The Favourite (2018)

"My life is like a maze I continually think I have gotten out of, only to find another corner right in front of me." ... it got me at this one ;) despite the context... let's say a bit "strange" of associating this line in the movie :)) No spoilers - just that "The Favourite" is not really a drama in the strict sense, contrary of what looks like.

Queen Anne ruled ove the United Kingdom sometime at the beginning of the 1700s. The exact date is less relevant. More relevant are the intrigues, the political clashes, the war seen more or less as a board game, etc., which either 100 years before or 100 after (or more..) probably won't show much difference. What we have in the movie is an episode with lots of satire in it set in this environment, where a duchess and her less noble cousin end up fighting for the status of a "favourite" at the court of a queen plagued with diseases, anger and solitude. And contrary to the relaxed tone it starts from, this conflict evolves towards hardly predictable Machiavellian proportions.

Let's take a slight detour to the more technical side, otherwise I'll lose some ideas, and I'll move back to the story in the end. We have some camera angles resulting in a very interesting cinematography, and a score based on a classic line, but bringing a series of intermezzos simple but very effective, mostly in underlining the tensed moments. The three actresses in the main parts - Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, and especially Emma Stone, are brilliant in their acting. I've been recommended at some point to watch "The Lobster" directed by the same Yorgos Lanthimos, but I got scared by the perspective of an acute depression when I saw a tagline saying something like "single people obliged to find a romantic partner in forty-five days or are transformed into beasts", so I skipped that. I don't know what this guy did there, but what we have here looks like a lighter "royalized" and "anglicized" Tarantino :) I'm exaggerating a bit, but the movie is structured in the same episodic style, in which every segment comes with a "punch" that changes a bit your perspective over the story.

And coming back to that... I have the unfortunate habit (due to losing time + filling my head with cu useless stuff) to do sometimes a "fact check" when a I watch a movie based on real stuff. And here you get a bit intrigued by the evolution of a character, who you wouldn't believe at scene two how far could get. What you see though in "The Favourite" seems way more romanticized compared to the historical truth. Including the not so orthodox relationship between the three main characters that gets a lot of attention in the movie, about which there doesn't seem to be any solid proof. But in the end, it doesn't write either anywhere that William Wallace cried "Freedooooom!" before the axe fell down, or that he had any affair with the future queen of England. But how would've been "Braveheart" without these? :) Honestly... I'd even say that I regret that "The Favourite" has the ending it does, which might leave you a bit disappointed waiting for a more... balanced closure of the "war". But going so far to re-write who won the fight probably won't work... or?... :P just referenced Tarantino, "Inglorious Basterds" anyone?...

Rating: 4 out of 5

Green Book (2018)

I don't really like jazz. So I had no idea until watching "Green Book" who was Don Shirley. And until the end of the movie I had no clue that what I'm seeing is also a real story... Fortunately, because the perspective of a biopic with a hint of musical would've kept me away. Like that, until the end titles I just felt I'm seeing a "road movie". A good one.

Tony "Lip" Vallelonga is an Italian guy working as a bouncer in the New York clubs during the '60s. Since feeding the family + paying the rent aren't really possible to ignore when he's forced to take a vacation while the club is renovated, Tony accepts a temporary job offer as a driver for Dr. Shirley. A black piano player, who studied at the Leningrad conservatory, and who's planning a tour of the southern states right during the segregation times. And like that we're getting to our "road movie" with a pretty odd pair both as interaction between them, as well as with the areas they're passing by: a highly educated black guy with two PhDs having a white thug as his limo driver.

I wouldn't really get into the discrimination part and the rest of social drama, because generally I avoid discussing real life issues on the blog, but it's obvious that this is the central topic of the movie, starting with the title = the green book of the places where the colored population was accepted in the south of the U.S. during that time - o touristic brochure for a "safe trip". Let's just say that the problem of the racism is handled with a fine touch, sometimes with humor, and I'd say in a much more decent and efficient manner as the message it sends than in other movies. Besides that, we have the road movie part, which has the feeling of a film by Alexander Payne - "Sideways", "Descendants", "Nebraska", take a pick (I know that not all of these are "road movies", but if you've seen them, you should know what I mean). It doesn't have the same charm, or the same intensity - where you feel effectively the place in the script - possibly also because the whole perspective is more negative towards the South US here, but we're close to Payne's style anyway. In the end you have pretty much the same feeling of a calm after the storm, no matter of where that happens and its context, everything somehow finds its place ;)

Rating: 4 out of 5

Under the Silver Lake (2018)

If David Lynch would have made a hippie movie... it would've probably been called "Under the Silver Lake". Or maybe David Lynch made a hippie movie, but I can't really remember any right now (a really hippie one). What we have here is written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, whose "It Follows" I counted a couple years ago in the probably best horrors ever made. Not the case here. Not a horror... neither a best ever made..

A jobless guy without much of a perspective, outside being evicted due to late rent, finds something to kill his time by solving the puzzle of Silver Lake - an area in East L.A. apparently known for its hipster trend (at least Google says that). The enigma starts with a blonde girl living across the door who disappears over night. The chain of investigations gets us through various locations, with even more various characters - from a dog killer, to a paranoid graphic novels author obsessed of the urban legend of a killer nymph with an owl head, an eccentric millionaire disappeared in strange conditions and (spoiler) found in even more suspicious conditions, a composer who since a century ago embeds subliminal messages into all hits released on this planet, and others.

There are many parts in the movie that don't make any sense. At least not an obvious one, and not raising to a level that could intrigue you enough to search for one. I think I've seen some comments somewhere telling that it doesn't seem to have an end. I think it has, at least for the intrigue where it starts from. I don't know how satisfactory that might seem for some, but for me it was ok. What's after is just an epilogue. The reason though to watch the movie is, by far, the way it's visually composed. It's so good that the subject fades away. I don't even know how to describe it from that perspective. The trailer isn't really the best indicator. Let's just say it's very divers as camera work. Which anyway, you should see, not read about... ;)

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Upgrade (2018)

Probably "Upgrade" is not the best "Christmas movie", but I don't have a better subject. And, anyway, if we look a bit between the lines, I can say that it has a bit of "hope for a better tomorrow" coming from end-of-year blog entry ;)

If I'd have to classify this, "Upgrade" probably fits best in that category of SciFi that looks more or less indie, but is definitely outside the mainstream area, but you cannot label it as B-series either. I'm thinking here on stuff like "Dark City", "13th Floor", "Equilibrium", "Predestination". Having a very nice touch of cyberpunk. But let's cut short the lists and get into the story...

Somewhere in an augmented future, Grey is a former mechanic, nostalgic for the times when you actually needed to handle the car's wheel, who's now dealing with restoring cars for collectors while his wife, employee of a company dealing with electronic implants is the one who's actually bringing money in the house. One evening, following an accident in which their smart car strangely derails from pre-determined track reaching a not so safe area of the city, they get attacked by 4 thugs. The result, he's ending up on a bed, paralyzed from neck down, and she's not even making up to hospital. Which brings us to the moment of the offer. One of Grey's clients, owner of some "classic" cars, and also of another company specialized in implants, proposes Grey to become a lab rat for an ultra-advanced AI chip that could restore his movement capacity. There's a catch... we have to sign an NDA saying that the deal stays secret and with him still confined in the wheel chair for the public eye. The problem is that the guy is not really eager to move on with his life between his house walls, having as first item in his todo list: "avenge my wife". And another catch... the ultra-advanced AI has a voice of its own (literally and figuratively speaking). What's the perspective on a long happy life in this context - to check that in the movie.

The bad: Let's say that it could've been done better on the acting part, although that's not covering everybody. The main character, as well as the main villain are ok, but for the rest I think they could've used another take here and there. Besides that, there's a "cold feeling", which I can't define much better - something like not being able to empathize much with any character. It's something that I also felt in some of Nolan's movies, in particular in "Inception" (pretty much the sole negative aspect there). But anyway, it's a temporary feeling, which is somehow going away towards the end. Which brings us to...

The good: I didn't say by now that behind this movie is Leigh Whannell (script + directing), more known maybe for his collaboration with James Wan in "Saw" and "Insidious". Probably given the background/story style, that's where comes from the best part of the current movie - the ending. We have a twist coming there, but which you can see way in advance. And that leaves you a bit disappointed. For like 5-10 minute, until the real twist :) And as a cherry on top, we also have a (let's say) ultimate ending twist. That might leave you thinking on some existential questions like what's better - a fake life in comfort or a true life in pain - or, to get out of cliches, how could you end up somewhere in the middle? :). But since I don't have any answers and I don't want to give any spoilers, all I can say is: Happy Holidays! & and a better next year! ;)

Rating: 4 out of 5

Winter-Spring 2018-2019 Movie Preview (the brief version) - Part 2

Considering the amount of research I did last week, I'm currently more tempted to start a survey on treating tibiofibular diastasis without surgery than movie blogging. However, as much I would like to convince myself that a "Dr." near your name gives you super-powers to conveniently re-interpret a CT scan, that's probably not a valid assumption unless you also have a "M.D." written there, with all the help you might get from journal articles of Korean orthopedists. Besides that, I should probably move my focus anyway to cardio areas since there seem to be more urgent issues there (not mine... yet, not that it would make things simpler). To conclude, it's probably more recommended to take a break from re-qualification attempts and complete the entry of last time. Still in brief mode = one title/month...

In March we have "Captive State". Which I don't trust more than the worst episode of "Black Mirror" (whichever that might be), but considering the utter lack of SciFi movies, I'm willing to give a chance to pretty much anything.

The lack of SciFi movies doesn't include (unfortunately, I would say) also the super-hero area. But "Shazam!" seems to bring though a bit of a mix between "Kick-Ass" and "Defendor", which, if confirmed in April, outside the rest of re-heated soups in this movie genre.

We'll stick to the same stuff for the month of May too. Even if it makes me thinking on including super-hero movies in the list of Spring allergies, I won't ignore "Avengers: Endgame". Why? Because, surprisingly, I liked "Infinity War". Almost enough to give it a blog entry, but considering that I've watched that at more than half a year after its release I said that it might be a bit late. Besides, it's quite likely that it's just because my subconscious reacts favorably to anything involving "time travel", and wants to see a confirmation to the previous episode that this is the solution for all problems ;)

As I was saying to someone long ago that given my typical lack of communication, as long as I'm writing something on my blog it means that I'm "still alive", I'll try another entry by the end of the year. So, let's postpone the holiday wishes for next time ( hopefully... ;) )