I did end up seeing mother! late last week. It is as bonkers as reported, and I'm still not sure how I feel about last half hour, where crazypants stuff happens that probably drove people to walk out. The thing is, none of the characters register as characters. They are symbols and archetypes and are deliberately pictured in broad strokes, so even when horrible stuff was happening, it didn't invoke much of an emotional response in me (or maybe I am just an unfeeling bitch). It *was* fun to think about multiple possible interpretations and meanings of the film afterward, both obvious and not so obvious. I did get a sick laugh out of the whole Creator/Muse take on the allegory and the fact that Lawrence started dating Aronofsky right after filming this. The mind boggles.
While the ending made me go "...um," I quite enjoyed the first half of the film, especially the performance by Michelle Pfeiffer, whose deliciously snide presence was much missed when she was not on screen. I'm just glad to see her back on my movie screen, period (and looking forward to seeing more of her in Murder on Orient Express.)
WOO HOO Mako Mori in Pacific Rim 2.
[link]
I'd like to see Mother! in the theater. Maybe tonight.
I am 100% here for PacRim2 and happy to see Mako Mori is in it.
great female-led horror films
Descent!
Just got back from
Blade Runner 2049,
and still sorting through it. The one thing that surfaces first is DAMN, that was a lot of incredible, gutting performances from women I've never or barely seen before. (The men are great too; it's really an embarrassment of riches). The second thing is that I so badly want ita here to dissect the punching and fighting scenes (of both of which there are many) I can't even say.
The new Idris Elba/Kate Winslet movie The Mountain Between Us, which is marketed as a gritty survival drama after an airplane crash (trailer), has a hilarious secondary ad re. the fate of the dog briefly seen in the first trailer. Because the marketing fokks are canny about what upsets people in movies: [link]
I saw the movie in TIFF. It's preposterous (especially the ending) and is basically a Hallmark Channel movie with A list actors and decent production values rather than a gritty survivalist drama, but hey, I sometimes enjoy cornball Hallmark romances. Idris takes his shirt off at some point during the movie in case that's relevant.
Yeah, I'd rather see a Hallmark movie with Winslet and Elba than, say, The Grey.
Blade Runner:
I LOVED the script. Damn, that was one tightly-plotted 2½-hour-long movie. Just about every scene was essential. And overall probably a deeper, more complex movie than Arrival.
I thought the visuals were HIT OR MISS. There were moments of great beauty, but overall the dankness started to wear on me. At least in the original, Ridley Scott would cut through the dankness with flashes bright neon, especially for the street-level scenes. Here, not nearly as much.
I though the soundtrack was MEH. Of course it's impossible to live up to the Vangelis original, but they could have tried a lot harder.
I got really tired of the
single tear rolling down an actor's cheek
as a
shorthand for: THIS CHARACTER IS EMOTING NOW.
The seventh or eight time that it happened it got really old.
Idris takes his shirt off at some point during the movie in case that's relevant.
I feel that is highly relevant.
The latest Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer: [link]
!!!
