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shewholovestoread · 4 years

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Birds of Prey (2020) Review

I’ve seen Birds of Prey twice now and both times, it was an absolute joy to watch! Never have I enjoyed myself quite this much, I screamed, I shouted and laughed throughout the film. Birds of Prey was everything I hoped it would be and so much more.

Where do I even start with this film? I loved everything about it, the writing, the cast, direction, the action, all of it.

Now, lets get the negative out of the way, I’ve read some reviews that pointed out that the film has pacing issues and maybe it does but only if you’re looking for it. Birds of Prey is also operating from a place of disadvantage where other superhero films are concerned (predominantly Marvel) Barring Harley, whom we saw in Suicide Squad, the rest of the squad is not very well known. Birds of Prey had the tall task of introducing all of these other characters in a way that made sense and still have a reasonable run-time. Black Canary, Huntress, Renee Montoya did not have the advantage of having their own standalone films. Christina Hodson, Margot Robbie and Cathy Yan did a great job integrating all of these characters and their arcs and the intersection of said arcs.

The writing was so on point, it felt like the writers had a keen sense of the characters they were writing for and to an extent that is true. Robbie was part of the writing process and helped shape the film and it’s not surprising, I doubt anyone (barring those who write the actual comics) could have had a clearer picture of who Harley is. Cathy Yan does a great job of bringing the words to life and infusing them with an energy that was electrifying. It was cohesive and coherent film, full credit to Hodson and Yan.

I loved that all of the women are badass without exception but the film also gives them time and space to be vulnerable. These are not male characters in a female body. These characters are feminine and lean on their emotions instead of shutting them down. The ass-kicking aspect is amazing, the action set-pieces are fucking fantastic but it was equally gratifying to see the women be supportive and protective of each other. They quickly became a sisterhood once they came together and that was a pleasure to see on film.

Birds of Prey is feminist, explicitly queer, diverse, irreverent, brash, unapologetic and a no-holds-barred female power fantasy, it is wish fulfillment at its finest. It was so gratifying to see the female characters defy conventional, patriarchal expectations time and time again. They are allowed to be messy and flawed, they make mistakes and bad decisions and they are better for it.

Margot Robbie has made Harley hers in a way that I doubt another actor could match in any capacity. I loved her journey, I loved that she was a mess after her breakup and she needed time and space to truly heal, to discover her worth independent of her partner. I loved that she is canonically bisexual in the film. Her action sequences are some of the best in the film and she is amazing in them but I loved that we also saw her pain and loneliness, her desire to be a part of something and be appreciated for who she is. Her act of blowing up Ace Chemicals, while not thought through completely, is symbolic of her beginning to breaking away from the shackles she placed on herself.

Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Dinah Lance / Black Canary was amazing. You can see her feel torn between her need to survive and the terror and disgust she feels for Roman Sionis. Plus the Canary Cry was fucking epic and I wish we’d gotten more of it.

Rozie Perez as Renee Montoya was perfect, she brought dimensions and layers to the role that a younger actor would not have, the film is richer for having her in it and I am glad that both Yan and Perez fought for it. She had the right amount of cynicism and weariness that her role needed, like she’d been doing this for a while and though she was great at her job, she rarely got the credit she deserved. I also loved that she was also explicitly gay in the film and even meet her ex-girlfriend.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Helena Bertinelli / Huntress was plain delightful! I wish she’d had more screen-time. She was the right amount of socially awkward paired with someone with deep-seated rage issues. But she never loses herself to that rage, case in point, when the women are fighting together in the amusement park, she takes a moment to speak to Cassandra, give her something to ground her, to distract her from the violence and brutality.

Ella Jay Basco was great as Cassandra Cain. I loved her spirit and her interactions with Harley and the gang.

Ewan McGregor as Roman Sionis / Black Mask was equal parts spoilt brat and sinister and he played it so well. He was unpredictable and that’s what made him so menacing, you never knew what could set him off (snot bubble) And then there’s Chris Messina, brilliant as the unhinged Victor Zsazs, they were perfect for each other, 2 peas in a pod, each feeding the others’ sociopathy.

The action in the film is one of the best parts of the film, it is beautifully choreographed and you can feel the impact. All of the women get their time to shine, given that each has their own individual approach to how they fight. I also loved the costume design, I loved that NONE of the women were sexualised or objectified. They all looked amazing! But they were practically dressed, the way one dresses in real life but with more flair. Credit to Erin Benach.

Films like Birds of Prey that are written, produced and directed by women, for women are sometimes held to an unrealistic standard, almost as if they need to be perfect films (such a thing does not exist)They are held to standards that films made by men are not, which is why a man can make one mediocre film after another and no one blinks but if woman makes a film and it’s anything short of spectacular then it’s labeled a failure and used as an excuse to dismiss other proposals / pitches by female content creators, that is a deeply misogynistic approach and it needs to change. But we also need people to go out and watch films like Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman so that we can have more diverse voices and experiences reflected on screen. So please, if you haven’t already seen the film, make sure you do, go with your friends, mothers, sisters, whoever and watch it. It is a joy and a delight to watch.

Now, can we please have a Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy team up! Please, I desperately need it And while we’re at it, I need to them to get romantically involved. Pretty please

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xmargot · 4 years

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─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

(ASSISTANT CURATOR / THE GETTY MUSEUM. ) 𝕄𝔸ℝ𝔾𝕆𝕋 𝕊𝕋. ℙ𝕀𝔼ℝℝ𝔼. ( 26 / SHE/HER / FEMALE ): we hear 𝕄𝔸ℝ𝔾𝕆𝕋. is charismatic , tasteful and clever, but can also be selfish, callous, and jaded . ( jodie comer ) ( k. / 27 / SHE/HER )

*BACKGROUND;

°✮ - Margot was born in Toulouse, France. She is the middle child, leaving her with an older sister, and a younger brother. Her mother ( american. ) met her father ( british. ) ripe out of University in New York. She was an artist, and her father was fond of her exquisite nature, and creative drive. It wasn’t long before the two wed, and had their first child. Her father, a slim, disciplined Londoner, moved the family to France after his own father had died. There, in France, he took over his fathers antiquities, and became a curator for them, and an art distributor. Not too long after, they settled in France, and had Margot.

°✮ - As a child, Margot was curious as a cat. She was always rebelling against whatever her nanny told her to do. The direction of ‘staying put’ always went unnoticed for her. She was restless, and often bored with whatever she was told to do. The girl always had a greater adventure within her head. She nearly gave her nanny(s) strokes after not being able to find her hours on end. Margot was fearless. Her adolescent feet carried her through the Parisian cities, through the country fields, without any care of anyone ever worrying about her.

°✮ - Much like her mother, Margot had a mind of creativity. She was scolded in school for daydreaming too often, but weren’t the dreams always a better escape than reality? She thought so, at least. At a young age she was put into ballet classes. Her parents thought it would help discipline her focus. She carried on dance classes until she was the age where she hadn’t needed to do as her parents told her to do anymore. Her form was just as exquisite as her mothers beauty, and she was just as good as any other of the girls, the problem was, she hadn’t cared to keep the drive.

°✮ - Much like her father, she picked up a keen sense for art. Often wandering through the Parisian museums, she was clad with a sketchbook and pastels drowning herself into her own world. Her father always told her she was the master of her own self, and she often stuck to that. She had little boundaries, and that often sent her creativity into hyper drive. She was a painter, and found herself learning at her fathers hip about art and the finest bits about it.

°✮ - After schooling, Margot’s restless soul traveled to Brussels. There, she soaked in the culture and collected a few art degrees at a prestigious university. After growing tiresome of the area, and dealing with too many all too real heartaches, Margot ventured off again, this time to New York City. It was away from her family, (even though their own wealth kept them traveling worldly,) and away is what she wanted. The wings on her back always felt the need to flee somewhere. Was she lost? A little. -and that was a feeling she hadn’t wanted to get comfortable with.

°✮ - She resided in Manhattan living in a flat by herself. After having chased after a woman ( a previous professor, ) whom she had a whirlwind of an affair with. Having her heart broken once by the woman wasn’t enough. Margot continued the chase, and it wasn’t until another wound was made that she accepted it was time to pick up and move on, again. When she first moved to New York, she tried to have a roommate, and realized she hadn’t done well with strangers acquiring her space. It was such a big, noisy city, it was the only time she felt isolated enough to collect herself. Her job was a head curator for the MET museum. She had worked there for two years and made quite the name for herself. on top of it all, margot also finished schooling at NYU to further her degrees.

°✮ - promising herself to tough it out in NY until graduation, margot allowed the wind to carry her elsewhere. buying a pristine vintage jaguar, the woman hit the road without turning back. collectively she was without reigns. she was running away from her heartache yet again, this time, without the chase. - the wind had carried her across the country. west side. it’ was a typical cliche. yet people fled to the city of angels to be apart of something.. and whatever that ‘something’ had been, margot wanted to be a part of it. it’s had it’s ups and downs from being nothing like new york. adjustments are still being made. has margot felt this move was the right decision ? possibly. does she feel she will reside in the plastic dream city for long ? she would shrug finding life as a whole, entirely unpredictable.

* PERSONALITY;

°✮ - ( - ) Margot can be a little bratty, and childish. Its a negative trait that she still carries from her adolescence. She can be short fused when it comes to people’s arrogance. Often she is dripping in sarcasm, and when it comes to others emotions she finds herself to be stiff in an awkwardness. Sometimes people find it to be cold, but she just doesn’t quite know how to handle a situation.

°✮ - ( + ) Her heart feels often heavy without knowing. Her mother always thought it was because she contained so much warmth, and kindness within her and she just didn’t know how to express, or give it out yet. She feels things heavily ( though doesn’t often show it, and rather be in a numb state. its safe there. ) She’s very loyal, driven. Her daily life, as well as work life is efficient. she can come off as brash, and bratty at times. relationships are something she DOESN’T take to lightly. - ( hesitant with children also - in fact shes fucking terrified of them. ) (( because she acts like a full blown child sometimes all on her own. ))

* STUFF ‘N THINGS;

°✮ - Has a habit of buying things, just to own them. It’s a good thing she’s very clean, and organized or else she could slip into being a hoarder. She loves clothes, designer, it’s an expression of art- and her mind is blown over a lot of expensive pieces. ( goes along with perfume, and jewelry too. ) chanel, chloe - favorite designers.

°✮ - Enjoys champagne, often having a glass while taking a bath. (Bubbles, or bath bombs of course.) reads trashy magazines in the bath, a hair wrap with a perfected bun, possibly trolls too hard on instagram.

°✮ - cardio. enjoys speed cycling.

°✮ - Dips into nostalgia with an old Victrola in her living room. It often hums french tunes from decades ago, along with stacks of records in brackets below. ( Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Frank Sinatra, Nina Simone, Blondie, –but she also dips into indie and pop music from today.)

°✮ - She has a piano in her bedroom. It’s played often to make herself tired, or when she’s feeling sad. Along the window ledge near, she has random journals she often writes poetry within during these moods. (never when she’s happy.) -she almost likes to be moody at times.

°✮ - She has a cat named cat. It’s a stolen name from Holly Go-lightly’s cats name from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. She often wonders if Cat needs a companion.

°✮ - She loves food, so snacks are always in her pantry. Cooking she does well, but often has little motivation to do so. it’s annoying how perfect she keeps her figure when she eats incredibly unhealthy at times. postmate is an occurring company at her door. Her space is open, its whimsical, and romantic. She likes to keep an open space to fit her comfort so her creative drive doesn’t ever feel hushed, or restricted.

* CONNECTIONS;

°✮ - co-workers, & old flings ( or anything stemmed from her background as long as it ties in with her time line, pasts flings can come from the last six months she had been in L..A, ) always open. I am very open to several and most possibilities. Don’t feel held back, please don’t be afraid to come to me and ask me for possibilities. I am very open!

#tlawintro #【 ᵈʳᵒʷⁿ ᵐᵉ ⁱⁿ ᶜʰᵃᵐᵖᵃᵍⁿᵉ. ° ａｂｏｕｔ．】#about

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abitterlifethroughcinema · 5 years

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“Villains of Verano”

WOKE! Film Reviews for a Hot Time in the City

Lucas A Cavazos

No summer cinema season is complete without some bad guys and gals to muck things up oh just so right. These three films have just hit our movie screens, and while they don’t necessarily run circles round a boogeyman, they surely do make it easy to despise a few characters. Let’s

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood #### Quite likely one of the finest films I’ve seen all year, Quentin Tarantino’s latest film burst into Spanish cinemas this week, and I do declare that this is perhaps some of the most fun he has had making one of his celluloid, revenge opuses in years. Why, you ask? Because he gets to return to the envisioned Hollywood of his childhood and in this way, we the viewers get to escape into an idealised late 60s Los Angeles. Starring Leo DiCaprio, who plays former TV Western actor Rick Dalton, as well as, Brad Pitt as his stalwart driver and stunt double, Cliff Booth, director Tarantino takes us into the hills to his Cielo Drive home and lets comical magic just flow. What we then learn is that his next door neighbours are Roman Polanski and his young actress and beautiful wife, Sharon Tate, played to utmost perfection by my newest fave actress over the last few years, Margot Robbie. It is certainly important to state that Tarantino more than takes his time giving us plenty to think about. I’ve heard that DiCaprio would not permit workers on set to look him in the eyes, even when speaking to him…only other actors of his ilk. If that is so, and it likely is, fuck him, but boy does the director do his fair job making us look at our own desperate attempts to not be left stuck in the past when we so want to be relevant in the here and now. DiCaprio plays this fear to utter success and there are so many joyously hilarious scenes that should earn him a spot on actors’ awards lists later this year, assuredly. But it’s the scenes with Pitt as Cliff that engage us and ingratiate us more into the goings-on of the time and just how easily Tarantino starts to play historian and detailing the scenes of US-American life via California, long before it was a Democratic/liberal haven. Using Pitt in his car, we meet some of the guys and gals that were clamouring together at the Spahn Ranch, and we even meet Charlie Manson for a quick spell. And one gets roused by the way Tarantino also tips his hat to filmmakers of yesteryear, players like Sergio Leone or the silly minds behind Sharon Tate’s film Wrecking Crew, nothing lost on me, and he paints a picture that definitely comes across as nostalgia gone all-too-real. When the finale presents itself, and it does so on an evening that hints at incorporating a good time and all next to Polanski’s compound, we kind of know what we are in for, but naturally Tarantino loves to paint history to his own liking. We then determine who lives on and who doesn’t. One thing should be known: Tarantino and his oeuvre will continue to live on proudly…Loves!

Cold Pursuit ### Oh Liam Neeson, we verily know thee…If you think that this is just another over-55/60 year-old, angry dad getting revenge movie that the actor’s been so famous for the last decade, you’d be right. If you think that this may be the last in the tired genre that he can possibly eke out to moderate success, you’d also be very correct! As it stands now, the film which cost roughly $60 million to make has only recuperated $75 million in its worldwide box office. Let it be known that a film, in order to be considered financially successful, in this millennial digi-age in which we live, a film must garner two-and-a-half to three times more than its total budget. To have a varied cast that also includes Laura Dern as Neeson’s wife, as well as, TV faves Emmy Rossum and Tom Bateman, you certainly lack not for having a set of decent, emotionally-charged actors. The challenge with this hopefully last of the Livid & Vengeful Neeson series is that we dive so quickly and head-long into his pursuit of the band of no-goodniks who attacked his family and thereby set off the action which the film follows. Norwegian film director Hans Petter Moland remakes his own film from five years back, merely changing the main character’s name from Nils Dickman to Neeson’s Nels Coxman. Phallic naming aside, the film’s Denver setting does little to paint a picaresque action film and instead, stays true to the Neeson theme of late, pursuing him as he pursues those responsible for his family member’s demise until he slowly makes his way to the top drug lord. How this ski-lift plow man has the skills to bust up a ring like this and simply murder away is beyond anyone, except perhaps the Native Americano thugs thrown in for, I suppose, PC measure although that falls flat. In the end, what we get is a sometimes engaging, sometimes too formulaic film and a pile of mob boss and Native American villains do nothing to enhance the fun. Over it…NEXT!

Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs and Shaw ###-1/2… Say what you will about this interminable franchise as one must certainly have an opinion about this modern testosterone putz-fest by now, but man alive, do they serve up incredible, often impeccable, action sequences that either keep you at the edge of or throw you right the hell off of your seat. A couple of flicks ago, we had to say our goodbyes to poor Paul Walker after his uncannily and ill-fated final car ride demise. Since then, the last F&F was a sad complaint of a film, cast members had a series of rows and since Dwayne Johnson is also a businessman, his smart self decided to screw over shmuck Vin Diesel and silly-ass Tyrese and buddy up with charming Brit Jason Statham and POOF!... another branch of the series is born! This time around, we focus on a more comical, emotional and familial Hobbs and Shaw as, early on, we see a split-screen sequence between their US/UK lives, but soon enough after that, the action gets legit lit when we’re introduced to Shaw’s sister and criminal Hattie (Vanessa Kirby) who has been in possession of a fast-acting super-virus which can jelly one’s guts instantly. Throw in eye candy delight Idris Elba and a Robin Hood-esque attempt at “saving humanity’ from the spread of this virus only serves to boost the action and fun when we realise we’re also up against a real villain of verano, which in this case is a big tech demon called Etheon. As all my readers know, I despise spoilers so all I can say is that, even when the film cuts to a boring scene or two, it is the symbiotic nature and wittiness between the main characters that keep you smiling and highly convinced that F&F should be put to rest please and the mid-life crises adventures of Hobbs and Shaw should slide easily into its place…perhaps served up with non-stop celeb cameos and hot cars as always.

#Tarantino #OnceUponATimeInHollywood #DiCaprio #BradPitt #dadsploitation #ColdPursuit #LiamNeeson #LauraDern #VillainsOfVerano #CinemaLife #HobbsandShaw #DwayneJohnson #JasonStatham #VanessaKirby #VOSEng #FastandFurious #EnglishRadioBCN #ABitterLifeThroughCinema #WOKE

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blackwidocw · 6 years

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get to know me: [1/10] current celebrity crushes » Margot Robbie

“I still get that thrill; I guess it’s like escapism at its finest. On the acting side, my favourite thing is when I truly lose myself in a scene, when I forget that I’m on a set. It’s only truly happened a few times in my whole career, where I’ve genuinely forgotten I was on a set, forgotten that I’m not that character, forgot that it wasn’t that time, or that place. That’s the best feeling in the world. Better than skydiving; it’s the most exhilarating thing to experience.”

#margot robbie #margotrobbieedit #mrobbieedit #margotedit #margotdaily #dailywomen #marasfamily #ninasfamily #lutkasfamily #uservalkyirei #bensolcs #queeniegoldtsein #usernadia #myedit*#gtkm #gtkmcrushes

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justwintersebby · 6 years

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Stanning Stan: A Case Study

In my review of I, TONYA, I singled out Sebastian Stan’s performance as the much-maligned Jeff Gillooly:

Jeff’s masculinity is toxic and complex in a manner rarely explored in contemporary cinema. Meek, yet monstrous, his voice pitches nasally in a way that grates; its near-femininity disarms you. Stan walks a razor thin edge; too much, and he would be a caricature, not enough and it could be construed as almost romanticizing abuse. In one scene, Jeff threatens Tonya in a way that is both incomprehensibly cruel and emotionally manipulative, yet you find yourself wanting to comfort him. That level of fourth-wall manipulation requires incredible nuance and skill; Stan’s is evocative of Eric Roberts’ tour-de-force outing in Star 80.

My top pick in the Best Supporting Actor category in this year’s Dallas-Ft Worth Film Critics Association awards, Sebastian Stan has somehow eluded widespread acknowledgement by critics’ associations in this year’s run-up to the Academy Awards. After the year of Weinstein and the tidal wave of victims’ voices against our culture’s systemic oppression and mistreatment of women, maybe my peers are reticent to reward an abusive character.

Stan’s performance employs a muted balance of humor and terror. Radiating a disarmingly boyish docility, his prodigious bursts of violence land abruptly. Perhaps he disappeared into the role so well, critics simply overlooked it. As Roger Ebert used to say, the likeliest contender for laudits is who “acts most”, not finest.

At 35, with roles in television and the Marvel cinematic universe, Stan doesn’t possess the indie cred of younger comers like Timothée Chalamet, nor the résumé of a Stuhlbarg or Fassbender—the latter having played a super-villain in X-MEN: FIRST CLASS and a damaged sex addict in SHAME.

A more cynical view: Stan’s fanbase is predominantly young and female, a demographic dismissed in every circle, from fandom to serious drama—hence the pejorative “chick flick”. Film criticism, not without its own scandals last year, is now dominated not so much by erudite journalists but white, male geeks who, somewhere between their love of comic book movies and web design, decided they had the chops to write about cinema without relevant education or experience.

Studio marketing, perhaps sensitive to, or even altogether unaware of, the perils of thrusting an abusive, vengeful nerd before a cadre of white male geeks, sidelines Stan in the promotional material for the film:

“Featuring an iconic turn by Margot Robbie as the fiery Harding, a mustachioed Sebastian Stan as her impetuous ex-husband Jeff Gillooly, a tour-de-force performance from Allison Janney as her acid-tongued mother, LaVona Golden…”

His performance goes without comment, in lieu of his physical appearance, an ignominy that typically falls upon women. Yet, Stan remains stalwart, committed and gracefully deferential to his female co-stars, upon whom he regularly heaps praise, stating: “I’m happy bringing the attention where it’s due.”

In the current environment, perhaps that’s the sensible play for now. But if I were his agent, I’d find out where Steve McQueen is having his next pitch meeting.

by Rubin Safaya

#Sebastian Stan #review #good review #i tonya #jws #his acting is something special #he's truly phenomenal actor #and everyone will know it soon #we have known for quite some time

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wazafam · 3 years

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Season 2 of Batwoman saw the debut of a brand new hero beneath the cowl. Ryan Wilder is relatively new to the DC Universe, but she's already making an impact in both the comics and on the small screen. The character is continuing to evolve very quickly and fans are already talking about potential team-ups.

RELATED: Batwoman Season 2: 10 Villains We Need To See

A hero in the DC Universe can often be defined or developed further through their relationships with other vigilantes. Fans saw more out of Barry Allen thanks to his friendship with Supergirl and his student relationship with Green Arrow. The Arrowverse's Clark Kent wasn't wholly fulfilled until he came face to face with a Superman from another reality. There's a number of great interactions for Ryan Wilder to have that would be both fun and continue to push the character further.

10 The League Of Heroes

The last time audiences saw Thea Queen or Nyssa al Ghul, they took the League of Assassins and turned them into the League of Heroes. This plot point was never developed further, with the fate of the new League unknown.

Ryan Wilder's team-up with this new League could be very compelling. The Bat Family of course has a long history with the Ghuls, which would cause a lot of conflict in itself. Linked to the legacy of another vigilante in Speedy, and Ryan Wilder could certainly learn a lot about protecting the streets and creating a name in the hero community.

9 Batman

There's a lot of talk as to whether Robert Pattison's take on the Batman will be a part of the DCEU or not. Regardless, the character will certainly reside in the larger Multiverse and fans have already seen that anything can happen.

Admittedly it would be unlikely to see Pattison guest star in the Arrowverse, but then again Ezra Miller has already made an appearance as the Flash.

8 Supergirl

The previous Batwoman, Kate Kane, had built up a powerful friendship with Supergirl. The Arrowverse's version of the World's Finest, it would be a shame to lose that dynamic. In fact, Kara could teach Ryan a lot about her predecessor.

RELATED: Batwoman Season 2: 5 Things It Should Avoid From Its First Season (& 5 Things That Actually Worked)

With Supergirl coming to an end, the crossover fans hope for might not happen in the way they expect. But down the line, there's always a chance of Supergirl returning to the CW once again to guest star in Batwoman.

7 The Titans

The Titans have found a home on a completely different Earth, but they have already been shown to be a part of the much larger DC Multiverse. There's always a possibility that these two Gotham-based shows could crossover.

With the Titans heading back to the city of the Dark Knight in the next season and potentially playing off of old Batman stories, there's a lot of common ground to explore. What's more, characters like Dick Grayson and Jason Todd could show Wilder the result of living in the shadow of a member of the Bat Family. Bruce Wayne for them and Kate Kane for Ryan.

6 Constantine

John Constantine might be a user of dark magic and a master of the mystic arts, but he's also a deeply flawed hero who has managed to find a home with the Legends. Outside of this though, he has acted as a magical guide for many other heroes in the Arrowverse (and probably in Keanu Reeves' universe as well).

Oliver Queen has enlisted his services many times and no doubt the Caped Crusader did the same when he was around. When Ryan Wilder finally comes across her own supernatural threats, John Constantine might be the rugged dark detective that could open up a brand new world to Batwoman.

5 Sister Night

Sister Night stands for a lot of things. Racial justice, moral decency, and the pursuit of knowledge no matter how dangerous that may be. The character has served on the police force, become a vigilante, and opened up a lethal investigation to get to the truth.

RELATED: Batwoman: 10 Plotlines That Will Never Be Resolved Now That Ruby Rose Has Exited The Show

Now potentially wielding the powers of Doctor Manhattan, it may be possible for Angela Abar to travel between Earths. As one of the best original characters from HBO's Watchmen, there are some intriguing parallels here when it comes to creating a character on screen who has little to no comic book origin or history. The ideologies of these two powerful women could certainly be contrasted in a compelling way.

4 Batgirl

There have been a lot of really fun cameos of heroes from DC's past across the Arrowverse, from the original 1960s Robin, to the Birds of Prey who once had their own TV show! Batgirl would certainly make for an unforgettable appearance.

Debuting in Batman and Robin, the movie has been absolutely trashed by fans and critics alike. Bringing back Barbara Wilson for Batwoman would spark an interesting set of comparisons, as this experienced Batgirl perhaps teaches Batwoman not to make the same mistakes that she did.

3 The Legends

The Legends are a complete group of misfits. This dysfunctional family has certainly grown together, despite being thrown in the deep end amongst a group of people they barely knew. Ryan Wilder is in much a similar situation now.

Almost picking up Kate Kane's life, she's in a completely different world but is already starting to form a dysfunctional family of her own. The Legends can teach Wilder a lot about self-confidence in her role and perhaps prepare her for some of the wackier problems she'll come across in her career.

2 Green Arrow

Mia Smoak offered fans some tremendous moments throughout her time on Arrow. It was a passing of the torch within the Arrowverse for Oliver Queen to give the seal of approval to new heroes.

With Queen now dead there's a new Green Arrow on the scene; one who's also just finding her footing in her own vigilante career. With her potential spin-off show canceled, Smoak is looking for a new role in the Arrowverse. She may just serve as a perfect long-term partner to Wilder.

1 Harley Quinn

Harley Quinn is an agent of chaos. Ryan Wilder might need someone like that in her life to completely test her. With no sign of Harley Quinn on Batwoman's Earth and the Joker supposedly gone, this would be an exciting relationship to explore.

Margot Robbie's appearance in the Arrowverse is perhaps even less likely than that of Robert Pattinson's. The dynamic between Harley and Wilder would be absolutely fascinating though, as Wilder struggles with the lines that she will and will not cross for justice.

NEXT: Batwoman: 10 Details You Missed In Season One

Batwoman: 10 Characters In The Arrowverse Ryan Wilder Should Team Up With from https://ift.tt/2LWsNra

#Blogger

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ethenell · 6 years

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Best Films of 2017, Part I

10. Get Out (dir. Jordan Peele)

“... Now sink into the floor.”

Making the jump from sketch comedy to the big screen is a transition fraught with creative peril. The list of those who have tried and failed to navigate its intricacies is a list filled with a lot of talented people, and we can rest assured that not a one of them decided to cut their directorial teeth on a project as impossibly ambitious as a pseudo-satirical horror film that takes on racism in American society. But where so many others have failed, Jordan Peele has succeeded brilliantly, kicking off his directorial career with the latest in a growing string of Sundance-premiered, subtext-heavy horror masterpieces.

Blatantly confrontational in all the best ways, that Get Out emerged from the major studio ecosystem is a minor miracle in some senses, but really is a testament to the strength of Peele’s razor-sharp (and now, Oscar-winning) original script. Taking aim at the casual, insidious racism of liberal white America, Peele meticulously picks apart the ways that African American work and creativity is systemically marginalized, colonized, and exploited. The film’s pointed symbolism and fearless direction make it a frequently discomfiting watch, but Get Out is all the more essential for it. Jordan Peele is not here to comfort his white audience, he’s here to wake us the fuck up.

Despite it’s satirical underpinnings, Get Out is a horror film, through-and-through, and its brilliance lies in large part with its keen ability to indulge its more outlandish horror inclinations right up to the tipping point from horror to satire. Peele flirts with that line brilliantly, getting every last bit of mileage out of each genre conceit that he either exploits or subverts, before snapping us back into perspective with one simple reminder: if you think this is a joke, you’re missing the point ...

*Cough* Golden Globes ... *Cough* *Cough*

9. War for the Planet of the Apes (dir. Matt Reeves)

“Apes together strong.”

Looking back on the original Charlton Heston epic, it’s not exactly plain to see where Matt Reeves drew inspiration for his utterly brilliant Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy. Despite its esteemed status in the sci-fi pantheon, the original views now as little more than a campy 70s genre flick with an interesting premise and a great final twist. But from those bones (and conveniently ignoring an ill-advised early 2000’s remake) Reeves has crafted a franchise masterpiece. An unprecedented hybrid of muscular action filmmaking and art-house drama, and deftly borrowing elements of silent film, it’s difficult to overstate just how impressive the entire Planet of the Apes trilogy is. However, it’s final installment, War for the Planet of the Apes, stands as it’s greatest entry – a sweeping epic built with an uncanny feel for grandiose spectacle and an unmatched command of the jaw-dropping technical wizardry that makes its central performance possible.

Andy Serkis’ groundbreaking motion capture performance as Caesar, leader of the titular apes, is the film’s true foundation. You could make a convincing argument that Andy Serkis’ Caesar is the greatest hero of 21st century genre filmmaking, but it’s status as a monumental achievement in the marriage of acting craft and filmmaking technology is frankly unquestionable. That Serkis’ performance has been all but forgotten by major awards bodies throughout this remarkable three-film run will not be remembered kindly in the annals of film history – this performance is the stuff film history is made of. Reeves stages one brilliant, sprawling action set-piece after another, and the uncanny physicality of Serkis’ performance injects them with the dose of emotional resonance that elevates it well above traditional summer blockbuster fare. Honestly, filmmaking of this scale has rarely been better.

8. The Shape of Water (dir. Guillermo del Toro)

“When he looks at me, he does not know what I lack, or how I am incomplete �� He sees me for what I am, as I am.”

The Shape of Water is everything you could want from a Guillermo del Toro film – fantastical, brutal, and ultimately hopeful; a beautiful modernist fairy tale with a definite moral compass. Del Toro himself has described The Shape of Water as his favorite film that he has ever made, and it’s easy to see why he’s so infatuated. A meditation on the lives of outsiders and the ways that love pushes across boundaries of convention, del Toro’s sincere affection for the characters onscreen is clear throughout, with each new wave of its strangely rapturous romance lending new evidence to the greatness that del Toro has so lovingly crafted.

A testament to his sterling reputation, del Toro assembled one of the year’s best casts to bring his sweeping vision to life. Octavia Spencer, Richard Jenkins, and Michael Shannon are all impressive in their supporting turns, but make no mistake, this film belongs to Sally Hawkins. She turns in career-best work as a mute janitor at a secure government facility who forms a deep connection with an amphibious creature imprisoned there. Hawkins conveys more in a glance than an average performance can do with an entire script’s worth of dialogue. If there’s a better performance that’s been committed to film this year, I’ve yet to see it …

Guillermo del Toro is one of cinema’s most unique voices, and The Shape of Water is the kind of film only he could make. It moves in the span of a breath from bracing violence to endearing whimsy to magical sensuality. In the hands of another, it could easily have been ludicrous, but with del Toro’s otherworldly creativity, it’s simply lovely.

7. I, Tonya (dir. Craig Gillespie)

“There's no such thing as truth. It's bullshit. Everyone has their own truth, and life just does whatever the fuck it wants.”

Tonya Harding is one of the most infamous figures in American sports history, having been implicated in a plot to attack her biggest rival to improve her chances of making the Olympic figure skating team. Hers is a story stranger than fiction, and the electric biopic I, Tonya brings it to the big screen in all of it’s bizarre glory. Far from a household name, despite having an award-winning indie (the stellar Lars and the Real Girl) and two warmly received major-studio pics under his belt, I, Tonya is director Craig Gillespie’s most dynamic film to date. Leaning into the scripts more out-of-the-box tendencies, Gillespie has made the most batshit biopic since Todd Haynes’ kaleidoscopic Bob Dylan exploration, I’m Not There. He breaks all the rules, and a lot of it has no business working. But work it does - a directorial feat for which Gillespie has not been properly recognized.

But without Margot Robbie’s electrifying lead performance, it all may have been for naught. Robbie is quickly claiming her place as one of her generation’s finest actresses, and her embodiment of Harding as a tragicomic figure undone by her own inability to accept responsibility is nothing short of fantastic. Robbie’s Harding is an internal battle between the fierce competitor and battered victim, and highlights the ways in which those dual realities eventually were inextricably interwoven. It’s impressive work that walks the tough line of bringing a publicly reviled figure a bit of deserved sympathy - but not too much.

The film sets out to contextualize Harding’s public life, grounding everything that leads up to “the incident” in the abusive nature of her home life, but never going so far as to excuse Harding entirely. The film’s brilliant fourth-wall-breaking narration - pulled form real-life interviews with Harding, her ex-husband (Sebastian Stan), and her mother (a brilliantly caustic Allison Janney) - serves to highlight how frequently their accounts of the Kerrigan attack clash not only with each other’s, but with the plain reality of the situation. It’s a conceit that consistently sticks the landing, one darkly comedic beat after another, and makes for one of the most purely engrossing films of the year.

6. The Florida Project (dir. Sean Baker)

“You know why this is my favorite tree?

Why?

Because it’s tipped over and it’s still growing.”

Sean Baker made serious waves at Sundance with his debut feature Tangerine. Not only did the film feature mostly non-professional actors, but Baker shot the whole thing on his iPhone – no small feat for a film deemed worthy of the biggest indie film festival in the world. Baker shrewdly leveraged that success into a budget that afforded him the use of an actual crew. While adapting his on-the-fly style to the inherent inertia of a larger on-set footprint wasn’t always smooth, the results of his efforts are undeniably superb. His sophomore effort, The Florida Project, is fresh independent filmmaking of the highest order.

Once again employing mostly first-time professional actors – with the notable exception of Willem Dafoe, who effortlessly turns in one of the finest supporting performances of the year – Baker endeavors to tell a story that’s built from bits and fragments of real-life that he’s simply lucky enough to observe. What he sees pits the desperation of poverty against the buoyant idealism of childhood. The innate optimism of its child characters stands constantly at odds with the increasingly grim realities with which the adults in their orbit try (and often fail) to grapple. Few films can so deftly play as gritty realism and buoyant fantasy at once, but The Florida Project walks the line with tragic grace.

Now two-for-two, Baker is positioning himself alongside the likes of Andrea Arnold as a master of the realist style, with a keen eye for drawing pathos out of the real lives of those living in societies margins. Much of what you see on the screen may seem like little more than a snapshot, but it takes a special artist to paint such a vibrant portrait of a segment of American society that many would prefer to ignore. Very few filmmakers in the world could make a film anything like this one, and it’s entirely possible none of them could have made one this beautifully compassionate.

#best films #Best Films of the Year #best films of 2017 #oscars #academy awards #i tonya #the florida project #get out #war for the planet of the apes #the shape of water

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ethanalter · 6 years

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'Outlander': 5 burning questions from the finale

Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe in Outlander (Photo: Starz)

Warning: This post contains spoilers for the “Eye of the Storm” episode of Outlander, as well as the book Drums of Autumn.

Due respect to Titanic‘s red-hot lovers Jack and Rose, but Jamie and Claire Fraser showed what it really means to never let go on Sunday night’s Season 3 finale. The climax of “Eye of the Storm” finds the couple’s ship, the Artemis, being battered about by a blustery storm that dumps Claire over the side and into the briny deep. As she sinks to a watery grave, she leaves thoughts of survival aside and seems to embrace the “quiet happiness” of the great beyond. But Jamie’s not about to let her be the Jack Dawson in this romance. Diving after her, he steals an underwater kiss before bringing her back to the surface, where they cling to debris from the ship as the titular storm’s eye passes overhead. Unlike Rose, Jamie ensures there’s room enough for the two of them.

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That rescue capped an eventful hour that bid farewell to one major Outlander character (Geillis Duncan, now minus a head), saw the rescue of another (Young Ian Fraser, Jamie’s trouble-prone nephew) and left the Frasers washed up on the shore of a new world with new adventures in store. But even with all of that incident, “Eye of the Storm” didn’t have time to answer everything. Here are the five burning questions we’re left with about how Season 3 ended and how Season 4 might begin. (Spoiler alert: We may have peeked ahead in Diana Gabaldon’s book series — including the fourth novel, Drums of Autumn — for some early answers.)

How long until Jamie and Claire are back on Scottish soil? After being away from Scotland for 20 years, Claire barely had time to enjoy her adopted land’s finest print shops and brothels, before embarking on a high-seas adventure to the Caribbean. And now her return trip has deposited her in another one of her adopted homes: the future United States of America. Following the hurricane, she and Jamie wash up on the shores of the colony of Georgia, and while the rest of their traveling party — including Young Ian, as well as newlyweds Fergus and Marsali — aren’t on their portion of the beach, a local family helpfully informs them that the remains of the Artemis aren’t too far away. Scotland may be far away, but Claire could take Jamie on a tour of her Boston stomping grounds … 200 years before she’s actually a Beantown resident.

Don’t expect their sojourn in colonial America to be over quickly. While there are Scotland-set sequences in Drums of Autumn, they don’t involve the Frasers, who remain in the colonies, if not necessarily in Georgia, for the foreseeable future. “It really does shift the whole foundation of the show to the American colonies,” Outlander executive producer Ronald D. Moore told Deadline in a postmortem interview. “The show’s always going to have a foot in Scotland. It’s not going to completely abandon, like, Lallybroch and Inverness and some of the stories back there, but you know the balance of the story and the weight of the story is definitely going to be in America from now on.”

Richard Rankin, Balfe and Sophie Skelton in Outlander (Photo: Starz)

Will there be a mother and child reunion? Claire and her daughter, Brianna, may not be in the same city — let alone the same century — anymore, but she’s still a fiercely protective mother. Heck, she’s even willing to commit murder to keep her child safe. Having learned that Brianna is the 200-year-old child referenced in Margaret and Archibald’s prophecy promising the rise of a Scottish king, Geillis promptly sets about offering up Young Ian as a sacrifice so that she can slip back through the time stream to the present day and spill some 20th century Fraser blood. Luckily for the unsuspecting Brianna, Claire allows her daughter to keep her head by separating Geillis from hers.

That’s something Brianna can thank her mom for when they meet again. Because even though they went their separate ways in Season 3’s fifth episode, convinced they’d never see each other again, circumstances in the present day will necessitate a trip to the past for both Brianna and her beau, Roger Wakefield, whose own family tree traces back to William Buccleigh MacKenzie, the illegitimate spawn of the temporary union between Geillis and Dougal MacKenzie. We hope Brianna brings her own “bat dress,” along with plenty of extra penicillin, on her way through the stones.

Are there other time travelers? “I’ve never met another time traveler — only you,” Geillis tells Claire in “Eye of the Storm.” That’s partly true. Neither Geillis, nor Claire, has consciously met another person who has journeyed back through the centuries. Nevertheless, it’s a big world out there, and there are several time jumpers in it, two of whom we actually met in Season 2. That would be Master Raymond and the Comte St. Germain, who were part of the France-set storyline that dominated the first half of that season’s story arc. At the time, neither man made Claire aware that they were all three part of a secret time travelers’ club—and they haven’t crossed paths with her since—but Gabaldon has made it clear in separate novellas that they’ve each visited different eras and had their own adventures.

Claire will be able to say that she’s met another time traveler besides Geillis — and mean it — when Brianna makes her time jump in Drums of Autumn. (And should the show reach the sixth novel, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, both mother and daughter will encounter a time traveler by the name of Wendigo Donner.) And while she takes the same route to the past that her mother did via the stones at Craigh na Dun, “Eye of the Storm” revealed that there are other time portals scattered around the globe. Geillis, for example, plans to dive through a glowing pool located deep within the Abandawe cave. Future books reveal that other gates to the past and future can be found on North Carolina’s Ocracoke Island, as well as Hadrian’s Wall in England and Loch Errochty in the Scottish Highlands. Forget pub crawls — the next big thing in tourism should be time-portal crawls.

Duncan Lacroix as Murtagh in Outlander (Photo: Starz)

Where’s Murtagh? Jamie’s right-hand man, Murtagh Fraser, was never supposed to survive the Battle of Culloden. But the show departed from the novels in a major way by granting his bearded brother-in-arms a reprieve, much to the relief of fans and actor Duncan Lacroix. Murtagh and Jamie encountered each other again at Ardsmuir Prison, where Jamie kept a careful watch over his sickly friend. “It’s a big role reversal,” Lacroix told Yahoo Entertainment. “Murtagh has always looked after Jamie, and Jamie’s the one now taking care of him.”

Unfortunately, Jamie wasn’t able to protect Murtagh from being shipped off to the colonies along with the rest of Ardsmuir’s prison population. But now that the duo appear to be on the same continent again, a reunion has to be in the offing. And one way that could come about is if Murtagh replaces a character fans know from the books: Duncan Innes. Also an Ardsmuir prisoner, Duncan joins Claire and Jaime on their mission to rescue Young Ian, and stays with them as they build a life in the colonies. He also meets and marries Jocasta Cameron, Jamie’s aunt, who runs a plantation in North Carolina. It’s already been announced that Orphan Black‘s Maria Doyle Kennedy will play Jocasta in Season 4. Maybe Murtagh will have found his way into her heart in place of Duncan? Not that Lacroix will spill any details. “If I told you, it would cost us both of our lives,” he remarked to us, not entirely joking.

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Will Jamie and Claire ever age? A 20-second teaser trailer for Season 4 that aired at the end of “Eye of the Storm” revealed Jamie and Claire discussing how the American dream might also become their dream. That’s dramatic stuff to be sure … but not as dramatic as the pronounced streaks of gray running through Claire’s hair. Although the Frasers made frequent mention of the fact that 20 years had passed since their separation and reunion, Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan still looked eternally youthful once they were back in each other’s arms. Claire’s gray hair, along with Jamie’s rugged stubble (grown at personal request from his bride in “Eye of the Storm”), suggests that they may start acting — and appearing — their age in Drums of Autumn.

Outlander returns in 2018 on Starz.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:

How ‘cheap strip malls’ helped Margot Robbie’s stunning ‘I, Tonya’ transformation

‘The Walking Dead’ recap: ‘You don’t just hope’

The triple-dog dare: How ‘A Christmas Story’ pulled off its most memorable scene

#_revsp:wp.yahoo.tv.us #drama #recaps #starz #_uuid:ae8371cf-d216-3412-8765-0dc155e28170 #lists #_author:Ethan Alter #outlander #_category:yct:001000086 #_lmsid:a0Vd000000AE7lXEAT

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weekendwarriorblog · 4 years

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The Weekend Warrior’s Top 25 of 2019

This was such a good year for movies. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. The amount of good or great movies and the amount of variety among the better movies made it hard to know where to cut off my annual top 25 and to which movies to give “Honorable Mentions” instead. As has always been the case, I make an effort to see the better movies two or sometimes even three times before deciding where they place, and that was the case with most of the movies below.

There have been quite a few years where I haven’t rewarded a single movie a 10 out of 10, and this year, there are FOUR! Even so, 2019 will forever be known as the year I started to appreciate and even love the music of Elton John and George Michael, although only one of those movies made my list. Just a reminder that this is a list of my favorite movies of the year and it’s based solely on my own opinion. If you don’t like one of the movies on my list that’s fine – it’s your prerogative – but if there’s something you may have missed and you check it out based on inclusion here and you like it, then please let me know!

Also, if you just want to peruse everything that I wrote this year, you can find all of it at my Weekend Warrior Blog.

25. Wild Rose (NEON)

I’d be remiss if I ignored this wonderful film directed by Tom Harper that premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2018 but finally was released this year. It stars Jessie Buckley as a Glaswegian country singer, a single mother freshly released from prison who just can’t get her act together, even though she is a terrific singer with a real passion for country music. Buckley is such a revelation in the role, and I just loved the songs written for the movie, and I’m not even remotely a fan of country music. (So I guess that’s a third type of music I began to appreciate this year.)

24. Fighting with my Family (U.A. Releasing)

Another terrific and nearly forgotten film this year was this wrestling biopic about WWE superstar Paige, as played by Florence Pugh (she’s gotta be this year’s actor of the year, right?). Written and directed by Stephen Merchant and co-produced by Dwayne Johnson, Paige’s story really is pretty fantastic, as you follow her trying to make her way in the WWE where she’s nothing like the other women wrestlers. The movie was warm and funny and not at all what you’d expect from a WWE Films movie, but it’s definitely the studio’s finest work to date.

MY REVIEW

23. Plus One (RLJE Films)

One of the nicer surprises out of Tribeca this year was this twist on the rom-com by filmmakers Jeff Chan and Andrew Rhymer, starring Jack Quaid and Maya Erskine as two best friends who decide to attend all their weddings together to act as wingmen to help each other hook up. It’s a plan that works out well at first but starts to falter once they realize they might have feelings for each other. It’s classic rom-com territory but the movie is hilarious (Erskine is an absolute gem!) and you’re on board even when it goes to somewhat predicable places. (Some of the wedding speeches given by Jon Bass, Beck Bennett are particularly funny.) This is a movie that I’m bummed I haven’t had a chance to see a second or third time, as I’m sure it might be higher up on my year end list if I had.

22. Spider-Man: Far from Home (Sony)

You can’t argue when the fans are right but when Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios came on board to produce Spider-Man: Homecoming, it actually was pretty good and you had to have confidence they could make a sequel just as good or better. There was a lot to love about this one including the decision to take Spider-Man out of New York, which makes sense when you realize all the space-faring he’d been doing in Infinity War and Endgame. Then there was Jake Gyllenhaal as “Mysterio,” a fun and twisty take on the classic Spider-Man villain that also allowed director Jon Watts to play with some of the ideas introduced in Avengers: Endgame, while also giving Samuel Jackson’s Nick Fury more to do than he has in many movies. I can’t wait to see what Tom Holland’s Spider-Man gets up to next!

MY REVIEW

21. One Cut of the Dead (Shudder)

The Japanese META zombie movie that’s been winding its way through the genre festival circuit for most of the past year, it’s an amazing bit of mind-fuckery where you think it’s merely about a zombie attack on a low budget movie but as we learn after the first 30 minutes, there’s a lot more going on than what seems… and that’s about all I can say, because it’s the kind of movie that’s more amazing when you go in not knowing what’s happening. And yet, you probably should know that there’s a lot more going on since the first 30 minutes on their own aren’t very good.

20. The Irishman (Netflix)

Don’t get me wrong. I really liked and appreciated Martin Scorsese’s reunion with De Niro and Pesci, as well as their pairing with Al Pacino to tell the story of the man responsible for the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa, but just not as much as other movies. Granted, Scorsese continues to be one of the best filmmakers working today but it did feel like he and De Niro were returning to familiar and popular territory to try to claim back their cinematic throne. I guess it worked, because The Irishman is a great film, and heck, I’d watch it a thousand more times on Netflix if I didn’t have other things to watch.

MY REVIEW

19. Little Women (Sony)

I just wrote about Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Louisa May Alcott last week, and I’m probably more surprised by most about how how much I loved this movie, maybe even more than Lady Bird. Those performances by Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh and Timothée Chalamet just makes this film so wonderful at times and heartbreaking at others. It’s always been a great story but Gerwig found an original way into it that made it a wonderful follow-up to Lady Bird.

18. Sword of Trust (IFC Films)

I’ve been a Lynn Shelton stan for a number of years now, mostly from Your Sister’s Sister, but I generally like much of her work, whether it’s all improvised like that one and Humpday, or scripted like her pairing with Jay Duplass for Outside In. This one was really special, as it paired her with her Glow star Marc Maron and a trio of really great actors to bounce off of, including Jillian Bell and Michaela Watkins (from the almost equally great Brittany Runs a Marathon), as well as Jon Bass. The interaction and improvisation between these four actors as they deal with a sword from the Civil War with a controversial past makes this one of Shelton’s more entertaining movies, deserving of its placement in my year-end list.

Thoughts from My Column

17. Good Boys (Universal)

You’ll notice that I have quite a few comedies on my Top 25 this year, and that shouldn’t be a surprise for anyone who has read my reviews over the years. I love comedies and I love to laugh, and this high concept comedy about three 6thgraders, one of them played by Jacob Tremblay, just cracked me up so much. No surprise that it’s from the mega-comedy-kings Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who produced this movie from the team of Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, who are best known for “The Office” and a number of not-so-great comedy hits like Bad Teacher. Like Booksmart (see below), this one involved a fairly simple all-in-day quest by the three main characters but it led to some absolutely hilarious situations. Totally reminded me of myself when I was their age. Can’t wait to see what Brady Noon and Keith L. Williams get up to next as they’re amazing.

16. Late Night (Amazon)

While Mindy Kaling’s feature film might have come out of the whole SJW virtue signaling movements that surfaced post-Trump, her movie loosely, based on her own experiences working on the staff at a late night show, was a beautifully insightful look into the business. It starred Emma Thompson as veteran late night host Katherine Newbury, who is forced into diversifying her writing crew by hiring the less-than-experienced Molly (Kaling’s character). Over the next few months, Molly tries to make her way through the ins and outs of writing for late night, dealing with sexism and even some racism, even from Newbury. Unlike the recent Bombshell, this is a comedy and both Kaling and Thompson were both terrific, to the point that it was a bummer that Amazon decided not to give this any sort of awards push by sending out screeners with some of their other movies.

MY REVIEW

15. Peterloo (Amazon)

While I’ve been a fan of filmmaker Mike Leigh almost as long as I’ve been writing about movies, I always seem to be in the minority when I’m not as into some of the movies my fellow critics love (like Mr. Turner), but this amazing movie about the political climate of England in the 16thCentury and the violence spurred on by a peaceful protest is an amazing bit of writing/directing by the British master. This is another movie that I wish got a lot more attention because the writing and cast were so good, and it just seemed to come and go without much fanfare. A real shame.

MY REVIEW

14. Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood (Sony)

I probably won’t have too much to add about Tarantino’s movie beyond my earlier review, but this is a movie that I liked quite a bit the first time and even more the second time I saw it. It’s just a fun portrait of Hollywood in 1969 through the eyes of a filmmaker who was six years old at the time. The performances by Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie drove this film about what it was like trying to make a living as an actor in the climate of the late ‘60s with peace and love… and brutal murder in the form of the Manson Family. And yet, Tarantino found a way to give the Sharon Tate story a happy ending. Go figure.

MY REVIEW

13. Pain and Glory (Sony Pictures Classics)

Pedro Amodovar has been a bit hit or miss in recent years, so seeing him reunite with his regulars Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz to write his best (and possibly most personal?) screenplay to date made Pain and Gloryone of the year’s nice surprises. Despite doing a lot of questionable movies in recent years, Banderas once again proved his worth as an actor, giving a performance as a has-been director that hopefully will get him his very first Oscar nomination.

12. First Love (Go West USA)

Another filmmaker whose work I’ve loved but who has also made some real dogs is Japan’s Takashi Miike. His latest take on the crime genre ended up being one of his best movies in twenty years. It may even be better than Audition, which celebrated its 20thanniversary this year. It’s a simple story of a young Japanese boxer who encounters a young woman who has been sold into sex slavery, but in helping her to escape, they get caught up in a gang war that includes some of the craziest characters to ever appear in a Miike movie. But as the title says, this is a love story more than anything, and that helped Miike prove that he has not gone soft, but still knows what it means to be human.

11. The Two Popes (Netflix)

I just wrote about this dramatic two-hander, written by Anthony McCarten and directed by Fernando Meirelles (City of God), last week, after putting it off for far too long. (It’s hard to get inspired to write reviews of movies when you’re not being paid to do so, let me tell you.) It’s an amazing film about the relationship between Popes Benedict and Francis, as played by Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce. While you wonder how McCarten researched a movie between two very private public figures, neither of whom have written about this meeting, this is another great film from Netflix this year that’s proving that the studio is not going away and it’s going to produce quality films as great as the big boys.

10. Avengers: Endgame (Marvel Studios)

It shouldn’t be too big a surprise that a Marvel movie has made my top 10, as there have been others, like last year’s Ant Man and the Wasp, Iron Man, Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy. Oddly, only one of the three Russo Brothers movies made my list – Captain America: The Winter Soldier – but with Avengers: Endgame, they managed to create a culmination of everything that’s come before but also made a Marvel movie that is the most like the Avengers comics I love, even to the point of having various members going off on their own missions. I’ve seen this movie three or four times now, and I still love some of the big moments like Captain America stating, “Avengers Assemble!” (finally) and this more than made up for Infinity War, which was good but not great.

9. Waves (A24)

A rather late addition to my year’s best is the new movie from Trey Edward Schutts, which delivered another amazing performance by Kelvin Harrison, Jr, who was also fantastic as the little-seen drama, Luce. The energy Schutts gives the movie with the use of music is fantastic, but it’s just an interesting character portrait that halfway through, throws you for a major loop before switching gears to follow the characters played by Lucas Hedges and the equally talented Taylor Russell. And then on top of that, you have Sterling K. Brown giving a moving performance as Harrison and Russell’s characters, who just doesn’t know how to deal with what’s going on with his family. There have been some great teen coming-of-age dramas over the years but Waves is one for the ages.

8. Book Smart (UA Releasing)

Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut has been compared both favorably (and sometimes unfavorably) to a female Superbad, but I think a better comparison would be a modern-day Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Like Good Boys, it was a single night movie where two best friends (Beanie Feldstein, Kaitly Dever) decide to spend their last night in high school rebelling against their overly studios nature by going out to a party and have fun. What happens to them and the crazy characters they interact with makes this one of the funniest movies of the year. What was really amazing, besides the entire cast, was that I could watch this movie and see stuff that would have happened in my own high school days (which was more in the Ridgemont High days), and to see that high school just doesn’t change despite the technology and all the different standards and morals that come along. Wilde is one filmmaker who I can’t wait to see what she does next and same for her entire cast. I’ve been saying since seeing this that I’d love to see Wilde do another movie with the exact same cast, all of them playing different characters, as I think we’ll see that these actors can do anything.

7. Yesterday (Universal)

Here’s a surprise for you all, but again, if you realize how many Danny Boyle movies have been in my top 10 over the years, you’ll know what a big fan I am of the Oscar-winning filmmaker. Teaming him with Richard Curtis for a high concept comedy where the world has forgotten the Beatles’ music and a young busker named Jack (Himesh Patel) who remembers them starts to make a career for himself by claiming the music as his own. I loved the lead, but it was especially his friendship/romance with Lily James’ Ellie Appleton that made me love this movie enough to put it in my top 10.

6. Marriage Story (Netflix)

While I really appreciated Noah Baumbach’s latest movie quite a bit when I first saw it at the New York Film Festival back in September, it was my rewatch on Netflix more recently that really made me appreciate what Baumbach has accomplished after nearly twenty years making movies. Granted, the movie might be seen as a bit of a downer, but you know what? Sometimes, I have to even out all the laughs and humor with something more serious. Having a friend who went through a (far less litigious) divorce with a small child, I couldn’t help but thinking how much worse it could have been. As much as this was about Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson’s characters and the change in their relationship, it was a good lesson in how ugly things can get when lawyers get involved with Baumbach having a powerful trio in Laura Dern, Ray Liotta and the wonderful Alan Alda in those roles. This created a beautiful bookend to Baumbach’s earlier film The Squid and The Whale, based on his parents’ divorce, but this didn’t seem autobiographical as much as it showed the work of a mature filmmaker who has created his most personal and best work.

5. Knives Out (Lionsgate)

Speaking of dysfunctional family relationships, Rian Johnson’s look at the death of a wealthy mystery author’s (played by Christopher Plummer) and how his greedy family might be responsible, as investigated by Daniel Craig’s “gentleman detective” Benoit Blanc and the author’s maid, played by Ana de Armas. Besides putting a clever a spin on the ensemble whodunnit typified by the work of Agatha Christie and others, the movie was insanely funny thanks to the cast assembled by Johnson, which was literally an all-star team doing some of their funniest work. Really, there wasn’t a weak link in delivering Johnson’s best screenplay to date, and I look forward to seeing if we’ll get another movie in this realm. As with most of the movies in my Top 10, this is a movie I could see repeatedly and get more out of each time.

MY REVIEW

4. Rocketman (Paramount)

And here it is, the Elton John movie that made me a fan of Elton John’s music after nearly 40 years of mostly shunning it. What director Dexter Fletcher and star Taron Egerton did in telling John’s story though his music, essentially creating an original jukebox musical on screen was the perfect way to frame the music and story. A lot of people compared this to last year’s Bohemian Rhapsody– which I also liked, mind you – but however much work Fletcher did to finish that movie after Bryan Singer’s firing, this was clearly something he had a clear vision of from beginning to end. This is one of the few movies I’ve seen this year three times, and I’ve been going down the Elton John rabbit hole of music ever since.

MY REVIEW

3. Ford v Ferrari (20thCentury Fox)

When I reviewed James Mangold’s Le Mans racing movie, starring Christian Bale and Matt Damon, back in October, I gave it a 9.5/10, and then I saw it again in IMAX and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why I took off half a point. The movie is just about perfect. This is such a great story and the way the action is framed by the relationship between the former’s Ken Miles and the latter’s Carol Shellby with all the other players in the mix just made the movie one that was extremely watchable. And boy, those racing scenes! I haven’t seen action that exciting in years and that includes some of the best recent action movies, including Baby Driver and some of the “Fast and Furious” movies.

MY REVIEW

2. 1917 (Universal)

This was almost my #1 because it’s such a masterful achievement in all aspects of filmmaking that it also earned a rare 10 out of 10. Granted, I’ve been a Sam Mendes fan for many, many years, and he probably has had a few movies in my top 25 over the years, most notably with his second film, The Road to Perdition, which was actually my #1 movie that year. I’ve generally followed Mendes’ career with interest with only one or two movies just not working for me, but with just eight movies in 20 years, it’s amazing that it took that long for Mendes to be back in the Oscar conversation after winning for American Beauty. Frankly, I think this is unequivocally one of the best movies of the year between the screenplay, co-written with Kristy Wilson-Cairns, and the performances by George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman, making it a movie that’s a wonder to marvel at how they achieved such a powerful cinematic experience to behold.

MY REVIEW

1b. The Biggest Little Farm (NEON)

As with every year, I like to pick one documentary as my favorite and best of the year, but instead of deciding where it fares among the narrative features, I just make it a tie for #1. My favorite doc of the year was John Chester’s movie about show he and his wife Molly decided to move out to a farm and try to get it work fiscally despite tons of issues, some they could control, others they couldn’t. While I also liked Apollo 11, and I’m sure that will win the Oscar, the way Chester told this story was done in such a wonderful way that it was far more enjoyable and entertaining than most docs. (And as you know, I do LOVE docs!)

1a. The Farewell (A24)

This should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed me on Twitter, where Lulu Wang’s China-set dramedy has been my profile picture almost since I first saw it in June – I’ve seen it three more times since then, each then having the same emotional reaction. Based on a story from Wang’s own life, it stars Awkwafina as Billi a poor starving New York artist who travels to China when she learns her Nana (the terrific Chinese veteran actor Shuzhen Zhao) was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her family has decided not to tell Nana that she may be dying, but they all return to Mainland China under the guise of a wedding for Billi’s cousin, but she knows the truth and has to skirt around while trying to spend possibly her last time with her beloved Nana. The movie was emotional but also quite amusing and entertaining, really showing what life in China is like in a way that was far more personal and human than last year’s Crazy Rich Asians i.e. that was more fantasy than this movie’s reality.

Some More Thoughts

Honorable Mentions: Motherless Brooklyn, Les Miserables, Honey Boy, Long Shot, Toy Story 4, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (As I said above, it was tough to leave a couple of these out of my top 25.)

Top 12 Docs

Not going to write too much about all of these but this was a pretty fantastic year for docs, and if you have a chance to watch any of the below, I would jump on it, especially since some of them barely got a theatrical release.

1. The Biggest Little Farm

2. Apollo 11

3. The Cave

4. WRESTLE

5. Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice

6. Marianne and Leonard: Words of Love

7. Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am

8. 63 Up

9. Agnès on Varda

10. One Child Nation

11. Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy

12. Love, Antosha

I used to do a TERRIBLE 25 as a separate thing, but this year, I’m just going to list six movies, although a few of these I saw so long ago, I barely remember why they sucked so bad.

In fact, Jeffrey Nachmanoff’s REPLICAS was one of the first movies released in 2019 picked up by Entertainment Studios from TIFF the year before. It’s funny how much love Keanu Reeves got this year for John Wick: Chapter Three and other stuff, but everyone seemed to completely forget that he started the year with this stupid high concept sci-fi thriller about a man obsessed with bringing his family back from the dead.

Also, not many people saw Joe Chappelle’s AN ACCEPTABLE LOSS, which opened just a week after Replicas, but it was a political thriller starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Tika Sumpter that was so poorly written and so boring that I felt bad for Sumpter, who was giving her all.

I probably have said as much as much about Tom Hooper’s CATS as I plan to – you can read my review over at The Beat– but it’s also the most recent of this year’s bad movies, so it’s the freshest on my mind on how awful it was. I’m not going to pile on any further.

It’s been a while since I saw Tim Story’s SHAFT sequel/reboot, and as excited I was to see Samuel L. Jackson and Richard Roundtree back in the role, it’s Jessie T. Usher’s presence as John Shaft, Jr, meant to be the main running gag of the action-comedy that made it one of the worst movies of the year.

Another remake that really didn’t need to happen was this Neil Marshall remake of HELLBOY, and sure, maybe I was a bit biased, having loved Guillermo del Toro’s movies, particularly Hellboy: The Golden Army, but this just wasn’t a good movie as hard as it seemed to try. (You can read my review of that here.)

And yet, that wasn’t even the worst movie of the year. No, that would be Rob Zombie’s 3 FROM HELL, a movie so abhorrible that I couldn’t believe what I was watching. I called it the “worst movie of the year” back in September, and that sentiment didn’t change.

Before we wrap things up, here are some of my favorite records of the year. You may have heard of a few of them. Maybe not others? Most of them should be on Spotify.

1. Smiley’s Friends - In the Sixth Sense

2. Kevin So - S.O.U.L.

3. Pixies - Beyond the Eire

4. The Alarm - Sigma

5. Silversun Pickups - Widow’s Weeds

Best concert of the year? Easy one. Dave Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets with my buddy Jonathan Baylis when former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters shows up to perform one of the classic Pink Floyd songs! Possibly one of the best concert moments of the last couple decades!

That’s it for 2019... onto 2020!

#WeekendWarrior Top25Of2019 Movies Reviews

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gyrlversion · 5 years

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Review: In Tarantinos latest, a radiant Hollywood fable

Quentin Tarantino has, for a while now, been reminding us what’s so great about movies — or at least, what he thinks is so great about them.

He’s made an old-fashioned double-feature (“Death Proof,” of “Grindhouse”), resurrected the wide-screen format of 70mm Ultra Panavision (“The Hateful Eight”) and generally presided as the pre-eminent B-movie evangelist for a generation. The power and thrill of exploitation movies, he has earnestly espoused, can conquer all evils — or at least slavery (“Django Unchained”) and the Nazis (“Inglourious Basterds”).

But “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” set in 1969 Los Angeles, is Tarantino’s most affectionate and poignant ode yet to the movie business. It’s a breezy, woozy Hollywood fable that luxuriates in the simple pleasures of the movies and the colorful swirl of the Dream Factory’s backlot. Some pleasures are nostalgic, and some — like driving down Sunset Boulevard or martinis at Musso & Frank — are everlasting.

Here, movie love feels contagious, like something in the air. In one of the film’s best scenes, Margot Robbie’s Sharon Tate explains at a theater’s ticket office that she’s in the movie, the newly released caper “The Wrecking Crew,” (“I’m the klutz!” she says cheerfully). Inside, she giggles with delight at seeing herself on the big screen, giddily mimicking her character’s martial-arts moves and watching to see if the audience laughs at one of her lines. (They do.)

The pleasures in “Once Upon a Time” are also ours. Tarantino, has lowered his typically feverish temperature to a warming simmer, bathing us in the golden California light and the movie-star glow of his leading men, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt. They spend copious amounts of time driving through the Hollywood Hills in a creamy Coupe de Ville, riding along like Butch and Sundance and just as nice to look at.

DiCaprio is Rick Dalton, a Burt Reynolds-type actor of TV Westerns (his claim to fame is the ’50s hit “Bounty Law”) whose career is stalling. Pitt is Cliff Booth, his stunt double and best friend, a war veteran with a bad reputation but a friendly, relaxed manner. They have a natural, easy rapport, with Booth doubling as a drinking buddy and support system for Dalton, who’s increasingly anxious about his typecast future. (Al Pacino, as his agent, urges him to head to Italy for a spaghetti Western.)

In DiCaprio’s finest sequence, he chats between takes on a Western called “Lancer” with a frightfully serious Method Acting 8-year-old co-star (Julia Butters) before forgetting his lines. After a bout of self-loathing in his trailer, he returns and nails the scene. DiCaprio, a preternaturally self-possessed actor himself, captures the whole arc beautifully.

When word got out that Tarantino’s latest film would take place around the Manson murders, it was easy to wonder what genre mayhem the director would bring to this epochal moment. We know what carnage resulted when Zed was dead, so what did Tarantino have in store for the demise of the ’60s?

It’s not that “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” doesn’t revolve around that grisly tragedy. It looms always in the background, and eventually in the foreground, too, after Booth picks up a hitchhiker (Margaret Qualley) who leads him to the Manson compound at Spahn Ranch, the former production site of TV and film Westerns where Manson’s mostly female acolytes emerge and Booth goes to check on the owner, an old friend, George Spahn (Bruce Dern). Dalton and Booth are fictional concoctions surrounded by real people, including their neighbors: Tate and her husband, Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha).

By the film’s climax, blood will spill and movie-made historical revisionism will have its day. But I suspect a lot of Tarantino fans will be taken by surprise at the film’s leisurely pace, set more to a (and this a good thing) “Jackie Brown” speed. As in that film, Tarantino isn’t purely living in an over-the-top movie fantasy world, but one teetering intriguingly between dream and reality. The dialogue and action has slowed down enough to allow a little wistfulness and melancholy to creep in.

At times, his path is a little wayward and prone to digressions. Tarantino feels perilously close to simply turning his movie into several of Dalton’s, so eager is he (like the Coens were in “Hail, Caesar!”) to lovingly adopt those period styles. But usually, the detours are hard to resist. In one, Booth ends up in a fight with Bruce Lee (Mike Moh) on the set of “The Green Hornet.”

And if you’re going to make a movie that celebrates what’s grand about Hollywood, it helps to have Brad Pitt in it. The chemistry between him and DiCaprio, together for the first time, is a delight; I would gladly watch them drive around lacquered, golden-hour Los Angeles, with cinematographer Robert Richardson trailing them, for longer than the already lengthy running time of “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.”

Pitt, in particular, appears so utterly self-possessed. It’s a swaggering grade-A movie star performance in a movie that celebrates all that movie stars can accomplish — which, for Tarantino, is anything. That the youthful, exuberant Tate was robbed of that potential is one of the wrongs Tarantino is righting here. But his fairy tale also swells with an even larger and optimistic vision. For today’s doomsayers of movies, which are seen by some as a less potent art form, “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” imagines an apocalypse denied. Tate, and the movies, will live forever.

“Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” a Sony Pictures release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for language throughout, some strong graphic violence, drug use, and sexual references. Running time: 161 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.

___

MPAA definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

___

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

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xmargot · 5 years

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°✮ᴡʜᴇɴ ɪ ᴡᴀs ᴏʟᴅᴇʀ ɪ ᴡᴀs ᴀ sᴀɪʟᴏʀ ᴏɴ ᴀɴ ｏｐｅｎ sᴇᴀ ʙᴜᴛ ɴᴏᴡ ɪ'ᴍ ᵤₙdₑᵣwₐₜₑᵣ ᴀɴᴅ ᴍʏ sᴋɪɴ ɪs ᴘᴀʟᴇʀ ᴛʜᴀɴ ɪᴛ sʜᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴇᴠᴇʀ ʙᴇ.°•.

★��━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━★

MARGOT ST. PIERRE is a 25 year old PANSEXUAL CISFEMALE that was born on AUGUST 29TH. She has lived in CROWNSVILLE, for SIX MONTHS but she’s originally from TOULOUSE, FRANCE. She is an ART CURATOR for a living, at OUTSIDE THE LINES, and often gets told she looks like JODIE COMER.

★━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━★

*BACKGROUND;

°✮ - Margot was born in Toulouse, France. She is the middle child, leaving her with an older sister, and a younger brother. Her mother met her father ripe out of University in New York. She was an artist, and her father was fond of her exquisite nature, and creative drive. It wasn’t long before the two wed, and had their first child. Her father, a slim, disciplined Londoner, moved the family to France after his own father had died. There, in France, he took over his fathers antiquities, and became a curator for them, and an art distributor. Not too long after, they settled in France, and had Margot.

°✮ - As a child, Margot was curious as a cat. She was always rebelling against whatever her nanny told her to do. The direction of ‘staying put’ always went unnoticed for her. She was restless, and often bored with whatever she was told to do. The girl always had a greater adventure within her head. She nearly gave her nanny’s strokes after not being able to find her hours on end. Margot was fearless. Her adolescent feet carried her through the Parisian cities, through the country fields, without any care of anyone ever worrying about her.

°✮ - promising herself to tough it out in NY until graduation, margot allowed the wind to carry her elsewhere. buying a pristine vintage jaguar, the woman hit the road without turning back. collectively she was without reigns. she was running away from her heartache yet again, this time, without the chase. - the wind had carried her to the town of CROWNSVILLE. it’s had it’s ups and downs from being nothing like new york. adjustments are still being made. has margot felt this was the right decision ? possibly. does she feel she will reside in crownsville for long ? she would shrug finding life as a whole, entirely unpredictable.

* PERSONALITY;

°✮ - ( + ) Her heart feels often heavy without knowing. Her mother always thought it was because she contained so much warmth, and kindness within her and she just didn’t know how to express, or give it out yet. She feels things heavily ( though doesn’t often show it. ) She’s very loyal, driven. Her daily life, as well as work life is efficient. she can come off as brash, and bratty at times. relationships are something she DOESN’T take to lightly. - ( hesitant with children also ) (( because she acts like a full blown child sometimes all on her own. ))

* STUFF ‘N THINGS;

°✮ - Enjoys champagne, often having a glass while taking a bath. (Bubbles, or bath bombs of course.)

°✮ - She has a cat named cat. It’s a stolen name from Holly Go-lightly’s cats name from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. She often wonders if Cat needs a companion.

°✮ - She loves food, so snacks are always in her pantry. Cooking she does well, but often has little motivation to do so. Her space is open, and plants are scattered about. She likes to keep an open space to fit her comfort so her creative drive doesn’t ever feel hushed, or restricted.

* CONNECTIONS;

°✮ - co-workers, & old flings ( or anything stemmed from her background as long as it ties in with her time line, pasts flings can come from the last six months she had been in crownsville, ) always open. I am very open to several and most possibilities. Don’t feel held back, please don’t be afraid to come to me and ask me for possibilities. I am very open!

#crownsvilleintro #【 ᵈʳᵒʷⁿ ᵐᵉ ⁱⁿ ᶜʰᵃᵐᵖᵃᵍⁿᵉ. ° ａｂｏｕｔ．】#( yeah yeah ignore the unupdated graphic lmao )

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abitterlifethroughcinema · 4 years

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The Five (+1) Movies To Catch For the New Year

WOKE! 2020 Film Awards PReviews

by Lucas Avram Cavazos

It is a mighty and yet daunting task this ‘2020 thing’ that is upon us. I think inherently we all know that some things are going to shift, others will change, some will expand and a lot more are likely to im/explode. Despite the factuality of it all, one constant I will always turn to, and recommend to you my lovelies, is cinematherapy. It goes without saying that some upcoming movies, which are either now or soon to be at our local VOS movie theatres, are also about to sweep some awards and with Oscar nominations going live this second week of January, I believe the movies below will soon be water cooler twawk, so me here at A Bitter Life brings you a BCN in VOSE look at the five (PLUS ONE!) films to catch before awards season intensifies.

In fact, it was a rather decent year for some great fare and not such a hodgepodge of Marvel and Disney movies forced down our throats every other week. The film I must start off with on this 2020 Film Awards Preview would be the excellent South Korean film Parasite ####-1/2, unanimously chosen as the winner of this year’s Palme d’ Or at Cannes and easily gracing the top or near-top of most film critic’s lists this year, as well it should. Telling the story of a South Korean family, the Kims, who slowly become interlopers within the confines of the uber-wealthy Park family. Starting off with one of them acting as a tutor, they slowly find a way to fill a need for the Park family, all while acting as non-related good Samaritans…that is until a botched getaway vacation and an underground bunker with a tale to tell reveal themselves and send the two families into a quagmire that must be seen and lived to be believed. (Now playing all over BCN/CAT/ESP)

Next up would be my personal favourite this year, though very closely followed by the aforementioned film! Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ####-1/2 became, at least for myself, a redeeming factor in the oeuvre of Quentin Tarantino after the meh! feelings given off by his last big screen outing a couple of years ago. Taking the tragic, real-life story of the Manson Murders that ended the life of Roman Polanski’s then-wife Sharon Tate, director Tarantino buckles his audience into their seats and sends them into a time zone tunnel to 1969 Los Angeles. One of the things that has always revolved around a Tarantino movie is the element of revenge. Here, we have a different take on a true event, but the concept is widened by the director using actors Brad Pitt, Leonardo di Caprio and even Margot Robbie as conduits of a bygone era that give a peek into a mindset and time that usually must be lived to be remembered. The fact that we, the viewing audience, feel like we were actually there in ’69 and then also given the chance to make up our own mind as to a possible different ending to the Manson family murders is mere evidence of a great director/writer who seamlessly gives us a choose-your-own-adventure saga with superb cameos. Excellent cinema once again. (Soon on DVD/Blu-ray & VOD)

The next big film that has increased the star power and respectability factor of Happy Gilmore, uh I mean, Adam Sandler is the ever-loved and heralded film Uncut Gems ####. If we have to put some truth to power, it must be noted that part of the film’s appeal is that it is such a New York City film. When you then throw in the elements of a thriller mixed with the Diamond District of Manhattan AND a run-around plot that also includes ballers and entertainers like Kevin Garnett and The Weeknd playing themselves, what you get is a peek into what feels like a true-life crime show playing out in front of your eyes. Add in the ever-excellent Tilda Swinton and Natasha Lyonne, as well, and even despite the long 2-1/4 hour running time, what you get is Adam Sandler, under the direction of the Safdie brothers and along with the good graces of Netflix (who will also be distributing the film in Europe), becoming the new Comeback Kid. (To be released in BCN/CAT/ESP via Netflix on Jan.31)

While we’re on the subject…Netflix. Whatever your thoughts may be on the streaming site service (and others like it), it goes without saying that VOD services have become the wave of the future. Home cinema and entertainment centres/systems are what make for the latest in silver screen viewing. For the last three-plus years, the world cinema system (not to mention film academies and award outlets) have had to adapt to a new reality few probably ever even thought of before this new digital age. Just a few days ago, perhaps showing a bit of wane after receiving the most nominations, only two actress winners took home trophies, Olivia Colman as The Queen in The Crown and Laura Dern for A Marriage Story, reviewed below. With that said, famed director/ writer/ producer Marty Scorcese decided to go the Netflix route for his (likely) last mafia opus The Irishman ####, detailing the life story and inner workings of the Philly mob, while also detailing intricacies of the Teamster unions, Jimmy Hoffa, the Kennedys and the inner workings of the US mafia and its many minions. Financed by Mexican firm Fabrica de Cine (mad side-eye and furrowed brow) amongst Netflix and other studios for international rights, the production of the film apparently ballooned up to (and some reports even say, well beyond) $160 million. With just under 8€ million reaped at the worldwide box office (taquilla) coffers, it’s fair to say that this film in all its glory should have been edited to a slightly shorter length and intended for movie theatres. It has had a fairly great response by viewers on the streaming site du jour, but even Sandra Bullock garnered hella more viewers with her formulaic thriller Bird Box earlier in the year. As a student and tutor of history, the elements of the film that stood out to me went beyond the impeccable performances, specifically by Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa, but of course De Niro and Pesci as Frank Sheeran and Russell Bufalino, as well, but it was Scorcese’s capturing of that forgotten time around which we find so many Trump supporters harkening to, and it details the trials and tribulations of the working class then…and perhaps, even now. That aside, I abhorred the expensive de-ageing CGI process to make the Italian acting kings look younger…just vile. It was like they suddenly became animated secondary characters from a dropped scene in Spielberg’s Tin Tin film a few years ago…bloody odd for a live-action mafioso epic. Still…Scorcese is the only working director who can capture that essence of a time gone by and dress it in Hollywood’s finest if overly-priced storytelling. Which brings us to the other Netflix gem to catch…but only when emotionally prepared. (Now streaming on Netflix and select screens)

Marriage Story ####, a.k.a. that likely Oscar-nominated film that will require too many tissue moments, also makes its way to this list. Trust, I can get my heart strings pulled quite easily if the right sentiments abound, so I was non-plussed going into this because I had already heard from my film fest peops that it was a bit of a tearjerker. Undeniably, there is a brutally-displayed realness that envelops the main characters of this film, particularly actresses Scarlett Johansson and Laura Dern. Helmed by the wonderful Noah Baumbach, Johansson gives a near-best performance as former teen actress turned TV actress Nicole Barber, who separates from her NYC theatre-directing husband played by Kylo Ren himself, Adam Driver. When she takes a role and moves to LA, along with their child, things become even more real. There is a gutsy bravado that clearly makes itself beyond relevant, as the melancholy yet funny film continues, and I, for one, could hardly keep the sobs at bay with the ending of the film. This is the stuff that ‘rom-drams’ need last their heart, not that paltry shite fed to too many simpletons by Nicholas Sparks. (Now streaming on Netflix and select screens)

Aaaaaaaaand…lastly, Knives Out ####-1/2 rightly fixes itself into a final slot on this list because it is one of those long-lost wonders of vintage cinema…a star-studded quasi-whodunnit with wit and thrills and superb, serio-comedic acting by everyone involved. A mere smattering of those actors would be Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Spanish actress and Golden Globe nominee Ana de Armas, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette and even Don friggin’ Johnson! Following an investigation into the sudden death of famed mystery writer Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), who had just invited main members of his family to his mansion for his birthday celebration, we see the touches of a perfectly poised ensemble film. Director/writer Rian Johnson has really stepped up to the plate with the best of the new directors and fresh off his box-office behemoth Star Wars: The Last Jedi from a couple of years back, his helming a film like Knives Out really plays his hand heavily in his diversity and directing tenacity. The fact that he also wrote this fine piece of script and dialogue makes him even more worthy of a possible director nod and it goes without saying that the cast is undoubtedly the finest ensemble piece made and released in the last year, and if you’ve been seeking a classic feel of a film with a smart, sharp modern twist, this film will satiate any of those olskie-olskie longings of a nostalgic murder mystery that makes you feel good after you leave the cinema. (Now playing in BCN/CAT/ESP)

#cinema #ABitterLifeThroughCinema

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kartiavelino · 5 years

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How Lady Gaga proved Hollywood’s haters wrong

A star is reborn. When Lady Gaga triumphantly swanned to the Golden Globes stage in 2016 to say her first-ever performing award, the second turned a meme. However for an embarrassing cause: the best way Leonardo DiCaprio appeared to snicker out loud, then roll his eyes when her identify was referred to as as finest actress in a restricted tv collection for “American Horror Story: Resort.” Gaga is tipped to win a Globe once more this Sunday — lead actress within the drama class, for her function in “A Star Is Born.” However this time, nobody will likely be laughing besides her. Proper now, the English betting website Bovada has her within the result in win, with 2 to five odds. Even after the singer received her first Globe, many nonetheless weren’t satisfied of her skills. (The Publish’s personal TV editor Michael Starr wrote: “The truth that picket, vamping newbie Lady Gaga received … speaks volumes in regards to the inventive hollowness of those awards. They’re a joke.”) And Gaga herself admitted at a red-carpet look for “A Star Is Born” that she wished to be an actress even earlier than pursuing a music profession — however, she mentioned, “I used to be dangerous at auditions. I by no means obtained a job.” Now, due to a mix of performing classes — she ready for the movie with the well-respected trainer Elizabeth Kemp, who additionally coached Gaga’s co-star Bradley Cooper earlier than she handed away in 2017 — and the celebs aligning, Hollywooden has modified its tune about her. “Gaga has an interior incandescence {that a} star has. By exhibiting the depth of her vulnerability, she gave a superb efficiency. I believe she’s obtained a huge future: the uncommon comet that comes alongside,” mentioned veteran Hollywood producer Howard Rosenman (“Name Me By Your Identify”). “She’s transcended to Streisand fable stage.” ‘She’s transcended to Streisand fable stage.’ And one Academy Awards voter advised The Publish that Gaga, 32, would be the belle of the Oscars come February. He additionally expects her to take advantage of the second for all it’s value. “She will certainly be nominated, for performing and for [the hit ‘A Star Is Born’ song] ‘Shallow,’ ” mentioned the voter. “She’ll little doubt wind up singing on the Oscars, too. She’s no dummy — and neither’s the Academy.” One huge a part of Lady Gaga’s new success could also be attributed to what an ideal match she was for “A Star Is Born.” Born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta in Manhattan, she was something however an in a single day success. She grew up on the Higher West Facet, the daughter of an entrepreneur dad and stay-at-home mother (the 2 now personal Joanne Trattoria on West 68th Avenue), and commenced taking part in open-mic nights whereas nonetheless a scholar on the all-girls Convent of the Sacred Coronary heart faculty. At New York College’s Tisch College of the Arts, she fashioned the SGBand with some pals and in addition performed solo acoustic reveals round city. (It’s now exhausting to think about Lady Gaga opening for second-tier alt-rock act Nada Surf on the South Avenue Seaport, however that’s precisely what occurred in 2005). It was her boyfriend on the time, music producer Rob Fusari, who claims to have dubbed her Lady Gaga, impressed by the Queen track “Radio Ga Ga.” Fusari additionally helped her nab a solo report take care of Jam in 2007, after she had dropped out of NYU, though that rapidly evaporated and he or she ended up writing songs behind the scenes for Britney Spears (“Quicksand”) and Jennifer Lopez (“Hypnotico”). It was as soon as she met efficiency artist Lady Starlight — her real-life, avant-garde Jackson Maine, if you’ll — and commenced taking part in Decrease East Facet golf equipment, together with The Bitter Finish and Mercury Lounge, that issues started to vary. By 2009 she had taken over the pop world together with her smash hit debut album “The Fame” and a brand new glambot-meets-extraterrestrial persona. So Gaga’s efficiency as Ally, an obscure singer-songwriter who makes her technique to full-fledged stardom, is especially poignant as a result of it parallels her personal life — however manages to keep away from any glint of Gaga glam. “Gaga selected to underplay this function, [which was] a superb selection on her half,” Hollywood energy publicist Howard Bragman advised The Publish. “Ally in road garments speaks louder than her taking part in an enormous blown-out pop star. [Gaga] understood if she made Ally something like Gaga, she’d take the viewers out of the story,” mentioned “A Star is Born” costume designer Erin Benach. “So we eschewed the Gaga trappings and seemed again at iconic pop-star characters in film historical past: Whitney Houston in ‘The Bodyguard,’ Judy Garland within the second model of ‘Star is Born,’ Barbra Streisand [in the third].” Benach, who refers back to the music celebrity by her actual identify, additionally advised The Publish, “Stefani’s a really actual, big-hearted, honest human being. And that’s what comes by way of in her efficiency.” However solely a handful of feminine pop stars have ascended to film stardom: Cher, Bette Midler, Streisand. Jennifer Hudson had one hit movie; so did Houston and Diana Ross. Dolly Parton, bless her coronary heart, all the time performs Dolly. Bradley Cooper, left, and Lady Gaga in a scene from “A Star is Born.”AP After which there’s Madonna. The icon appears particularly threatened by the continued ascendance of Gaga. Madonna grabbed nice evaluations for her 1985 performing debut, “Desperately Searching for Susan,” and respectable ones for “Evita” and “Dick Tracy” within the ’90s. Nevertheless it’s been all downhill from there for Madonna in Hollywood, with “Swept Away” incomes a surprisingly paltry $600,000 on the field workplace and her 2011 debut directing effort, “W.E.” receiving an embarrassing 13 p.c on Rotten Tomatoes. Even earlier than Gaga’s Hollywood flip, Madonna was sniping at her youthful counterpart, calling Gaga’s music “reductive” whereas additionally suggesting that Gaga was ripping her off: “I’m a very huge fan of [”Born This Way”],” Madonna mentioned on Brazilian TV. “I’m glad that I helped Gaga write it.” Gaga has copped to doing the one factor that may drive Madonna craziest: pay her little consideration. “I believe she’s extra aggravated that I’m not upset that she doesn’t like me,” Gaga advised Howard Stern. And now that Gaga is having her awards-season second, Madonna has coincidentally upped her p.r. recreation — hiring Hollywood mega-publicist Kelly Bush forward of her upcoming album and stunning Web wags together with her New Yr’s Eve look on the Village’s Stonewall Inn, the place she gave the impression to be sporting a really enhanced new rear finish. However, regardless of all that, Gaga could nab the one factor Madonna doesn’t have: an Oscar. “The Academy is now youthful, extra numerous [than in the Madonna era] and so they perceive that Gaga will carry within the viewers — and the clicks,” mentioned the Oscars voter. In the meantime, Gaga is conserving a watch out for her subsequent film function whereas additionally conserving her music profession going at full steam. She’s in residency at Las Vegas’ Park MGM Theater till Feb. 3, performing two separate reveals: “Enigma,” which works all out with the shock and awe of pyrotechnics, robotic driving and day-glo wigs galore, in addition to the extra sedate “Lady Gaga Jazz and Piano.” After that, there are the Grammys on Feb. 10 — she’s up for 5 awards — and count on to see her hitting the Oscars marketing campaign exhausting earlier than the large present. She’ll return to Vegas in June. ‘She will do no matter she desires to do due to her work ethic.’ There’s additionally a marriage to plan. She’s engaged to her CAA agent, Christian Carino — he additionally represents Margot Robbie, Saoirse Ronan and Julianne Moore — whom she started relationship in 2017, two years after splitting with actor Taylor Kinney. Gaga not too long ago advised “E.T.” she desires a “massively elaborate marriage ceremony.” No less than one individual thinks she will do all of it. Famed songwriter Diane Warren, a nine-time Oscar winner who penned “Why Did You Do That” for “A Star Is Born” attributes Gaga’s success to pure exhausting work. “It’s expertise, after all, however Gaga’s so good. She will do no matter she desires to do due to her work ethic,” Warren mentioned. “She works with a vocal coach two hours a day and had the perfect performing coach for the film.” And if Gaga desires one thing, she goes for it. When she felt the urge to stay her toe within the shallow finish of the performing pool, she rang up producer Ryan Murphy and requested him to pen her a bit of half — which morphed into her “American Horror Story: Resort” function. Producer Rosenman admitted: “I’d like to develop one thing for her. I don’t assume the precise script will simply materialize. It must be developed for and by her.” Whereas she’s open to studying scripts, Gaga has revealed that her targets for a second or third film are epic. As she not too long ago advised the Bangkok Publish: “I’m in search of roles that may blast me to outer house.” Share this: https://nypost.com/2019/01/05/how-lady-gaga-proved-hollywoods-haters-wrong/ The post How Lady Gaga proved Hollywood’s haters wrong appeared first on My style by Kartia. https://www.kartiavelino.com/2019/01/how-lady-gaga-proved-hollywoods-haters-wrong.html

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allofbeercom · 6 years

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The 20 Best Movie Performances of 2017: A Year of Black, Gay, and Trans Excellence

Despite the raging fire that has swept through Hollywood since Harvey Weinstein’s monstrous behavior finally came to light, if you managed to escape to the cinema this year you may have found more hope for Hollywood’s future. As new sexual misconduct cases arise—and our memories flood with the realization that this industry we celebrate so often has victims whose artistry will never be realized because of the iniquitous systems in place to keep their voices quelled—it’s a wonder that anything actually moving, anything with a soul manages to reach the silver screen.

But 2017 flourished with performances that highlighted what it means to to be a gay man, a trans woman, a black woman, an immigrant who specializes in holistic medicine, an HIV-positive activist, a struggling mother or even a fallen Valkyrie. This week, a Los Angeles Times cover celebrating actresses calling for “a change in the way many stories are told” featured only white actresses on the cover: Margot Robbie, Diane Kruger, Saoirse Ronan, Annette Bening, Kate Winslet, and Jessica Chastain. When called out on it, Chastain responded, “It’s a sad look that there’s no WOC in this pic of us promoting our female lead films. The industry needs to become more inclusive in its storytelling.”

It’s absolutely true: there’s much work to be done in this industry for more inclusion in front of—and even more, behind—the camera. But we as an industry also need to look beyond the Chastains, the Meryl Streeps, etc. when we celebrate the actors who illuminate our spirits. With that in mind, I found a selection of twenty performances this year that bewitched me, made me cry, made me laugh, made me struggle with my own identity or simply made me want to stand up and cheer.

20. Nicole Kidman, The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Nicole Kidman’s best performance this year was in HBO’s Big Little Lies, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t also deliver in Yorgos Lanthimos’ chilly, terrifying horror film The Killing of a Sacred Deer. We’ve seen Kidman portray a mother desperate to protect her children at any costs, but never has she seemed so broken down, so utterly defeated. Kidman giving a handjob in a hospital parking lot is perhaps the darkest scene she’s ever performed.

19. Hong Chau, Downsizing

Downsizing is a horrific movie and honestly, Hong Chau deserves accolades for acting against Matt Damon in yet another role as a clueless white guy who somehow gets it right in the end. Her performance as a Vietnamese immigrant could’ve been hackneyed and offensive, but Chau brings a sentimentality and humanity to the character that the script doesn’t seem to care about that much.

18. O’Shea Jackson, Jr., Ingrid Goes West

O’Shea Jackson, Jr. can do so much with a smile. In the little-buzzed-about Ingrid Goes West, which admittedly collapses into a bit of a mess in its third act, Jackson is a breath of fresh air among a slew of characters who are absolute psychopaths. A bright spot of 2017 has been the deepening of depictions of black men we see on film, and Jackson’s cool, aloof, Batman-obsessed Venice dweller is the best part of Ingrid.

17. Salma Hayek, Beatriz at Dinner

Salma Hayek is almost unrecognizable as a working class healer who practices holistic medicine in Beatriz at Dinner. It’s some of her most moving and emotional work and it’s a shame that such a strong and confident turn from a frequently stunning actress has been lost amid some of the more flashier performances of the year.

16. Josh O’Connor, God’s Own Country

Taking cues from Brokeback Mountain, Francis Lee’s directorial debut manages to expand on what we think about gay romances. At the center of this deep, character-driven drama is Josh O’Connor depicting a farmer who’s closeted and comes to realize what he needs to sacrifice in order to have love in his life. It’s an incredibly stirring performance in one of many beautiful additions this year to the queer cinema canon.

15. Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out

Get Out is one of the year’s most important films—and one of its best. Years from now, we’ll look back at Jordan Peele’s movie as the beginning of an onslaught of thought-provoking horror films about the black experience in America, and at its center, Daniel Kaluuya holds it all together. Look no further than when Catherine Keener places him in “The Sunken Place,” a scene which requires all of Kaluuya’s skill as an actor as he performs against a CGI backdrop. It’s thrilling and unlike anything that’s ever been put on film before.

14. Vicky Krieps, Phantom Thread

Where the hell did Vicky Krieps come from? Paul Thomas Anderson isn’t usually great at female roles, but there’s something about Krieps in Phantom Thread that makes you want to inhale her intoxicating performance.

13. Holly Hunter, The Big Sick

I’m hopeful that The Big Sick will usher in a new era of romantic comedies that depict their lovers like real human beings. Even more refreshing than Zoe Kazan and Kumail Nanjiani’s realistic romantic journey is Holly Hunter’s performance as Kazan’s mother. Often, the secondary characters in rom-coms—and especially parents—turn into ridiculous caricatures but Hunter’s character feels real and lived-in. It should be remembered as one of her finest performances.

12. Kelvin Harrison Jr., It Comes at Night

Amidst the fervor for Get Out this year, not much attention has been paid to another black horror film: It Comes at Night. The post-apocalyptic saga manages to be horrifying and thought-provoking all at once and Kelvin Harrison Jr.’s quiet, intimate performance is one we rarely see afforded to young black men on film.

11. Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Despite finding Three Billboards nauseatingly tone-deaf when it comes to its depiction of race, there’s no denying Frances McDormand is a force of nature in this film. An actress of that caliber is expected to rise above the material, but it’d be nice if the material put as much into McDormand’s character as she put into the film.

10. Tessa Thompson, Thor: Ragnarok

There’s so much to love about Taika Waititi’s take on the Thor mythos, but the addition of Valkyrie—and casting her with Tessa Thompson—made it that much more magnificent. Thompson’s beer-swilling, joke-cracking, punch-throwing Valkyrie is the best part of the film. When she puts on her Valkyrie swag at the film’s conclusion and sashays down Bifröst, Asgard’s rainbow bridge, you’ll stand up and cheer and demand we get a solo Valkyrie film immediately.

9. Michelle Williams, All the Money in the World

It’s been years since Michelle Williams found a melodrama like Brokeback Mountain to truly sink her teeth into. In a perfect world, Douglas Sirk would still be alive to cast her as the lead in one of his lush dramas (or Todd Haynes would find a better way to serve her talents than he did in Wonderstruck). All the Money in the World is a magnificent drama, dizzying caper, and taut thriller but at the center of it lies Williams, who drives it forward with verve.

8. Timothée Chamalet, Call Me By Your Name

As much as Michael Stuhlbarg may be the MVP of Call Me By Your Name, the film doesn’t work without Timothée Chamalet’s performance. He absolutely lives in Elio’s body and carries the vivid Italian fantasy from the first frame to the last, which is a fucking knockout of a shot. In my review of the film, the description of Elio could double as a description of how Chamalet seduces the audience. His seduction is in his movements: how he wriggles his hips like Michael Jackson, David Bowie, or Madonna in their early ’80s videos, how he keeps his bedroom door open at night to let the moonlight suggest his intentions, how he darts around Oliver’s body during conversations like an archaeologist examining an unearthed statue.

7. Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird

Laurie Metcalf’s best performance is obviously Debbie Salt in Scream 2, but seeing as how it went woefully unrecognized by the Academy, here’s hoping they celebrate her nuanced and emotional turn as the mother of a rebellious teenager in Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird.

6. James Franco, The Disaster Artist

I disliked I, Tonya, which felt tonally all over the place and at the end managed to make its subject a punchline. On the other hand, The Disaster Artist avoids those pitfalls by finding the humor in The Room director Tommy Wiseau’s absurd personality while also peeling that persona away to examine the human underneath. James Franco has never been better.

5. Daniela Vega, A Fantastic Woman

If Daniela Vega makes history as the first transgender woman to be nominated for the Academy Award nominee for Best Actress, it will be wholly earned. Chilean director Sebastian Lelio’s portrait of a trans woman who loses her partner and fights for the right to mourn him succeeds thanks to Vega’s bold and confident performance. More than a film that depicts the difficulty of asserting your trans identity in this world, it also shows a trans woman’s journey to finding her voice as an artist and leads to a beautiful, stirring conclusion. Vega is an actress we deserve more of.

4. Betty Gabriel, Get Out

In a year where black women have been celebrated for showing up at the ballot box to save America’s slide into moral corruption, there should be much more attention paid to Betty Gabriel’s stirring performance in Jordan Peele’s horror film Get Out. Depicting a black woman trapped in her own mind and held prisoner by white captors, there’s no character that resonates more when it comes to the erasure of black women’s voices in America—and the industry at large—than Gabriel’s, and her performance is truly the most unsettling of the film’s barrage of horrors. Naturally, she’s the one who tries to save Daniel Kaluuya’s character Chris Washington. Leave it to black women to try and save the day, as usual.

3. Michael Stuhlbarg, Call Me By Your Name

Michael Stuhlbarg has been one of my favorite actors since A Serious Man, but for most of the runtime of Call Me By Your Name you might feel like he’s being underutilized. No, that’s just because director Luca Guadagnino and screenwriter James Ivory were saving his skills until you weren’t prepared for Stuhlbarg to utterly devastate you. Much has been said about Stuhlbarg’s monologue at the conclusion of this gorgeous romance, but it’s probably all understatement. Not since Viola Davis in Doubt has a master done so much with so little.

2. Tiffany Haddish, Girls Trip

To describe how shocking it was that Tiffany Haddish didn’t get a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in Girls Trip is to be rendered speechless. Haddish’s performance was self-assured and infectious and the main reason Girls Trip was the most fun I’ve had at the movies this year. Thankfully, Haddish herself is just as endearing, and America seems to have fallen in love with her. There’ll be more performances from Haddish in the future, but now that we know how magnificent she is, there’ll probably be none as surprising and lightning-in-the-bottle as this.

1. Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, BPM (Beats Per Minute)

Robin Campillo’s BPM (Beats Per Minute) sadly didn’t make the shortlist for Best Foreign Film at the upcoming 2018 Academy Awards, which is why I will spend every chance I get next year championing the best film I saw this year. This French drama captures the story of Paris’ ACT UP activists fighting for recognition from the government in the 1990s, but it’s not just a film about how devastating the AIDS crisis was and is, it’s a film about what it means to truly crave life. Biscayart’s lively performance as passionate activist Sean Dalmazo, whose body begins to fail him, embodies this year perfectly. Despite his condition, he never stops fighting for others and for his own life. Take for instance a poignant backlit scene in a hospital room, when Biscayart’s character is given a handjob by his boyfriend. It’s a beautiful scene where Biscayart, even as a disease ravages his body, is still given a chance to experience the humanity in sexual intimacy. What a stunning thing to behold, and just one reason why Biscayart gives the most beautiful performance I saw all year.

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/the-20-best-movie-performances-of-2017-a-year-of-black-gay-and-trans-excellence/

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