The 355 is a formulaic spy movie, a cross between James Bond and Widows. I'm afraid that I have forgotten all about it already. I did note that the fights were repetitively boring, the big set piece at the nearly end was fumbled and the multiple endings did not work. The script was pretty awful, a nonsensical plot and terrible music and sound. Otherwise it looked great on the Cineworld Superscreen. The terrific female cast was wasted, the best of whom was Lupita Nyong'o as a cross between Q and Simon Pegg's Benji in Mission Impossible with added fire power.
A film noir turns into a violent melodrama, quite unusual actually. Nightmare Alley is well written and exceptionally well directed by Guillermo del Toro. Bradley Cooper (whom I have never really rated) turns in career defining performance and all the starry cast are fabulous. With a wonderfully understated role for Rooney Mara. The cinematography is superb, especially the camera that follows Cooper from behind. The sets are also wonderful, I was just not sure if the first half could have done with some scenes outside the show village which I thought overstayed it's welcome. The movie is a little too long, some serious editing would have done it no harm. But overall a thrilling ride.
Pedro Almodovar has always been one of my favourite directors. I have seen every one of his movies including many on DVD. There is a four part review of these movies on this blog entitled The Films of Pedro Almodovar. He often works with the same actors and one of his favourites is Penelope Cruz. She is magnificent here in the lead role of Janis. The other mother in their maternity ward for two is Teresa played by Aitana Sanchez-Gijon. Their friendship is at the heart of the film and that story would have been enough. However, Almodovar bolts on a completely different thread about bodies buried during the Spanish Civil War. This, I felt, was a distraction from what was otherwise a typically superb human drama. Just to note that another of Almodovar's regulars, Rossy de Palma is wonderful in the tiny role of Elena.
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