Honey Don't, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale and A Big Bold Beautiful Journey

 

Honey Don't maybe the second of Ethan Coen's trilogy after Drive Away Dolls. Here is Margaret Qualley again, this time as a smart private investigator in Bakersfield, a small town in rural America. She must be doing well to afford all those change of clothes, lots of different white blouses paired with colourful slacks and dresses. A lightweight murder mystery, all a bit flimsy, lots of driving around Bakersfield looking for suspects and a missing friend. I did like the opening credits where they are plastered on all sorts of buildings. Chris Evans turns up as the Rev Drew Devlin, a typical small town evangelist and drug lord. The Guardian says that "Qualley  is such a commanding force" and she certainly holds the film together. A couple of great songs on a decent soundtrack including We Gotta Get Out Of  This Place (Brittany Howard's version not a patch on that of The Animals) and of course the title song.  

Having watched every episode of the TV series and the subsequent films, I had to see Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. I thought the story was OK but the screenplay was very patchy. I sometimes hoped we could just watch the cast, the costumes, the sets and listen to the music. There were the odd clever lines, but it seemed to me if the cast was not sold on the script. All the main characters were there, my favourite  being Raquel Cassidy as Phyliss Baxter, maid to Lady Mary and now married to Joseph Molesley. Such a warm personality despite her past. There is also a larger role for Daisy (Sophie McShera) now about to became head cook. But all a bit too corny for me. Including the introduction of an American, all because he has a horse running at Ascott that makes a pleasant diversion.

Despite Tom Shone in the Sunday Times giving this a begrudging two star review, I liked this fantasy drama where two mature single people are pushed together courtesy of a magical GPS on a rental car. Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie are the engaging stars in what is almost a two hander story. Two lonely fractured people get to know each other through scenes from their pasts. I thought this was a great idea and director Kogonada and writer Seth Reiss gave us a poignant and, only very occasionally, cringe worthy, script. Add in a tiny role at the beginning and end for Phoebe Waller Bridge, some good music and colourful scenery and we have a lovely picture. Tom Shone, though, pulls no punches with "here we get the whole pity party in surround sound, there's so much to make your toes curl". However, Peter Bradshaw called it a "giddy romantic fantasy" which is exactly right. Mark Kermode loved everything about the film except that "it didn't work". What was he expecting?