Between Fishburne and Streep we're making a strong comeback.

Han Solo movie in May

What? I assumed it was being released near Xmas.

[googles]

sonofagun!

We saw Jumanji tonight, and it was exactly as much fun as I was expecting. (Pretty much fun, in case you were wondering.) Jack Black was unexpectedly fantastic. And I always love Mr. The Rock.

Watched Hateful 8 and Magnificent 7 last night. Hateful 8 was M's choice and it just reminded me why I don't really watch Tarantino movies. The flashback chapter made me go from just hoping the 8 would just all die to hoping they ended up dying miserably because I finally saw characters I liked.

The Magnificent 7 was ok. It felt like there was backstory between Goodnight and Billy that was cut. Snd I would have rather had that then all the parts with Chris Pratt's character.

Since my part of NC got hit with nearly a foot of snow, I'm working from home today with Return of the King on in the background. The lighting of the beacons still gives me goosebumps.

I thought I'd had enough of Three Billboards discourse, mainly because twitter with its back-and-forth sniping is a terrible platform for anything nuanced. But I really liked this measured response penned by Alissa Wilkinson at Vox: [link]

On unrelated news, I did end up seeing Molly's Game last weekend, and uh, that script was the Sorkinest Sorkin ever Sorkined. I thought Jessica Chastain was great (I mean, when isn't she), especially in handling Sorkin's dense dialog and voice-overs. Oh my God, so much voice-overs, y'all. The opening scene is legit great. But I feel like the film loses the way a bit near the end (it is also very long, longer than this type of film should be). There is a scene near the end between Molly and (spoiler), which I have heard praised by some critics on reviews and podcasts, that made me roll my eyes so hard I was almost blinded. Boy, talk about a way to be super-reductive of the protagonist's journey (this also felt very Sorkin.)

That said, the film is snappy and poppy and really quite fun for the most parts. Idris Elba, who plays her lawyer, has nice chemistry with Chastain, and I was like, "well, I wouldn't mind if they did."

This weekend: Phantom Thread or I, Tonya? Possibly both! I also kinda wanna rewatch Lady Bird and The Shape of Water, both of which I'd seen in Toronto 3 months back...

I just saw Phantom Thread, and.... I guess? It sure was beautiful to look at.

I saw The Post today. Good. I am interested if Kat Graham was seen as a pivotal inspiring woman at the time or if Spielberg played that up in the young girls staring at her in awe as she went in to men only spaces shots.

It felt like nothing covered in the film was covered deeply enough, if that makes sense.

It felt like nothing covered in the film was covered deeply enough, if that makes sense.

Yeah, I saw it last night, and felt it was oddly slight. Might be worth re-watching All the President's Men as a more substantive follow-up.

I saw Call Me by Your Name this afternoon. Quite good, but I have to agree with Vonnie that it didn't quite live up to expectations/hype. The narrative treated the relationship as something more profound than the performances delivered, with the possible exception of Michael Stuhlbarg's fatherly speech at the end. (Which is the only aspect of the film I'd consider Oscar-worthy.) And I came away thoroughly unimpressed by most of the cinematography—I don't know how one goes on location to film in Italy in the summer and manages to avoid conveying the beauty of the architecture and countryside, but Sayombhu Mukdeeprom did for most of the movie.