A Chat About Various Movies
Jun. 5th, 2021 09:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloI started watching Rene Clair's And Then There Were None on Prime and was surprised to find firstly that it was in colour and secondly that the colour was so shonky- with overstated oranges and blues. Then I realised I wasn't looking at an interesting and imperfect early colour process but at a black and white print that had been colourized- which is to say vandalized- probably by Ted Turner for the sake of advertising revenue- so I switched off.
And in its place I watched All The Money in the World- the movie about the Getty kidnapping which had to be partially remade after shooting wrapped when Kevin Spacey suddenly became a non-person. It is sufficiently entertaining, but trite, with Mark Wahlberg- an actor I cordially dislike- shoehorned into the story so that it can be centred round a tough but righteous all-American dude- instead of around the kidnapped boy's mother- merely a woman after all- who, as played by Michelle Williams- not a bankable star, after all- is its most interesting and least stereotypical character. Christopher Plummer- a handsome and upstanding alpha male- is miscast as John Paul Getty- who in real life was an ugly little goblin- and I've no doubt Spacey- an actor of far greater range- was more convincing in the role. Perhaps one day- when the hysteria dies down- someone will release the movie in its original form and we'll get to judge. I miss Kevin Spacey.
Earlier in the week Ailz and I sat down to watch Agnes Varda's Cleo do 5 a 7. The films of the French New Wave- even though they're now 60 years old- are still wonderfully fresh. Only its pre-feminist ending- with the alienated heroine being saved by the love of a good man- traps this one in its time.
And in its place I watched All The Money in the World- the movie about the Getty kidnapping which had to be partially remade after shooting wrapped when Kevin Spacey suddenly became a non-person. It is sufficiently entertaining, but trite, with Mark Wahlberg- an actor I cordially dislike- shoehorned into the story so that it can be centred round a tough but righteous all-American dude- instead of around the kidnapped boy's mother- merely a woman after all- who, as played by Michelle Williams- not a bankable star, after all- is its most interesting and least stereotypical character. Christopher Plummer- a handsome and upstanding alpha male- is miscast as John Paul Getty- who in real life was an ugly little goblin- and I've no doubt Spacey- an actor of far greater range- was more convincing in the role. Perhaps one day- when the hysteria dies down- someone will release the movie in its original form and we'll get to judge. I miss Kevin Spacey.
Earlier in the week Ailz and I sat down to watch Agnes Varda's Cleo do 5 a 7. The films of the French New Wave- even though they're now 60 years old- are still wonderfully fresh. Only its pre-feminist ending- with the alienated heroine being saved by the love of a good man- traps this one in its time.
