Reaction Shots

"I am Bella Baxter. I am a flawed, experimenting person. I seek outings and adventures. Bella's so much to discover. And there is a world to enjoy, circumnavigate. It is the goal of all to progress, grow." Ever find yourself musing about a mash-up of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Buñuel's Belle du Jour filtered through a Terry Gilliam aesthetic? No? Well, that's the best I can do to describe Lanthimos's lates work and it frankly doesn't go far enough. Following The Favourite might have been a tough act to follow, but he's done it with aplomb and I really don't want to spoil anything about the film but I also want to stay up and talk about it all night long. Yeah, it's one of those.  It's rare that a film so bursting with ideas, observation and depth comes along and is, as it happens, ridiculously darkly funny . The comparisons with Gilliam are apt, but Lanthimos is more profound and demanding than Gilliam.  Briefly, Emma Stone plays...

I took a break! It really wasn't (completely) unintentional, but I enjoyed just watching stuff and not hitting the keyboard to pour forth reflections, thoughts, analyses, and other brain droppings. The downside is that I missed writing, so I'm going to try to wrap up the year with a "what did you do on your holiday break" series. First off, I celebrated the big consumerist, Christianist day with two of my unabashed favorites. Die Hard , of course, but also, Richard Curtis's Love Actually . And yes, this is the first time it occurred to me that Alan Rickman is a cad in both of them. He is, arguably, a bigger cad in Die Hard , of course. However, let's note that he treats Emma Thompson (well, her character) pretty shabbily in Love Actually and that should solidify villainous bonafides as much as holding people hostages, murder, and grand theft. I doubt seriously that there is anything to say about either of these films that hasn't been said already. Thus, m...