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Reviews
Babylon (2022)
Almost-great film, but too long and too bizarre
There's a lot to love about a movie that oozes this much unfettered passion about movie-making. Tremendous performances by the actors, beautiful sets and cinematography, and I loved all the references to "Singin' in the Rain", but the film was a great deal too long and too bizarre. It seemed like the director just wanted to see how many weird things he could get away with. I'm surprised it wasn't rated NC-17 for the explicit sexual content, which was mostly just uncomfortable and unnecessary. The whole movie was very hit-or-miss but to its credit it always goes ALL OUT, so when it hits it's amazing, but the misses were awful. I loved the energy of the storytelling and there were a lot of interesting characters, but too many subplots made the story feel uneven, like it was all over the place. And what was that ending montage? So random. Overall this film was okay, but I can really only recommend it to hardcore movie buffs.
Marriage Story (2019)
"Divorce Story" would be a more accurate title...
...except no one would want to watch that title because it sounds so depressing.
The acting is incredible and deserving of every awards nomination out there. The performances are nuanced, truthful, and deeply honest about the humanity of the characters. The writing does a great job of making the viewer sympathize with both the wife and the husband; each is portrayed by turns as both the villain and the victim, so ultimately both are merely human. The ending, while to me unsatisfying overall, did leave a glimmer of hope that the divorced characters will somehow learn to be friends and make this awkward, fractured-family thing work.
However, be warned the whole movie is VERY depressing! I was disappointed that neither character grows or changes from their journey in any significant way. They both end the film just as self-centered and self-serving as they were at the beginning. This is not really a "marriage story". A marriage story would have its characters learn some things about commitment and compromise and self-sacrifice for the love of their family. They might learn how to actually work through their issues. But the title is misleading: this is really a divorce story, albeit an honestly-written, exquisitely-acted one, but ultimately a sad, shallow view of marriage.
Best Acting? Absolutely. But Best Picture?? No way.
The Lion King (2019)
The critics are crazy!!! Best live-action Disney remake yet!!
Let's get one thing out of the way: the original animated Lion King is a masterpiece in every way. Nothing will ever "top" it. Nothing. Ever. Having said that, that is not the purpose of this live-action remake. The intention is simply to retell the beloved story in a way we've never seen it before: with "real" animals, or as remarkably close to it as modern technology allows. If you go into this movie with that purpose in mind, you will love it!
Some viewers may be weirded out by seeing nature-documentary-realistic animals talking and singing. Suspension of disbelief aside, I personally was blown away by how true-to-life it all looked, and I feel privileged to live in an era that this level of technological achievement is even possible.
Some complain about a lack of emotion in the characters. First of all, I didn't experience that at all. I laughed AND cried (in the appropriate moments), thought the music was flawless, and thought the voice actors did marvelous work conveying the emotions of their characters. Secondly, since these are meant to look like REAL animals, they *obviously* won't have the complex facial muscles that humans use to express emotions, or the flexibility of cartoon drawings. Despite these reasonable limitations, I thought the film did a superb job making me feel all the things it intended to.
Bottom line: if you go into this film understanding and appreciating what it is setting out to do, then you will love it. I thought it told the beloved Lion King story with live-action perfection! No, it doesn't top the original, but it doesn't need to. It's a masterpiece of its own, and I have nothing but praise for it! Go see it for yourself!