NEW FILM REVIEW: The Favourite

THE FAVOURITE


3 1/2 OUT OF 5 STARS
The Favourite follows Queene Anne in the early 18th century as she struggles mentally. However she has help from Lady Sarah when making decisions. However Abigail arrives and messes with that relationship.
I heard a lot of Oscar buzz for this film going in.
I was  a bit worried because I am not a huge fan of the Director Yorgos Lanthimos. Critics loved The Lobster, I thought it was one of the worst films of 2015.
The Favourite is much better than The Lobster YEAAAAA!!
Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone are fantastic!
The script is interesting and entertaining, with a little humor thrown in.
The best for last: Olivia Colman as Queen Anne has to be a lock right now for an Oscar. She is just perfect.


With 3 1/2 stars, you know bad is coming. Lanthimos has to try to make sure you know how smart he is as always. This time by using strange camera angles and it looks like fish eye lenses, often making things look strangely dizzying. Then the ending was too abrupt leaving the viewers sitting there wondering.."Is that it?". I understand the...You get what you wished for ending, yet after 2 hours we deserved more. What happened to the characters going forward? It put a damper on the end.


Entertaining and sometimes funny and even odd...well worth a look.


From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Film Review Aquaman

AQUAMAN
3 STARS OUT OF 5


Surprisingly the story is entertaining. Also the actors are all in and well cast...Willem Dafoe; Amber Heard; Nicole Kidman; and Patrick Wilson are all very good, and most important they are all in for these ridiculous roles. However nothing works here without the great casting of Jason Momoa, he is believably tough and yet very funny.


Well that is all the good I can say about this film, OH BOY THERE IS BAD.


-The film is way too long, coming in at almost 2 hours and 30 minutes. I can not only think of 30 minutes to get cut to make it a 2 hour film...but I can almost think of an hour to be cut to make it an hour and a half without loosing that story line.
-The look is often dreadful. I know it is hard to make a film supposedly under water, however the special effects are real bad close to laughable. Also the costumes are often ridiculous, reminding me often of the fantastically bad 1980 Flash Gordon.
-The score!!!!!!!!!!!! It is hard to explain in a blog sound, but here the score is constantly playing trying constantly to generate tone, as if Director Wan knew he had a problem. Often I laughed when the score would go DADADA DUUUUMMMMMMMM, every time there was danger.
Please note, I am not going to get into the filmmakers feel they need to label everyplace the characters go to, knowing we may be too confused to figure it out.


Yes I ripped it a lot...but still I understand it was not meant for me, and families leaving still looked like they had a good time. I do believe we go back to what I noted first, the story really does work and that is why I gave it a little better than average score.


From the shadows as always thanks for your time

New Film Review: The Mule

The Mule
3 1/2 out of 5


It is a hard film to review :
Positives:
1-It is a crazy true story
2-It is well acted by everyone involved...including, probably an Oscar Nod for Clint Eastwood (Also an underrated performance, Probably by the Oscar committee, by Andy Garcia).


Negatives:
1-It felt long and repetitive. The The Run...The Return..The Run.....The Return...yes sometimes he comes close to "Trouble", but at 2 hours it gets long. Thankfully Eastwood and Garcia help push the narrative.
2-There is a back story that gets in the way, about Earl Stone (Eastwood) and his non-relationship- with his family. It is interesting but it gets in the way of the story...it drags the movie out. I understand it tries to give the film heart but in reality it is not needed.
3-We see the same drug...I guess runners but we never know what happens to them. We know what happens to Earl but no one else and he is just a cog in a big wheel. Maybe they were just a combination of a bunch of drug runners and made into just a couple of characters to simplify the film. However again it makes the film seem flat at the end...we just see Earl at the end.


Just like my last review of Boy Erased, I cannot recommend seeing this in the theatre (It is a better told story then Boy Erased), but it is well worth a look when it becomes available for home viewing.


From the shadows as always thanks for your time

New Film Review: Boy Erased

BOY ERASED
3 out of 5 stars


This is the second film this year covering gay converging programs. The first one was The Miseducation Of Cameron Post, which was just okay. This film starring  Lucas Hedges, with help by Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe as his parents.
This is a little bit better than Miseducation....but that is about it. The character of Jared Eamons (Hedges) is fleshed out fuller in this movie than Miseducation's (Moretz). Hedges is great in this film. However it maybe just a tough story to tell....it seems the film falls flat again as it creates characters around the leads, we then care about the characters and then like Miseducation they disappear with no story. It is annoying. Per example Jesse LaTourette we constantly see. The camera stays on her, and I still have no idea why. She seemed interesting. It is odd.
Kidman is being talked about for an Oscar nod. I did not see it, but I see it for Hedges and Edgerton as Victor Sykes the scary leader of this group.


Well it is a disturbing story which may be worth a look for home viewing...for the performances.


From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Film Review: Can You Ever Forgive Me

CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME
3 1/2 out of 5 stars


Melissa McCarthy plays Lee Israel a struggling writer, who finds ways to make money by forging letters from famous people to sell them in the market place.


This film is well acted by both McCarthy and Richard E Grant (who plays another washed up writer who is kind of a Grifter). Both actors deserve Oscar nominations.


So you know the story, which is a true story, and it is shocking to me how gullible people can be sometimes. The problem is, it is an interesting story, but it seems, to lay there often, as she does the same thing over and over again. So it becomes monotonous at times and the character development of the people around her, which is important in the story, falls short.


Well worth seeing for home viewing when it becomes available.


From the shadows thanks for your time

New Film Review: The Green Book

THE GREEN BOOK
4 1/2 out of 5 stars


This is one of the best films of the year for sure.
The film follows a trip into the south by musician DR Don Shirley (Ali) and Tony Lip (Mortensen) his driver and sometimes body guard.
I saw some people complain that this film does not highlight enough the struggles of African Americans in the south. This is why I do this, the anti film critic...critic. That is not what this film is about!!! This film is about 2 people, from different races, learning from each other, on an adventure, who become friends despite their differences!!!! If you want something else, this is not the picture for you because this is not what the film is about!!!!!!!!!!!! This is what it is, a true story!!!!!
Perfectly paced by Director Peter Farrelly, with humor; sadness; and sadly violence.
Oscar nominations for sure for both Ali and Mortensen!!
Only negative from me is that 2 hours and 10 minutes seem long but to be honest I am not sure what I would leave on the cutting room floor.


The holidays are coming so treat yourself to this wonderful film!!!

New Film Review: Creed 2

CREED 2


4 out of 5 stars.


This film is really good. There is a wonderful build up...it takes its time with character development...
Adonis
Rocky
Bianca
Mary Anne Creed
Ivan Drage
Victor Drago
Everyone of these characters had time to let us see where they are in life and where their heads are.
Credit goes to new director Steven Caple Jr...it is tough I am sure to want to edit right to the action/fights.
I also have to say what really makes this film work is the chemistry between...Stallone and Jordan.is still great. However the chemistry between Jordan and Thompson is just wonderful...it is up there with Gosling and Stone. It is that great. It makes the film work.
Negatives?
Yes one big one...the long unnecessary training scene for the end fight. It boarderlines on ridiculous.
He was not out of shape he just had a bad approach.


Well anyway, right now...this is one of the best films out in the theatres right now.


From the shadows as always thanks for your time.