She Said: Based on the book of the same name, it tells the heart-pounding story to uncover the sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein. NY Times reporters Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) and Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) take on Weinstein and the Hollywood machine in a way that is jaw-dropping.
Elvis: Austin Butler transforms himself into Elvis Presley, adding new layers to the music icon.
Call Jane: Elizabeth Banks plays a housewife whose pregnancy is not going well in the days before Roe v. Wade. Denied an abortion by the local hospital, she finds an underground group and soon joins them in their mission to help women.
Hocus Pocus 2: After 29 years, the Sanderson sisters are back. It has enough of its predecessor while holding its own in the best way possible.
Mr. Malcolm’s List: Based on the book of the same name by Suzanne Allain, Mr. Malcolm is the most coveted bachelor in this Jane Austen-inspired narrative. In order to fend off marriageable young ladies and their match-making mamas, he creates a list of qualities that his wife should have. Little does he know that it will soon be moot.
Downton Abbey: A New Era: This second film in the franchise opens the door to new stories while closing old ones in perfect fashion.
After being hit by brick wall after brick wall, Kantor and Twohey finally hit paydirt. Most of the women who they have reached out to are hesitant to talk. Laura Madden (Jennifer Ehle), Rowena Chiu (Angela Yeoh), Zelda Perkins (Samantha Morton), and Ashley Judd (playing herself) are just four of a long list of victims who finally come forward.
As they get closer to the truth, the danger becomes more apparent. Weinstein throws his weight around and threatens both the paper and the reporters themselves. But Kantor and Twohey have backbones made of steel and are not afraid to get their hands dirty to reveal the truth.
I’m not one to make predictions very often. But with this movie, I am going to make two bold ones. The first is that come award season, it will do very well. The second is that it will make most, if not all top ten lists at the end of next month.
Everyone should see She Said if they have not done so already. Mulligan and Kazan are fantastic in their roles. The tension is so tight that one could walk across it. As soon as I thought that the narrative was slowing down, it picked right back up again.
I feel like it is Hollywood’s way of both apologizing and redeeming itself for the mistake of looking the other way for far too long. It is both a love letter to journalism and a warning to anyone who would consider such acts in any place. If you do decide to think with your lower appendage without considering the other person, you will be caught and you will be punished.
When we are kids, we can’t wait to grow up. But then it happens and we question how it went so fast.
The 2010 film,Never Let Me Go, is based on the book of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro. Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Ruth (Keira Knightley), and Tommy (Andrew Garfield) grew up in a beautiful and isolated boarding school in the English countryside. Besties as children, they were never far from each other. Now reunited as adults, Kathy starts to look back at their memories and piece together the gifts that will shape the rest of their lives.
This film is best described as a coming of age story with a subtle current of science fiction lurking quietly beneath the surface. As I remember my experience to be, the film was ok. The acting is fantastic, but I recall not quite understanding the final scene.
We’ve all heard stories about women who after getting drunk, have been raped. When the police start to dig into the facts, the man’s defense is that she was wasted.
Promising Young Woman hit theaters last Christmas. Cassie (Carey Mulligan) was once a medical school student with a bright professional future ahead of her. When her best friend was sexually assaulted, her life turned upside down. Now she works at a coffee shop by day and takes her revenge by night. Hitting different bars, she pretends to have had one too many. Letting the man of the evening take her home, she lets him believe he will be able to take advantage of her. When Cassie reveals that she is sober and questions him, he does not know how to respond. When one of her former classmates, Ryan (Bo Burnham) walks into the coffee shop, he seems to be different. All seems well on the romance track between Cassie and Ryan. I would love to say that there is some version of happily ever after, but alas, there is not.
Written and directed by Emerald Fennell (The Crown), this is one amazing film. This is one of Mulligan’s best roles in years. She is vengeful and angry, but not in an obvious way. Her way of getting revenge is cold, sweet, and thoroughly delicious. The fact that the male characters are unnerved by Cassie’s actions is nothing short of a dream come true. All of this is backed by an amazing soundtrack, led by the Britney Spears song, Toxic.
Do I recommend it? Absolutely.
Promising Young Woman is in theaters and available for streaming on VOD.
I truly enjoyed the program. If nothing else, it was just a reminder that that more things change, the more they stay the same. The generation that lived through and survived World War II will soon be gone from this Earth. It is therefore, incumbent upon us to hear their stories in whatever form we can.
Do I recommend it? Absolutely.
My Grandparent’s War airs on Sunday night at 8PM on PBS.
From the outside looking it, archeology may appear to be akin to an Indiana Jonesmovie. But anyone with any amount of knowledge of this subject will tell you otherwise.
The Dig premiered yesterday on Netflix. As World War II rumbles in the distance in 1939, Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) is a self trained and unorthodox archeologist. He has been hired by Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) to excavate her land and see if he can find buried historical treasure. What he discovers will be known as Sutton Hoo, an Anglo-Saxon burial ship rich in previously unknown artefacts. But with war on the horizon and Basil’s expertise questioned, it looks as if the ship and her objects will remain buried.
I wanted to like this movie. The premise seemed interesting and the cast is stellar. It is a BPD (British Period Drama) with a narrative that is unusual for the genre. The problem is that I was bored, whatever promises that were made in the trailer did not come to fruition.
Life can feel pretty empty sometimes. We may appear to have it all, but underneath, something is missing. Instead of going after what is missing, the easiest thing to do is compensate for the emptiness inside of us.
In the 2011 movie, Shame, Brandon (Michael Fassbender) lives and works in New York City. Over the years, he has cultivated the image of a polished, mature, respectable citizen. But underneath that image is a sex addict who knows how to hide in plain sight. Then his sister, Sissy (Carey Mulligan) re-enters his life and his apartment and Brandon’s mask begins to crumble.
I originally wanted to see this movie because Michael Fassbender is one of my favorite actors. When I walked out of the movie theater, I was floored. Fassbender’s performance is of a tortured soul trying to keep his urges under control. Mulligan, as Brandon’s younger sister, is fighting her own demons while adding to her brother’s demons. While this movie is not for kids, it is worth watching.
Literature is filled with tales of life, romance, drama and marriage.
Thomas Hardy’s 1874 novel, Far From The Madding Crowd is about all of the above. Add in a strong, complicated and thoroughly human heroine in Bathsheba Everdene and you have a novel that stands out in a sea of classics. The latest adaptation of the novel premiered in May.
Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan) is a unique young woman. She has just inherited her recently deceased uncle’s farm. In addition to now being an heiress and a landowner, Bathsheba has received attention and/or marriage proposals from three distinct men. Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts) is the John Wayne of the three suitors: nearly silent, strong and steady. Sergeant Francis Troy (Tom Sturridge) is the army officer who looks good in uniform, but may turn out to be a flash in the pan. William Boldwood (Michael Sheen) would be the standard choice of a husband for a woman like Bathsheba. William is older, has a large home, a large piece of land and a steady income to his name.
Bathsheba is determined to remain single. But with such an array of men to choose from, remaining single may not happen.
I tried to read the book, but I could not get through it. So, to be fair, this review is strictly based on this adaptation. Carey Mulligan has proved once again why she is one the best young actresses around. Classy, intelligent and always choosing to play a variety of characters, I predict that Ms. Mulligan will do very well come award season. Among the co-stars that play her would be husbands, Matthias Schoenaerts is the newest BPD (British Period Drama) hottie on the block. Tom Sturridge as Sergeant Troy is the Wickham (harking back to the 2005 Pride and Prejudice, where Ms. Mulligan played Kitty Bennet) of FFTMC. He is handsome, says pretty things, and looks good in the uniform, but there isn’t much else to him. Michael Sheen, as William Boldwood is the standard choice for the heroine, but Bathsheba Everdene is not the standard literary heroine.
I recommend this movie.
Far From The Madding Crowd is presently in theaters.
When we are young, we can’t wait to grow up. And then when we grow up…… and we find out that it’s not all that we thought it was.
An Education made it’s debut in 2009. It’s the story of Jenny (Carey Mulligan), a teenager in 1960’s London. Her father (Alfred Molina) has a goal of seeing his daughter receive her college degree from Oxford. Her life changes when she meets David G0ldman (Peter Saarsgard), a man twice her age. David is very much the gentleman, to Jenny and her parents. Their relationship begins to turn romantic, but David may not be what he seems.
This movie is a very quiet movie, but in that quietness is the power. Mulligan as teenage Jenny, represents the anxieties and pressures we all faced as teenagers. Molina, as Jenny’s father represents all our fathers when we were teenagers. He wants the best for her, but still does what every father of a teenager girl does. Saarsgard as David, represents the fantasy of being a teenager and taken away from the restrictive life to the freedom of being an adult.
This cast is full of actors who have played characters in Austen adaptations, with a Jane Eyre subplot.
Writergurlny 