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Reviews
Ammonite (2020)
Boring
A movie with Kate Winslet & Saoirse Ronan as lovers sounds interesting. However, Kate was unrecognizable as Mary Anning the fossil hunter. Why Saoirse's character Charlotte Murchison, a beautiful, bored, young wife would be attracted to a plain, dour, sullen fossil hunter who lives with her depressing mother in a rundown house/shop is beyond me.
I could have done without the inedible egg scene, the urination on the beach scene, and the nightly give-a-bath-to-the-tokens-representing-eight-dead-children scene.
Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019)
Very Good....If You're Old Enough To Remember 1969
The movie features an alternative end to the Manson family murders of 1969. If you don't know your history, much of the movie will be meaningless. Not only do you need to know the Manson family history (including the relationship of Charles Manson to Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys and Terry Melcher, Doris Day's son), you also need to at least know Sharon Tate, Steve McQueen (including his TV series "Wanted Dead or Alive" and his movie "The Great Escape"), and Bruce Lee (including his first starring role in the TV series "The Green Hornet").
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Could Have Been Much Better
Sexy movie that holds your interest upon first viewing. Repeated viewings reveal many highly improbable scenes (a woman whose father died a few hours ago hitting on his physician, a costume store owner who prostitutes his daughter, etc.). I wish Kubrick had focused on the wife's fantasy about the naval officer and the husband's attendance at the orgy. Then Kubrick could have ended with the wife acting out her husband's fantasy by dressing like one of the women entertainers at the orgy and the husband acting out his wife's fantasy by dressing like a naval officer. It would have been a nice message - sharing fantasies and role playing can add a lot of fun to a marriage.
The Favourite (2018)
Two Halves
Fun and witty first half as Abigail arrives at the palace and slowly gains influence with Queen Anne, but a depressing and too lengthy second half after Abigail drugs Sarah. I wanted to think Abigail was a fun and sexy woman, but her honeymoon night scene and the ending scene with Queen Anne ruined that.
Histoire d'O (1975)
For Fans of the Book Only
The "Story of O" was written as a fantasy by a French woman for her lover back in the early 1950s. The book was first published in the U.S.A. in the 1960s. As movie censorship relaxed during the early 1970s, this movie based on the book was made. For those who haven't read the book, the movie will be incredibly boring. For those who are fans of the book, the movie is appealing visually, but probably doesn't follow the book as closely as they would have wished.
It is a fantasy so maybe some of the outrageous stuff (whipping, branding, etc.) can be tolerated. No one ever said that people actually want to act out all their sexual fantasies.
From a historical perspective, it's interesting that so many of the things that have become more common in recent years (female bisexuality, pubic hair removal, anal sex, body piercings, etc.), were expressly discussed in the book and hinted at in the movie. It helps to prove the saying, "There's nothing new under the sun."
Love Actually (2003)
Some Good, Some Bad
Many interconnected stories proceeding simultaneously to a Christmas school pageant climax. Some of the stories are great (Jamie the writer and Aurelia the foreign housekeeper, David the Prime Minister and Natalie the staff member, Colin the Brit and the American girls), and some are bad (the 10-year-old drummer and the singer). But overall, it's worth sitting through the bad to see the good.