Monday 22 January 2018

More Fulla Filmy Goodness

I like to watch rapid processions of still images with my eyes whilst using my ears to listen the synchronised sounds that accompany them. Well, who doesn’t like a good film? Here are some things that I have pointed my eyes and ears in order to try and attribute some sort of meaning to them using my brain.

Darkest Hour
In A Nutshell:- Oldman as Churchill
Any Good? It’s very performance piece (almost more like a stage play than a film at times) and whether you enjoy it or not will depend on how you feel about Oldman’s performance. Fortunately, I very much enjoyed his performance which, amongst the angst and stirring calls to arms that you would be expecting, has a few nice moments of humour too. The only thing that didn’t quite gel was Lily James as his secretary - the role felt a little underserved and a little too much like it was there for narrative convenience.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
In A Nutshell:- I feel like a nutshell description would be too reductive here
Any Good? Yes, it really is. I often try to watch some of the main Oscar contenders and, while I generally agree that they’re usually good films, they’re very rarely films that deserve the amount of praise they generate. This was one of those where I understood the fuss. It’s a really good that deserves a broad audience. It manages to avoid a lot of the standard narrative and character beats that a film like this could go down and, as a result, feels very human. Definitely one to watch.

The Shape Of Water
In A Nutshell:- Amelie meets The Creature From The Black Lagoon by way of Beauty And The Beast
Any Good? I’ve always liked Guillermo Del Toro’s work - he has a distinct visual style that I find very appealing. This time, he very much seems to be channelling Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie, Delicatessen, City Of Lost Children) and that’s no bad thing as I’m a big fan of his work too. It looks amazing but narratively I have to say that I found it to have very few surprises. Still, for look and feel alone, it’s still worth seeing.

Come back next time when I’ll probably have looked at more things and stuff.



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