Having got back into the swing of life back in England I decided to push the boat out: now I have two direct debits: my cinema card arrived and I popped into town to the local moving-picture theatre. Three choices attracted my attention:
(i) Lincoln: an American historical drama already received with widespread critical acclaim and a dead cert for Oscars (although some historical facts are missing) The film covers the last four months of Lincoln's life and his efforts exactly 148 years ago to get the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution passed. No doubt a political and historical Spielberg masterpiece highlighting how close the Amendment came to failure and only a white lie (did I say white?) assuring the passage: had an end to hostilities in the Civil War peace been seen as a possibility without the outlawing of slavery and involuntary servitude (and it was a very real possibility) the Amendment would have failed.
(ii) Les Miserables: another contender for Oscars; sumptuous moving musical and film version of the extraordinarily successful stage show of the 1862 novel by Victor Hugo. The book, like the stage show, began with largely negative reviews only to overcome the bad vibes and become immensely popular (the stage show being a global phenomenon). This film seem set on the same path -except the reviews are very positive! Set in France after Napoleon has fallen (for the second time) up until the June Rebellion of 1832. Rather than bore you with the history, the Daily Beast sets the scene. (iii) The Last Stand: Arnie doing what he does best; this time as a small Mexican-border town Sheriff .'You fucked up my day off.' An entertainingly unpretentious, old-school cops-and-drug-barons action movie (hat-tip for those words to Peter Bradshaw at the Guardian): Weekend escapism and worth it just for Genesis Rodriguez's pout.
Guess which one I went to see...no contest, right?
3 comments:
I'd put my money on The Last Stand.
Nathalie and a friend went to see Les Mis this afternoon, came home and said, "two and a half hours of people singing badly - too much."
...and you'd get the payout! I'm sure I'll see the other two fairly soon though!
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