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Slow Horses: Footprints (2023)
Best One Yet?
My favorite Slow Horses series so far. And, it ends with this spectacular episode. I've read all the Slow Horses novels, the novella, and the short stories. Loved them alI. I usually never watch video productions of books I've read. Good books create images and characters in my head that I worry will be damaged by a director or an actor's interpretation. (Compare "Seabiscuit" the movie to the book. The 15 minutes I watched of the movie were awful. The book is a classic.) This series is the exception. As good as Mick Herron's description of Jackson Lamb is, Gary Oldman's is better. Everything is better. And, I loved the books. Waiting anxiously for news he's written another. Can't wait for series number 4 even though I know the story. This wonderful episode continues the excellence of a continuing series that has had no missteps. Well done.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)
Better After You've Watched It
I like this movie more now than when I watched it a year ago. Can't get it out of my mind. Starts as a a couple's pedestrian trip to meet the guy's parents. Unpredictable scenes follow, performed by a great cast. At the end I didn't know what I'd watched (although the movie kept me riveted over what would come next). Had to research what it all meant. Found out that the first five or ten minutes are the key to solving the puzzle. Confession: Jessie Buckley and Toni Collette.are two of my favorite actresses. David Thewlis is always fun to watch; he was weird-great in the 3rd season of Fargo. Same here. The writer, Charley Kauffman, also wrote."Eternal Sunshine.of the Spotless Mine" and "Being John Malkovich." So, this movie might not be for you if you didn't like these movies.
Staged (2020)
Second Series Even Better Than First
Enjoyed the first season very much. Very clever in making fun of actors' foibles, vanity at the top of the list. But the second season is even better. Instead of smiles, there is laughter. Out-loud laughter. And, lots of it. Episodes 5 and 7 stand out. I read one review herein that trashed the second season. What a misleading troll. Either this person likes to cause trouble or hasn't discovered the concept of humor. The second series is one of the best series of the year. Can't think of a funnier one.
Stan & Ollie (2018)
A Movie for Adult Persons
For those of us who cannot bear another super hero, animated cute animal, or 30-something private parts comedy movie, here is something to savor. The mostly true story of Laurel & Hardy performing for a final curtain. Laughs and tears but no sentimentality. Brilliant performances and beautiful production values. See it soon before the next Avengers movie pushes it off the stage.
GLOW: The Good Twin (2018)
Trolls, Back Off
This was a great episode. The best of the 20. Funny, creative, and true. The trolls complaining about this episode are dishonest and must have a hidden agenda. God, I hate them. Watch this episode and your faith will be rewarded.
Emma (1996)
Best "Emma" - But Not Perfect
The character of "Emma" is Jane Austen's least mature and least wise of Austen's heroines. Unlike Elizabeth Bennet, for example, Emma Woodhouse comically imagines herself as other than what she is and other than others perceive her. The story depends on her foolish judgments of others and herself. The ensemble is superb - confident performances that subtlety create a canvas that contrasts the decorous with the foolish. Mr. Woodhouse, Emma's father, steals every scene he is in. So funny. My favorite performance was Mark Strong's "Mr. Knightley." Strong's performance in "Emma" was, for me, what Colin Firth's was, as Mr. Darcy, in "Pride and Prejudice." Spot on. My only disappointment with the production was with Ms. Beckinsale's "turning" at the end of the story. Her character is supposed to discover something about herself that should have been foreshadowed from the beginning of the story. Ms. Beckinsale's epiphany was, however, unsatisfying. It must be difficult to portray such a metamorphosis. I've seen 2 other productions and their "Emmas" were no more successful and, perhaps less so. You see, I've watched this production 3 times and will do so again and no other. Well done. Well done, indeed.
Midnight in Paris (2011)
A Second Masterpiece
I remember leaving the theater the night I saw Annie Hall. In that movie, everything had come together. To me, Woody Allen had done something akin to Bob Beamon's long jump at the Mexico City Summer Olympics: a leap so much further than anyone had ever jumped before that the technique could not be comprehended; the act could only astonish. I gave up hoping Allen would make another movie as good as Annie Hall about 10 years later. That's when he started his homages to other film makers. It got worse. He started his existential preaching phase. To be fair, there were some good movies he would film periodically (e.g. Bullets Over Broadway; Manhattan Murder Mystery; Small Time Crooks). But I'd lost hope he would ever deliver on his talent. But he did. For me, this is a second masterpiece. Midnight in Paris is a comedy, a fantasy, and a love story. The performances are uniformly excellent. Special credit to Adrien Brody as Salvador Dali.
Lonesome Dove (1989)
Lonesome Dove is the great American movie. Helluva vision.
In the end it's how a movie touches your heart that is its measure.
The characters must touch you. The story, interesting in itself, must seamlessly direct those characters to be revealed for why they matter. The actors playing those characters need to be right. Or, as here, just damn perfect. Robert Duvall once said something like: sure the British can play Shakespeare. But they can't play Gus McCrae.
He's right. You can have the Hamlet DVD any day you want; I'll watch Lonesome Dove.
Robert Duvall is the anchor and the soul. Name a better performance. Anjelica Huston is the beauty. And somehow Tommy Lee Jones steals the movie.
A great story about great characters played by great actors.
The Godfather movies, as good as they are, have not the legend or the nobility of Lonesome Dove. Forget the usual suspects like Citizen Kane. This is the great American movie. Helluva vision.