I am not very familiar with the catalogue of performances from Roy Scheider, outside of Jaws and Jaws II of course. When I came across this film with Scheider and Meryl Streep on Amazon Prime, I was interested and the synopsis tripped some buttons for me.
Scheider played psychiatrist Sam Rice, who had a patient named George Bynum (Josef Sommer) who was murdered. George was stabbed to death and the police wanted to know if George had told Sam anything of importance.
However, before the police arrived, a woman named Brooke Reynolds (Meryl Streep) came to see Sam with a watch that belonged to George. She admitted to having an affair with him and wanted Sam to return the watch to George’s wife so she did not have to suffer more than she already was.
Sam became infatuated with Brooke and he was intrigued with trying to find out if she was actually involved in the murder.
This was an okay film, but I did not love it. It felt fairly pedestrian. We spend a chunk of time at an art auction that seemed to try and build some tension, and it was a long and dull stretch of time.
Scheider and Streep were good here, as was Jessica Tandy, who had a small role as Sam’s mother. Joe Grifasi played a police detective that was interesting, but he did not have much to do.
The biggest issue is the mystery. The police kept indicating that the killer was a woman. Because of that, we have Meryl Streep’s Brooke and one other main female character in the movie. This means that either it was Meryl or it was this other woman. Not much of a mystery, especially since they spent most of the film making it look as if it were Meryl.
Still of the Night, which is a nondescript title, is not a terrible film, but there is little about it that really stands out. This is the type of movie that will not stick with me for long.
The WWE has had its ups and downs this year. Finally finding the crowds back helped the product a lot, but they also fired a ton of HUGE names this year, from Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman to the most recent Jeff Hardy.
I am a WWE fan and it is the only wrestling that I watch. I did peek in on AEW this year, especially with the return of CM Punk (which was an incredible moment), but I just am not interested in expanding outward.
So here are my choices for the WWE Awards in 2021.
Match of the Year
10. Men’s War Games. Black and Gold vs. NXT 2.0. Lots of violence and good storytelling.
9. Roman Reigns vs, Cesaro (Wrestlemania Backlash). If only Cesaro would be allowed to maintain a main event push.
8. Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus (Monday Night RAW). These two had several brutal encounters, but I liked this one most, sans stipulation.
7. Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan (Fastlane). Bryan gave his all but came up short to the Head of the Table. They will appear again…
6. Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair (Wrestlemania 37). The highlight of night one of the two night Wrestlemania. Started the year well for Bianca Belair.
5. Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match (Money in the Bank). Big E! Big E! Big E! Nuff Said.
4. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte (Survivor Series). Becky’s emotional promo after the match showed how this match crossed the lines.
3. Walter vs. Ciampa (NXT Takeover: Stand & Deliver). Woof. Two men just beating the crap out of each other. I really thought Ciampa had a chance.
2. Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan (Smackdown). A televised match #2? When it is Daniel Bryan’s last WWE match, then yeah.
#1. Walter vs. Ilja Dragunov (NXT Takeover 36). Rematch of one of the best matches from 2020, this was brutal and hard hitting. Dragunov finally ending Walter’s stranglehold on the NXT European Championship is only part of the story. The ending was as dramatic as could be as he got Walter to tap out.
Male Wrestler of the Year: Roman Reigns. Runners Up: Bobby Lashley, Seth Rollins, Walter, Edge, Big E
Roman Reigns has been the most consistent performer in WWE today.
Female Wrestler of the Year: Bianca Belair. Runners-Up: Becky Lynch, Charlotte, Rachel Ginzalez, Io Sharai.
Belair was the focal point for much of the year and had great matches with everyone.
Tag Team of the Year: RK-Bro. Runners Up: Usos, The New Day, Street Profits, AJ Styles & Omos
The most unlikely duo of the year became the only reason to watch RAW during a stretch earlier this year.Randy Orton and Riddle have been gold.
Manager of the Year: MVP. Runners-Up: Paul Heyman, Scarlett
MVP was great this year, but the role of manager is a lost art.
On the Mike: Edge. Runners-Up: Paul Heyman, Roman Reigns, MVP, Seth Rollins
Edge has been amazing on promos this year against Randy Orton, Seth Rollins and now Miz.
Feud of the Year: Seth Rollins vs. Edge. Runners-Up: LA Knight vs. Cameron Grimes, Usos vs. New Day, Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan.
Seth and Edge were a hoot together. When Seth went to Edge’s house… top notch.
Underused Performer: Kevin Owens. Runners-Up: Cesaro, Chad Gable, Asuka
At least Cesaro got a short run this year. Owens has all kinds of starts and stops when it comes to his pushes.
Comeback of the Year: Becky Lynch. Runners-Up: Samoa Joe, Edge
Becky came back and won the title from Bianca Belair in 20 seconds. Becky had a new heel character and a renewed dedication.
Celebrity of the Year: Bad Bunny. Runners-Up: Logan Paul, John Cena
Easy one. Bad Bunny was awesome and delivered one of the best celebrity matches ever at Wrestlemania when he teamed with Damien Priest to defeat Miz and Morrison.
Face of the Year: Big E. Runners-Up: Edge, RK-Bro, King Woods
Big E cracked through that glass ceiling this year by first winning the Money in the Bank contract and thencashing it in against Bobby Lashley to win the WWE title to the joy of everybody! That is the power of positivity.
Heel of the Year: Roman Reigns. Runners-Up: Seth Rollins, Bobby Lashley, Charlotte, Jay Uso, Karrion Kross
Another easyone. Reigns has been playing his role to perfection.
Storyline of the Year: Formation of RK-Bro. Runners-Up: Roman Reigns respect,
I said it earlier, but Randy Orton and Riddle were the only bright spot on RAW for about two months.
I loved it, but the rest of the world, not so muchAward: Zombies appear to have consumed Miz
I’m sorry to everyone else, but I found this to be a great time and I loved every ridiculous second of it.
Best Broadcaster: Pat McAfee.
Pat brings an unmistakable energy to the booth and seems to have great chemistry with Michael Cole.
Breakout Star of 2022: Bron Breakker.
TERRIBLE name. Massive superstar. Son of Rick Steiner is going to be huge sooner rather than later. Of course, I thought the same thing of Karrion Kross.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan has had several big roles over the last few years, but few lead roles in movies. So when I found The Postcard Killings on Hulu, I was interested. It was a serial killer story which I have always liked too.
Morgan played police detective Jacob Kanon, the father of a daughter who was murdered, along with her husband, on her honeymoon in Europe. Jacob went to find the murderer, realizing that his daughter had become a victim of a serial killer.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan is extremely likable and you can feel his pain during this story. We have seen the vengeful father trope before, but with Morgan, the film avoids the clichés of this character because of his acting and general presence.
After Morgan, much of the film is unremarkable, but watchable. There is nothing new and exciting in The Postcard Killings, but the familiar was okay.
Famke Jansson played Jacob’s ex-wife, Valerie, who has little to do. She has a scene with the father of the killer that is interesting, but doesn’t go far enough.
The final scene, however, is quite a cop out and feels like a poor horror film desperate to continue a franchise than a conclusion to the story.
A couple of years ago, I attended a Fathom Events showing of the 1961 Best Picture Oscar winning movie West Side Story. That was the first time I had seen the movie starring Natalie Wood, Rita Moreno, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn and the fact was, I just did not enjoy it. I was surprised how much I did not like this iconic classic. Looking back, I found the relationship between Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer to be unrealistic and unbelievable. Those problems tainted the remainder of the film for me.
When I heard that Steven Spielberg was going to remake West Side Story, I was anything but anticipatory about it. However, 2021 has had a series of exceptional musicals, two of which will most likely make my Top 10 of the year, and plenty positive word of mouth floated around the Internet. That made me hopeful that the new version would be one that I could enjoy more than the first one.
Now having seen Spielberg’s version of West Side Story, I can say without doubt that this is yet another outstanding musical from 2021.
Of course, even if you have never seen West Side Story, the film or stage show, you have a general idea of what the story was about. Two rival gangs, the Jets (the poor white kids) battled with the Sharks (the Puerto Ricans) while Tony and Maria pulled their own little version of Romeo and Juliet.
The leads of the remake were Ansel Elgort as Tony and, making her feature film debut, Rachel Zegler as Maria. This film made me feel more of a connection between the two of them and the relationship did not ruin the rest of the film for me. They felt like there was more between them than just infatuation and I could then accept the choices made by Maria after Tony came to her after the ill-fate rumble.
Rachel Zegler is a star in the making. She was utterly tremendous here, not only with her acting, but with an absolutely gorgeous singing voice as well. While Ansel Elgort was not as brilliant in the acting area as Zegler, he was fine and had some really solid scenes. His voice was also great and it worked with Zegler’s voice well.
I loved Rita Moreno. Moreno won an Academy Award for her role in the 1961 version of the film, but now she played a character named Valentina and I thought she was amazing, bringing a depth to her character that may not have been there under a less actresses hands. Moreno was an executive producer on the project as well.
Moreno’s original character, Anita, was now played by Schmigadoon!’s Ariana DeBose, and she does a fabulous job. It could not have been easy for DeBose to play this role with Oscar winner Rita Moreno, who won for this very same role in 1961, on set, yet she brings such a power to the role and every song and dance is epic.
The music continued to be excellent, and Spielberg wisely did not make too many changes to the music of Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by the late Stephen Sondheim. Everybody in the cast could sing and did so beautifully throughout the film. The dance routines and scenes were wonderfully constructed and choreographed.
There were plenty of questions about whether this remake was necessary, but the passion brought to the project by director Steven Spielberg and the impressive ensemble cast answered those questions distinctly. Though a very long film, it did not feel that way and breezed through the 2 hours and 36 minutes like it was nothing. I liked this way more than I liked the original and it continues the renaissance of musicals from 2021.
The movie cameo is always one of the most fun things to have happen. When someone unexpected, whether that be a famous actor, an unexpected character or a sports figure shows up in the movie, it creates a buzz. The late, great Stan Lee was the master of the cameo as he appeared in a huge list of Marvel films from X-Men to Avengers: Endgame. So much so that we named this award after him (and he won it several times himself)
Previous Winners
The EYG Stan Lee Movie Cameo Award
Previous winners: Stan Lee (three times), John Cena, Chris Evans, Sigourney Weaver, Hugh Jackman, Yoda, J.K. Simmons, Harrison Ford, Rudy Giuliani
2021 Runners-Up: I found this to be a tough choice this year as none of the cameos stood out. Marvel has its typical cameos in their movies including Benedict Wong and the character of Abomination in Shang Chi: The Legend of the Ten Rings, and Harry Styles in Eternals. I thought about giving this to Styles, except I did not know who he was when he first walked on the screen. I was excited about Starfox, but the buzz in my theater certainly told me that I was missing something. A quick Google check later and I realized what it was. The original surviving Ghostbusters was nice in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, but honestly, they felt like too much of a deus ex machina. Michael B. Jordan was EASILY the best part of the new Space Jam movie. I would have liked to give it to Ed Asner in memoriam, but his appearance in Muppet Haunted Mansion was too easily missed. RIP Ed. Morgan Freeman appeared in cameos in both the Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard and Coming2America, but the quality of both movies hurt his chances.
And the winner, was actually the first name that popped into my head when compiling the possible choices, and he is now a two time winner!
Chris Evans (Free Guy)
This was one of the best jokes in the whole movie, a Ryan Reynolds, who was a character in a video game, pulled out Captain America’s shield in a fight that was being broadcast everywhere and Cap himself, Chris Evans was watching on his phone. Evans responded with very unlike-Cap language in response.
It was a hoot and brings Evans his second Stan Lee Cameo Award. The first time winning was for his appearance as Loki (who shape-shifted into Cap) in Thor: The Dark World.
This weekend sees the release of Steven Spielberg’s remake of the classic West Side Story so I thought that it would be appropriate to watch another musical set in New York for the DailyView. Who would’ve believed that a musical about the 1899 newsies strike would be made by Disney. Heading over to Disney +, I pulled up Newsies, the 1992 musical.
I was shocked when I saw a young Christian Bale as Jack Kelly, the main character of the musical. I did not know he was involved in the film. There were other faces that were familiar in the film such as Bill Pullman as newspaper writer Bryan Denton, Robert Duvall as Joseph Pulitzer, Anne Margret as Medda, David Moscow as David, Max Casella as Racetrack, and Luke Edwards as Les.
Of course, the most important part of any musical is the music and one of the great musical composers, EYG Hall of Famer, Alan Menken, but, in Newsies, the songs were a mixed bag. I think the biggest issue with some of the songs were the fact that the actors who were singing them were not necessarily the best singers ever.
Robert Duvall as the antagonist of the film was so over the top with his character that he was a distraction from the rest of the cast. I am not sure the character choices made here, but they did not work.
The dance choreography was decent and the kids did a decent job with it.
The ending was anticlimactic to me and failed to put a real bow on the story that was being told. Still, some of the young actors were charming and Christian Bale showed that he was going to be a star as he carried Newsies on his back.
While the movie was lackluster at best, the stage musical that was inspired by it actually turned out to be a Tony winner, including Best Musical. That goes to show that it may not have been the material that was the failure in the film.
The movie Newsies had its moments, but a lot of the story was hard to believe and the people in the cast who should not have been singing always seemed to be singing. The film was a little long, but was not without its positives. We’ll see how it compares to West Side Story.
Horror/thriller has been combined with Christmas several times, but Better Watch Out really takes the cake in uncomfortable situations and anxiety-filled moments.
Ashley (Olivia DeJonge) had been a steady babysitter for 12-year old Luke (Levi Miller) for years, but she was not aware how his feelings for her had changed. So when his parents were out for a Christmas party, Luke was hoping to see what could develop. However, when it appeared that his house was under attack from an invader, Ashley was forced into protecting the boy from the holiday dangers.
And yet, things were not quite what they seemed.
Better Watch Out was excellent. It was dark, funny, jaw dropping and full of surprises, twists and unexpected events that you do not see coming. This movie is gruesome at times, dark and sinister. It takes a turn right around the end of the first act that changed what we thought we were watching.
Olivia DeJonge and Levi Miller are great. Levi Miller is so believable in his outlandish character that he anchors the unlikely plot. DeJonge is lovely and shows that “it” factor that so many of the stars have. She is great in Better Watch Out.
Patrick Warburton and Virginia Madsen played Luke’ s parents, but, honestly, they do little in the film. Luke’s best friend, Garret, is played by Ed Oxenbould and he is a different energy.
The film takes a dark look at the classic Home Alone, which played a strange homage during this plot.
This was a surprisingly excellent movie that I enjoyed tremendously. I wanted a little more resolution to the story at the end, but there is also something oddly satisfying about it.
Merry Christmas continues at the DailyView with the next Christmas film on the list. It is the infamous 1996 Arnold Schwarzenegger/Sinbad film, Jingle All the Way.
What a figurative cartoon this film was.
Arnold played Howard Langston, a successful businessman who has been taking his wife Liz (Rita Wilson) and son Jamie (young Anakin himself, Jake Lloyd) for granted, missing important events like Jamie’s karate meet.
Howard wanted to make it up to his son so he wanted to get his son the hottest toy on the market, the Turboman action figure, the same toy Howard was supposed to have already gotten weeks before. On Christmas Eve, the chances of finding one of the wanted toys was nearly impossible.
As he is standing in line at the toy store, Howard meets Myron (Sinbad) a postal worker who was also desperate to find a Turboman figure for his own son. This led to a series of increasingly ridiculous situations that placed the pair of them into a Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote-esce conflict.
The film also featured a performance by the late Phil Hartman as Howard’s slimy neighbor Ted, who was looking for his opportunity to make a move on Liz. Hartman was always great, but he could not save this turkey.
This movie has some entertaining moments that are just truly stupid. You have to really stop thinking or hoping for depth in character or sensible plot points, and, if you do, it is possible to not be offended by Jingle All the Way…maybe.
If you look at it as a cartoon, this is dumb fun (well, fun might be a stretch). Arnold is totally playing an Saturday morning cartoon character, with facial expressions to match. Arnold has had better acting performances in his career, but Jingle All the Way has to be near the bottom of the barrell.
Marvel Studios Hawkeye has become an awesome series, improving every week. Episode three was such a great episode, could episode 4 match up?
While there were fewer action scenes this week, the character moments were all the more impactful. There was a sweet moment between Kate, her mom and Jack. We saw Eleanor and Jack dance and Jack had a funny quirk of screwing up phrases such as “Absence makes the heart grow older.” It was enduring and made you wonder perhaps they aren’t as bad as you think…
Okay, maybe not. But there were some cool character moments with them anyway. I also believe very much that the show is setting up Jack to look like one of the people in charge of the Track Suit Mafia when I believe the real power is Eleanor. I love Vera Farmiga and anything that gives her more to do, well, I am all for it.
There was a great set of character beats between Clint and Kate when Kate came over with films and ugly sweaters for some Christmas cheer. Kate knew Clint would be missing his children so she came to cheer him up. This led to the discussion about Ronin and Kate guessing that Clint was actually Ronin. Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld are such exquisite actors that even the minimalist scene is powerful. Renner’s facial reactions are beautiful, revealing Clint’s guilt over his past as Ronin, the pain of losing Natasha, and the loneliness of not being with his family on Christmas. All the while, slowly building confidence in Kate as a partner, though he is not willing to call her that. The subtlety of the scenes in the apartment shows off such great direction and some superb writing.
And when the action arrives, the action is so kick ass. The action sequences in the last couple of episodes have been exceptional and the rooftop fight with Maya, Clint, Kate and the mysterious masked figure was just brilliantly executed. Of course, we knew who that masked figure was. Anyone who saw the post credit scene of Black Widow earlier this year knew that Yelena Belova, Natasha Romanoff’s “sister”, was on her way and she had some unfinished business with Hawkeye.
Florence Pugh is one of the brightest new stars of the MCU and, with a potential pairing with Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop, the MCU has two amazingly talented actors to carry the franchise into the future.
Last week’s biggest shock was the appearance of “Uncle” in Maya’s flashback and the speculation that this was Vincent D’Onofrio reprising his role as Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin. We did not get any confirmation of this in episode 4, although there was another mention of “The Big Man” at the top, which was an obvious inference to Kingpin. If this turns out to not be Kingpin, this would make the absence of Mephisto in WandaVision seem like nothing. With Kevin Feige confirming that if Daredevil appears in the MCU, he will be played by Charlie Cox, it is simply a matter of time before Kingpin shows his bald head. With episode 5 scheduled to come out the day before Spider-Man: No Way Home is released (and Charlie Cox rumored to be playing Matt Murdock there) I would not be surprised if Vincent D’Onofrio is coming next week.
This show continues to showcase the exceptional interplay with Clint and Kate. Of course, now Clint is trying to distance himself form Kate as a way of protecting her because he knows that the arrival of the Black Widow Assassin changed the game. It is unclear whether or not Clint knew who Yelena was, but that confrontation is coming soon because there are only two episodes left.
One of the YouTube commenters who I have enjoyed over the years has been John Campea, from days at AMC Movie Talk to his current YouTube Channel. He spends his time on his channel talking about movies, TV shows and pop culture. One of the typical things that he would discuss on his channel was movie trailers, and it was always apparent that he loved the medium of trailers.
Campea took that love of trailers and created a documentary that looked at the history of trailers, how they make people feel, and why they have become such a cultural phenomenon.
It is a fascinating topic because trailers have become a huge business, not only on YouTube, but across the Internet. John Campea brought some of his friends and fellow YouTube commenters/reactors to discuss the history of trailers and how these trailers helped create a greater anticipation for the movies they are trying to promote.
Some of Campea’s colleagues and friends involved in the documentary included Robert Meyer Burnett, Grae Drake, Kristian Harloff, Scott Mantz, Cody Miller, Greg Alba, and Chris Gore. These “talking heads” of the documentary is one of the best parts provided. Watching how Scott Mantz’s face lights up talking about the trailer for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is worth inclusion of all of the speakers.
The documentary is split into several chapters, ranging from the trailer history to a discussion on whether trailers give away too much of the movie. Each section is highlighted from some of the best trailers in movies history.
I was disappointed that I did not see my personal favorite trailer, the “Hurt” version of the Logan trailer. Still, with the massive amount of trailers available, I can understand why some were excluded. There were a lot of focus on the Marvel trailers, and the discussion on how the Iron Man trailer at Comic Con 2007 changed the game was intriguing.
I really enjoyed the documentary very much. I could hear John Campea’s voice in the narration of the documentary, despite it not being his literal voice. There were point made that I had heard Campea make on his show before. His personality did come through in the trailer as did his love for the genre.
If you are a movie fan, you enjoy this documentary. It is a light watch, but it shows the passion that comes with movie fans.
Today, I went back into the catalogue of Charlie Chaplin with the 1917 short, The Adventurer. Where as the last Chaplin film was starting to feel old for me, this one was back to the original feel for me.
In The Adventurer, Chaplin was an escaped convict being chased by a group of prison guards. Escaping from the guards by swimming out into the ocean along the beach, Chaplin found a group of people who were drowning. Saving them, Chaplin made up a story of him hearing their cries for help on his yacht.
This led to a party and the prison guards returning to chase Chaplin around.
This short shows off one of the greatest skills of Charlie Chaplin, his impeccable comedic timing. The slapstick in this short included several moments where the expert timing had to work at an exact moment or it would not work. I do not know how many takes it required to perform these brilliant moments, but it looks fluid.
Everything was so meticulously choreographed and designed that it was really fun to watch. Chaplin is very funny and his expressions only make the scenes better.
Another fun and funny short with EYG Hall of Famer Charlie Chaplin.
Last year I split the In Memoriam into two parts because of the large number of people who were gone. I liked how that turned out so now we will have two In Memoriam every year to allow the pictures to not have to be as small as they were prior.
Rest In Peace 2021
I’m sure I have missed some. Respect to all of those who have passed on in the last year.
Added a third In Memoriam …
Hope that is all for 2021.
Unfortunately, that was not enough for 2021. RIP Betty White.
The second of the Christmas movies in the DailyView this December is a film that many people love. It is one of the most well known rom-coms, Love Actually.
However, it turned out to be not one of my own personal favorites.
I was amazed at the list of actors who were in this movie. I knew a few of them originally, like Hugh Grant, was in the film. However, the film included Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Andrew Lincoln, Bill Nighy, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley, Martin Freeman, Alan Rickman, Laura Linney, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Martine McCutcheon, Gregor Fisher, Rodrigo Santoro, Billy Bob Thornton, Elisha Cuthbert, January Jones, and Rowan Atkinson.
The problem is the director, Richard Curtis, had nine separate stories going on in the script. Even at two hours and fifteen minutes, there was not enough time for all of these characters to have their own individual storylines. Because of that, most of the characters turned out to be one dimensional and some got reduced to the simplest characters or just appeared to appear.
Some of the stories were better than others. I thought the Liam Neeson and his stepson in love story was cute, if not unrealistic. The Hugh Grant as England Prime Minister finding love at work was sweet, but undeveloped. The famous scene with Andrew Lincoln was in probably my least favorite of the stories.
There was just not enough time to develop anything past the surface level and if that is enough for you, you probably love this movie. I want more than what was given and I would have liked to have seen some of these stories eliminated and expanded. They could have saved the other stories for a potential sequel.
I don’t consider Love Actually a complete wash, but it was not to the level that I have heard some raise it to.
One of the debuting films this week on Netflix is a potential Academy Award nominee featuring Benedict Cumberbatch. Cumberbatch is a busy man, with several films on the docket this year and his role as Dr. Strange taking up time in the MCU.
This film is a Western called The Power of the Dog, and it is based on a novel of the same name by Thomas Savage and it is directed by Jane Campion.
The story centers around two brothers Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) and George (Jesse Plemons), cowboys and ranchers. When George brings home a new wife Rose (Kristen Dunst) and her son Peter (Kodi Smith-McPhee), conflict started to appear. Phil resented Rose and targeted Peter for torment.
Rose herself had begun to drink heavily and felt like an outsider. She did not seem to be very happy with the life that she had married into and was on edge around Phil at all times.
Phil, however, appeared to take Peter under his wing and started to teach him some of the skills that was taught to him by Phil’s late mentor, Bronco Henry.
The ending was unexpected and required some thought. I liked how subtle the ending of the film was as I had to stop and wonder if what I thought just happened, actually did.
There are some great performances in the film. Benedict Cumberbatch played the role of Phil perfectly. He was raw and rough and hard to like. Cumberbatch allowed each jagged edge to see the light of day without worrying about how the character might be perceived. Kirsten Dunst was very strong too, but I could have used more with her and more reason for her to have turned to the bottle as quickly as she did.
Kodi Smith-McPhee stands out of the cast as well, creating a mysterious young man who you are never quite sure what he was thinking. He was in the film heavily at the first and then he disappeared for a good chunk. I may have missed them explaining where he had gone (apparently returning from school), but once he came back, things picked up again.
There were some slow moments in the film. It is definitely a slow burn and I would think that some of the middle section could have been trimmed for time.
This is an atypical Western and is much more of a psychological piece than a Western. The performances were all really good and the film looked great. You need to pay attention because a lot of the plot goes by without you knowing it and the conclusion will sneak up on you. Still, The Power of the Dog is a decent watch and a good time on Netflix.
Another film appeared on Vudu this weekend that I missed out on seeing while it was having its theatrical run, and that film is Ridley Scott’s new epic, The Last Duel. The Last Duel was based on a novel by Eric Jager entitled The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medieval France.
The film reveals the story behind the last duel that happened in France. Two old friends, Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) and Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) over the accusation that Jacques raped Jean’s wife, Marguerite (Jodie Comer). The duel was meant to show God’s Will and the truth of what happened.
The film is split into three chapters, each one showing the perspective of the three main characters, starting with Carrouges, followed by Jacques and ending with Marguerite. Seeing the three different POVs provided some fascinating viewing. How little moments were seen differently by the people involved shows how one’s mind can be affected by the manner in which you approach things. It makes one wonder what exactly truth is to other people.
While the film is placing the two males at the center of the duel, it is the struggles of Marguerite that is the real interest of the picture. The misogynistic society could not be more on display when it was stated that the rape of Marguerite was not a crime against her, but a crime against her husband, and it was he that required reparations. It was also stated clearly that if the duel went against Carrouges, Marguerite would be hanged for the “lies” that she told, despite it being truth.
The finale of the movie was just tremendous, the duel being easily the standout moment of The Last Duel. It was dramatic and exciting and I was not sure what way the film was taking this. The fight between them was cinematically excellent.
Performances were all excellent. Adam Driver was the top performance as it seemed as if he really believed that he had not committed rape, and that, instead, he had succumb to passion that was felt by both of them. The character believed in his statement, even going as far as to confess to adultery only. Matt Damon was a cold man who did not bring much pity upon himself. Ben Affleck played Pierre II d’Alençon, overlord assigned by King Charles VI (Alex Lawther). The cast was strong from top to bottom.
The look of the film was exquisite. It was shot beautifully, with a muffled bit of color. The choreography was great and the design of the historical epic was right on point.
I do think the film was too long, clocking in at over 2 and a half hours. It could have shaved off several minutes and been a more concise tale. The first part of the film did drag on a bit, but the finale certainly picked up.
Overall, The Last Duel was an excellent medieval epic that dealt with serious topics of the way women were treated at the time. The ending was extremely satisfying and helped wrap up the overly long film.
![FREE GUY "Chris Evans/Captain America Cameo" Clip [HD] Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Joe Keery - YouTube](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TolPFPdaeWw/maxresdefault.jpg)
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 