Showing posts with label Joe Alwyn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joe Alwyn. Show all posts

Sunday, May 26, 2019

Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

There were some things I liked: the color blind casting and the ravishing costumes. The movie is otherwise really boring. I fell asleep in the middle and when I woke up, I did not bother going back. I couldn't even tell quite how much I had missed.

Thursday, January 10, 2019

The Favourite (2018)

The Favourite is raucously brilliant. The writing is hilarious and it's even more amazing for being a true story. And I am willing to overlook the abrupt and unsatisfactory ending because I so enjoyed the rest of it. Yorgos Lanthimos really has some original, quirky ideas. I also quite enjoyed the premise of the Lobster, but it's another one where I didn't like the ending. He can't finish. In this case, maybe it's actually that I just didn't want it to end. It's a really good time. The actors are all superb, not just the trio of ladies but Nicholas Hoult too. The way they deliver their lines are almost Shakespearean. The moments pass so quickly and effortlessly that it's easy to miss the punchline if you're not paying attention. It's a masterclass in acting. The cinematography is certainly a choice. For some shots, but not all, they employ a wide angled fish-eye lens. It intentionally distorts the image and makes the subjects appear small in these grand rooms. I personally didn't like the cinematography, but it is certainly notable. The costumes and production design are delightful!

Friday, November 16, 2018

Boy Erased (2018)

Joel Edgerton must have some issues. The writer and director cast himself as the villain. This is no sympathetic villain either. I don't think he means to condone his character's behavior. Does he identify with the hack Christian therapist Victor Sykes? Overall, the movie is good. It exposes the truth about these "gay conversion retreats" for the child abuse they are; the Evangelical audience watches it for this purpose. But for audiences on the liberal coasts, it is more revelatory than expository. This is a whole Evangelical world so far from my own that I couldn't have fathomed.  There are some very troubling scenes in this movie, absolutely appalling stuff. Maybe none more than the victim blaming and the disturbing rape that goes ignored. And it makes me dislike the movie to a degree, again even though Edgerton is not explicitly condoning it. That it goes unpunished and uncommented on, almost amounts to effectively condoning it.