I watched another 6 movies last week:
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- I’m not sure what I can say about Parthenope, besides that yes, Celeste Dalla Porta is very bewitching in the title role. There are moments of strange and luxuriant beauty in the film, but it’s not altogether clear if the movie goes too far or not far enough into the unreal, or what it’s even trying to say with its languorous meditation on beauty and desire.
- A Different Man is a strangely absurd dark comedy, with a lot of interesting ideas swirling around it.
- Last Breath has some tense moments, but fewer than you might expect, and what it doesn’t have is any kind of propulsive forward momentum, which seems critical for what’s supposed to be a nail-biting survival movie. As Simon Abrams writes, “not every inspiring tale of heroism can be reduced to processed cheese without losing most of its flavor.” The cast does their best, but the script turns an inspiring real-life rescue into stock characters and trite dialogue.
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- The Asphyx is an interesting idea, just not entirely well realized.
- The Tall Target just never hit its mark for me. On paper a compelling idea, I just couldn’t quite connect with it.
- Sinners is remarkable not just for the wildly audacious chances it takes, both stylistically and narratively, or the unflinching way it addresses questions both of racism and grief, but for how genuinely and unapologetically entertaining it is. This is blockbuster genre filmmaking at its absolute best.
I also re-watched The Terminator, which I don’t think I’ve seen it is entirety in several decades. And you know what? Still a pretty damn good movie.