The Favourite

Rachel Weisz, Olivia Colman,

Emma Stone

"Loosely based on real Events"

The Favourite should be lauded for having three strong female characters yet having said that the open ended conclusion leaves so much to be desired. I read it is the style of director Yorgos Lanthimos to have vague endings in most of his film so he stayed true to form. Okay I am jumping the gun, pardon me. 

It is set in early 18th century during the reign of a very weak Queen Anne (Olivia Colman). She is assisted (in more ways than one) by her close friend, Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) who basically runs the country. A period when England is in a very costly war with France and the peasants are getting restless. 

Enter Abigail (Emma Stone) who happens to be Lady Sarah's cousin who has fallen on hard times. She is employed as a servant yet as she endears herself to Lady Sarah, she is 'promoted' to I guess, a personal assistant. Abigail is fiercely determined and uses her new role to ingratiate herself to the Queen and won't stop until she regains her aristocratic status.

The conniving, the treachery, the jealousy and the malicious mischief that arises between these three female characters is wicked yet quite entertaining. The costume design of that century is well represented and the locales are depicted in vast mansions and castles, even the design of the gaudy interiors is realistically enhanced.

Olivia Colman did justice to her role as the frail Queen Anne. She is deteriorating before our eyes, her mood swings are scary and her dark past is hauntingly piercing in the form of 17 rabbits in her bedroom. 

Rachel Weisz has always been a steady actress and as Lady Sarah, she is in her elements. There are questions about Lady Sarah's main intentions towards the Queen. Did she mean well and cared as a true friend, or did she have vested interests in maintaining the status quo in the country? I'd say she was honest, deeply loyal and boldly dedicated to both her country and to the Queen.

It is really refreshing to watch Emma Stone. As the supposedly meek yet cunning Abigail, she was detestable. We hate her, despise what she stands for and reviles the methods she used to ingratiate herself to the Queen.

My thoughts on the ending: the three characters are exactly where they are supposed to be and it is far too late in the game to steer away from their current miserable situations. The Queen is trapped, not just physically but also mentally isolated. Lady Sarah is exiled or maybe even jailed for ruining the country and Abigail, well judging from that sly smile on her face, she realizes she will always be a parasite, an organism that depends on its host to survive. As for the rabbits, they are symbolic of the Queen's agony as well as the supposedly innocent characteristic of Abigail. Cute and cuddly yet sly and crafty because we all know the saying about rabbits, don't we? 

Green Book

Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali

"Inspired by a True Friendship"

Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen) is a rough bouncer at a nightclub which closes for renovations. He is then hired by Dr Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) as his chauffeur. The classical pianist and his band are embarking on a tour in venues in the deep South. The setting is in the 1960s when racial segregation is still very much the norm. Armed with the Green Book, a 'travel guide' which lists places/hotels where African Americans are accepted, they venture on a journey of self discovery that leads to their life long friendship.

The plot tackles racial segregation in its raw form. The 1960s was a very difficult era for African Americans and the mere fact that somebody had the temerity to come up with a green book is mind boggling to me. A sad yet interesting fact I only discovered by watching this film. This biopic presents an authentic portrayal of the period. It didn't matter that Dr. Shirley was a learned classical pianist who could speak several languages, the mere color of his skin was met with a lot of bigotry in the Southern part of the country. 

Tony Lip was quite an interesting character. A street smart Italian American living in the Bronx, he himself was kind of a bigot. But I'd say, his hatred stems mostly from ignorance or not knowing any better. By the way, he got his moniker because he could talk his way out of any kind of trouble. His tough stance came in handy when Dr. Shirley faced many forms of discrimination during the tour. Viggo Mortensen's performance was excellent, he truly imbibed his character.

Mahershala Ali from the House of Cards, Moonlight and the current True Detective series on HBO was great. His characterization of Dr. Shirley was spot on - from his deep voice delivering dialogue clearly, his strong screen presence, his finesse, his wisdom and his humility despite being a great pianist - it was very well acted.

I love this movie as it explores how two complete opposite individuals who come from different backgrounds forge a deep friendship based on respect, admiration and tolerance.

Widows

Viola Davis, Liam Neeson,

Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki,

Robert Duvall, Colin Farrell

"Left with Nothing. Capable of Anything"

The title refers to 4 women whose husbands perished after their heist goes wrong. Veronica (Viola Davis) who was married to Harry (Liam Neeson) the leader of the criminal gang is hounded by a menacing local thug who claims that Harry stole their money. Desperate to get rid of the debt, she gathers the other widows and decide to do Harry's "next job".

The plan is clear as day yet do these women even have the capabilities to pull it off? Veronica is a union rep for a teachers association, Alice (Elizabeth Debicki) doesn't even know how to drive, Linda (Michelle Rodriguez) owns a bridal shop and Belle (not really part of the "widows club") is a hair dresser. To answer the question: Absolutely not.

Set in present day Chicago, a local election mired with corruption, bribery and dirty campaign tactics provides a weak backdrop. The film drags on with several subplots. The main story line is marred with inconsistent twists which lost the element of surprise so it all falls flat. 

Widows could have been a good movie. Yet the 'robbery' came in quite late in the sequence of events and also quite fast (it was over in 5-8 minutes) that by then you simply lose interest. Unfortunately, the ensemble cast consisting of talented actors like Viola Davis, Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall and Liam Neeson couldn't salvage this average heist film.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout

Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, 

Rebecca Ferguson, Alec Baldwin,

Simon Pegg, Vhing Rhames

"Some Missions are Not a Choice"

It doesn't hurt to add in an action filled feature to maintain a balanced viewing habit. The Mission: Impossible franchise is always a good choice when it comes to fast paced action stunts, car chases, panoramic locales + a complex plot to keep it all together.

Fallout is the 6th film in the franchise and it continues 2 years after the capture of Solomon Lane. His organization known as the Syndicate have regrouped and now call themselves the Apostles headed by a mysterious arms dealer named John Lark. Their nefarious plan is to use three plutonium cores to simultaneously attack holy sites like the Vatican, Jerusalem and Mecca in Saudi Arabia. 

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team were first assigned to recover the plutonium cores yet fail in their mission. They are joined by August Walker (Henry Cavill) a CIA trained operative as they travel all over the world to recover the cores and prevent those disastrous attacks. What seemed like a simple recovery operation turns into time consuming hunt for the dangerous terrorists who are always a step ahead of the team. 

I read numerous articles on Tom Cruise (who does most, if not all of his own stunts) suffering a serious leg injury while filming a scene in Paris. There were indeed many well choreographed stunts in this film from running on roof tops, flying a helicopter through the snow capped mountain ranges to BMW car chases in the streets of Paris, France.

M:I- Fallout has all the right ingredients of a good film - action packed sequences, good directing, a clever and credible story line, great cinematography, neat editing and an ensemble cast who by now can play their multi-dimensional characters with their eyes closed. 

Bird Box

Netflix

Sandra Bullock, John Malcovich,

Trevante Rhodes, Jacki Weaver

"Never lose Sight of Survival"

My first post in 2019 tackles a genre which I rarely watch - horror movies. But a controversial meme where people mimic the characters in Bird Box got me curious so watch, I did. I log in to my rarely used Netflix account and try to absorb the narrative without the need to close my eyes because I scare, easily.

Malorie (Sandra Bullock) is a pregnant artist/painter who isn't really the maternal type.  Her sister Jessica (Sarah Paulson) drives them home after a pre-natal check up. Suddenly Jessica acts weird, starts calling out for their mom, runs out of the car and straight into the path of an incoming truck. 

The stage is set for this post apocalyptic world where the key to survival is to blindfold your eyes when you go out to avoid seeing some strange force which makes you kill yourself.

After sharing a house with some strangers who eventually turn on each other, Malorie decides to venture out with two young kids (one of them is her now 5 year old son) to a sanctuary. The only problem is they need to take a small boat and navigate perilous waters on a lake to reach it, blindfolded. The vital ingredient on the boat is a tiny box with two small birds thus Bird Box. Apparently, birds can sense them and would chirp incessantly to signal the presence of these mysteriously deadly 'forces'.

Aside from gory scenes of chaos and people killing themselves, the tone of the movie was not a.there.is.a.monster.killing.humans type of scary. It was mostly psychological as they are dealing with something which nobody understands what triggered it nor how long it would last and why it is spreading throughout the entire universe. There were several scenes which were dragging. A couple of jaw dropping intense sequences on the lake when they reach the shooting rapids. A far fetched scenario to say the least, as she had to course through it, blindfolded. 

Bird Box had mostly tolerable scenarios with only a few engaging parts. No clear answers are provided and this truly disappointed my curiosity. Except for some gory scenes of mayhem, it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be so I know I won't have any nightmares to interrupt my sleep, tonight.