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Reviews
Wicked Little Letters (2023)
If it were an Ealing comedy?
A charming, if a slightly exploding booted acted story of a women's almost writing Tourettes need to burst the imagined tight laced up behaviour of Suffragette protesting England. Beautifully shot, strangely plotted story about a manifestly deranged women sending profanity laden letters to local village people but the blame pinned on an innocent 'lust for life' Irish woman with a daughter who wants to play guitar? Who knew it was frowned upon in Victorian England despite years of guitar playing women in bygone times? So an attempt to tell an eccentric English story which may have benefitted from the 'verve' that Ealing comedy's injected into stories, looked to me like a good match, but that's just me.
Great performances all round from the principles, shout out to Eileen Atkins who I worked with because this utter amazing actor seems to be missing from other reviews.
So an English Victorian comedy of manners, a charming if slight production, superficially busy telling us all something we already know. The audience I was with, mainly beyond 60 year olds, appreciative more toward the end. Not entirely sure it will make the cannon of truly great insightful British films but I'm sure they all had a great time hanging out with each other and making it.
Poor Things (2023)
An over rich surreal chocolate box.
So just got back from seeing 'Poor Things' and it wasn't for me. I found the design distracting, the cinematography eccentric and the story arc just frustrating. I saw 'Dogtooth' and liked it's dry, warped logic. 'Poor Things' is an entirely different kettle of kippers and left me cold.
Intrigued by the spin and a fan of Georgios "Yorgos" Lanthimos? But don't want to venture out on a winters night? See it on a stream or whatever VPN service you get if in doubt. I wish I had. It came across as a whim made into a movie. Now he has it 'off his chest' I hope he gets back to more vigorous script editing. There was more of a hint of letting the cast get away with some on set idea's which maybe he should have binned.
A real curiosity, the worldly travails of this manqué 'Bride of Frankensteins' journey of fantastical self discovery and the 'money no object' (obviously not the Parisienne sequences) exotic world discovery may be enough to entrance some.
Going to check out other films I've missed by him but every chocolate in this box was one too much.
Macbeth (1948)
Eisenstein died 1948 curiously.
You can see Orson was a big fan of Eisenstein here. That's it, that's the review.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
A Corporate going through the motions.
I have been lucky enough to see behind the scenes of big corporate made films. I will not be naming names. So the schedules can be punishing, there is a lot to get into the day and inevitably things suffer, in all departments. There is little to recommend this film adaptation. Jackson's LOTR bursts from the screen with a passion for film-making and the original story. Narnia is the hedge fund style of film making.
Zone blanche (2017)
Be warned, it's dubbed.
Well only episode one so far and yes it is atmospheric, good performances etc. The dubbing is wayward I would suggest and it sounds like they may have used some actors for more than one character. It is just about ok though so it don't let it put you off taking a look.