Friday, December 1, 2023

Saltburn

Single White Female meets The Talented Mr. Ripley in this psychological thriller about how the awkward Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) becomes infatuated with one of his classmates at Oxford, the beautiful, wealthy, and popular Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), and begins to wedge himself into Felix's life, eventually getting invited to spend the summer at the palatial estate which gives the film's its title.

With Oliver coming from more modest means, there is a class theme throughout the film, but themes of excess, greed, and obsession play more prominently in the narrative. The audience is quickly clued in that there is something seriously wrong with Oliver far beyond  being born into a lower class. The film is well cast with Keoghan working as both the unassuming friend and something far more devious, Elordi as the golden Felix, and Richard E. Grant, Rosamund Pike, Alison Oliver, and Archie Madekwe completing the other mainstays of Saltburn, with the surroundings and the stylish tone from writer-director Emerald Fennell adding to the feel of the film.

Thursday, November 30, 2023

A Murder at the End of the World - Survivors

For a collection of supposed geniuses, these people sure are stupid. Despite having pretty solid evidence to support her claim that Bill (Harris Dickinson) was murdered, Darby (Emma Corrin) finds herself alone in the camp while others are all too willing to accept an unlikely suicide. About to be sent home by Andy (Clive Owen), Darby pushes forward finding an unexpected connection Bill had with another of the guests who will meet a similar end by the end of the episode, just before he can share a crucial piece of information, forcing, hopefully, our "geniuses" to take Darby's claims a bit more seriously.

In Love and Deep Water

Set on a cruise ship, In Love and Deep Water merges a romcom about a pair of jilted lovers who come together after realizing their significant others are cheating with a murder mystery aboard the ship. The romcom angle works fairly well with the life of the buttoned-down butler (RyƓ Yoshizawa) thrown into chaos after the arrival of Chizuru (Aoi Miyazaki) who showed up to catch her boyfriend and Suguru's girlfriend together only to realize to late that the pair aren't on the ship and finding herself stuck on the cruise for several days. The pair bond over both their misfortune and investigating the murder which occurs on the ship (which is where the film runs into problems).

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Catwoman #59

After the events of The Gotham War, Catwoman has left Gotham, made a costume upgrade, and set out on a new mission for herself which begins in Colombia with a run-in with Santa Espada involving a stolen cat that Selina has finally decided to return, or so it initially appears, even if doing so puts her life in danger.

Nyad

Based on true events, Nyad offers the attempts of retired long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad (Annette Bening) who in her 60s became obsessed with completing the swim from Havana to Florida which she failed to accomplish in her 20s. While in many ways your typical sports drama featuring an athlete overcoming impossible odds, and driven (and haunted) by personal experience, the film's story is elevated by the performances of Benning and by Jodie Foster who plays Diana's best friend and coach throughout her multiple attempts to make history.