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Finally watched The Mastermind. Unfurled very slowly,
No issue with that but, much as I enjoy Josh O’Connor and Alana Haim, it struck me as a fairly pointless film determined to undermine any drama within the somewhat lightweight plot. Could have been alright with that if there had been a decent ending. There was not.
Saw this last night in the cinema and loved it. Superb performances from Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson. A beautiful and moving story. Music ain’t half bad either.
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It’s on my list.
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I loved the book but this is on another level. Absolutely worth the hype. First time I’ve really enjoyed watching Paul Mescal. Great screenplay and fab direction. Music by Max Richter who uses ‘On The Nature Of Daylight’ to devastating effect at the end.
But this film belongs entirely to Jessie Buckley who will deserve every gong that she will rightly get. Take some tissues
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Highly entertaining for about two and half hours. Despite having barely any likeable characters in it! Great film.
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Went to watch Sentimental Value today. Mixed feelings. The four main performances are terrific but the film itself somehow manages to be slightly less than the sum of its parts. It doesn’t ever really flow and it’s not helped by little theatrical devices such as each section fading to black for no reason. Some big gaps in the narrative too. I can understand why people were put up for awards but equally understand the film itself attracted a fair few three out of five reviews.
Three being ‘ok’ and fugue being ‘comatose’?
edited.
The table tennis action scenes were well done and looked authentic. The rallies must have made use of CGI, at least in part, though this is seamless. Chalamet can clearly play old-style ping pong to a high standard.
It’s loosely based on a real life story. I would say it has just enough table tennis for it to hold the story together.
Saw it on Tuesday with my son and we both absolutely loved it, one hare brained scheme after another from Timothy’s Chalamets character Marty Mauser most of them turning out pretty disastrously. The bath sequence will stay with me for a long time, great film.
Wow how lucky were you! I saw both shows, my favourite Springsteen period, I began to lose interest when it got to stadium sized venues.
I missed your post first time around. Couldn’t agree more. Plenty on here love the film. I thought it was simplistic, lowest common denominator stuff and I didn’t think it got anywhere near any of the main characters.
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Well, where to start? This has had very mixed reviews ranging from terrible to v good. I really enjoyed it but with a big caveat - there is a prolonged, graphic torture scene in the middle that is a v hard watch and is gratuitous.
That aside, it’s a really interesting film with some beautiful, tender and frankly trippy scenes. It’s also v funny at times. Excellent soundtrack that includes a lot of Duran Duran (yes, really) and great use of a Radiohead song. Jack O’Connell is outstanding as the leader of the “Jimmy’s” - a violent gang who model themselves on Jimmy Saville. As is the norm for zombie films these days, the moral of the story is that humans are much worse than the monsters.
Ralph Fiennes is just fantastic as Dr Kelson - funny, tender, humane. The scene where he sings and dances to Iron Maiden’s ‘The Number of the Beast’ is utterly brilliant and exhilarating. There are reports of audience members at other screenings dancing, whooping and clapping at this scene and I can genuinely believe it.
Some nice reveals at the end (which I won’t reveal). I really enjoyed watching this. But there is that big caveat….
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Howzat!
Yeah a tough watch but thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Saw Hamnet a couple of days ago. Excellent performances and great music. Jessie Buckley should get an Oscar, but who knows what the Academy will think. I see Paul Mescal has not been nominated for the Supporting Actor award.
Highly recommended.
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Howzat!
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