Well, life got busy and I missed out on one of the international film nominees for this upcoming Academy Awards’ ceremony, but it was still a strong viewing this weekend!
Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre – I can confidently say I am a huge Guy Ritchie fan. This, like The Gentlemen and Wrath of Man, delivers in a multitude of different ways. It’s funny, clever, violent, and just damn entertaining! There’s not a lot of messing around at the start. The British government’s hire, Nathan, gets a team together to retrieve an unknown device called “The Handle.” At the helm of that team is the very particular, Orson Fortune, who’s a little chagrined at having new team comprised of strongman, J.J., and an American computer whiz, Sarah. They also cleverly include an American film star, Danny Francesco, to butter up the seller, Greg Simmonds. Hugh Grant plays gauche Simmonds, almost in a similar fashion to Fletcher in The Gentlemen, but it’s a character that’s so dang fun to watch. I loved this and can’t wait to watch it again with my dad in the near future!
The Inspection – I have been waiting so freaking long to watch this A24 indie drama and the streaming gods finally let me rent it for a decent price! The film follows events in director, Elegance Bratton’s real life, as a young, gay black man trying to join the Marines. It was during the early times in the Iraq war, a time when Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was in full force, and I will never understand why someone would want to put themselves through that. Yes, Ellis (fictionalized Elegance) was looking for a way to not die on the streets and get back into his mother’s life, but the torment he endures is tough to watch a lot of the time. A bright spot in his boot camp training is the empathetic and supportive instructor, Rosales. There are some sensual deviations from the reality Ellis is facing, but overall the film was mesmerizing. I highly recommend giving this a watch.
Somebody I Used to Know – Dave Franco is no stranger to directing, and Allison Brie is no stranger to writing, but I was very interested to see what the results were of their first time collaborating on a screenplay together would look like. Turns out kind of like I was expecting: funny, charming, and awkward. What I wasn’t expecting: nudity. That was a silly surprise, but I promise it fit in with the storyline. Brie plays Ally, a showrunner whose reality dessert show gets unexpectedly canceled so she decides to head home to visit her mother. What happens instead is she gets wrapped up in her ex-boyfriend’s new romance. Did I mention he is getting married the weekend she’s home? Yeah, he is. You kind of hate Ally for trying to win him back, but you also understand why, and thankfully she realizes that Cassidy isn’t the bad guy. Life has a funny way of turning on you and suddenly you’re on a different planet, but this film does a nice job of trying to help Ally find her way back. Enjoyable enough if you’ve got a Prime membership.
All Quiet on the Western Front – This was the last Best Picture nominee I needed to get in before the Oscars this coming Sunday (because I’m not watching the Avatar sequel), and it was a doozy. This thing was bleak, brutal, and devastating. Also, in an interesting contrast, it was filmed very beautifully. The scenes were brilliant in their coloring, but that ultimately just made everything that much more intense. Poor Paul was fooled into thinking that the war was going to be the time of his life, only immediately to be faced with overwhelming death. He experiences so much for being a young teen. This just further backs up the point of all war films: that it’s brutal and a lot of times not worth it. I can understand why this film is getting so much love from all voting bodies, and I’ll be interested to learn of its finally tally this weekend.