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Reviews
Maestro (2023)
Shallow
For all the beautifully shot B/W sceneries, all the carefully selected music pieces that match every scene, the constantly smoke filled rooms, the triumphant bows, etc etc, this movie managed to be only a skin deep portrait of the title character. Maybe in real life he was actually like this, constantly moving, talking, working, couldn't face one moment of silence. I don't know and don't really care - the movie did not make me care. Instead, I cared about the wife deeply. Her quiet desperation was louder than the ten thousand words the husband spoke in this movie.
I noticed that Carey Mulligan got the first billing, so maybe deep down they knew this movie should be about her instead? In that case, the scene to end the movie would be the one in the restaurant where she said, I thought I could survive on what he could give (something to that effect). Alas, we end in the standard male gaze of a more youthful her looking at him like he was the entire world.
All the King's Men (2006)
Jack is in love with Willie
This review has nothing to do with the main theme of this movie. I never read the book, never watched the original film, and I don't ever watch political dramas unless the cast warrants a look, and this cast does. Jude Law is the reason that I watched it twice (first time was a long ago). On second viewing, I have decided that Jack is the protagonist and this is a story about unrequited love and the ruins such love would bring.
The hints are everywhere: the excessively melancholic voice over / narration/ monologue/ whatever; the cringe worthy "inspirational" music when Willie gives those (add adjectives here) speeches - the camera angles show who's watching; the "preservation" of Anne's perfect / intact beauty; and of course, the "wink" scene.
Jack is always the last person to realize all the significant plot points because love makes him blind. That's usually what you get when you had such a sheltered upbringing and then got seduced by someone completely opposite of you - at least in books and movies.
So this is a cautionary tale.
Death on the Nile (2022)
Unnecessary attempt to "humanize" Poirot
There is a famous Chinese saying that I'd like to borrow to summarize the added back story and the ending: drawing a snake and then adding feet. However, if Branagh is hinting that he's done with his interpretation of Poirot in the final scene, then I'm completely fine with it. I do like this incarnation of Salome and I think if any female can truly enrapture Poirot, it would be her.
I guess this isn't an actual movie review but a general grievance against Branagh's take on my beloved detective. I grew up reading Poirot (in a non English language). I always considered him to be not a real person. He is a fantasy, a superhero, and a plot device. His exaggerated self importance is comical and endearing, but not to mask some sort of personal trauma. He uses his little grey cells to think, to bring "justice", not to succumb to unnecessary emotions that might compromise his ability to prevent death.
Back to the movie. It is prettier than previous versions (thanks to CGI and good budget). The Egyptian landscape is grand. However, the nuances of character quirks and subtle clues are all non existent. I guess those are better suited for books anyway.
The story becomes simpler in this version and certainly does not need more than two hours to tell. As a result, To drag it on, we see Piorot almost throwing a fit. Mon dieu, I would never ever have imagined a Poirot like this. (By the way, I recently re-read The Muder Of Roger Ackroyd, and was once again delighted by it. Fingers crossed that Kenneth will leave it alone!)
Dune (2021)
This made me like David Lynch's version much better
Nothing much to say about this movie here. It was boring. Unnecessarily long. Music was annoying too (sorry, Hans Zimmer! I usually think you are fine). Really hated all these CGI backgrounds, sceneries, whatever. Some secondary actors are good though.
The plot is pretty much the same as Lynch's version, so it does not appear to be hard to follow as suggested by one of my friends who did not watch any previous versions. Also, knowing the plot likely made me more impatient and want to see things moving along. I can't believe I'm saying this: the latest Star Wars trilogy is more entertaining and less full of itself than this one.
Maybe the book is really unadaptable. Having watched all these adaptations has made me not want to read the book anymore!
The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window (2022)
Becoming the very thing that it is mocking
I was told that this was a satire/spoof, so I kept waiting for those laughable moments and/or witty remarks. Well, as a compilation of all the bad plot twists and cliches of the romance/thriller genre, it's full of laughable moments, but I was not.amused.
Am I supposed to applaud the writers' "audacity" to.cram as many bad plots as possible and call it a show? What were their contributions then? Did they bring anything original? I don't need help to recognize those cringe worthy moments that are already plaguing our screens.
Yesterday's.final jeopardy clue was: Mimicking her style, a 1912 rejection note read: "Only one look, only one look is enough. Hardly one copy would sell here. Hardly one". (The answer was Gertrude Stein if you are wondering.) That one note is funnier than this entire show.
Archive 81 (2022)
Boring and slow
Boring. Unoriginal. Very slow buildup that tests viewers' patience and certainly does not have a decent payoff. Uninspired performances from both leads, especially the female. She seemed to be freaking out all the time but there was no emotional depth. I didn't know that fire damaged tapes were so easy to be restored and always contained enough content for one episode and broke at the crucial points for "cliffhangers". This repetitively used plot device is very annoying and also laughable. I'm also annoyed by the unnecessary cursing which is probably what earns it a TV-MA rating.
Vita & Virginia (2018)
Bad casting choices
Boring movie. I'd rather read the letters ... Very bad casting choices too. I didn't know about Vita before this movie, but one look at her photo / portrait in Wikipedia, I can see Orlando in her. One of my favorite directors, Lass Hallstrom, once said: in the movies, what people look like truly matters. However, instead of a charismatic, possibly androgynous or "masculine" woman, we see an overly feminine, almost petite (standing next to Ms. Debicki) "princess Tamina".
Also, wasn't Virginia in her 40s when she met Vita? Couldn't they at least find someone who looked the age? Isn't it difficult enough for talented actresses of that age group to find roles in the male dominated movie industry? Yet here, we have a movie about the pioneers in feminism movement with female writers and director, and we have an actress who looks like a delicate nymph of under 20 to play a 40-something writer.
Diner (2019)
Visually pleasing
I have been looking forward to seeing this movie since December and I was not disappointed. I am a fan of Tatsuya Fujiwara, ever since I first saw him in Battle Royale and other Japanese TV shows. This movie is an adaptation of the novel with the same name, which was deemed "unadaptable to screen" at one point. I think the director did a decent job of bringing out the characters and the atmosphere. The set is exquisitely laid out. I always love showers of flower petals, flying fighting sequences, and the use of multitudes of bright (almost unnatural) colors in this type of movies. The female lead is very pretty and adorable. Tatsuya is the typical Tatsuya that I like: world-weary and almost vulnerable on the outside, but unwavering and utterly romantic on the inside. There was a very touching scene between him and Skin that brought tears to my eyes. I think only few actors can convey that much emotion using their voice as Tatsuya does.