Being the Ricardos, The Eyes of Tammy Faye Bakker, and The Lost Daughter: Reviews
I’m going to have to double and triple up to get through as many movies as possible before the Oscars. At least these three movies all have nominees for Best Actress. That’s about where the similarity ends.
Being the Ricardos
I was rather skeptical about Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball or Javier Bardem as Desi Arnaz. I shouldn’t have been. I’d be remiss, however, if I didn’t say that J.K. Simmons as William Frawley wasn’t my favorite. This could be because I love Simmons in just about everything he does. Nina Arianda also reminded me greatly of Vivian Vance. It was almost uncanny.
So this is our annual Sorkin entry. You know this means lots of snappy dialogue and a well-paced story. Sorkin compressed several events into one week, so it isn’t entirely accurate, but the film does seem to capture the gist of what was actually going on. Let me go to my notes since I watched this back in January. My thoughts at the time were that Nicole Kidman wowed me. Excellent script. Music is in the background—as it should be. Scene choices and use of lighting were very interesting, especially the Mullholland Drive scenes. The part where Lucy’s RKO contract was canceled in spite of her excellent performance gutted me.
Solid movie. I’m not sure it’s my pick for Best Picture, but solid and entertaining.
This movie is for people who
love Lucy and/or want to know more about her
like snappy dialogue
want to know more about the Red Scare in Hollywood
This movie isn’t for people who
don’t love Lucy (who are you?)
can’t stand another movie in which a husband cheats on his wife
The Eyes of Tammy Faye Bakker
Both Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield put in stellar performances, so stellar that I often cringed because the Prosperity Gospel ain’t my thing. As a story, this one starts strong, loses its way a bit, and doesn’t really stick the landing for me. I would’ve liked a better idea of who Tammy Faye ended up being and the “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory” complete with American Flag that’s more vision that reality scene kinda does that? But not really? At least not for me?
But Chastain brought Bakker to life and captured all of the good and the bad of her character. The way Tammy Faye was mercilessly dragged back then was horrific. Especially considering how she was trying to keep politics out of religion and seemed to have a genuine love for all of God’s people in a time when her contemporaries were wedding Evangelical Christianity to the Republican Party. There’s something to be said for the way Tammy Faye literally pulled up a chair to talk with the menfolk in a patriarchal setting and how she insisted on seeing gay people as children of God while Jerry Falwell insisted on villainizing them. This movie reminded me that, once again, a woman took the public relations brunt of a couple’s fall from grace.
This movie is for people who
love character studies and excellent performances
love high voices and puppet shows
can’t get enough of 70s and 80s fashion and hairstyles
want to learn about the relationship between Evangelical Christians and the Republican Party
can see Vincent D’Onfrio as someone other than Kingpin. Although there are some notable similarities between Jerry Falwell and Kingpin, now that I think about it.
This movie isn’t for people who
have been traumatized by televangelists or Christianity, especially that of the Evangelical variety
want a tightly paced story
can’t stand another movie in which a husband cheats on his wife—or a wife cheats on a husband for that matter
The Lost Daughter
Y’all. I love Olivia Colman. You know this. But this movie? How I wanted to like it. It’s got a woman director. It’s a story about women. It’s Elena Ferrante, and I still haven’t read her yet so I wanted to know what all of the fuss is about.
First of all, if I had a dollar for every time Ryan or I asked, “What is going on?” or “Why?” I’d be a rich woman. My sum conclusion as the credits rolled was “Wow. So this movie makes no damn sense.”
Olivia Colman is really out there stealing a baby doll from mobsters, and even she doesn’t know why.
Then, of course, there are not one but TWO storylines about adultery. Say it with me, kids: Find someone who loves you the way Oscar movies love adultery.
Now. That said, women deserve the chance to make ambiguous character studies, too, so I think this movie has every right to exist, it is simply not my jam. Also, Jessie Buckley very much deserved her Oscar nod as young Leda.
This movie is for people who
love character studies, especially those of unhappy people
have a tolerance for ambiguity
could watch Olivia Colman all day
love a story that’s told out of order and has two timelines, past and present
want a complex portrayal of motherhood that isn’t all roses
love to watch fruit being peeled into one single paring
This movie isn’t for people who
like a tight plot and to know what is going on in a movie
are creeped out by baby dolls
can’t stand another movie in which a wife cheats on a husband
#MondayMovies disclaimer: This blog is just for my thoughts. Sure, I’m a writer and an English major so I have some idea—we would hope—of how stories work. I’m also a flawed human being with my owns likes and dislikes, though, so please watch any movie you like and love it or hate it or just go for the popcorn. (Also, there will likely be a post a day leading up to the Oscars because I have quite a few films left)