Movie: The Sisters Brothers (2018)****

Charlie and Eli (Joaquin Phoenix andJohn C. Reily, respectively) are two brothers and hired goons whostart this story on thin ice after a botched job they did for TheCommodore, a powerful man in the Oregon territory. Their next assignment is to work withscout, John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal), to find Hermann Kermit Warm(Riz Ahmed). A story of the search and and whathappens after they all find each other unfolds and reveals adifferent kind of western flick. 

The audience gets to experience men exploring their relationships and desires. I think all four of the starring actors bring their a-game to their characters, and we get a sense of depth, vulnerability and commonality. The introduction or first 15 minutes of this film is a fast-paced and intensifying set-up, but then it slows down to allow this man-empowerment story to unfold.

I'm going to discuss a couple of scenes. If you are squeamish about spiders or spoilers, stop reading here.

Discussing exploring emotions often happens right before bed, so there are several bedroll scenes showing Sisters brothers sleeping out in the open. In one of them a spider crawls into poor Eli's mouth. He does not wake up. He does not pass go. He collects a fever, swelling and eventually barfs up blood and baby spiders. John C. Reilly brings about a sense of brooding vulnerability as Eli Sisters, who only desires to see the schoolteacher he left behind somewhere, go home and be treated fairly. I'm assuming the spider was a vehicle to establish Eli's vulnerability, but also Charlie's loyalty to him despite their constant bickering. That's great and all, but the spider bit was gross.

Although there was interesting relationship development between the two pairs of men, the most touching of scene was between Eli and Warm who, considering the circumstances of them coming together and the brevity of their relationship, were able to sit and have a profound and enlightening exchange.

There was a random point where I was jarred out of the story: All of a sudden, Joaquin Phoenix' character is telling a story and he appears to be in a darkened room with a natural-light spotlight. It is quite weird.

Also, production values were notably good. The soundtrack, which I spent more time noticing the second time I watched this movie, was dynamic and made each scene.

This movie ended in bittersweet contentment. It was good and I'd be happy to watch this again and again. I give it four stars**** for the great acting, the compelling story and well done art production. It definitely falls on the Masterpiece end of the scale.

TV: Yellowstone (2018) GC

Recipe: take the production level of a good Hallmark movie and use it to make a drama television series set on a Montana ranch. Then sprinkle in some f-bombs and sex scenes to give it a harder edge. Here you are, on a rustic pine platter: Yellowstone!

Yellowstone is about a family that has been the caretakers of a huge swath of Montana land for several generations and their patriarch who is trying his darndest to hold onto the power he has in the state so he can pass it on to his four children and possibly also his long-time ward turned right-hand man. Criminal behavior abounds as their grip on Montana starts to slip. The four children all go through their own private miseries and you end up wondering what the heck is John Dutton fighting for?

The acting in the first few episodes was pretty cheesy. Australian actor, Kelly Reilly, who played Beth, kept dropping her Montana accent and just overplayed the role. Kevin Costner was there. Wes Bentley was cheesy. Kelsey Asbille brought her top-notch game to the sets. She was outstanding in this cheesy crowd.

The writing was cheesy to basic. There were some flashback scenes to help explain Beth's erratic behavior, but they were oddly placed in the narrative. In the episode, A Monster Is Among Us, there seems to be (or at least I hope there was) some juxtaposition about blood in bathrooms. Gross. Oh yeah, Kevin Costner was there.

My mom told me about this show while we hiked amongst the redwoods. Like a storyteller, she recalled the storyline in A Monster Is Among Us because the terrain reminded her of the episode. Her version was much more colorful and interesting.

Something about TV shows and movies at this level of cheesy keeps me coming back for more. So I finished Yellowstone and I found it entertaining. I will give season 2 a go.

This show is cheesy, so I'm giving it a rating of Good Cheese.

Movie: Royal Matchmaker (2018) GC

Royal Matchmaker is a thoroughly cute Hallmark movie about a professional matchmaker who takes on a prince as her latest client. Of course, they fall in love.
Stars: Bethany Joy Lenz and Will Kemp
Obstacles: Tradition and a woman more befitting of a prince
Quality: All the levels are set at good: Plot, writing, art direction and acting.

I would definitely re-watch this and recommend to any fan of cheesy romance, so it gets a rating of Good Cheese.

I checked the DVD out from my local library.

Movie: Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)***

Can You Every Forgive Me? is an enjoyable movie with Melissa McCarthy playing a very believable and funny-by-happenstance woman who finds herself forging letters by famous authors.

All the levels are set at good: Good acting, good production, good writing, etc. Melissa McCarthy and her co-star, Richard E. Grant were both nominated for best actress and supporting actor respectively at the Oscars, Golden Globes and SAG Awards. After finally watching CYEFM?, I am surprised they were nominated because there wasn’t anything great or inspiring about this film. My suspicion is that voting committees were impressed by McCarthy’s non-comedy performance, which was good, but not award worthy.  

I would watch this again and would recommend it, but I don’t think it offers anything spectacular to the cinematic world so I’m giving it three stars***.

Mini rant: Vice, Green Book, I, Tonya, Get Out, Lady Bird, Birdman, Her, American Hustle were all nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Can You Ever Forgive Me?  gets nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. What the hell is that about? 

I checked the DVD out from my local library. 

Movie: Mary, Queen of Scots (2018)***

Mary Queen of Scots tells the story of what happened to Mary after she return to Scotland to claim her throne and how her relationship with her cousin, Queen Elizabeth came to its fatal end. 

I thought Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robie were excellent in their respective roles. I’m usually fascinated by the styling and productions of British period films and this was no exception. The story felt slow towards the middle, but finished with a punch. Also, it doesn’t help that I’m all agog when it comes to the Scottish accent. Thank you, Outlander, for your influence!

You really get a sense of the ridiculous crap that Mary went through, some of it based on bad decision making on her own part, but a lot of it based on men steering the queens in both camps. Mary was ripped to shreds by the men in her life, and Elizabeth managed to avoid some of the same unwanted control. There was some artistic licenses taken when creating this story of the two queens, but I found in this film that both queens dealt with their own share of sadness and helplessness in each of their predicaments. 

I can’t wait to read the book this was based on Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart by John Guy. For now, I’ll give this movie three stars***. I enjoyed it and I wouldn’t mind watching it again.