Movie reviews - summer 2020

Little Women - far from linear nor expected in its form.  Silly.  Confusing timelines.  Comical at times.   Fairy-tale sweetness and melancholy mush.  But for some odd reason I liked it.  Lots of likeable characters portrayed by top notch talent.  The beauty of a period piece unsettled by modern sensibility.  Far from dull, subtle yes, but worth a shiny shilling.   7/10

Late night - although in retrospect it felt a little engineered around personal drivers, it was still entertaining, relevant and well produced.  Solid acting, poignant humour and a well paced plot.   7/10

The Wife - Shakespearean. Expecting a twist. Slater dinner scene was exotic - was that deliberate - how awkward he is versus her story. Incongruent at times. Much more lively than the billing. Complex lives and love. Beautiful cinematic art.  8/10

The Assistant - hard work with the slow pace, sombre tone and a heavy subject.  Garner was perfectly cast but even her buoyancy couldn’t really rescue this one.  Disappointing.  5/10.  After a little further thought, I’m changing this to 6/10 based on the non-transparent Jane - Garner’s portrayal is so good we can’t easily read her.  

Mudbound - heavy and relevant and really well done.  Solid acting and enough creative scriptwriting to weave a thoughtful tragic tale with a glimmer of humanity.  8/10.  

Expedition Happiness - a wonderful journey that was not purely care-free.  A wonderful range of casual video with grand drone landscapes.  Beautiful scenes of nature, culture and love.  Really liked Mogli’s soundtrack and was truly touched at many emotional turns.  Special, personal filmmaking with simple storytelling.  8/10

The Kid (the original Charlie Chaplin silent B&W film from 1921) - I think the first Chaplin movie I’ve watched in full - heartwarming story, twists and turns, heroes and villains, touching moments and frantic action.  It has it all.  Lovely old stuff - really old, like 99 years old.  IMDB fun find: Jackie Coogan who played the kid was Uncle Fester in The Addams Family.   7/10.  

American Son - Wow, very very good.   So much in here, beautifully complex characters tied around a tragic modern tale.  The screenplay was so strong and it definitely felt like a stage play.  Surprising moments that kept twisting the tension.  I watched it alone and tears were shed.  Kind of baffled by the poor reviews.  8/10

Uncut Gems - Wow.  Quite the ride.  Hard to describe and so different to what I expected.  Sandler was truly phenomenal.  Heart racing pace.  Headache tension.  Why Howard why?  Solid contribution from KG and bit part from The Weeknd.  Head spinner like a KG move with no subtlety, very little style, nor mood, but emotion aplenty.  Rich in character, story and drama.  A hint of the comedic but lost among the wreckage left behind.  8/10. 

I didn't write reviews of the following, so just noting things that have stuck with me since seeing them and a reminder from the trailers.

Fyre - crazy entertaining doc. 7/10

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood - heartwarming, super performance by Hanks and strong messaging from real life. 7/10

Bombshell - riveting, expose-based-on-the-true-story wretchedness of Fox news.  7/10