Review: The Lighthouse

Are you going mad?

Winslow (Robert Pattinson) takes a job as a lighthouse keeper with veteran Thomas (Willem DaFoe) somewhere off the coast of New England in the 1890's. He eventually begins to question his sanity.

I'm perplexed with this film. On one hand, I'm glad something so very art house is getting a wide(ish) release here in the States, but the other part of me can't say I actually enjoyed watching all of this. 

There is a lot to like about this, don't get me wrong. The way its shot makes it seem like it could've came from the 1930's. I normally dislike black and white in current films but the smaller aspect ratio and the grim tones 100% contribute positively to the narrative. This couldn't be done in color. It would've looked goofy. After all, this is a film that begins with a fart joke of all things. We need that extra bleakness on top of it.

Acting wise, Pattinson and DaFoe are great, they nail all the emotional beats but Pattinson's accent gets away from him. To be fair, I think it's an intentional thing based on his character's back story but he loses it when he's shouting. This is unfortunate because a lot of this film is them shouting monologues at each other. 

This brings me to the story. I don't think there was enough here to fill its nearly 2 hour run time. If you thought director Robert Eggers' previous film, The Witch had a pacing issues, you will likely think one does too. The tone and the hardships this job entails are set almost immediately. We didn't have to dwell on it so much to get the big picture. I suppose that could also be intentional. Perhaps he wanted the audience to go crazy along with Winslow.

By the time you're actually reading this, I'll have edited this review several times. I'm so torn on what to grade it. This is an incredible bit of filmmaking and I admire a lot of what it did. (A+ trolling seagull) but I can't see myself wanting to revisit this.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: C+. (Aka the exact middle ground of my grading system)

Memorable Quote: "Alright, have it your way. I like your cooking."

Review: Harriet

A walk to freedom.

Minty (Cynthia Erivo) is a woman who escapes slavery and becomes the hero we know her as today: Harriet Tubman. We follow her as she works with William Still (Leslie Odom Jr.) and the Underground Railroad to continue to free slaves and evade her former master - Gideon (Joe Alwyn) who is hellbent on thwarting her plans. 

The world deserves a Harriet Tubman biopic and I'm glad director Kasi Lemmons got to bring us one. They play it very safe, but it's here and that's what matters most. Calling Harriet and what she accomplished extraordinary isn't enough. The film condenses it and makes good use of it's 2 hour run time. It never drags and even though you know the outcome of her story, there are plenty of tense moments throughout.

Cynthia Erivo (who was robbed of an Oscar nomination for Bad Times at the El Royale last year) is a fantastic Harriet. She nails every scene. We see her at her most vulnerable to her most stoic. She also puts her lovely singing voice to good use here as well. The cast supporting her are wonderful as well. I really enjoyed Odom Jr and I'm always happy to see Clarke Peters and Janelle Monae.

The biggest fault in my opinion are how they chose to handle Harriet's "spells" We know she had seizures in real life but here are re-worked into full scale premonitions. They show her the future and help her evade capture several times. She even prays for someone to die, and they do in the next scene. While I don't think Harriet's faith in the lord should be discarded completely, they made it phony with how heavy handed they played it.

Even if it's safe or formulaic, Harriet is still far better than many of the other biopics out there getting similar criticisms. I don't think that should stop you from seeing it.

Now they just need to put her on our U.S currency like they promised.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: B

Memorable Quote: "You will call me Harriet, that's my free name." - Harriet Tubman (Cynthia Erivo)

DVD Review: Light of my Life

Guess who's the worst?

In a post apocalyptic world where a mysterious virus has killed off most of the female population, a father (Casey Affleck) dresses his young daughter, Rag (Anna Pniowsky) up as a boy to protect her.

We all do dumb things sometimes. In this case, it was me throwing this film into my Netflix queue and bumping it straight to the top because I mistook it for Blinded By The Light. How did I make such an error? Sleep deprivation or wine probably but my stupidity was rewarded by watching a film starring, written and directed by Casey Affleck in which a dad has to disguise is daughter because if these neanderthals found out she was a girl, well you know what would happen. 

I know I didn't have to watch it, I could've just put it back in the envelope and sent it on its merry way but I decided to give it a chance because I'm a fair person. I didn't like this. To be fair, it lifts heavily from The Road, which was a film I also disliked. Furthermore, I'm not in the mood to watch movies about shitty men thinking they own women. I cannot begin to explain how over this I am. To the films' credit, they don't show anything like that but it's very, very heavily implied. 

It's not wall to wall terrible. Affleck and Pniowsky are good, and I appreciated that Dad (that's what he's called) never once talked down to his daughter. He's very straightforward with her for the most part, apologizes when he's short with her, and teaches her important lessons, but that brings me to one of the film's major flaws: Affleck drags every scene out far longer than it needs to be. It kicks off with a never ending bedtime story, Dad goes over drills with Rag over and over. It's just too much for a film that was already testing my patience.

Recommended: No

Grade: D

Memorable Quote: "It's just a jacket." - Rag (Anna Pniowsky)

What I Watched on TV In October

Another month, another update on what I've been watching on the small screen. Here's what's been keeping me busy in October. 

Barry - I finished Barry at the beginning of the month. I talked about it more in my September post when I started it, but lets just say I'll definitely be watching season 3.

Succession - This is a show I've been meaning to start for ages. I think the pilot is actually the weakest episode, it gets so much better after that. I'm looking forward to watching this weekly when it comes back. It's not the most bingable show, so I think I'll appreciate it more spaced out. The ending to the second season was amazing.

Mr. Robot - I was so pumped for this to come back then they killed my favorite character in the first 5 minutes of the premiere. That was not a great start. I also forgot how annoying it is to watch something on cable. Since Better Call Saul has been off, none of my other shows I've been watching live are on cable. I keep getting severe weather notifications during the show so I miss big parts. I think that, plus the long wait between last season is contributing to me getting flat out confused at times so far. 

Watchmen - While we're only two episodes in, I'm really liking the direction they've taken so far with this show. There's nice comic easter eggs in there, but you're not required to have a lot of knowledge of it. Regina King is wonderful. The show is highly uncomfortable at times but the story is so interesting. 

Thursday Movie Picks - TV Edition: Horror

Happy Halloween! Our final festive theme at Wandering Through The Shelves is horror on the small screen. The only rule I gave myself is that I wouldn't use the TV shows I picked last year and thankfully there's still some great things out there.

1) The Haunting of Hill House

This was an excellent mini series last year that I binged quite quickly. It even managed to get me with a jump scare. 

2) Stranger Things

While season 3 moved away from it's normal Halloween setting and instead happened during the 4th of July, it only made it slightly less creepy.

3) Black Mirror

While this show as a whole isn't specifically horror themed. You can't argue with the fact that most of the episodes are literal horror movies. Whether you're being chased by robots, put in a scary video game simulator, or being blacked mailed into fucking a pig on national television. 

Review: Dolemite Is My Name

And this is the motherfucking game.

Rudy Ray Moore (Eddie Murphy) is a comedian trying to make it big. He creates the character Dolemite - a very vulgar, kung fu fighting alter ego that catches on and becomes a huge hit in the comedy album scene. Moore decides he wants to move to the big screen and sets out to make a Dolemite movie.

When I started this film, I didn't think I knew much about Rudy Ray Moore, then as it went on I started recognizing several things, and it dawned on me I've had one of this films - The Human Tornado - in my Netflix Queue for over a year. But you don't need to know anything about Moore or Dolemite to enjoy this. It's such an easy film to love.

What I liked the most about this film was its structure. Many biopics put a lot of focus on the hardships, and Moore faced plenty, but I liked that they didn't dwell on his set backs. Watching him do stand up is fun, making the movie is outrageous, and whenever they hit a bump, it's brief. They spend more time with Rudy working hard and enjoying his craft. It keeps us upbeat with him.

The cast is absolutely amazing. I missed seeing Eddie Murphy like this. He hasn't done anything that's jumped out at me since he was robbed of his Oscar in Dreamgirls. He's perfect in this role and the supporting cast is amazing. Craig Robinson (I forgot how much I adore his singing voice), Mike Epps, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Keegan Michael Key Tittuss Burgess and Wesley Snipes - another whom I haven't seen like this in what feels like forever are all wonderful. I really hope they get a SAG ensemble award. I hope Murphy, Snipes, and Randolph get Oscar nominations. I want this to get as much awards love as possible.

I was not expecting to love this as much as I did, it just worked on every level and is easily one of the funniest films of the year. And thankfully for most of us, it's right there on Netflix to watch. 

Recommended: Yes

Grade: A

Memorable Quote: "I just want people to know I exist." - Rudy Ray Moore (Eddie Murphy)

\

Review: Tell Me Who I Am

The "gift" of a different life. 

When Alex Lewis was 18, he was in a motorcycle accident. He sustained a head injury that left him in a coma, and when he woke up, the only person he recognized was his twin brother Marcus. He didn't recognize his parents, had no memory of anything that happened before the moment he woke up, and had to re-learn nearly everything. Since Alex had no reason at all not to trust Marcus, he decides to ignore their traumatic past and fill his brother's head with more hopeful and normal stories of their childhood. After their parents die, Alex finally begins to ask Marcus more hard hitting questions.

What happened to Alex after his accident is extraordinary in itself. How do you lose everything except your knowledge of your twin? The brothers clearly have a strong bond and Alex speaks very fondly of Marcus. There's no hint of contempt for the deception. They wrote an autobiography together about this story back in 2013 that I have not read, but I feel they've summed up everything well here. Alex tells us stories about not knowing what dogs were and being thrilled with his mother brought a few home, but then the stories get darker. Like how he thought it was normal that the brothers were forced to live in a shed at one point and were not allowed upstairs or to have a key to their own house. The film gets flat out uncomfortable when Marcus finally breaks down to us what really went on in their household.

There's nothing flashy about this doc, it's a very straightforward interview with the Lewis brothers and I think that works best. There is a lot to unpack here. What happened to them is horrible and it's hard to listen to them relive it. On the other hand there's also a very inspiring story of brotherly love. While Marcus didn't get the luxury of forgetting this trauma and explaining it to Alex was hard, he got through it and he knows he's not defined by it. 

Clocking in at a swift 1hr25 minutes, this is definitely a documentary you should check out if you have a Netflix subscription

Recommended: Yes

Grade: A-

Memorable Quote: "He just said yes." - Alex