but as she gets to know Tareq (Alexander Siddig) and his city, a restrained love story develops. If this sound like something you’d be interested in, it’s well worth hunting down, as I did this summer. (And then I tried to write some fic in response to it, struggled and thought I'd check AO3 and lo and behold, thanks to Yuletide, there was fic.)

Fic and fanvid recs in the following fandoms: Alice (2009), The Bletchley Circle (San Fransisco), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cairo Time (2019) and The Mentalist.

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Crossposts: https://profshallowness.livejournal.com/923147.html

Out of Sight is on iPlayer at the moment. I don’t think I’ve watched it since it was first shown on TV (or possibly I rented it out on video. It is about 23 years old.) If my life was cool, I’d want David Holmes to soundtrack it.

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I’ve also started rereading what was known as the Seven Kingdoms trilogy but is now the Graceling realm series, before I turn to my copy of ‘Winterkeep’. It was clearly time, because while I remembered the broad sweep and relationships of ‘Graceling’, I was surprised at the details.

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Current Mood: sweltering
Crossposts: https://profshallowness.livejournal.com/917248.html

So, I watched Wonder Woman 1984 on Blu-Ray (my first Blu-Ray) now that I've got a player. It was a few weeks ago, actually, but it took me some time to work through the extras.

I had a mixed reaction to this, although I didn’t want to, but I don’t think it was as good as the first. It’s pretty entertaining (if overlong). But I don’t think there was an awesome bit that felt as sustained as in the first film

( spoilery details )

Trailerwatch: MULAN! This made my heart sing. I also saw the Wonder Woman 1984 trailer, which felt like scattered bits from a very rough cut, but I loved the music, flashes of colour and Diana’s home. Kirsten Wiig’s character seems to have a touch of Selina Kyle’s arc in Barman Returns. Obviously the big mystery is how Steve comes back (and I want a better answer than nobody stays dead in comics).

Birds of Prey: And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn

They should have picked a shorter title for this movie. The cinema listed it as Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey, which was actually even more confusing. Yes, the full title is fun, but someone should have made the realistic call and insisted it was called Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey.

Anyway, it was fun, at times, a lot of fun, and hurrah for that. Please let DC have moved on from the Zach Snyder era, thinking their movies had to have serious import.

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Crossposts: https://profshallowness.livejournal.com/868941.html

As seen on Monday night.

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If you like Austen in general, go see it – it doesn’t mess it up too much and offers some nice perspectives on certain aspects of the novel. (It's not stiflingly 2020ish.) Normally, I get more critical in the days after seeing a film, but not so much with this one.

[Slight edits made on 30/12/22.]

Crossposts: https://profshallowness.livejournal.com/868830.html

Giri/Haji – ep 7

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I went to see Knives Out last night. It’s entertaining enough, most of all if you have a fondness for murder mysteries that ‘play fair’, though it’s a tad self-indulgent. It’s no The Brothers Bloom (my highwater mark for Rian Johnson films; I didn’t she a Joseph Gordon Levitt cameo). Chris Evans is having a ball, as you’re primed to expect from the trailers, but there was one chunky jumper not even he could save. He looked fine in the rest of his outfits. Also, the Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman fangirl in me was delighted by K Callen’s presence.

Crossposts: https://profshallowness.livejournal.com/861933.html

Downton Abbey 2019

( Short version: Like a Christmas special with a bigger budget. Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess of Grantham YAY! )

Trailerwatch: Now I have more of a feel for what The Aeronauts will be like and I think I'll go see it. Cats...is better if you close your eyes and listen to Jennifer Hudson sing her heart out. Like many things, it would have been better animated. Not going to see it.

(Lightly edited 30/4/2022.)

Crossposts: https://profshallowness.livejournal.com/852805.html

Do you like the Pretending to be a Couple trope in all its iterations? Do you like Jane Austen? Then may I point you to a Hindi-language movie called Photograph, currently in UK cinemas (the ones that show what used to be called arthouse)?

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Crossposts: https://profshallowness.livejournal.com/847017.html

Last week, I finally watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge on DVD. I’ve had it for ages, but kept passing it over. Most of the same problems that struck me when I saw it on the big screen remain. I caught the post-credit scene for the first time.

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And I finally saw Spider-Man: Far From Home

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Having said that, the trailers for the upcoming summer fare were underwhelming.

Crossposts: https://profshallowness.livejournal.com/844029.html

So, I’ve seen X-Men: Dark Phoenix.

I had mixed feelings upon going in. My excitement at a do-over of the Dark Phoenix saga on the big screen has diminished since they cued it up in Apocalypse, although I expected this film to be better than X-Men: The Last Stand, which I do not think is an unreasonable ask. I was also unenthused that Mystique and Magneto would be in it, worried that the plot would have to accommodate them and Lawrence and Fassbender’s wattage, but pleased about Chastain playing the baddie. And then, as more news came out about Singer, it seemed like a good thing that Simon Kinsberg was writing and directing, except he’d never directed before and…

Non spoilery reaction: 'eh'.

( Spoilers (also for Avengers: Endgame )

Crossposts: https://profshallowness.livejournal.com/838722.html

Gotham 5.1 Year Zero

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So many episodes to catch up on, but I went to the cinema to see Avengers: Endgame again yesterday.

( Thoughts. Spoilers. )

Before the film we were addressed by Tom Holland because they were playing a Spider-man: Far from Home trailer after the credits. I think it’s a good idea, because probably people were staying, and the trailer was way spoilery for Endgame.

( Thoughts. Spoilers. )

Crossposts: https://profshallowness.livejournal.com/837104.html

I had to go and see a showing an hour after I intended, and thought I got one of the last few seats, but it was a decent seat. When I took it, there were quite a few seats to my left that were really empty, which made me tense about when they'd turn up. Which was never.

Trailerwatch: X-Men: Dark Phoenix looks as if it might have interesting things to say about gender. I am trying to sit on those expectations until they are the realistic ‘is better than X-Men 3: The Last Stand’. Also, John Wick 3, how dare you look like my kind of film? I still refuse to go see a film trilogy hinging on a dead dog.

( Not really spoilery, discussing the length and when you can leave. )

( Spoilers )

So, icons I want are

( visual spoilers? )

Crossposts: https://profshallowness.livejournal.com/832470.html

My Captain Marvel review, then.

It was enjoyable!

( spoilers )

Crossposts: https://profshallowness.livejournal.com/826389.html

I saw The Lego Movie 2: the second part last night, and I doubt I’ll laugh as much as the cinema this year, although Hollywood etc are welcome to try to beat it. The film met the sequel challenge by going even more out there. I was laughing fairly helplessly from the reveal of what’s happened to Bricksburg, and by the time we got to a duet involving Batman, I wanted to draw heart shapes in glitter around the film. It also features probably the best over-the-credits song in modern cinema.

( regarding awesomeness )

It made me a little sad that there was no Sky High 2 (same director), but the universe could pay me back and let Miller and Lord work on Animaniacs or even the original Warners cartoon characters. If I wanted that to happen after Spider-man: Into the Spiderverse, I want it so much more now.

Crossposts: https://profshallowness.livejournal.com/823382.html

I saw Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Grindelwald and found it underwhelming.

( spoilers )

Strictly – the one after Blackpool

( seven couples dance twice, but there's only eight routines )

Crossposts: https://profshallowness.livejournal.com/812844.html

Entries tagged with my movie reviews

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Mulan review

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Downton Abbey goes to the Movies

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Do you know what the kids call you? Yes, from the trailer.

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