daasgrrl

Wow, long time no... anything. It's been a hell of a year, is all I'm going to say. Nevertheless, movies and shows have still been watched, so I'll stick to those.

January

Downsizing - they had me at the trailer, with Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig deciding to solve all their financial woes by literally "downsizing" to six inches tall, where they can have a luxurious lifestyle at a fraction of the cost. The trailer pretty much leaves it there, giving the impression that it's about some kind of ultimate lifestyle change and its repercussions, like those people who decide to be global nomads or live in tiny houses or some such. But after the initial set-up it takes a hard left into darker issues - hardcore environmental groups who want everyone to downsize to save the planet, middlemen who make their fortunes by converting "large" products for the smaller world, and despotic governments who see downsizing troublemakers involuntarily as a neat solution to their problems. They also hint at the uglier side of "regular" downsizing - where everyone lives like a king, where do you get the underclass to clean the houses and do the thankless service jobs? In short, it was a lot more complicated than the whimsical comedy it appeared to be on the surface. I don't think it quite reached the heights it was aiming for - it was too lightly filmed for that, and the premise is intrinsically a bit smile-inducing - but it did have interesting ideas that went a lot further than, "hey, what if we could shrink people"?

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - I enjoyed this a lot, probably more than I should have. Nuanced, self-contradictory characters shouldn't really be a big deal but I guess it says a lot about typical Hollywood movies that they seemed to be much more interesting than average. Of all the Academy Award nominees for Best Picture that I actually saw, I would have given it to this one.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle - I like Jack Black a lot, and the Rock is fun, don't judge me. Did pretty much exactly what I expected, neither more or less. Which was to deliver light, fluffy entertainment with a feel-good ending.

February

I, Tonya - I remember the attack on Kerrigan when it happened, and the redneck vs princess boxes Harding and Kerrigan were put into at the time, which were apparently not completely true. I only have a passing interest in figure skating, and I know the movie is meant to be overly sympathetic to Harding, but I really enjoyed it as a "based on a true story" piece. Margot Robbie did a great job, and it was thoroughly compelling. I think it says something about the sheltered life I've led that I still find it shocking that any objectively successful, talented woman would fall into and continue a relationship that involved domestic abuse. Intellectually, I get that people can be weak in some places and strong in others, and that abusers are often manipulators, but I don't emotionally comprehend it (which I realise I should be grateful for). And I'm sure she gave some of her own back as well, but in the movie it bothered me almost as much as the attack.

Welcome to Night Vale: All Hail (live show, Sydney Opera House) - I've only listened to a handful of Night Vale shows, and read the transcripts of maybe 20-odd more, but the show has such a cult following I thought it'd be fun. Judging from the reaction of the fans, it was a great show for them. Whereas I thought it resembled a university revue that had been put together over a drunken weekend - that's actually unfair, I've seen some very clever university revues. But here there was far too much made of far too little substance. I did enjoy the skit with one of the writers that involved a complex rumination about time travel and avoidance of responsibility, but otherwise there was little memorable about it, and there were some small technical and vocal hitches that made the show feel like what there was of it hadn't even been properly rehearsed. It's nice that the true fans enjoyed it (and they were there, in cosplay and everything), but never again

Follies (NT Live) - Philip Quast and Imelda Staunton OMG. The catch being, of course, that this level of casting naturally raises expectations high, inviting subsequent disappointment. I'm very pleased to say that did not happen. Now, I'm not a big fan of this show as such (knew many of the songs quite well, but have never seen it performed) but it was brilliant, moving, all the superlatives. For anyone unfamiliar with the story, it's notionally about the reunion of the "Weismann Girls" (revue/burlesque performers) in a crumbling theatre, remnants of a former glorious age. It's a general tribute to the era intertwined with the stories of two couples who attend the reunion - Phyllis and Ben, Sally and Buddy. Structurally I found much of the first half a bit of a random walk through past and present, spiced with nostalgic side trips, and it seemed as though it would continue that way pleasantly enough throughout, but then everything suddenly snapped together like a bear trap covered in feathers and it hurt. Ouch and yes, and I think I'm finally old enough to appreciate this show for what it says about life, love and relationships. And again, ouch.

March

The Shape of Water - Hmm. This contained so many of my favourite things - a world dominated by water and the colour green, beautifully shot, and about misfits and outsiders struggling in an enviroment not made for them. And I did enjoy it, very much, but it didn't speak to me as much as I thought and/or hoped it would. I know it was meant to have a fairytale quality, but it felt too pat, too overdetermined for something that also attempted to mimic a certain level of realism. I also thought there were too many loose threads and underdeveloped characters for it to be truly gripping. I don't know. As I say, very much enjoyed, many beautiful moments, but still not really for me. It would be difficult to ever match Pan's Labyrinth, but even Crimson Peak appealed to my personal kinks so much more.

In the Heights (Hayes Theatre) - I was a bit dubious about an Australian production of this show, much less a relatively low-budget version in a tiny theatre, but they pulled it off admirably. Sydney has an incredibly diverse population, and while not all of the cast were of Hispanic descent, most of them were, and the remaining cast were at least non-Anglo. Result being a lot of very talented people I'd never seen on stage before (or at least not in featured roles). American-infused accents were fine to my ear - probably easier to pull off while singing and rapping, and given the setting the small theatre and set rather worked in the show's favour than against it. As a musical I thought the lyrics ranged from "omg brilliant" to "if you say ninety-six thousand one more time I WILL SCREAM" but the music and sheer energy held it all together. Absolutely fantastic production of an imperfect, but authentic, brash and passionate musical. Particularly enjoyed Ryan Gonzales (Uznavi), Tim Omaji (Benny), Monique Montez (Daniela) and Ana Maria Belo (Camila). (I just discovered from googling the cast names that Belo is also deaf and uses hearing aids. She was fantastic - I did notice her voice was very slightly unusual, but would never have known.) Glad that I got to see a version of this, even if it's a long way from home. I felt that it wasn't a musical "for me" as such - I think LMM's tribe would have been thrilled with it and understood it on a level I never will - but it was still very accessible and universal in its themes.

And that's mostly it. Oh, and I also read Aciman's Call Me By Your Name just for the sake of it, the same way I shouldered my way through Twilight just to make sure I wasn't secretly missing something really amazing (in the case of Twilight: I wasn't). It was a rough start - I actually deserted it mid-way through in favour of reading Helter-Skelter, a creepy but fascinating account of the Manson murders - but managed to circle back before it was due back at the library. And surprisingly, I did find some of it quite good and worthwhile, just not the bits I was expecting. The setup of the love story was - for me - every bit as lacking in conviction as in the movie. It feels very much about the summer Elio falls in love with himself - for all the supposed passion, I still got a "told, not shown" vibe about it. It just didn't leave me convinced of the attraction from Elio's point of view or from Oliver's. Like the movie, Elio's relationship with Marzia feels much more authentic, and it's not like I have any preference for hetero couples. So that left me completely cold, no surprise there. However I did enjoy some parts very much - which were all pretty much glossed over or left out in the film. I thought the character of Vimini - the child dying of leukemia who Oliver befriends - was essential to the themes of the book and think it would have added so much if she had been included, in tandem with a much more lengthy and complex ending than "Oliver leaves and announces he's getting married". Then it wouldn't have been so much a rather uninspiring love story as a meditation on choices made and not made, and lives lived and not lived - hinted at in Elio's father's speech, but imo without Vimini never fully realised in the movie. Another part that was magical was Elio's night in Rome, caught up in the sweep of adulthood as in one endless night he follows along from book-signing to restaurant to bar, and through the streets of Rome. Oliver was really only incidental to this part, but I felt that Aciman captured the sharp thrill of a post-adolescent world suddenly opening up in all directions. The third thing that surprised me in a good way was that Elio and Oliver do meet again, over and over, and both move on in their own ways - but for Elio especially, part of him still seems "trapped" in that time, never to move on, much like Vimini, who never makes it to adulthood. Thematically, I liked those ideas very much and felt they gave the book a balance and depth which I found lacking in the movie. So I do give the novel a grudging nod of appreciation for the last two chapters, but I sadly still do not give a damn about the "love story" that was the main feature of the movie.

Man, it's been a year. It started off pretty well (on a personal level - not even going to circle outwards) and went downhill from there. But still, I'm going to tidy up quickly with the stuff I've been seeing.

Blade Runner: 2049 - liked the original, although not with the same reverence as some. So I tended to watch this half as a stand-alone rather than a continuation, and on that level it worked well. Although I did really love that they extended the "future" already shown in the original, rather than making it too much about today, so that it had that feeling of carrying forward the preoccupations of the "past future" world, if that even makes sense. Retro and futuristic at the same time.

Loved seeing Harrison Ford again, the tension between humans and replicants and the blurry lines around their respective characteristics was interesting as always. One of the characters reminded me irresistibly ofindybaggins, which was entertaining in itself. The "world" didn't make sense to me at times, like the deserted area and building around the "bubble girl" and how she fits into that society, but was vibrant and interesting. I do like science fiction that is by and large less flashy and blasty and more thinky, so I appreciated that.

Murder on the Orient Express - saw this mainly for Branagh and the amazing cast. It didn't work for me as a book adaptation - I think if you'd never read the book it would be somewhat unsatisfying in terms of clues and the piecing together of the actual mystery. But I love Branagh's extravagant eye for scenery and his general earnestness in storytelling. It's almost quaint nowadays, and I adore it. Cast of course were really fun to watch as well - Judi Dench, Olivia Colman, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad. The first 15 minutes or so, and its introductory "mini-mystery" was slick and super-flashy, imo much more inspired by modern Sherlock than in the spirit of Hercule Poirot. But nevertheless extremely entertaining.

Beautiful - The Carole King story - good script, great cast, so a pleasant enough experience, but the laziest jukebox musical I've ever seen. There was very little attempt to let the songs "tell" the story in any sense - generally it was King or one of her friends sitting at a piano and saying, "hey, listen to this song I wrote" or "let's work on a song!", sometimes segueing into bands reprising her songs on stage - which really isn't the most inspiring or cohesive way to present what's supposed to be a musical based on her life.  It was nice to see a tribute to a quiet songwriter, rather than a big flashy entertainer, but made the musical rather mousy as well. Was staged in a 2,000-seat theatre - may have suited an intimate space better.

Culture Club - hey, they still exist! I think Boy George is taking up residence in Australia, so I guess why not tour. I did/do really enjoy the songs, and had great company, so it was a really fun evening, and it's always interesting to experience a new venue (the 8,000-capacity ICC at Darling Harbour). However, the sound was very harsh on the ears, Boy George's voice isn't what it used to be, and I swear to you his ego was large enough to reach to the very back of the venue (where we were sitting). The rest of the band barely got a mention (the backup singers were introduced early in the show, and the band completely ignored until the end) so it was more "Boy George plus some other people who were also there". I still love the old songs, but came away rather actively disliking Boy George. Sad! *g*

The Bodybag - another Trevor Ashley and Phil Scott production, being a sendup of "The Bodyguard". Trevor Ashley still has a great voice and stage presence (he starred as "Rachel Marinade" and wore slinky sequins throughout), and I loved Gus Murray as the ex-ASIO agent turned Uber driver, but the script was a bit weak. Their first co-production, Fat Swan, was absolutely brilliant, but this one felt like they drafted it in a weekend and went, "okay, that'll do". It tried to play off the movie/musical without having its own clear internal storyline, which made it feel more like a series of skits loosely joined together. Was okay, but would probably hesitate to see their next production.

Muriel the Musical - :D This was one I walked away from thinking that I liked, not loved it, but in the past week the music has kept playing in my head, and I am going to buy the OCR once it comes out. Which means I really think I loved it after all *g*.

I don't know how well Muriel's Wedding is known overseas, but it's a defining Australian movie that was Toni Collette's breakout role. Muriel is an overweight, plain girl living in the little town of Porpoise Spit, who consoles herself by listening to ABBA and dreaming of one day becoming a beautiful bride. She tries to fit in with the popular girls who disdain her for her appearance, her lack of fashion sense, her general dagginess. Desperate to fit in, she steals her parents' chequebook (the musical is updated, so it's a credit card there) and books herself on the same holiday that her not-friends are on. They are predictably appalled to see her there. However, she bumps into an old classmate, Rhonda, who left Porpoise Spit the moment she was able, and finds a new friend.

It sounds like a feel-good show, and it is on one level, but at the same time the movie (and musical) are very, very dark, and not in the usual "surmountable" ways. Terrible things happen that there's simply no coming back from, and it's somewhat head-spinning that the movie and musical still manage to still be joyous and uplifting at heart. It also contains many lines that are imprinted on the Australian cultural consciousness: "You're terrible, Muriel" - "Who do  you think you are to call me that?! I'm married! I'm beauuuutiful" (screeched by the head mean girl) - "Goodbye, Porpoise Spit!". Anyway, I will bombard you with videos, because I love it so much. It is very, very Australian in tone - it deserves to go overseas, but I'll be very curious how it translates if it ever does. Hell, it's such a love letter to Sydney, I'll even be curious what Melbourne makes of it :D

Sunshine State of Mind
Here Comes the Bride
Sydney

The Disaster Artist - Saw mainly for James Franco, who was unrecognisable. Not my usual kind of film, but thoroughly enjoyed it. Deserves the Golden Globe nomination, imo. In a way it's still a love letter to Hollywood, but more like the kind written by a crazed stalker.

Sucked in by all the hype around Call Me By Your Name, so planning to see it next week. The trailer still left me kind of meh, but James Ivory screenplay is a plus. I also want to see Downsizing and Pitch Perfect 3 *g*

Lazy. And busy. Mostly lazy. But a quick run-down of stuff, some six weeks old now:

Mr Burns, a Post-Electric Play (Anne Washburn) - Belvoir Theatre

Some unnamed apocalypse has devastated the earth, and the survivors attempt to reconstruct popular culture, one group beginning with the Simpsons episode "Cape Feare". (If you're a Simpsons fan, you will recall this as the one where Sideshow Bob escapes from prison, kidnaps Bart, trips over a few rakes, and sails down the river giving a lone rendition of the entire score of HMS Pinafore - I loved it.). A few years later, travelling reconstructions of various Simpsons episodes (presumably together with other shows and plays) tour the countryside, exchanging "repertoire" in the form of episodes and remembered lines, all jealously guarded. A hundred years on, the reclaimed scraps of popular culture have morphed into some bizarre quasi-religious performance.

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Dream Empire - Sydney Film Festival

This was a documentary about the rise and fall of the Chinese real estate dream, told through the story of Yana, a girl from the countryside who came to Chongqing hoping to make something of herself and send money home to her impoverished parents. She finds a job in the promotion machine for new apartment sales, which are grand events featuring performing foreigners - "singers", "musicians", "models", "dancers" - to show how progressive and cosmopolitan the apartments are. Yana's job is basically to go around to pubs and recruit as many white (and black) people as she can, train them to put on a show of some kind, and "sell" their performances to real estate developers. These are known to said foreigners as "white monkey shows", and the documentary itself was made by one of the "white monkeys", a Danish guy called David Borenstein (also a passable saxophone player). The performances are pretty dismal - in some cases, hilariously terrible - but do their job in helping sell the apartments. But since many of the apartments are in the middle of nowhere, with no infrastructure and no jobs nearby, the boom can't last forever...

It was a film that touched on so many interesting things - the rapid growth of China, urban migration, the sheer overweening ambition of real estate developers, ghost cities, the status of women in China, naivety and exploitation, and a mirror-world where white people only exist as promotional gimmicks. Disturbing, but fascinating.

Liberation Day - Sydney Film Festival

In 2015, ex-Yugoslavian band Laibach (the Guardian describes them as "art-rock", so I'll go with that) were somehow invited to perform in North Korea, making them the first "Western" band to do so. The result is a mix of travelogue, music documentary, and satire, only it's difficult to be sure where one ends and another begins. Laibach appear to have made their name in populating their songs and cover versions with extreme facist imagery, but with the aim of subversion, not promotion. However, it's difficult to know exactly how the North Koreans perceive them, or why they chose them to come. Wildly entertaining and very, very strange.

Laibach's version of "Do-Re-Mi" (apparently The Sound of Music is big in North Korea, so part of their performance included a medley) is enough to give any child nightmares. But their English rendition of "Mt Paektu" is great, with the lead singer's growling bass declaring, "We’ll go in springtime / we’ll go in winter too / we'll go in our dreams /we’ll go at any time. We’ll go for a lifetime /we'll continue going through generations" giving it a thoroughly menacing edge. (Mt. Paektu is a sacred site in North Korea, being the alleged birthplace of Kim Jong-Il (it's not); the original version of the song is super-bubbly and upbeat, like a children's show.)

God's Own Country - Sydney Film Festival

Marketed as a British Brokeback Mountain, but really nothing of the kind. A romance between a lonely Yorkshire sheep farmer (don't laugh) and a Romanian labourer who comes to work for him. I liked it well enough, but I have to say that I noticed that it was one of those films where the pathetic grumpy racist white English Johnny's journey is all that matters, and the gorgeous and capable Gheorghe, who outclasses him in every way apart from "not being English", exists only to guide Johnny along the path to self-actualisation without having a significant or meaningful story of his own. Maybe I should give it a pass because it's a gay film, but I can't, sorry. Despite the tragic gay trope, if we're comparing, I'd still say Brokeback Mountain was the better film.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - NT Live screening

Starring Joshua McGuire as Guildenstern and Daniel Radcliffe as Rosencrantz. I thoroughly enjoyed this without loving it to pieces. It's probably the best version I've seen, in terms of hitting most - not all - of the beats that I wanted it to hit, but still lacking something. McGuire was great, but Radcliffe was fine without having any particular energy to him. I'd like to pair McGuire's Guildenstern with Tim Minchin's Rosencrantz from the Sydney Theatre Company production a few years back - then there might be sparks. The Player King was good, but the rest of the cast were once again acting in different plays - the King, Gertrude, and Ophelia straight down the line, Hamlet subtly satirical, Polonius with a foot in both camps. I really enjoyed Hamlet's take once I warmed up to what he was doing, then realised during the credits he was played by Luke Mullins, who stole the show in Sydney Theatre Company's Waiting for Godot. And another one runs off to London *g*

Only Heaven Knows (Alex Harding) - Hayes Theatre

That rarest of creatures, a revival of a 1988 boy-meets-boy Australian musical. Set in the 1940s, it shows fresh-faced Tim leaving his disapproving aunt and uncle for the seedy glamour of Sydney's King's Cross (our red-light district and drug hub). There he settles in, finds a job, makes a few friends - supportive landlady Guinea, raging queen Lana, arch Alan - and takes a lover, Cliff (still illegal back then, of course). At first it's all parties and good times, but then darker questions emerge. Alan isn't sure he wants to be gay and dabbles in shock aversion therapy while Lana worries about him, and Tim wants to go to London to pursue his playwriting dream, while Cliff wants them to buy a house together and settle down. Guinea just wants everyone to pay their rent and be happy.

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Despicable Me 3

I have issues with these films, but I went anyway, lured by Trey Parker as 80s-throwback villain, Balthazar Bratt (think Rubik's cubes, bubble gum, lycra, and sweatbands). It was charming in parts, but I... still have issues with these films.

It's so quiet in here - kudos to those of you who go on filling the silences :)

Been spending a lot of time in RL and feeling terribly uncommunicative, but still seeing stuff, so here are some rather terse reviews.

Get Out - excellent, and much more my thing than the worthier African-American dramas nominated for Oscars this year. But then I love horror/comedy, and this is perfectly in that vein - scary and a touch gruesome, but very funny in parts as well. Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) is getting ready to visit his white girlfriend's parents - only she hasn't told them he's black, and this worries him. The result is like a weird cross between Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? and The Stepford Wives. It's got pointed social commentary if you want to view it in that light, but it works on a pure horror/thriller basis - complete with jump scares - even if you don't. I did like the way it appears to lay all its cards out on the table quite early on, but actually keeps a few up its sleeve, so to speak. Also I'm very fond of Kaluuya, who I first saw in Psychoville (Tealeaf!) and who also starred in my favourite episode of Black Mirror, "Ten Million Merits". So in a way, this role was made for him. Of course, that makes him yet another member of the British invasion of Hollywood, but I thought his accent was flawless, and have been backed up on this by a genuine American ;)

I don't think I've read a single negative review of this movie yet - some 'mehs' but nothing stronger than that. Personally, I was on the edge of my seat throughout - there wasn't a single flat spot, and that takes some doing given my attention span. Highly recommended, if you like the genre :D

Hedda Gabler (Ibsen) - NT Live Screening - I love Ruth Wilson (Luther) and she was great, but I'm over Ivo Van Hove, sorry (although his name is delightfully alliterative). I liked View from a Bridge, but the sound design in this production was incredibly jarring, and he appears to have a ongoing compulsion to douse his actors in red liquid. Although I will give him grudging points for pacing. Hedda Gabler (Ruth Wilson) is newly-married, and bored, so sets out to stir up trouble and revisit old flames. I love what I've seen of Ibsen (A Doll's House, Ghosts), but I've never seen this play before, and I'd assume the style of translation has a noticeable impact, so I'd rather like to read a version that doesn't have Patrick Marber's fingerprints all over it. As it was, it was like a diluted, slightly dull version of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, only nowhere near as well written. Theatrically, I did enjoy Hedda madly staple-gunning flowers to the walls, and that's... virtually all I remember about this production. She was gorgeous, though. The play less so.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. II - I am Groot? I am Groot. It was fine. It was fun. I liked it as much as I was ever going to *g*

Nazeem Hussain - Public Frenemy - I've been a minor fan of his since his show on SBS, Legally Brown. It was wildly uneven, but he used to do some fairly outrageous things, such as public posturing as hardline Islamist "Uncle Sam" and the highlight of his show was the recurring segment "Muslim Shore", which I loved. Apparently he recently appeared on I'm a Celebrity... which I didn't watch but which he says has brought him much more fame than his other shows ever did. It was fun to see him do stand-up, and he is immensely charming, but I was nearer mildly amused than crying with laughter. I think I prefer him in sketch comedy. He does obviously have his own interesting comedic perspectives, though.

Another tangle of S4 thoughts masquerading as fic :)

Title: Tales Before Bedtime
Characters/Pairings: Mycroft Holmes & Eurus Holmes, Mycroft Holmes/Sherlock Holmes (referenced)
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 3,900
Warnings/contents: family issues, referenced incest
Notes: Everything I've written since S4 ended has felt just a little bit off, which I suppose isn't that surprising - I think it threw me for a loop. Which is to say, this is weird, but I'm posting it anyway.

Summary: Missing scene from The Final Problem. With Sherlock and John safely unconscious, Mycroft and Eurus find time for a little chat.

Read at AO3.

It feels like ages since I've updated - I've been so lazy, and it's been so hot. Like, record-setting, power-grid-breaking hot. I didn't actually realise "catastrophic" fire danger warnings existed - it stopped at "extreme" when I was a kid. And we lost power for a few hours on Friday night (local fault, not load shedding) when it was still around 40C (about 104F) so I ended up lying on the sofa clutching an ice pack by candlelight. I realise other places in the world are hot, but they're set up for it - like, if you go to Singapore or Dubai, air-conditioning is pretty much standard. Whereas at home we only have portable fans that at those temperatures really only work when you're sitting right in front of them. My PC would only function for about half an hour at a time before its fan started going crazy. Fun times *g* But now we've hit a temperature range at which my brain actually functions again, so I thought I'd do a quick write-up.

Saw, um, xXx 3: Return of Xander Cage (!), which is the kind of movie I never thought I would see. I haven't seen either (presumably) of the prequels, nor any of the Fast and the Furious movies, which I am told spawned this franchise. Whatever *g*. I offered to go along and see it out of the goodness of my heart, and because having seen a trailer, it didn't look like it would be too painful. It did end up having some nice things going for it:
 

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Apart from that, it wasn't dreadful, but it wasn't particularly appealing either. Mostly, it was very action-y and... loud. That kind of loud where changes in volume begin to lose their meaning and you just have to sit tight and wait for it to be over. But the cast were generally charming, and Donnie Yen was cool :)

Then saw Split, the latest from M Night Shyamalan, starring James McAvoy as a man with 23 personalities and counting. He kidnaps three teenagers, who are faced not only with his existing personalities, but with the threat of a new and immensely dangerous new one that may be on the brink of emerging.

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Overall, I thought the movie was solidly well done and gripping up until the ending, which was just... weak. It was one of those endings that just made me itch to rewrite it in my head. I felt that in the end Shyamalan was too in love with Kevin (who, let's face it, is a focus-pulling character) to see that it was really Casey's story, and should have ended with her, not him. In a way this is the flipside of the other issue I had, which is that Kevin was such a fascinating character, but we didn't hear very much about his past and how he 'became' this way (apart from one admittedly terrifying childhood flashback). If we had learned more about him, then the ending may well have felt more justified. Also, I greatly dislike self-referential creators. Yes, you made other movies, Shyamalan, we remember, thanks ever so much. Now how about you just concentrate on this one?

After that there was one more Bowie tribute show - Celebrating David Bowie - at the Opera House. This has toured internationally, and the big thing about it was meant to be that it featured musicians who had all played with Bowie (of whom Earl Slick was pretty much the only one known to me, but okay). I have to say that despite everything about this show being one step up in all respects from the one I saw at the Enmore - venue, musicians, singers - I was still underwhelmed. There were a handful of genuinely spine-tingling moments, and the saxophonist, drummers/percussionists (both of them), most of the guitarists, and the string quartet were amazing, but... still. I did try and think about what I thought it lacked, and it pretty much boiled down to "narrative".

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Then there was the NT Live screening of No Man's Land (Pinter) starring Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. I must say I've never seen a Pinter play, and while I did like the theme and idea of being trapped in limbo (as you might expect from the title) which reminded me a bit of Beckett, I didn't find the same kind of memorable whimsy or wordplay that I enjoy in Beckett's plays. The play is a four-hander, in which wealthy Hirst (Stewart) meets a man called Spooner (McKellen) at a pub, and brings him home for some mutual drunken storytelling. There are also two mysterious younger men who hang around Hirst - one of whom claims to be his son, but likely isn't, and his friend Briggs. Hirst appears to be in decline, and next day confuses Spooner for an old friend, while the young men appear to be his long-term employees. Nothing happens, and goes right on not happening until the play ends.

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Which brings me to what was probably the best, or at least the most consistently appealing, of the lot - Hidden Figures. This is a 'based on a true story' movie about three African-American women (amongst a division of others like them) who worked for NASA back in the day when they were trying to get a man into orbit - in preparation for maybe, one day, sending a man to the moon. I wanted this to be good so much that I worried it wouldn't be, but it ended up being everything I wanted. It does blow my mind a bit to see segregation and the fight for civil rights running parallel with NASA trying to put a man in space, a juxtaposition I haven't seen made so starkly before. The three women - Katherine Goble (Taraji P Henson), Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) and Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer) - all worked as 'colored computers', where obviously 'computer' means that they computed things, but I think it's also a nice underlining of the theme in that we now think of 'computers' as inanimate objects.

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I feel like I should think about Sherlock more, but a) I'm just not as invested as I used to be, even though I am still enjoying it and b) my brain is insisting that I deal with unfinished business first, which means writing about stuff I've seen so far this month. I'll keep it brief, since it's mostly for my own benefit anyway *g*

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

This is one I almost didn't see, since I'm not a big Harry Potter fan, and we kept putting it off for various reasons - too early, too late, too lazy, too crowded. But at the last possible moment we did go, and so glad I did, loved it! Way more than any of the Harry Potter movies, actually, although the shared universe of course contributes massively to both. I think I just prefer things with grown-ups doing stuff, and I also like Eddie Redmayne, so that helped. But I hadn't counted on so many aspects being delightful, not least of all the fantastic beasts in question - each of them incredibly interesting in its own way. It was visually spectacular in general, and while that's never enough to 'carry' a movie for me, in conjunction with the appealing characters and solidly entertaining story, I was pretty blown away. Even the costumes - I'm not a clothes person, I rarely notice clothes, but OMG the dresses. I loved, like, everything Queenie wore throughout. Lastly, the whole Graves/Credence subplot was so wonderfully gothic and dare I say it, kind of kinky *g*. Would probably not watch again, but would heartily recommend.

La La Land

I know, I know, critically acclaimed, bringing back old-fashioned musicals, destined to win all the awards, yada yada. Yeah, it was pretty and all, but left me completely cold. Like, I've walked out of exactly two movies in my life, and this was the second one, so I guess it was memorable in that respect. Usually I hang in there, because I enjoy the cinema experience, and I usually find something worth staying for, even if it's just "to find out what happens" but I couldn't seem to find anything or anyone to care about enough to hold onto. I do like J K Simmons, but he was only there for about two seconds.

The story concerns an aspiring starlet Mia (Emma Stone), who goes to Hollywood to Realise Her Dreams, and there meets jazz pianist Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) who hopes to one day open his own jazz club. There's a scene in the first hour or so where Mia is at a fancy restaurant with her current beau (a high-flying corporate type) and another couple, and the men are discussing global business prospects, and the other woman is gamely smiling and laughing along, and Mia is sitting there with a haunted, desperate look on her face. A few minutes later she makes some hurried excuses and flees, practically (or possibly literally - I can't remember) dancing her way down the street towards a date with Sebastian. She's freeeeee! I felt that scene. In fact, I related to that scene so much I couldn't help thinking how much happier I would be anywhere else but trapped in a theatre watching a film I couldn't care less about. I whispered to my mum that she should stay and I'd meet her afterwards, but as it turns out she wanted to leave too *g*

If you're the type of person who likes ye olde school Hollywood "tributes" like Hail, Caesar, or "romance", or "quality cinema", or are a fan of either of the leads, you should totally go. I... just. No. No. The highlight of the whole experience was seeing the trailer for Hidden Figures. I am so there *g*

Bowie in Berlin

Also saw a Bowie tribute show at the Enmore celebrating his Berlin period (1977-1979). The band were excellent, but the vocalists were generally... pretty bad. Like, Bowie wasn't generally noted for being a "good singer" in the traditional sense, but I genuinely love the sound of his voice, and the performance aspect, and that proved to be sorely missing here. Luckily, that period was fairly light on vocals anyway. Given the average age of the audience, I felt like I was attending a classical music concert, which in a sense, it was *g*.The most memorable highlight for me was watching the guy playing the theremin - I'd never seen one played live before, and he was amazing. It was also fascinating to see and hear how the instrument itself contributed to the distinctive sound of some of the songs of that period (notably, "Heroes").

Moana

It's Disney, so you pretty much know what you're going to get. Plucky Moana, daughter of the island's chief (accompanied by comic relief in the form of a clueless chicken), sets out on a quest to find demi-god Maui and force him to help her save her island. Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote some of the songs, which was a minor draw as well. Enjoyed it very much without finding it particularly notable - it hit all the right beats at all the right times, was beautiful to look at, and was amusing and heartwarming by turns. I also appreciated hearing the familiar Kiwi accents of Temuera Morrison and Jermaine Clement, which came as a pleasant surprise. And Auli'i Cravalho (Moana), who is apparently an unknown, is vocally stunning (in her purity and quality of tone, not in that showy diva way). I feel like I'm selling it short, but that's probably because it wasn't something that inspired incredible joy or loathing, more a kind of consistent mellow satisfaction, which is still a rare and valuable quality in a movie. Highly recommended.

Rogue One

Also not particularly a Star Wars fan, but went along for the ride, and came away pleased. splix totally ruined Mads Mikkelsen's appearance for me (just kidding *g*) with her assertion that he only had one expression. It's a lie, anyway. He has at least two. Possibly two and a half, even. LOL. And if any Sherlock fan resisted mentally telling "Anderson" he was lowering the IQ of the whole galaxy, then they have better thought control than I do. Anyway, I was dubious at the beginning, but the characters, the teamwork and the cranky droid won me over by the end, and I liked that the ending was much darker than the conventional action movie ending (canon probably has something to do with this, but I really don't know what restrictions there were on that part of the story, if any). The very last scene, which came as a complete surprise, hurt my heart just a little bit, Star Wars fan or no. But it was the perfect ending.

Throw in Sherlock, and it's been a busy couple of weeks :)