shallowness

I rewatched Black Widow in prep, and as Yelena and Alexei are funny and entertaining in it (and I followed who and what Taskmaster was better in this rewatch), it was probably worth it. ( Brief review. )

About fifteen people in my showing, with less than half leaving early, but the rest of us stayed until the post-credits scene. Among the trailers, Mission Impossible (which has been getting lots of free promo in the British news this week), Superman (i, did not realise that was coming out this summer, ii, unenthused about Krypto, iii, pretty leads, iv, willing to trust James Gunn up to a point) and Fantastic 4: First Steps (skipped the second iteration of F4. Going retro is going to make for comparisons with The Incredibles...but, fine, make the Silver Surfer female.) Am more enthused about Superman than Fantastic 4.

As for Thunderbolts*, overall, yes, it's an entertaining iteration of the scrappy team of powered people having done bad things learning to work together and maybe do good. It has the sense to know that Florence Pugh is the star, making Yelena Belova (who has the least powers) its heart and leader. Some of it is stuff we’ve seen before, deliberately so in some ways, but it’s better and more cohesive than Suicide Squad (backhand compliment though that is.) It has a nice line in being self-deprecating before the audience can be, and is consistently amusing, if not laugh out loud funny, while dealing with damaged, grieving people and continuing the touching relationship of a grown-up child assassin and her embarrassing adoptive dad hankering after glory days that never were first seen in Black Widow.

( tl;dr, spoilers, references to Trump )

In 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. ( spoilers ) 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 ( Read more... ) 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.

I'm going to carry on with this.

I returned to the cinema to see Wicked part 1, and it’s the first time I’ve gone to see a film for the second time in the cinema since 2019. It absolutely stood up to the rewatch, ( Read more... )

I had a fair idea of what to expect from We Live In Time – it’s a British-set romantic drama told in a non-linear fashion featuring two strong lead performances, though I have to admit I was just a little disappointed. ( Read more... )

I saw no films in the cinema in October – a particularly horror-obsessed month. But in late November, I went to see Blitz, and as the reviews said, it was somewhat old-fashioned, except from a Black British perspective. There’s also modern FX bringing the scale of the Blitz to life, and some handheld camera work that is sometimes immersive, sometimes baffling. It focuses on one family, as 9-year-old George decides to jump off the train evacuating him from London to go home, which starts off as a Boys Own adventure, then goes a bit Dickensian. His single mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan, as good as you’d expect. Also, she sings. I didn’t know she sang!) tries to carry on without him, until she finds out he’s gone missing. The kid has a presence.

Mark Kermode said he thought this was aimed at adolescents, which explains the broad characterisations. You’d want to have a think about how your twelve year old would react to seeing a film about a child facing things no child should experience, I imagine, because much of this really happened (and similar is happening in parts of the world now.)

I only heard about at the end of last week, but I badly want to see Your Monster (it sounds idtastic in a way that would appeal to me, but with emotional intelligence), however it wasn’t showing anywhere near my neck of the woods.

Instead I went to see Wicked part 1, I haven’t seen the show (nor read the book), but I’ve acquired a lot of knowledge about it over the years, and heard a lot of various versions of the songs. Take a bow, Jon M. Chu and everyone involved, I expect production and costume design to get nods at the Oscars. I loved the scale, the old-school nods to ‘The Wizard of Oz’, but the translation from stage to screen was really good, ( tl:dr spoilers )

In short then, this is pretty great – Erivo is brilliant, Grande good (heh) and the number of good songs are pluses. I can see myself trying to go to see it in the cinema again, and I haven’t felt that pull since Dune part 2. Also, nobody sang in the screening.

I went to see Inside Out 2 with tempered expectations, and as everyone has said, while it’s not as good as the original, it’s well worth seeing. ( Read more... )

I caught a cold in July and my cough hung around, so I didn’t go to the cinema all month. So, it was in August that I went to see Twisters. ( minor spoilers. Also, I enjoyed it for what it was. )

I’ve also finally seen Past Lives on DVD and thought it very, very good (a brilliant debut by Celine Song) with very specific and thus universal things to say about identity. And so beautifully shot!

I went to see Widow Clicquot, which was almost exactly the film I thought it would be from the trailer. That’s not a criticism, per se. ( Read more... )

Civil War ( Read more... )

Back To Black ( Read more... )

Because I’m doing this (posting monthly about what movies I’ve seen) this year apparently:

( Dune part 1 )

( Argylle )

I have been to the cinema again! (It’s still a bit of a novelty.) I went to see The Creator by Gareth Edwards, who I know from Monsters, which I love, and this shares the CGI meets real locations DNA of that film, although it’s not as good. (The movie, I mean, the FX are great.) It kind of worked for me emotionally, eventually, but the more you think about it, the more it falls apart. Even while watching it, I was side-eyeing the hero and the male POV, quibbling about scientific parameters, finding where it eventually landed with its ‘goodies’ and baddies’ snarkworthy. Much has been made of it being original (i.e. not an adaptation or part of a franchise), but there’s a long list of clear influences. The acting is good – John David Washington sounding like his father, Gemma ‘Humans was an audition’ Chan, Allison Janney! Young Madeline Yuna Voyles is terrific. I was glad I experienced it on the big screen, though.

The Wheel of Time - 1.6 The Flame of Tar Valon

( Read more... )

I went to see Barbie last week, and I’ve been finding it a bit difficult to capture what I want to say about it, when so much has been said by others already. I really enjoyed it, myself (there are musical numbers! I was reminded of MGM musicals early on!! Ryan Gosling made me laugh a lot!!!) I’m less interested in what male film critics have to say about this film than usual, even ones I rate, because I don’t think they’ll have the same sense of recognition of some of what’s on the screen. The auditorium was packed and overwhelmingly female. Some of the younger girls there are going to keep finding things that they didn’t get this time when they watch it again.

Margot Robbie has to be the film’s beating heart (such huge respect for her as producer.) ( spoiler?? ) I enjoyed the moments of tenderness among the satire and silliness. This is a film that remembers how girls played. I had one Barbie and she probably did end up in a Weird Barbie state, while I think Sindy probably influenced my ideas of beauty, especially in the face, more, but it was the fact that I couldn’t get a doll of Amy from A-Team and had to make do with a Hannibal one that may have been the most telling doll incident from my childhood.

Oh, and as I really wanted to see this from when the trailer first dropped, but was doubtful I could go and see it at the cinema for Reasons, I was really chuffed that I could.

Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 was the first film I went to see in the cinema after three years and change (due to caution because of COVID and vision issues,) and I’m glad. ( Positive review with spoilers ) I’d say it’s not worth staying after the mid credits scene for the post-credits one, but apparently Star Lord will be back. I like Pratt’s Peter Quill fine, but I love the weird space setting of GatG more.