Monthly culture: January 2023
Friday, February 17th, 2023 12:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranth02JAN23: Bros (Stoller, 2022)
"the first theatrically released studio gay rom-com, the first studio film co-written by and starring an openly gay man and the first studio film with a majority LGBTQ+ cast" (Guardian review). This was akooky, sweet, snarky festive(ish) romcom, not toned down for a het audience: it managed to be simultaneously sarcastic and sincere, as well as tropetastic (dash to the airport here replaced with jog to the museum; falling-in-love montage; surprise proposal; et cetera). Splendid cast -- Billy Eichner and Luke McFarlane have credible chemistry; Miss Lawrence is awesome; Debra Messing ditto -- and an excellent script, which pokes fun at more 'mainstream' gay romcoms. A delight.
05JAN23: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (del Toro, 2022) -- Netflix
From the film group chat: "accordion, therefore horror. QED." Extraordinary animation, definitely horror-coded, and an excellent voice cast including Burn Gorman, Tilda Swinton and Cate Blanchett. The cricket was a much-needed ray of sunshine.
But where are the women, eh? Is the whole Pinocchio story -- a man giving life to a substitute child -- a coded tale of mpreg?
26JAN23: The Pale Blue Eye (Cooper, 2022) -- Netflix
Fabulous palette, understated and powerful performances (Christian Bale has a good face for period movies, and he's as unsettling here as he's ever been: Harry Melling excellent as a young, unblinking Edgar Allen Poe) - but this turns out to be yet another story about a man taking revenge for something that's happened to 'his' woman. The Marquis siblings, who mutilated bodies and met a fate presented as deserved, were at least trying to do something positive, to save a life. They were toxic but they didn't kill anyone.
28JAN23: Nickel Creek at Union Chapel
Good songs, nice harmonies, great and very engaged audience: we were lucky with seating -- second row back at the side near the bar.
"the first theatrically released studio gay rom-com, the first studio film co-written by and starring an openly gay man and the first studio film with a majority LGBTQ+ cast" (Guardian review). This was akooky, sweet, snarky festive(ish) romcom, not toned down for a het audience: it managed to be simultaneously sarcastic and sincere, as well as tropetastic (dash to the airport here replaced with jog to the museum; falling-in-love montage; surprise proposal; et cetera). Splendid cast -- Billy Eichner and Luke McFarlane have credible chemistry; Miss Lawrence is awesome; Debra Messing ditto -- and an excellent script, which pokes fun at more 'mainstream' gay romcoms. A delight.
05JAN23: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (del Toro, 2022) -- Netflix
From the film group chat: "accordion, therefore horror. QED." Extraordinary animation, definitely horror-coded, and an excellent voice cast including Burn Gorman, Tilda Swinton and Cate Blanchett. The cricket was a much-needed ray of sunshine.
But where are the women, eh? Is the whole Pinocchio story -- a man giving life to a substitute child -- a coded tale of mpreg?
26JAN23: The Pale Blue Eye (Cooper, 2022) -- Netflix
Fabulous palette, understated and powerful performances (Christian Bale has a good face for period movies, and he's as unsettling here as he's ever been: Harry Melling excellent as a young, unblinking Edgar Allen Poe) - but this turns out to be yet another story about a man taking revenge for something that's happened to 'his' woman. The Marquis siblings, who mutilated bodies and met a fate presented as deserved, were at least trying to do something positive, to save a life. They were toxic but they didn't kill anyone.
28JAN23: Nickel Creek at Union Chapel
Good songs, nice harmonies, great and very engaged audience: we were lucky with seating -- second row back at the side near the bar.
