New drama Land has Robin Wright as Edee Mathis; a bereaved woman who seeks out a new life in Wyoming. A life alone and off the grid.
Directed by Wright herself; additional key cast includes Demián Bichir and Warren Christie.
Every so often I remember that Robin Wright is Jenny from Forrest Gump (1994)and I smile. As a fan of her acting work, I’m intrigued by the experience of a Wright directed movie.
Also Land reminds me of Reese Witherspoon’s Wild (2014), a well told story of redemption and self discovery. I wonder what Edee will discover while in Wyoming.
Kim Dickens, Brad Leland, Barb Mitchell, Sarah Dawn Pledge, Laura Yenga and Finlay Wojtak-Hissong also star.
As good a film as Wonder Woman is, I’m quite sure that I adore the trailer more.
This is probably the first time I’ve said I love a trailer more than I love the film, but without really meaning that the film is bad. The pace of this movie was OK and the humour was fun but there’s something about the film’s initial trailer that I just cant forget about – because it was super.
Of course the exceptionally chosen, perfectly rousing trailer music coupled with great editing, storytelling and visuals had much to do with it. Yet Wonder Woman’s crime, for me at least may be that the wonderful high I experienced as I watched the trailer simply wasn’t constantly present throughout the film. Not that I’m saying that would have been a great idea, mind you.
It’s just that there’s just no denying, for me, the noticeable absence of said high by the end of this movie. Instead of taking my hands to the air whilst silently yelping, so as not to annoy my neighbours – as I did the first time I saw the trailer; at the end of this movie, all I could say as teh credits started to roll was ‘It’s not a bad film‘.
Gadot is really great. She’s beautiful, strong, very capable and in my mind remains my big sister. You probably already have but I’ll still say it all the same, watch it because it’s good.
Directed by Denis Villeneuve, one of my favourite directors recently; starring Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford and Sylvia Hoeks, Blade Runner 2049is likely my favourite movie of 2017.Just like the 1982 film, the pace of the story and action started a tad on the slow side but it really just got better and better as time passed.
Set thirty years from 2019, this sequel focuses on a young blade runner’s discovery of a long-buried secret that leads him to track down former blade runner Rick Deckard (Ford). This may sound like a simplistic synopsis but rest assured, the story is highly engaging.
The various things I like about Villeneuve’s movie include the way Gosling’s character and all the replicants moved and fought; their general physicality was so fun to watch. I also loved the costumes. Now, this part is going to sound odd but I definitely also really enjoyed how easily the tears fell out of the eyes of the characters that cried. Why on earth, you may wonder? Well, one of the reasons is that I dislike quite intensely when tearless ‘crying’ happens on film and in life. If your tear ducts are in good working order and you produce no tears as you ‘cry’, then you’re quite simply lying. Lying through your filthy un-moistened eyeballs! And no, dehydration is not an adequate excuse.
My serious issues with ‘bad crying’ aside, the acting is really quite brilliant. For example, Jared Leto’s part is a small one but my, oh my is it memorable and impactful. The main female replicant played by Hoeks is just fantastic! I really loved her! She had such brilliant physicality and I couldn’t help but see her as a representation of a strong ‘woman’ in charge. So much so that I pretty much felt empowered throughout, just by looking at her.
Goslings acting range has been questioned by some people who argue that he generally plays the same moody roles over and over again. The thought hadn’t really crossed my mind until I heard this. All I can say now is, Gosling is great in Blade Runner 2049. I bought every single second of his character’s emotional journey – to the point where by the end, I felt pretty badly for him.
Villeneuve managed to capture the same moodiness and well imagined dystopian aesthetic present in the first film, but of course using present day technology. I’m so happy that I didn’t see all the story twists and turns coming. There really isn’t much about this movie that I don’t like. Of course I must mention the stunning cinematography that’s synonymous with Villeneuve’s films.
The slowish start aside, watch it because it’s really rather good. Something tells me that I enjoyed the story even more simply because I’d only just watched the original for the first time the previous night.
I hadn’t really paid much attention to many of the Wonder Woman news headlines ever since it was announced that Gal Gadot had won the role. Hearing about the resultant backlash concerning her casting only worked to make me impatient for the day when she hopefully gets to silence all her critics with a brilliant performance…
Trailer 1 (Comic-Con)
Trailer 2
I like the Comic-Con trailer more than I do the one for Justice League (2017) – a trailer that was also released on the same day.
The music, visuals and general ‘badassery’ just speaks to me more. Though not just because the Amazon princess and I are both young ladies.
It crossed my mind that Wonder Woman is kind of a female Captain America. I say this initially because of the shield. I’m sure there are probably other reasons but I’m completely new to this story so I’d just be guessing. Lastly, I’d love for this Patty Jenkins directed film to be as powerful in its ability to silence the critics of Gadot as Casino Royale (2006) was for critics of Daniel Craig’s casting as James Bond.
Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen and Robin Wright also star.
The Movie My Life 