Monthly culture: July 2022
Friday, August 19th, 2022 08:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranth07JUL22: Thor: Love and Thunder (Waititi, 2022) -- Greenwich PictureHouse
'Interstellar explains everything really clearly," claims Jane Foster. Mere mortals differ.
Guns'n'Roses! Asgardian court theatre, now featuring Hela! Shy courgette! Russell Crowe! Cute kids! (Wait, what?) Some excellent lines, and a devastating love triangle with no women involved. King Valkyrie rocks. A pile of rocks tells stories.
And yet I was ... not exactly disappointed, but I had gone in with high hopes whetted by Ragnarok, and that was, really, unmatchable.
Fun, but maybe I’m finally falling out of love with the MCU: nothing since Endgame has really reached in and grabbed me by the heart.
09JUL22: RRR (Rajamouli, 2022) -- Netflix
Loosely based on the Ramayana, this is a gloriously OTT historical drama about revolution in 1920s India. Our protagonists are Bheem, who’s vowed to avenge the abduction of a little girl by colonial oppressors, and Rama, a career soldier who works for the British government and is apparently motivated by sheer ambition. They become best friends after saving another child — despite being on opposite sides of the revolution. (But are they?)
Enough plot. RRR pulls out all the stops: it’s nearly three hours of swashbuckling, improbable fight sequences, strong emotions and British brutality. The British are really horrible, and I applaud this, because it is true.
Slightly too much graphic violence and torture for my comfort, but I can’t honestly say the violence was gratuitous.
Also, a lot of animals, including an excellent tiger (all CGI, and very nicely done).
Would’ve loved to see this on a big cinema screen!
21JUL22: Widows (McQueen, 2018) -- Netflix
I vaguely remember the 1980s TV series, written by Lynda LaPlante because of a dearth of decent roles for women in TV. This remake sets the story in Chicago: it focuses on four women left widowed after their husbands’ criminal heist goes wrong. Splendid performances from the leads, especially Viola Davis and Elizabeth Debicki: plenty of sleazy men getting in the way of the womens’ attempts to repay a debt and reclaim their lives; racism, sexism, classism; interesting camera angles (much of the action is seen through car windows in various states of cleanliness / rain). A really compelling watch.
28JUL22: Boiling Point (Barantini, 2021) -- Netflix
The action takes place on a busy evening just before Christmas in a fancy East End restaurant, and is filmed in a single shot — which doesn’t feel gimmicky or forced. Camera moves between characters and thus between subplots (slacker underchef who pops out to buy drugs from a man in a car, fresh start head chef who’s missed his kid’s swimming competition, entitled front-of-house woman who cries in the toilet, snobbish customer, et cetera) pretty smoothly. The tension is palpable and I found the workplace/interpersonal conflicts really stressful to watch! I think this means the film succeeds...
'Interstellar explains everything really clearly," claims Jane Foster. Mere mortals differ.
Guns'n'Roses! Asgardian court theatre, now featuring Hela! Shy courgette! Russell Crowe! Cute kids! (Wait, what?) Some excellent lines, and a devastating love triangle with no women involved. King Valkyrie rocks. A pile of rocks tells stories.
And yet I was ... not exactly disappointed, but I had gone in with high hopes whetted by Ragnarok, and that was, really, unmatchable.
Fun, but maybe I’m finally falling out of love with the MCU: nothing since Endgame has really reached in and grabbed me by the heart.
09JUL22: RRR (Rajamouli, 2022) -- Netflix
Loosely based on the Ramayana, this is a gloriously OTT historical drama about revolution in 1920s India. Our protagonists are Bheem, who’s vowed to avenge the abduction of a little girl by colonial oppressors, and Rama, a career soldier who works for the British government and is apparently motivated by sheer ambition. They become best friends after saving another child — despite being on opposite sides of the revolution. (But are they?)
Enough plot. RRR pulls out all the stops: it’s nearly three hours of swashbuckling, improbable fight sequences, strong emotions and British brutality. The British are really horrible, and I applaud this, because it is true.
Slightly too much graphic violence and torture for my comfort, but I can’t honestly say the violence was gratuitous.
Also, a lot of animals, including an excellent tiger (all CGI, and very nicely done).
Would’ve loved to see this on a big cinema screen!
21JUL22: Widows (McQueen, 2018) -- Netflix
I vaguely remember the 1980s TV series, written by Lynda LaPlante because of a dearth of decent roles for women in TV. This remake sets the story in Chicago: it focuses on four women left widowed after their husbands’ criminal heist goes wrong. Splendid performances from the leads, especially Viola Davis and Elizabeth Debicki: plenty of sleazy men getting in the way of the womens’ attempts to repay a debt and reclaim their lives; racism, sexism, classism; interesting camera angles (much of the action is seen through car windows in various states of cleanliness / rain). A really compelling watch.
28JUL22: Boiling Point (Barantini, 2021) -- Netflix
The action takes place on a busy evening just before Christmas in a fancy East End restaurant, and is filmed in a single shot — which doesn’t feel gimmicky or forced. Camera moves between characters and thus between subplots (slacker underchef who pops out to buy drugs from a man in a car, fresh start head chef who’s missed his kid’s swimming competition, entitled front-of-house woman who cries in the toilet, snobbish customer, et cetera) pretty smoothly. The tension is palpable and I found the workplace/interpersonal conflicts really stressful to watch! I think this means the film succeeds...
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Date: Tuesday, August 23rd, 2022 06:39 pm (UTC)