Day: February 18, 2018

Oh, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, you’ve been so good in so many films* and I hope you keep working for many years. This is one of those films that could be incredibly so-so, or also could be quietly charming and very good, and I’m happy to say that it was the latter, rather than the former. This was just the bit of “good movie” my Sunday night needed.**

Cost: Netflix subscription fee
Where watched: at home. Matt was half watching it and he also enjoyed it.

*I’m specifically thinking here of Beyond the Lights, but I know also she’s quite good in Belle, which I haven’t seen because the library only had a Blu-Ray copy and I didn’t have a Blu-Ray player when it was released on DVD. Which reminds me. [pause while things happen online] Hold has been placed.
**Random note:  Michael Huisman also played the romantic lead in the Age of Adaline. What a difference the subtraction of facial hair and addition of glasses makes. And further investigation has me thinking they also changed his nose. Also, he was Sonny in the show Treme!  He’s great in that, too.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/tv/irreplaceable_you.html

If you are going to see one–and only one–superhero film, this is a good pick, mostly because it’s so well done, but also because this superhero film has put women front and center in a way that none of its predecessors have.* It’s an action-packed, meaningful narrative that handles very well its many plot arcs. That said, I have seen many superhero films and am burned out on the genre, so while I appreciated how good this movie was, I also didn’t love it in the way I would have had I seen it in 2012, instead of 2018.

Cost: $9.00
Where watched: Century 16 Eastport, our first visit to that theater. Movies start early at Century Theaters. Our showing was at 8:45 a.m.

*Except Wonder Woman, but if that movie wasn’t female forward, it would have been a disaster.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2018/black_panther.html