Two more movies and their associated trailers

Day One of vacation and probably most importantly, I slept on my own schedule, which has left me with a feeling of physical euphoria that I’d forgotten I was capable of. (Probably has something to do with the fact that I don’t have any background worry about dad cooking under the surface, either. I thought about texting my brother a pills reminder and then decided that they are all adults over there, too.) Beyond that, I went to the bank, went to the farmer’s market and got some of the late season tomatoes and a watermelon (dad doesn’t care for either), had a very healthy steak and arugula sandwich for lunch (dad doesn’t care for the sort of restaurant that serves arugula), saw The Wife at the movies, and replaced my MacBook Pro power source (which had a literally ripping encounter with dad’s boots and which I’ve had taped with electric tape for the last two weeks or so). Now I am at home, watching a rerun of The Great British Baking Show and thinking about dinner (the end of this, which I made Thursday, warmed up with rice; dad doesn’t really eat curries), a beer (verboten while dad is around) and some writing. I’ve also vowed to declutter one room in our living area per day. So here’s a bit of a warm-up on the writing part.

The Wife

Joe Castleman (Jonathan Pryce) and his wife, Joan (Glenn Close) journey to Stockholm to accept his Nobel Prize for literature, revealing the at times shocking history of their relationship. This was one of the better films I’ve seen this year and definitely Oscar-worthy. Close is amazing; it’s astounding how much power her silence conveys and how she portrays ever facet of a very conflicted character. Pryce as her husband is also good, although he doesn’t hit Jewish tone of the twentieth-century Jewish novelist very consistently. (Literature mavens will find themselves thinking about Saul Bellow off and on.) Funny jab: Max Irons cast as the Castlemans’ son, a wannabe writer (Irons’ father is Jeremy Irons and like Castleman, Irons didn’t want his son to be a writer). Striking cameo by Elizabeth McGovern. Solid but subtle cinematography and a fantastic script. It’s good I didn’t know ahead of time that this was a book adaptation, as I’m not a fan of Meg Wolitzer. See this if you get a chance. It seems to have entirely missed the 2017 awards season. Unfortunate.

Farmer of the Year

An indie that unfortunately no one will see — I took dad to see this two weeks ago, because I thought he might relate (he thought it was fine, which is the most anyone will get out of him). An elderly farmer in Minnesota (Barry Corbin) passes his farm on to his children and sets out in a Winnebago with his granddaughter to attend his WWII veterans’ reunion in California. See this if you get a chance; it’s a moving reflection both on aging and being young, as well as on communication problems across the generations. It’s rare to see a movie about the Midwest that is this exactly observed with out spiraling into cliché and mocking.

On to the trailers.

The Old Man and the Gun

Robert Redford plays an aging bank robber. Sissy Spacek is in it too. I’d love to see this film except Casey Affleck is in it and I avoid supporting the career development of confessed sexual harassers / assaulters when I can.

A Star is Born

No the first time and no the second time and still no.

The Girl in the Spider’s Web

I’d be interested in seeing Claire Foy do something other than play an English queen, and I swallowed the original Stieg Larsson novels when I read them in German translation (I didn’t read this one, which was written by someone else). However, I haven’t seen any of the film adaptations of the original novels and I will be giving this one a miss as well — in my opinion, the material is too violent for film.

Mary Queen of Scots

Positives: I know John Guy, who wrote the award-winning biography at the basis of the film. Also the film has Brendan Coyle and Margot Robbie. However: Mary and Elizabeth never actually met, so you can more or less guess they threw historical accuracy to the winds, and the trailer makes it looks like it’s going to be all sexual politics in an anachronistic frame. Also: Saoirse Ronan, whom I tend to find uninspiring. This film looks awful, despite a really well-done trailer, but I may not be able to stop myself.

Boy Erased

Still a possible despite Kidman and Crowe, although early reviews are tepid.

Little Women

This is one of the most influential stories in my own life philosophy, how could I miss it? Although I haven’t liked any Little Women film adaptation I’ve ever seen, and the BBC adaptation I saw this year was especially disastrous. And supposedly there’s one coming up with Meryl Streep.

~ by Servetus on September 16, 2018.