more new movies seen
Dec. 24th, 2023 01:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calimacNyad. Unlike with Leonard Bernstein, I have not the slightest interest in Diana Nyad's arena of achievement, marathon swimming, but this movie does a good job of conveying it. It chronicles her several attempts at age 60 of trawling 100 miles across the Gulf Stream between Havana and Key West. What I hadn't realized is that swimmers attempting such feats are accompanied by several boats full of support personnel. Why go to all that effort swimming when there's a nice comfy boat right next to you? It seems grotesque. Just get in the boat and relax.
But though there's a lot of swimming in it, this movie isn't really about swimming. It's about the friendship and mutual support of two 60-year-old women, Nyad and her friend/coach, and how often do you get to see a major movie about two self-defined old crones? And they're played by Annette Benning and Jodie Foster, so the quality of work is very high.
Saltburn. The psychological thriller of the season. The reason "The butler did it" is such a cliche in English "cozy" murder mysteries is that in real life, this master of loyalty and discretion is the last person who would. The sheer improbability of it is the point. Anyway, Saltburn is that kind of a story, so prepare yourself.
Most of it takes place at an expansive country mansion (filmed at Drayton House, Northamptonshire) but the opening scenes are at Oxford and very specifically shot. The college the characters attend is never named, but it's clear as crystal from the opening that it's Brasenose. And the last scene at Oxford is at Magdalen, with Addison's Walk on one side and the New Buildings, where the Inklings met in Lewis's rooms, on the other.
or partially seen ...
You Hurt My Feelings. It's supposed to be a comedy, but the principal characters of this one (Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tobias Menzies) are so painfully unfunny that I only lasted about 15 minutes. They're a late middle aged married couple whose main interest in life seems to be embarrassing their 23-year-old son (scene: Mom walks into son's workplace, tells him he should get a better job), and who are shown extensively at their own jobs (writing teacher and therapist), at which they are both so hamhanded and flatfooted that the prospect of a whole movie of this level of humor began to seem unbearable.
But though there's a lot of swimming in it, this movie isn't really about swimming. It's about the friendship and mutual support of two 60-year-old women, Nyad and her friend/coach, and how often do you get to see a major movie about two self-defined old crones? And they're played by Annette Benning and Jodie Foster, so the quality of work is very high.
Saltburn. The psychological thriller of the season. The reason "The butler did it" is such a cliche in English "cozy" murder mysteries is that in real life, this master of loyalty and discretion is the last person who would. The sheer improbability of it is the point. Anyway, Saltburn is that kind of a story, so prepare yourself.
Most of it takes place at an expansive country mansion (filmed at Drayton House, Northamptonshire) but the opening scenes are at Oxford and very specifically shot. The college the characters attend is never named, but it's clear as crystal from the opening that it's Brasenose. And the last scene at Oxford is at Magdalen, with Addison's Walk on one side and the New Buildings, where the Inklings met in Lewis's rooms, on the other.
or partially seen ...
You Hurt My Feelings. It's supposed to be a comedy, but the principal characters of this one (Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tobias Menzies) are so painfully unfunny that I only lasted about 15 minutes. They're a late middle aged married couple whose main interest in life seems to be embarrassing their 23-year-old son (scene: Mom walks into son's workplace, tells him he should get a better job), and who are shown extensively at their own jobs (writing teacher and therapist), at which they are both so hamhanded and flatfooted that the prospect of a whole movie of this level of humor began to seem unbearable.
