T2 Trainspotting

What I remember of Director Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting was its cinematic expression, its unique shots, its energy…not much of its story.

 

T2 Trainspotting covers the same characters 20 years later and it took quite a while for Writers John Hodge and Irvine Welsh to catch me up with who was who and what happened in the past.  And, all that while, I really didn’t care.

So, they were into drugs then and two still were.  One (Ewan McGregor) cheated the others (Steven Robertson, Ewen Bremner, Robert Carlyle) and, now wanted to get back in the good graces of two of the three others.  I didn’t care.

If it weren’t for the Bulgarian Woman (Anjela Nedyalkova)…I confess I have a thing for Bulgarian women…, I considered leaving at several points.

It’s not just that I couldn’t care what happened to these losers, I didn’t find anything new in Boyle’s style and felt sad that the film was even made.

 I can only give T2 Trainspotting a 3.3 out of 5.

Life

Mama said, “If you can’t say somethin’ nice about someone or something, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”

But sometimes I just can’t listen to Mama.

The “movie” Life was made by mental defectives for mental defectives.   It is hard to imagine that there will be a worse film in 2017 or beyond.  Just save your money and stay away.

It tries to be Alien where the Alien wins. How not interesting.  And, it succeeds in being boring, too.

 

Two things…  If you go and like this film, (A) look in a mirror and you’ll know what’s wrong with this world (B) I don’t want to know you.

I give this insult to moviegoers a “nuthin’” out of 5.

Beauty and the Beast

Director Bill Condon’s Beauty and the Beast gets off to an iffy start with a rather pedestrian opening song and ends with a rather pedestrian dance (or, perhaps, it’s a bit of jealousy on my part that I’m not dancing with Belle). However, the 2 hours and a few minutes in between are absolutely a joy.

The main reason for the film’s success is the brilliant choice of Emma Watson as the lead character.  Our little Hermione from the Harry Potter films has grown up to be one of the most beautiful women to have ever appeared on screen.  Everything about her performance is perfection.  Thanks to Casting Director Lucy Bevan, who, also, made a brilliant choice for Cinderella, a few years ago.

 

Kevin Kline, Stanley Tucci, Ewan McGregor, Ian McEllen, Emma Thompson and Gugu Mbatha-Raw are wonderful in their roles, as well.

And, hats off to Production Designer Sarah Greenwood for some of the most innovative sets you’ll ever see.

I couldn’t help thinking that La La Land was a wonderful setup for preparing younger audiences to the joys of musical films and, therefore, a great benefit to Composer Alan Menken’s score.  I hope the song Be Our Guest will be remembered for this year’s award nominations.

Bottom line, bring the kids and have a great time at the movies.

I give Beauty and the Beast a 4.3 out of 5.