Yes, I read quite a lot. I spend even more time than that watching television. But I also watch films occasionally, and I thought it would be fun to go through some of the ones I’ve watched in the past month or two, with brief reviews.
The Favourite
It’s been getting good press everywhere, and it’s certainly distinctive. This very odd take on Queen Anne (with the stellar and triple Oscar nominated cast of Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz) dispenses with everything you expect from a historical drama. The humour is dark, though nowhere near as dark as the director’s previous, horrendous film The Lobster. Very strange, and worth seeing.
Mary, Queen of Scots
In contrast, this felt much more like a paint-by-numbers historical drama. Saoirse Ronan is predictably brilliant, but the script isn’t amazing and the score is very heavy-handed. Worth seeing for Ronan’s performance (and the great costumes and hair), but the film isn’t particularly special overall.
Love Per Square Foot
I love Bollywood, and this Netflix film is a delight. Two people need to pretend to be a couple to secure an apartment… guess what happens next?! The two leads are very lovable, and the whole thing is great fun. I’ve seen a few people complain at the length (2 hours 15 minutes) but it seemed very short for a Bollywood film!
Three Identical Strangers
This documentary looks at triplets who only discovered each other as adults, having been adopted by three different families. That’s strange enough, but the more the film goes on, the stranger it gets – as you find out how and why they were separated. I have never felt angrier in a cinema. The quality comes from the story rather than the documentary making, which is only really pedestrian, but the story is certainly interesting enough to survive that.
FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened
Much less worthy, this looks at the disaster (and criminal fraud) behind the FYRE Festival. I’d never heard of the festival, but it’s an eye-opening look at how the Instagram age can get carried away when nobody really knows how to organise a festival (and don’t mind stealing people’s money on false premises). This was the nicest aftermath of it.
Mary Poppins Returns
Watched this on Boxing Day, and it was absolutely wonderful. A very worthy follow up to the original film, and with much better songs than we could have hoped for. Emily Blunt puts on a posh English voice despite having a posh English voice already, and there is a brilliant cameo from the original Jane.
Source Code
I’m not usually one for thrillers, but Jack Gyllenhaal trying to find out who bombed a train – via some strange science thing that isn’t time travel, but feels like it – is done with the right level of humanity and pace. I like a high concept film that doesn’t linger over explaining that concept.
Tallulah
Another Netflix one, this indie comedy pairs Ellen Page and Allison Janney as they look after a kidnapped baby. Janney can do no wrong, and it’s great to see two such excellent and committed actresses get to some interesting, funny, moving material.
First Man
This is the only film I’ve ever walked out of at the cinema. Stunningly boring.
I was going to see the Favourite but have heard so much about it I’ve gone off it. Three Identical Strangers is one I want to see but was travelling when it was here and I missed it. Will see it once it’s released as a dvd. Mary Poppins was brilliant. I loved it. All of it!
The movie I remember walking out on many years ago, was something called The Man Who Fell From Grace With the Sea (1976 British film with Kris Kristofferson and Sarah Miles). A cat was sadistically murdered in it. It was just intolerable.
I’ve been watching a lot of movies lately in anticipation of the Oscars — I try to see as many of the nominees as possible (though some years it’s mostly the animated and special effects awards, as that’s what seems to be showing at the local theater). I actually drove an hour to see The Favourite as it probably won’t make it to my small town. I thought it was wonderfully weird and surreal, and parts of it are very funny. Though I do think Olivia Coleman’s part was actually smaller than the other two — I feel like Emma Stone actually had the most screen time. All three of the leads were wonderful. Much better than The Lobster!
Great post, I may steal your idea and do my own Oscar rundown before the awards ceremony!
Loved The Favourite – Olivia Colman’s part may have been less showy in a way than Stone or Weisz, but she was perfect.
I’m going to see All is True this week – the premiere is being broadcast to our tiny little cinema with a Q&A with Branagh et all afterwards. Not sure about it, but the opportunity of the Q&A was too much to resist.
Netflix (U.S.) just showed the doc about the triplets and the secret research. Wow. As a identical twin myself (like you), I was pretty angry at how much torment this researcher, the agency and board, and his assistants caused the families and the children. Grr. I’m wondering how many other “subjects” are out there not knowing that they have a twin or similar. I would be heartbroken without knowing my twinster.
You might want to see if you can catch “On the Basis of Sex” about Supreme Court Justice Ruth B-G. Excellent as both a social documentary of the times and as a bio of sorts for RBG. Worth going to, I think.
I think it does make twins particularly angry – I was furious that somebody could unthinkingly have removed something that is the most important relationship in my life. Grr!
And I saw the trailer for On the Basis of Sex recently – not out in the UK yet, but keen to watch it when it is.
Olivia Colman was great as ever in The Favourite but I found the film to be tragic rather than the comedy it was advertised as being. I enjoyed David Tennant as John Knox in Mary Queen of Scots and the scenery was good.
I did NOT realise that was David Tennant! Wow, impressive.
I just loved Talullah. I was expecting it to be a pleasant diversion, but was unexpectedly moved, enough to watch it again! (And you’re a Bollywood fan: I’d never’ve guessed!)
The power of Allison Janney!