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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022)
"Cool...sir"
E1 review.
I got tingles. Reminded me why I loved Star Trek as a kid. This had heart, it had soul. And it had a moral. Whilst the original show had many episodes that were oblique metaphors, this was far more transparent in messaging, but no less effective.
Already there are characters whose development I'm interested in following. Friendships and animosities I want to see grow and resolve.
Anson Mount as Pike is perfectly cast and captivating. Nimoy was so definitive as Spock that anyone else in that role is difficult to pull off, but we're not short changed by. Peck. Chong is interesting too - and without spoilers - looking forward to her character tie-ins.
Overall a solid beginning, very much enthusiastic for more.
Little Women (2019)
Gerwig Masterpiece
Many will rightly speak of the exceptional acting on display. Each of the 6 leading ladies, from Streep the matriarch, Dern the mother, and the four siblings are played with great artistry. Pugh is excellent, barely recognisable from her BBC dramas, but it's Ronan's performance that dominates and drives this movie.
However, the lady that most impresses is Gerwig. This is a truly masterful piece of movie making. Every scene is framed, coloured, and scored with the eyes, ears and hand of someone who should be thrice her age, such is the perfection.
The dialogue is exceptional, but the visual artistry is so strong that if the actors were to not speak their lines - though retaining the quite beautiful score - and an intertitle were captioned every few minutes the storytelling would remain as powerful
And that is what I felt watching it: this is Chaplin at his finest nearly 100 years after that genius's classic silent movies. (Liberal quantities of Capra and Preston Sturgess feelgood sprinkled on top.)
If you love cinema you must see this movie.
Marriage Story (2019)
Oh...now I get it!
So, Baumbach, huh? Ah, I see, that;s Adam Driver! Did Scarlett really just make me wipe a tear off my cheek?
Absolute revelation for me. I finally got why Baumbach is held in such high esteem. I enjoyed Squid, Frances, and Greenberg, found Meyerowitz watchable. Far preferred what he wrote for Anderson (Zissou and the exceptional (and also fantastic) Mr Fox). Marriage Story though towers above those. The writing is so nuanced, what happens offscreen so evident and understandable to all, The dialogue is powerful, tender, bitter, and yet also reserved - there are times when you want to scream at the characters to just say the things that in all our lives that go unsaid. But mostly it's how the screenplay paces and drives a movie that is almost entirely about the words spoken - it would work well on stage and even radio - which builds to a satisfying and appropriate end to the movie. (Desperately avoiding any emotionally descriptive words so as not to spoil the end.)
Never been a fan of Driver. Girls is mostly what I've seen him in, felt his wildly unstable character was hard to consider well acted. Seen a number of movies he's featured in too, none were memorable performances. In MS though, he delivers a tour de force. A character so well rounded and identifiable that - despite revelations that should make us dislike the character - we empathise and sympathise with, and positively root for him. Oscar material for me.
And Johansson. I knew she could act. Had seen it in Pearl Earring, Translation, remembered elements from Vicky Christina, but this is the first time in a good many years that a movie depended so much upon her being able to deliver a genuinely believable character. She does it with aplomb! It's the juxtaposition of our support and feelings for her character balanced in equal measure with Driver's that is at the root of the success of MS. Scarlett is superb.
This is on a par with Kramer vs Kramer. Actors and writer/director deserve that level of recognition for a stunningly good movie.
The Current War (2017)
Cinema vs History
I, like many, am convinced that had Tesla's final years and works not gone "missing" from room 3327 the world would be an entirely different place. What would a world where electricity was not an expensive resource but an economically available human right look like? No wars for or dependency upon oil, little pollution, and this had been available to us 80yrs ago, before WW2.
This movie does not reflect on the possibility of that world or focus much attention upon the perhaps the greatest genius of the three main protagonists that are the subject of the movie.
Many of the reviews here are critical of the lack of focus on Tesla. But there is a fundamental question we must consider here: does a movie fail to entertain because we disagree with the accuracy of facts within?
Are we rating this movie solely on historical accuracy? If so, we need to be wary. History is our perception of what occurred based upon the slanted perceptions of those who recorded those events. And even then only a tiny fraction of the events over decades combined of these mens lives are presented in just over 100 minutes. How much accuracy can one truly expect? This is a movie intended to entertain, not a scientific journal.
Or should we acknowledge the director chose to entertain us within the aesthetic of a compelling story told in costume, on sets, by actors with fabricated dialogue, in such a way as to grip our attention and spark our emotions?
My rating is on the latter. Wonderfully acted by the two main leads with a stellar supporting cast, an excellent score, and a flawless look with excellent editing.
American Gods (2017)
This is what 21st century art is - visual treat
Every frame, every second, of this show is a revelation to your optic senses. The colours, the palette, the hues, the dayglo, the absence of colour, the lighting, the shades... This is the only show where I don't skip past the title scene, though I've seen it 15 times now, because I find it a treat to watch. Everyone associated with the visual experience deserves commendation.
If based purely on aural experience - there's nothing wrong with the audio either - this would be a 10 out of 10. But the storyline meanders somewhat and - not entirely a criticism, being spponfed is worse - it's not immediately (or sometimes even subsequently) obvious who the characters are or who they represent in life/history. But, like me, you'll get there eventually.
Some of the acting is immense. Pablo Schreiber in particular is a great watch.
Credit also for the depiction of the 'immigrant experience', be it then forcibly, or for betterment, and that of now too.
Doom Patrol (2019)
Pained and agonising
I didn't know the majority of these characters - only Cyborg - so had no expectations of their depictment or of the Doom Patrol as a collective. I do, though, have an expectation for DC to be darker, more grounded, their heroes to have more of an edge. This is what I heard the show was going to be, so all good!
However, whilst the show is dark, humorous and edgy, it's also endless introspection of pained and agonising characters endlessly being pained and agonised. Every episode is whiney and snivelling "heroes" constantly being "woe is me". It's ultimately grating. It feels like being a babysitter to a bunch of 4 year olds away from their parents for the first time.
And the back stories... Well, the show is one endless back story. One back story leads to the next, which delves into the back story behind the back story... 15 episodes later and there's been no real story I can relate.
At this moment I feel like a bad gambler chasing a losing streak. "I've put 8 hours in, if I put the 9th hour in it'll have been worth it." "I've put 9 hours in now, if I put..." "I've put 10 in..." Well, I'm up to about 15 now, not sure if I'll gamble on S2 to put the 16th in.
For all my own pain and being agonised, it's not an awful show. If you like the Oprah shows of people emerging from childhood abuses + Twin Peaks + Remo/Doc Savage, then you'll love this. Personally, love the humour of Remo/DS, the weirdness of Lynch is always appreciated (but in small doses), but I don't do the endless tears and heartstrings of Oprah.
It has all the correct ingredients to be a great show. It's just the quantities are so far off it's miss, and thus a bigger disappointment as it's close.
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
S2 excels
I've watched and enjoyed, for the most part, most previous Star Trek voyages, in their myriad forms. However, I've never had a poster on my wall, been to a convention, or bought a single piece of memorabilia. So, neither a hater nor a fanboy.
I get a lot of the negativity from lifelong fans around S1. For me, principally, it was the migration from a new adventure every week - a planet with a new lifeform, a new problem, a particular puzzle that Kirk, Picard, Janeaway, whoever, would bring a humane and unique solution to, all the while revealing aspects of their personality too, furthering the bonds between the crew - to a soap opera, the core storyline overriding the exploration and adventure.
Given that, I wasn't excited for S2. But it has blown me away. So far, up to S2E12, the character development, their backgrounds, relationships, the storyline, the all-powerful Borg-eque foe... Everything is clicking.
But, it appears Discovery will continue to be a soap opera. The episodic into the unknown isn't what this show is. If you can hurdle that barrier there's a damn fine show on the other side. Currently my most anticipated on a weekly basis.