Michael May's Blog, page 68
March 26, 2019
Great Expectations (1998)
Who's in it?: Ethan Hawke (In a Valley of Violence, The Magnificent Seven, The Kid), Gwyneth Paltrow (Se7en, Emma, Iron Man), Anne Bancroft (Treasure of the Golden Condor, The Graduate, Honeymoon in Vegas), Robert De Niro (The Untouchables, Midnight Run, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein), Chris Cooper (Lonesome Dove, The Bourne Identity, The Muppets), and Hank Azaria (The Simpsons, Friends, Mystery Men)
What's it about?: An adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel about the life of an orphan, but set in contemporary times.
How is it?: Emmanuel Lubezki's photography is a highlight as usual. He's won enough Oscars to make that an understatement, but Alfonso Cuarón (who directed this, which is why I'm watching it again) was an early collaborator with Lubezki. In Great Expectations, Cuarón brilliantly communicates the sensuality of Finn (Pip in the book) and Estella's relationship through camera placement, focus, scene blocking, and pretty much every other tool in his kit except dialogue and gratuitous nudity, which are what less talented directors have to rely on.
What keeps it from being a favorite film of mine is the story itself. I've never read Dickens' novel, so I don't know who to blame, but I get tired of Dinsmoor and Estella's shenanigans way before Finn does, meaning that I also get impatient with his continued submission to their cruelty. Cuarón is so good at including me in Estella's seduction of Finn that I feel why it would be tough for Finn to move on, but I really want him to and though SPOILER his patience ultimately pays off, I'm not satisfied that the reward is worth the lifetime of suffering.
I could be thinking about it wrong by phrasing it in terms of reward for Finn, but Estella isn't a complete enough character for me to see her point of view clearly. There's a great scene where she talks about Dinsmoor's training and what that's done to her, but it's not enough. I want more of that.
Rating: Three out of five seductive socialites.
March 21, 2019
A Star Is Born (1937)
Who's in it?: Janet Gaynor (a prolific actor in the silent and early sound eras, but this was my first film of hers), Fredric March (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), and Andy Devine (Stagecoach, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Disney's Robin Hood)
What's it about?: The career of a young actress (Gaynor) begins to take off just as the career of her self-destructive husband (March) spirals out of control.
How is it?: The existence of the 2018 version made we want to finally go back and see the versions that came before it, so this'll be a mini-project for 2019. I haven't seen the 2018 one yet either, so Diane and I are tackling these in chronological order.
I see why it's been remade so many times. It's a heartbreaking story of self-destruction, but also sacrifice, which is oddly uplifting. I have to spoil something here to talk about it, but it's an 80-year-old movie that's been remade at least three times, so it's probably not much of a spoiler. Still, if that bothers you, quit reading now.
So March's character Norman can't escape his spiral and realizes that he's hurting his wife Vicki. He's hurting her emotionally of course, but more importantly (to him) he's hurting her career and her dreams of stardom. She is absolutely willing to give those things up to help him fight his demons, but he can't accept that from her. He kills himself by swimming into the ocean to drown.
From his point of view it's a selfless act, though I'd call it misguided and more destructive than anything else he's done in the film so far. It's not a situation with a clear answer though, so I appreciate the opportunity for discussion. What bothers me about it is that I wish the sacrifice was in service to something greater than Hollywood dreams. The whole film is very much Hollywood in love with itself, including pretentious opening and closing shots of the script.
Norman's heart is good though and I do love how Vicki reacts to his death. That feels very real to me. I'm eager to see the story reinterpreted.
Rating: Three out of five pessimistic performers.
March 20, 2019
Thundarr Road | Fortress of Fear
Still in Los Angeles, Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla encounter slaves that need freeing from possibly the most powerful wizard our heroes have encountered yet. Celebrate the freedom in this freedom-packed episode of freedom.
March 19, 2019
The Widow
Who's in it?: Kate Beckinsale (Much Ado About Nothing, Cold Comfort Farm, the Underworld movies), Alex Kingston (River Song on Doctor Who), and Charles Dance (The Golden Child, Alien³, Game of Thrones).
What's it about?: A woman (Beckinsale) goes looking for her supposedly dead husband when she thinks she spots him on a TV news report.
How is it?: It's not going to be for everyone, but I really really enjoyed The Widow. I recommended it to a friend who's a big Alex Kingston fan, but he couldn't get through it. It stuck with me though and I'm currently rewatching it with Diane.
The mysteries (there are many) unfold slowly. There are multiple plot lines that eventually converge, but the mini-series takes its time revealing how they're connected. It's non-linear with tons of flashbacks that sometimes uncover aspects of the story that you didn't even know were mysteries. For me, that means that it gets increasingly richer and deeper as it goes, but it could be frustrating for some. And then there are some of the mysteries whose revelations are fairly mundane. If you're looking for Lost or 24-like twists, you'll be disappointed. The Widow is exciting, but it's also very grounded and real.
The two things I liked best about it - no, three things if I count just spending time with Beckinsale and Dance (who plays an ally of Beckinsale helping with her investigation) - are the setting and one of the big themes. The series is mostly set in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is part of the world I knew very little about. I feel like I know it better now though (it reminds me a lot of Haiti, which I've visited) and that's a very cool aspect of the show. I also like that it shows multiple sides of living in the DRC, both positive and negative.
Even better than that, I love the relentlessness of Beckinsale's character. She constantly makes choices where the potential consequences seem so much bigger than her ability to handle them. And while I don't exactly worry for her (she's the star of the thing after all) the tone is so real that I constantly wonder how she's going to make it through whatever situation she's about to rush into. Her perseverance is head-scratching at first, but it quickly moves to admirable and finally becomes the whole point of the show, which contrasts her with weaker-willed characters. What I thought was just a cool way of driving action becomes a remarkable, provocative challenge to face trials and struggles in my own life with courage and determination, as opposed to avoiding them or ignoring them until they solve themselves.
Rating: Four out of five single-minded spouses.
March 18, 2019
Filthy Horrors | Ghost Stories
Darla, Jess, and I eat at a haunted restaurant then talk about three of our favorite ghost movies: Poltergeist (1982), The Orphanage (2007), and The Woman in Black (2012).
March 15, 2019
Dragonfly Ripple | Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
David and I finish our MCU rewatch (before watching the brand new Captain Marvel, anyway) with a discussion of what Ant-Man and the Wasp adds to the series.
March 14, 2019
Hellbent for Letterbox | Buffalo Boys (2018)
Pax and I talk about the Indonesian Western Buffalo Boys by director Mike Wiluan. Also, Pax reads more Hex (guest-starring Batman!?) and I watch Charles Bronson as Wild Bill Hickok in The White Buffalo.
March 13, 2019
Dragonfly Ripple | Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
David and I walk through the Infinity War scene by scene, reliving the adventure and speculating about what's to come.
March 12, 2019
Fourth Chair Army Invasion | Live-Action Disney Remakes
Disney loves making live-action versions of its cartoon library, but how many of them are actually good? Geek Kay and Christian Nielsen join me to talk about the phenomenon and also figure out how we'd approach remaking Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Hercules, The Three Caballeros, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
March 8, 2019
Dragonfly Ripple | Black Panther (2018)
David and I spend some extra time on Black Panther, going through the film scene by scene; talking about our favorite parts as well as a couple of things we (well, I, really) didn't like.
