Thursday 3 June 2021

My New York Year, Godzilla v Kong and Nomadland

 

It's great that they are still making and, more importantly, releasing in cinemas these small but intelligent movies. My New York Year was, strangely shown in  one of the biggest screens at the Cineworld multiplex in Hemel Hempstead. Sigourney Weaver was made for the part of the sparky  head of the literary agency. Then Margaret Qualley was unrecognisable as the same actress who played Pussycat in Once Upon A time In Hollywood. The film had a decent script from Joanna Rakoff  from her own memoir, that was let down by some less successful direction from Phillipe Falardeau.  I didn't mind the J D Salinger fans interrupting on occasions, but just because Margaret Qualley did ballet, a dance sequence was just terrible.

I have always like monster movies and Godzilla v Kong had fairly positive reviews. Unfortunately this was a very fragmented story, there was not enough humour and I should definitely have given the last twenty minutes a miss. However, the visuals on the huge Superscreen  were amazing and the sound went through my seat. There was just too much CGI unlike these films from years ago which relied more on the script and the acting. There are, however, little references to the old movies like a shot of a solitary helicopter. And i did like the song at the end: The hollies' "The Air That I Breathe".

From the ridiculous to the sublime. Slow, bleak and hardly any real story, but the acting was good and the cinematography absolutely outstanding. The locations and landscapes were incredible, I don't know if anyone would get the same experience on even the biggest TV screen. Director Chloe Zhao has created a visual stunner, although some of the repetitive fast edits got me down. I guess that is is quite an important film showing the nomads of America, and this is why it won the Oscar for best picture. Otherwise I'm surprised it was even nominated. Of course Frances McDormand was terrific, even if I preferred David Strathairn in a smaller role. He is one great actor. 

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