End of Year MOVIE JOURNAL

[Chris Knipp]

Some clinkers - nothing else coming out right now .



THE TURNING ( Floria Sigismondi). Another version of Henry James's TURN OF THE SCREW. This has bratty kids and an annoying snobby English governess at what they say is a great house in Maine. It looks more like a stately home of England. Unfortunately the interiors aren't up to the outside; maybe they're not the same place. These people are unbearable. It's surprising new tutor Mackenzie Davis (of "Halt and Catch Fire") doesn't walk out the first day. I walked out. Watched at Hilltop Century Jan. 28, 2020. Metascore 35%.



THE GENTLEMAN (Guy Ritchie 2020). This shows Ritchie, using the services of Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, and Colin Ferrell, among others, returns to his original style of cockney provocation, with focus on a Yank (McConnaughey) who gets rich growing pot on rich Englishmen's estates. And it's got funny dialogue. Only it's racist and homophobic, and there's no real action or pacing. It's just dialogue. With meanness in the thinking. So, no good. Watched at Hilltop Century Jan. 28, 2020. Metascore 51%.



GRETEL & HANSEL (Osgood Perkins). Stunning photography, when it's bright enough, highlights this drab, slow-moving version of the fairy tale into a fantasy-horror-thriller format that never acquires a pulse. This is the time for horror film losers, with THE GRUDGE, UNDERWATER, AND THE TURNING all out in the past month. For me, THE TURNING has more interesting characters than this, till you get sick of them. Reactions like "young adult horror at its finest" and "a low keyed gem" are a mystery to me. A classy production is lost in drabness and boredom. . Watched at Hilltop Jan. 31, 2020. Metascore 56%



THE RHYTHM SECTION (Reed Morano 2020). A women (Blake Lively, who we all like from "Gossip Girl") getting revenge against all those who orchestrated a plane crash that killed her family) pretends to be a professional assassin, and operates with the collaboration of Jude Law. There are BOURNE-style scene changes - New York, Madrid, Tangierrs, Berlin, etc. - and rough variations in the killings (which often go poorly, especially with the shaky-cam images). But it is really not fun, not well paced or varied. Watched at Hilltop Jan. 31, 2020. Metascore 43%.