UNHINGED
Directed by Derrick Borte
Screenplay by Carl Ellsworth
Unhinged is self explanatory. I mean Russell Crowe is clearly unhinged.
You go to see this film for action and suspense. It delivers. It is nuts how intense this film is. There were many times where I literally ducked. Many times putting my hands to my face to cover my eyes. Many times I jumped. That is what you came for.
Well acted by a growling Russell Crowe. Also perfect casting by the unknown, at least to me, Caren Pistorius who plays Rachel the "Chasey". I also want to mention a wonderful small performance by Jimmi Simpson as Andy, Rachel's son, he is almost the brains of the escape.
Now, yes it is exciting but I have to be real, I mean the script from Carl Ellsworth is not much on a character build, I mean Russell Crowe's character does not even have a name!! We do not even know what happened to him before the film starts! We pick up with Rachel waking up late, we know a divorce is coming, but that is it.
Also, we also have to ignore the many many dumb things Rachel does during the 90 minute film. How many times did I say call the police...call the police...Go To The police.
Then throw in the many many people who died or were injured in the many many car accidents that were not necessary if she just did some smarter things.
Okay I will stop being negative. This film delivered an intense stressful good time in a theater. The film sadly also holds a mirror up as a reflection of our society, individuals who cannot deal when things do not go their way so they fight instead of think.
3 1/2 stars out of 5 for Unhinged. At 90 minutes film does not overstay its welcome and delivers exactly what you purchased a ticket for. Just do not over think it.
THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD
Directed by Armando Iannucci
Screenplay by Simon Black
The film brings a new twist on the story of David Copperfield
So excited to sit in a movie theater again!! Plus...the smell of popcorn and odd that the theater smelled like cleanser. Which makes me wonder, if its the first time I smelled cleanser in a movie theater, were they ever really cleaned?
I digress, I am back in a theater and that is all that matters and I saw a double bill, starting with this David Copperfield mess of a film. UGH...I waited so long to get in a theater and this happened.
Positives:
Dev Patel never gives a bad performance and here, again, he is great, but often you can see him fighting the script and tone. There are points where you can literally see the fight in his face. You wonder at what point during filming he thought, this is not good.
Another positive is 2 wonderful performances by Hugh Laurie as the wonderfully "OFF" Mr Dick; and Tilda Swinton as Aunt Betsey Townsend. They are pretty funny together with Tilda playing the straight woman to Hugh.
Negatives:
Alas' even with those three wonderful performances they could not save this version of the Charles Dickens classic.
Director Armando Ianucci, who was a writer for Veep, tried to bring that Veep dry quick humor to this classic and just failed. I only laughed when Laurie and Swinton were on the screen and they were not on the screen enough to save this awful movie. The editing was a mess. I mean, I get involved with one of the story lines then it jumps a couple times, then moves in time quick, then forgetting that story-line. The film is all over the place.
It runs a boring 2 hours and the story could have been cut by 30 minutes. I really hoped the script by Simon Black would recover over and over again, but it is a mess of tone and unlikable people.
Then throw in political correctness. A film with political correctness getting in the way of a story at a time when there was no political correctness and you go...."aaaah no". It takes your mind away from the story, because you keep thinking that is not right. I will just leave it at that, but I will say it worries me about the making of films going forward.
Well 8 people were in my screening, and only me and another person survived.....
1 1/2 stars out of 5 for The Personal History Of David Copperfield, and the 1 1/2 is for the 3 main actors. Even if you wait for home viewing I imagine you will fall asleep by the half way mark.
Another week without new films at the theater. The wait is long, and the greedy move by Disney with Mulan did not help much. So I decided to be positive and look to the future. The future is bright for sure in film with these 7 young actresses. To be honest, not so much with young actors. I honestly could not put together 3 really good actors in Hollywood under 25. Well here are my Lucky number 7 ....see if you agree, and maybe look for their films or TV work.
Well lets get started, in no particular order:
1
Florence Pugh, 24 years old from Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
Coming off a great 2019 with Little Women; Midsommar; and Fighting With My Family. She is at the top of her game. You can see her in any of the films that I just noted on pay per view, however Midsommar(Amazon Prime) is a good film but its a hard watch lol.
You can see Florence Pugh in the upcoming Black Widow film.
2
Thomasin McKenzie, 20 years old from Wellington New Zealand
From JoJo Rabbit as Elsa the girl in the attic, too Tom in the wonderful Leave No Trace, she steals every film she is in. Here she is in JoJo:
Amazing that she is only 20! Thomasin McKenzie can be seen in Power Of The Dog next year. She has also signed on to the next M Night Shyamalan film.
3
Hailee Steinfeld, age 23 years old from from Los Angles California
Sadly she seems to be leaning more toward music these days. However she was brilliant in Edge Of Seventeen(Netflix); and very good in the underrated action film Bumblebee. Lets also not forget she was an Oscar Nominee at the age of 13 for True Grit.
Here is a look at her in Edge Of Seventeen:
Hailee has no films in the can but she will be in the Hawkeye series as Kate Bishop which is a huge part.
4
Hailey Lu Richardson, age 25 from Phoenix Arizona
Here she is in Five Feet Apart:
The oldest of the lucky 7 yet only 5 foot 2, but even though she is small in stature she comes up big in all her roles, making her memorable in all her films. You can see her along with the other Hailee in Edge Of Seventeen (Netflix); She shined in the soso film Five Feet Apart; she was also in Split. In the future you can see her in After Yang with Colin Farrell.
5
Zendaya, age 23 from Oakland California
Zendaya is doing the opposite of Hailee Steinfeld, she leaning away from music and more toward acting. What is impressive about Zendaya is she can say so much with out saying a word, I always think that is a sign of a good actor, you eyes are drawn to her. She was mostly known about 10 years a go for the TV show Split It Up with Bella Thorne on the Disney Channel. Then she move to the big screen. You can see her steal scenes in the last two Spiderman films and in The Greatest Showman. In the future you can see her in the new Dune film.
6
Elle Fanning, 22 years old from Conyers Georgia
The sister of the wonderful Dakota Fanning, Elle's face is known more nowadays for her modeling career on the covers of Vanity Fair and Marie Clair however she is still acting, just seen on Hulu's The Great. I remember seeing Elle at the age of 9 in Phoebe In Wonderland, just an amazing film about a child with special needs and she was freaking amazing. If you cant find that see her, as you see above in Super 8 (Netflix),she kind of steals the screen. the film Teen Spirit and of course the Maleficent films. Looking ahead she is in a new film The Nightingale coming in 2021 with her sister Dakota for the first time!!
7
Anya-Taylor Joy, age 24 from Miami Florida
Here she is in Emma:
Well you just saw her in Emma and she was wonderful. You also saw her in Split and Glass. Where she holds her own with James McAvoy (and also Haley Lu Richardson is in this film). She is filming The Northman now with the Skarsgard brothers. You can also see her on the small screen in Pinky Binder and the upcoming Netflix series The Queens Gambit.
Well there are my lucky 7 best female actresses under 25...the future of Hollywood.
Just missing my top 7....also to look for...
Joey King
Bailee Madison
Well as always thanks for your time ..from the shadows.
