November 2022: 1st Week
Hi everyone!
Welcome back to Top-Notch Movies one more week and one more month.
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MOST IMPORTANT RELEASES (November 1st week)
1. Enola Holmes 2
Director: Harry Bradbeer
Starring: Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, Louis Partridge & Melena Bonham Carter
Genre(s): Comedy, Mystery, Crime, Adventures
Plot: Now a detective-for-hire like her infamous brother, Enola Holmes takes on her first official case to find a missing girl, as the sparks of a dangerous conspiracy ignite a mystery that requires the help of friends — and Sherlock himself — to unravel.
Extra Information: This is the sequel to 2019's Enola Holmes. This film focuses more on Enola and Sherlock's relationship in addition to Enola being more mature and trying to avoid being lonely in the world. Moreover, Enola Holmes has a big criticism towards society during that age and how there's sadly still some parallelisms towards society nowadays. Definitely a film to watch in family to have a good time and try to disconnect from everything else for 2 hours.
2. My Policeman
Director: Michael Grandage
Starring: Harry Styles, Emma Corrin, Gina McKee, Linus Roache, David Dawson & Rupert Everett
Genre(s): Romance, Drama
Plot: In the late 1990s, the arrival of elderly invalid Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previous: the passionate relationship between Tom and Patrick at a time when homosexuality was illegal.
Extra Information: After this year's Don't Worry Darling Harry Styles returns to the big-screen (although this time the film goes directly to Amazon) with a gay-drama. The film explores the insecurities and the fear that a homosexual person had to go through during the times when homosexuality wasn't legal. The film is told by flashbacks of the memories of the characters and although Harry Styles didn't prove himself to be an extraordinary actor, he does prove that he has got the bravery required to play such a complex role. If you're watching this film for him, you'll probably like it more than Don't Worry Darling, and if you're watching this for pleasure, you'll probably receive a good amount of entertainment out of this film.
3. BARDO, False Chronicle Of A Handful Of Truths (BARDO, la falsa crónica de unas cuantas verdades)
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Starring: Daniel Giménez Cacho, Griselda Siciliani, Ximena Lamadrid,
Genre(s): Drama, Comedy
Plot: Silverio, a renowned Mexican journalist and documentary filmmaker living in Los Angeles, who, after being named the recipient of a prestigious international award, is compelled to return to his native country, unaware that this simple trip will push him to an existential limit.
Extra Information: After the absolute success with Birdman and The Revenant, 7 years later Alejandro G. Iñárritu finally comes back to filmmaking with the fake story of his life, or a false biopic. BARDO, has been heavily criticized for being extremely self-indulgent and non-respectful for the usual viewer. However, this is still Alejandro González Iñárritu, so this film is an absolute must in everyone's watchlists.
4. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Director: Eric Appel
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Evan Rachel Wood, Rainn Wilson, Toby Huss, Arturo Castro & Julianne Nicholson.
Genre(s): Comedy, Drama, Musical
Plot: The unexaggerated true story about the greatest musician of our time. From a conventional upbringing where playing the accordion was a sin, "Weird Al" Yankovic rebels and makes his dream of changing the words to world-renowned songs come true. An instant success and sex symbol, Al lives an excessive lifestyle and pursues an infamous romance that nearly destroys him.
Extra Information: Exploring every facet of ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic’s life, from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like ‘Eat It’ and ‘Like a Surgeon’ to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle, this biopic takes audiences on a truly unbelievable journey through Yankovic’s life and career, from gifted child prodigy to the greatest musical legend of all time.
REVIEW OF THE WEEK - WRITTEN
ENOLA HOLMES
NOTE:
GOOD:
First of all let's point out the two main performances: Millie Bobby Brown's and Henry Cavill's. They are I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E in the film specially whenever they had scenes together due to the impecable chemistry they both have with one another. I already liked this version of Sherlock in the first Enola Holmes, but in here I think Henry Cavill's character had a huge upgrade in terms of likability, importance in the story and, also, the fact that Henry Cavill portrays him gives him an instant sense of charm that makes the character even more appealing than it already is. But of course, the show-stealer here is no other than Millie Bobby Brown herself. She owns these 2 movies from top to bottom. She shows the passion she's got for this character on camera as well as the passion she has for this project as a whole off camera. She represents in a way the injustice that most women suffered during that age while rebelling against it.
In the supporting part of things, I believe the two standouts were Louis Partridge and Melena Bonham Carter. The rest of the cast was fine, but they were the two characters and supporting performers that really made a difference within the main supporting cast.
This is a detective story so of course, you got to talk about the mystery. Although I don't think these films' mysteries are as strong as the ones in the Sherlock series starring Benedict Cumberbatch or the Sherlock Holmes films directed by Guy Ritchie, I do think in this film the mystery was way more intriguing than the mystery from the first one. The first film's mystery was more personal and that helped to develop the Enola Holmes' character as well as the supporting characters that are/were related to her, but the mystery itself wasn't as intriguing as the one in here and that is mostly because in this film we have 2 mysteries. As I said before, one of the things I didn't like about the first film was the fact that Sherlock Holmes wasn't almost in it, and not only was that fixed, but he even has his own case that he's working on while helping Enola with hers. That simple choice made the film way more fun and interesting than the first one as in every major storyline there's an actual mystery going on and I personally think they pulled off the how to tell these 2 apparently different storylines in a way that the Sherlock storyline doesn't outshadow the Enola one but doesn't lower its interest or rests its importance to just focus on Enola's.
All of these have to do with the writing and the truth is that I really liked the way this film is written. The management of the two main storylines plus the secondary ones regarding the missing lady, Tewkesbury, the subdivided society in different social groups and in there exploring the atrocities that certain despicable people in power or upper social groups do to the ones in the lower part of society. Now, let's be honest, not all of them worked but I appreciated that a movie like this that's made for families of all ages to watch talks about such important issues in such loud ways. All of them were well to well-enough explored except one that I'll talk about in the negatives.
The editing is a huge big part in this film. And the truth is that every time Enola and Sherlock interact with each other in the (already iconic) classic Sherlock-like detective-mood style scenes it's gold and part of it, is due to the editing being so on point. As I've said before, it's also thanks to the writing as well as the delivery of those lines by Henry Cavill specially but also by Millie Bobby Brown. Just by seeing how well those scenes were constructed with the transitions, the quick cuts and the back and forth between Enola and Sherlock, I already loved the film.
The costumes and production designs are also a big part of this franchise and in here they are really really good and it helped capturing all those social injustices as well as capturing the period.
BAD:
THE CGI!!!!!!! My god, every scene with CGI in it sucked. Even if it was just for a thunder or a lightning during a storm, it is atrocious.
One thing I didn't like about the original was the fact that Sherlock's character was criminally underused and it's true that in here that doesn't happen... with Sherlock, however this time was Tewkesbury the criminally underutilized character. In fact he appeared twice before the third act even started, and it wasn't until then that he gained the importance he had in the first film. It's as if they decided to sacrifice Sherlock's character for Tewkesbury in the first one and Tewkesbury's for Sherlock's in the second one. That's one of the few things regarding the writing that didn't really work for me.
The other thing regarding the writing that didn't work for ma AT ALL, as I teased before, was the BIG social criticism this movie had: feminism. Now I understand men were very bad and women suffered a lot but this is the thirtieth thousand film that's been dropped this year that just criticizes men without really saying anything. Whereas the film stopped a few times to make a speech with lots of interesting points regarding up and low class and how rich people's decisions affect directly into poor people's lives, it had something to say and it felt natural, it felt real and it felt credible. On the other hand, whenever the big feminist speech is given right at the end of the film, it feels like it comes out of nowhere, it's true that what the characters states is true and it's a real thing, but the way to tell it didn't work for me at all. It felt extremely provoked and as if the movie had cheated the whole mystery just to have that one speech out of a character that was barely in the film. But, what's even worse, is that then there's the BIG feminist moment of the film. Firstly there's the big speech criticizing men and the same as always and then, right after that there's yet another scene with another speech by another character that was barely in the film and, for some reason, the people (of course all women) start to make some noise but literally and go as a mass mob rebelling against society still, without saying or actually doing nothing. It felt as if the director just wanted this one "epic" shot with all of the women in the town walking and marching together with Enola Holmes at the front, so to get it he just forced it and that's it. And to me the whole approach to the feminist criticism didn't pay off in this film. It's just there but it doesn't really have nothing else to do or say.
I think some of the supporting performances weren't the best ones. But still all of them were somewhat acceptable except David Thewlis'. With all due respect as I know he was really trying but he, in my opinion, completely failed. Every time the film cut to him I would be like "oh come on. Get back to Enola, or Sherlock, or Tewkesbury... Or anyone but him". His character was by far the worst one in the film and his performance didn't help at all.
Finally, although to be honest the direction wasn't necessarily bad, it wasn't all that remarkable either. It did have some specific shots or fight scenes that were well shot and directed, but overall I don't think is the kind of direction that has a distinct style to it. Most of the style the movie has is because of the costume and production design rather than direction and that's not something positive to say about any sort of film.
CONLCUSION:
Overall, I really enjoyed this film, it's fun, it's entertaining, it's charming and it's a great film to watch in family and have a good time watching it. Millie Bobby Brown and Henry Cavill's chemistry is really great and although there's somethings that don't completely work, this film is an absolute blast. I absolutely recommend watching it.
I'll give it 3 and a half out of 5 stars
VIDEOS OF THE WEEK - ALEJANDRO G. IÑÁRRITU SPECIAL
So this week Alejandro Gónzalez Iñárritu's first film in over 7 years releases and in honor of his filmography we've decided to review and breakdown his 2 masterpieces: Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance) (2014) & The Revenant (2015)
ALEJANDRO:
THE REVENANT (2015)
DANIEL:
BIRDMAN: OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) (2014)
UPCOMING FILMS (Next Week)
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: the sequel to the critically acclaimed 2018 film starring the late Chadwick Boseman.
- The Fabelmans: Steven Spielberg's brand new film about his life which has already won several awards and it's being praised as one of the better films of the year already plus a major Oscar contender.
- Spirited: starring the dynamic comedic duo Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell.
- The Son: a heartbreaking drama telling the story of a father who wants to connect with his teen son.
We'll return next week with more, until then, keep indulging cinema, and remember:
Daniel Perales & Alejandro Gómez, Top-Notch Movies
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