Review: Call Me By Your Name (2017)

“We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster than we should that we go bankrupt by the age of thirty and have less to offer each time we start with someone new.”
– Mr Perlman

SYNOPSIS: In 1980s Italy, a romance blossoms between a seventeen-year-old student and the older man hired as his father’s research assistant. – via IMDB

I recently popped this on to watch – I remember when it came out, people raved about it, and I always said that I would get to it and then, you know, life. But then it was on Netflix and I had some chill time and I figured “why not?” and let me tell you, I had no idea what I was in for whatsoever.

Call Me By Your Name is a visually stunning movie. Honestly, it is just beautiful to look at, and it has the feeling of a memory, this charming look back into a summer in the eighties, and I loved that. It almost feels dreamy, and everything just seems to chilled and summery. The music also comes in and just vibes with everything going on. It is never too in your face, but totally the shaping the experience.

Then there is the main meat of the story, and that is (obviously) Elio and Oliver. You get swept up into this story, watching a young boy coming to terms with his blossoming sexuality, and an older research assistant of Elio’s father very much the object of desire. To watch the back and forth between Hammer and Chalamet is very rewarding. You see that while Elio comes across as very cultured and smart, there are still larges swathes of innocence for him. You also see that while Oliver is a confident young man, he, too, has struggles with his feelings towards Elio and the situation in general.

Michael Stuhlbarg is fantastic in this, and it is so lovely to watch him with his family and the relationship he has with his son. It is fantastic to watch his scenes, and I thought the family dynamics between mother, father, and son were wonderful.

Call Me By Your Name creates a beautifully sensual movie that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking in equal measure. It is an emotional journey you undertake and enjoy throughout. This is a movie about first love, not just sexuality, and will resonate with many people. I highly recommend it, it is a beautiful watch and it has lingered with me after the fact. I have bought the book and audiobook already because I just need more of this!

Being Human (U.S.): Season 1 (2011)

*CONTAINS SPOILERS*

What I liked:

• Sally, Josh, and Aidan becoming so tight, especially after the guys initially tried to send Sally away.
• Tony helping Sally to be a more interesting ghost. This was quite amusing for me.

• Josh and Aidan’s struggle to be normal can be quite amusing at the best of times. Things work, and then they don’t, and then there are, of course, these insane complications. Makes for an interesting watch.
• Josh and Nora and their super quirky, strange relationship – it’s hilarious, and they really click quite well.

• Josh’s facial expressions are pure gold.
• The intricate relationship between Bishop and Aidan. You get glimpses of it throughout the season, and while you don’t get far too much depth from it, you get enough to know it’s actually quite good.
• This dinner scene, that went from amusing to hilarious (convince the family Josh is not a werewolf, let the vampire consume garlic, and wham, there we have it):

• Josh reconnecting with his family was also a good thing – the show didn’t drag it out for forever and six days, when it would have lost its impact.
• Sally’s death reveal – sheesh, that was some crazy stuff, but I think it was handled really well.

What I didn’t like:

• Rebecca. This character just grated on me. So many of my complaints about this season come purely from her, and her antics.
• Ray, and how  he tried so hard to split Josh and Aidan apart when they are such besties.
• The camera work is a little sketchy at the best of times.
• Sally really can make everything about herself.
• Rebecca and Aidan being painted as this epic love story confused me. They were not that tight before she passed, they were not that tight after she was turned, but we are supposed to buy into them being each others everything? CONFUSED.

Rating:

The first time my husband and I watched this show (although the rewatches have just been me), we put it on as a filler something to play on the TV while we munched some junk food and chilled. What happened, however, was us burning through five episodes and getting to bed late (it was a weeknight) because we got hooked. I had it for a while but the premise just sounds absurd: “A vampire, a ghost, and a werewolf live together in an apartment and try to be normal”. It sounded so silly, and yet, when you watch it, it just works.

The show is so stupidly entertaining, but I can’t get enough of it, flaws and all. I think it is a crying shame that it was cancelled what with only four seasons. I know that this is based on a U.K. show of the same title, but that I have never watched. After this, I don’t know if I can ever watch it. This is actually quite a solid introductory season, and it has a smaller budget, sure, you can see this, but it never really detracts from the entertainment. I quite enjoy the characters, or I do, for the most part.

Sally, while she can be annoying and supremely self-centred, is also very sweet and exceptionally loyal. Then there is Josh, who is constantly overthinking things, but he is smart and quirky. Aidan brings up the last leg of this trio, and is the character I enjoy the most, because he is (so far) the most layered of the lot, but I suppose it is easier to create a more complicated character if they have been around for a few hundred years. Aidan is constantly sorting everything out for Josh and Sally where he can, being the loyal friend, pushing them to do more, to be more, always being supportive, but is also the one that gets the most flak if something goes wrong, which I really don’t think is fair. He is judged the harshest all the time, and expected to be perfect, when he is just a flawed individual.

Anyway, the show also has its share of superbly irritating characters – Rebecca and Marcus definitely top my list here. For one, Marcus was jealous and competitive and whiny, not to mention he did’t have a backbone. Then there was Rebecca. She was just some chick Aidan went out with one night, banged, and killed. Yes, that is bad, but then the show paints it like some epic love story when she comes back to life (thanks to Bishop) and all. I just didn’t get it. I could have bought into it if they just left it as a purely sexual thing, but they tried to force emotion into it the whole time and that was just awkward. Not to mention, she does super questionable things. The worst was when she turned Bernie, which crushed Aidan, who was forced to kill Bernie, and then Rebecca was all torn up like she had lost everything when she knew this kid all of one day? I don’t get it man!

The effects are a little dodgy, sometimes the pacing is a little off, but Being Human is packed with awkward humour, is tons of fun to follow, and has three great leads that carry this show really well, making it one heck of an entertaining watch, something I definitely didn’t initially believe it had any right to be.

Review: Beast (2017)

“Can you keep a secret?”
– Pascal Renouf

SYNOPSIS: A troubled woman living in an isolated community finds herself pulled between the control of her oppressive family and the allure of a secretive outsider suspected of a series of brutal murders. – via IMDB

My husband and I have really been struggling to find new movies recently that are good and that we are actually drawn to or interested in. Everything is just a remake nowadays, or bland, or just… no fun. So we saw this and figured why not give it a shot? Well folks, I am here to tell you that this one was well worth the watch! Definitely a slice of something different.

Right off the bat, the atmosphere is fantastic, and the score works hand in hand with the imagery to keep you uncomfortable, and with a feeling of dread and foreboding. It is truly unsettling. The performances also blend right into this, completely dominated by Buckley and Flynn. Beast gives up its secrets slowly but surely. Never so slow you get frustrated, but so gently and well paced that you forget that you are waiting for them. The pacing was definitely solid for this, building up into this slow burn thriller. The story builds steadily from the opening, and you are whipped up into this bizarre story of Moll and Pascal.

Beast definitely is a focuses on Moll and her crappy life, and how Pascal coming into her life has changed her, and the change is not necessarily bad, despite what her family thinks. Bits and pieces of her life are revealed, and it is a gratifying thing to make the discoveries with the movie. The characters set forth in this are truly horrible. Her family made my blood boil, and Moll herself had me fluctuate between pity for her and being repulsed by her, much like the emotions Stephen King’s character Carrie evokes in a person.

All in all, if you have not watched Beast and are looking for a solid thriller, I would highly recommend this. It comes together well, and the bizarre journey that you undertake with the characters reels you in. The movie also leaves you thinking for quite some time after it, picking the characters and their actions apart, and it has been a while since I have seen something that did that.

Review: The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

“Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
– Andy Dufresne

SYNOPSIS: Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency. – via IMDB

Seriously. Truly. Wow. I definitely know there are more eloquent reviews on this movie, and it has been discussed endlessly, and it is that great and all, but I am going to try and share my two cents about this movie. I decided to rewatch The Shawshank Redemption recently after watching Gone With The Wind. Not because they are remotely the same or anything like that, but because I was in the mood for serious(ly) fantastic movies.

Well, this certainly ticked those boxes.

The Shawshank Redemption has a great story to tell, sure, but it is the characters and the performances from the actors that played them that are really the stars here. Everyone lives their role, gets right into it, and because of that you are swept up into the narrative as delivered by Red. Red tells you Andy’s story, we see Andy’s story, and it is told with such spirit that you can laugh like crazy in some places and just love all that is going on, and then be driven to sadness and heavy contemplative silence within five minutes of one another. It’s an amazing thing when a film can so successfully balance the opposites like that.

Andy suffered some extreme situations while in Shawshank, but there were also some amazing things that he achieved, even while imprisoned. Naturally there are the men who went on to become Andy’s friends, headed up by Red. The band of men have great camaraderie between one another, and they really all respect each other and get along. They are quite tight-knit, and it is sweet. The Shawshank Redemption is a story told from within a prison, but there are large sections of time where you forget this fact when watching the men together, and then the point is run home when you realise that they have to barter to have a few beers while working, or that they have to report to someone the whole time.

The movie doesn’t really dwell on the crimes these men committed to land them in Shawshank. It focuses a lot more on Andy’s story, sure, but also how these men have adjusted to life, and how they have worked through the acts that landed them there. Some for the better, some not so much. It’s also something to say about the storytelling that the free, law-abiding men are all twisted and crooked, and the men on the inside, the convicted criminals, are often portrayed as the more trusty, honest lot. Interesting times.

The score for this is absolutely fantastic, and truly lends itself to the experience. The performances are all great, and the pacing for the story drags you in and makes you forget all about the clock, and I love it when a movie is able to do that. You feel genuine hope, happiness, anger and sadness when watching The Shawshank Redemption, and it is great when a movie can make you feel all these emotions, not just some of them. I would highly recommend The Shawshank Redemption, and if you have seen it, I think it is high time for a rewatch.

Review: John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)

“You stabbed the devil in the back. To him this isn’t vengeance, this is justice.”
– Winston

SYNOPSIS: After returning to the criminal underworld to repay a debt, John Wick discovers that a large bounty has been put on his life. – via IMDB

I’m pretty sure you all know that I am a pretty huge fan of John Wick, and I have been eagerly anticipating this sequel for quite some time. I trekked off to the cinema opening weekend for this, and I was not disappointed. It is a strong sequel to be sure. This is what most sequels wish they could bring to the table, but fail at more often that not.

Chapter 2 is everything John Wick was, but amplified. Bigger guns, more bullets, more hand to hand combat than you can shake a stick at, just more extravagant everything. It has plenty of throwbacks to John Wick, which is amusing. There is much of the same, but more, if that makes sense. The movie is exciting and the action is engaging, and again it embraces the fact that the story is relatively skinny and rolls with it, and so the viewer is, irresistibly, drawn in all over again. The movie keeps it simple with the story, and indulges with the visuals and the score. I also really enjoyed the humour that was present in Chapter 2 – still my kind of humour. Keanu Reeves dominates as John Wick, and I simply love watching him in character. Ian McShane is, as always, a joy, and Broyles Lance Reddick also brought the goods.

All that being said though, I also had some issues. I felt the movie was a touch long, and while finally getting to see more of this super mysterious, elaborate assassin/criminal underworld, there were some niggles to be had. I am looking here specifically at the end, making it look like every single person in the whole city has ties to this underground organisation. Really? Sometimes the humour also didn’t land quite as quick, fast, and slick and the predecessor.

While Chapter 2 is an entertaining watch that hooks you from the off, I just don’t see how and why it is considered to be the superior of the two films. Totally worth the watch though, and definitely a movie I will be revisiting. It is smooth, well choreographed, exciting, stunning to look at, and is just plain fun. Absolutely recommended.

September Blind Spot Review: Insomnia (2002)

“A good cop can’t sleep because he’s missing a piece of the puzzle, and a bad cop can’t sleep because his conscience won’t let him.”
– Ellie

SYNOPSIS: Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn’t set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen. – via IMDB

Wow. This movie was excellent, and just my cup of tea. I was drawn in from the moment the film opened, and just got sucked down the rabbit hole even further as the movie progressed. I want to start with how breathtakingly beautiful this movie is to look at. Wally Pfister delivers all the goods here again. Alaska was a gorgeous setting, and the film ran that point home at every available opportunity. As for Pacino? It’s films like this that showcase his talents, and he was fantastic here. Robin Williams, too, was so brilliant in these weird, creepy roles. Sometimes going against what you are known for is just the answer. The way the sound and images were used in this film to depict Dormer’s insomnia was so smart, and lent credence to all that was happening. Insomnia is also not your run of the mill thriller, as it has quite a lot of character development and background to chew on, too, which makes for an incredibly engaging watch. The plot development and progression was spot on and enjoyable, what with the story woven so expertly. It doesn’t pretend to break the mould or anything like that, and it doesn’t. There are no serious surprises, but that is not an issue. Instead you focus on the characters more so than just the case. This is a movie that looks and sounds great, and simply captivates you. The interactions between Dormer and Finch are enthralling, and the cast worked really well. I cannot believe it took me so long to get to this movie, because it is typically Nolan – brilliant, smart, engaging, and worth every second of your time.

If you haven’t seen this, don’t watch the trailer. Seriously, what a spoiler. I am so glad I didn’t watch it before the movie. My advice? Go in blind.

May Blind Spot Review: To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)

“I don’t know if it will help saying this to you… some men in this world are born to do our unpleasant jobs for us… your father is one of them.”
– Miss Maudie Atkinson

SYNOPSIS: Atticus Finch is a lawyer in a racially divided Alabama town in the 1930s. He agrees to defend a young black man who is accused of raping a white woman. Many of the townspeople try to get Atticus to pull out of the trial, but he decides to go ahead. How will the trial turn out – and will it change any of the racial tension in the town ? – via IMDB

I really loved the book, we all know this. I thought it was beautiful and I can understand why it is such a revered classic. I didn’t watch this movie ever because I wanted to read the book first, and I thought that it was a damn fine choice for my Blind Spot movies this year seeing as I read the book last year only. Well, let me tell you, I was impressed with the adaption. Really. There is a lot that is wonderful about it, and it was mostly loyal for the most part. By this I mean it was mostly loyal to the parts that were actually used in the film. There were quite a few scenes that I simply adored from the book and the journey of Jem and Scout that were just not here, and much was underplayed. I missed the inner dialogue of Scout, who really painted a vivid picture of the times for us. Her dialogue gave the events more context and meaning, and with it not being present in the movie in any way, the finer nuances that made this story beautiful were missed. It was still a rich and fulfilling film for me because I have read the book and could fill in what was not there, and I still think that this movie will have an impact even if you haven’t read the book. However, looking at this film for what it was, it took the major issues from the novel and dealt with them. We know that race was a big issue in this book, and societal position and the Depression, but I think that the race dynamic could have been explored in more detail, as well as Atticus’s position in society. It was very sad to see the injustice, to see the performance Brock Peters gave as Tom Robinson, and just to see how the entire situation affected different people. I wish the film had worked more on Jem growing up a bit, the family ties between Atticus and his extended family and how even they didn’t really stand by what he was doing, as well as Scout having a real problem reconciling that she was a girl, though she was perfectly fine running around with the boys rather than having tea and scones. I adore Boo Radley, and the relationship he had with the kids, and really wish that more focus had been placed there, but alas, it is not so. Still, it was a wonderful thing for me to actually see Boo Radley, and Robert Duvall was understated but perfect in the role. Gregory Peck was phenomenal as Atticus Finch, and is pretty much exactly what I had expected of the character. I was a fan of his work and his performance, and it does surely deserve praise. To Kill A Mockingbird was shot very well, and looks lovely. It carried itself well, and the pacing was good. Phillip Alford and Mary Badham were wonderfully cast to play Jem and Scout, and I enjoyed their performances all round. The score was also suited and didn’t jar you from the experience with silly sounds and unnecessary and ill-timed music. This is a good movie adaption of a fine novel, though ultimately I am still a far bigger fan of the book (Hush! Could you just imagine?!) as there was just so much more detail, so many small things that made this story unforgettable for me, and that I would have loved to have seen on screen. Oh well, the world is not a wish granting factory. If you have not seen To Kill A Mockingbird, I would highly recommend it. It is a great story that is entertaining and fascinating throughout.