#I love alice so much and also tobie because they did a great job with this

[thediamondarcher]

I want to thank Alice for this, in "sorry" it was the first time I've ever heard someone say the word "aromantic" in tv, it's something really important to me and generally to every heartstopper fan who's also part of the aro/ace community. It makes me so happy for this representation to also be made by my favorite author ever and someone who's also part of the community

[lagroupie]

Interview: Annie Taylor

Annie Taylor in Luzern through my old Canon.

Last month I went to Luzern to watch my friends The Attycs and Annie Taylor play Schüür. The lead singer Gini had reached out to me before, so I thought it was the perfect occasion to meet the band. The interview was very spontaneous - we went backstage after the show at midnight - but I had a lot of fun, and I hope they did too. We talk about their music, their future plans, recording an EP while studying physics, their lives in Zurich, and more.

Annie Taylor is so fun live. Even if part of the audience was a bit shy at first, everyone ended up dancing- especially on the band’s single 17 Days. They will be opening for Alice Roosevelt in Lausanne on November 28th - after playing the German part of Switzerland regularly, it will be their Romandie debut and I highly recommend you don’t miss them!

Could you tell me more about your everyday lives in Zurich?

Gini: It’s hard to live just by making music, so we all are working during the week. Some of us started working a bit less, so that we can have a bit more time for music. And Jan is working and studying. We have pretty cool bosses I think!

Jan: Gini is a kindergarten teacher.

Gini: Teaching the future!

Jan: Michi works on construction sites. He does different jobs at the moment. And Tobi is a painter, also on construction sites. I am still studying, so I’m the youngest one without a regular job!

Gini: He’s studying physics. When we did our first recordings together, he was studying his formulas! He was there with his iPad doing all these things while we were trying to get the songs done. He was like “yeah yeah, I will be there in a second!” (laughs)

Jan: Yeah, that was a long time ago! Now I’m working a little bit and studying as well.

I wanted to talk about your latest single, 17 Days. How did the song come to life?

Gini: We had more time to spend with each other to start figuring out how we wanted our songs to sound. I think 17 Days is more energetic compared to the other songs. Sometimes you just have to make faster songs and bring all the energy that you have out. It’s a different vibe from the previous ones, but I guess it’s also part of playing together more.

Jan: It came together as we played, very quickly. It’s not too complicated of a song, but it has a lot of energy. I think all of us could really put in what we really liked about music. That’s why it’s so energetic to us. We all really liked recording it, and we like to play it live.

Gini: Actually, I think I started to work on this song and the lyrics in February. I got really upset over someone, and I thought “okay, this is it.” I had to bring the feelings out! It’s what was in my head at the time.

Jan: We did the music video with Bastien Bron and Laetitia Gauchat from Lausanne.

Gini: We were super lucky because we had one month left until a video should come out, and then Bastian was like “okay, I’m in Switzerland, I can do it.” He’s usually living in Berlin, so we were super lucky that he took the time to do it. It took one day in Zurich. We are very happy with the outcome. He had a precise idea of how it should turn out, and we were pretty much like his puppets!

Jan: It was such a great day, he really came on to the set with his whole thing planned. It was nice to work with him because we basically just had to dance a little and do what he said. He was very organized. Also, with Laetitia they work really well as a team. It was super comfortable for us the whole day.

Gini: We had something going on with someone, but suddenly they canceled. We were so lucky. I wouldn’t change anything about this decision to do it with Laeti and Bastien.

Could you tell me more about Piet Alder from Taxi Gauche Records?

Gini: Piet is our favorite pilot in disguise. He has more energy than anyone else I have ever met. He is flying around the world. He is baking cakes during his time off, looking out for bands and helping them get shows and release stuff. He’s a really good guy with good taste. He is looking out for other people, and I think he just wants the best outcome for everybody.

Jan: He’s such a nice guy. He has so much positive energy and he’s very supportive. We really like him, and we love all the concerts where he’s with us whenever he has time to come. Due to his job, sometimes he gets confused with dates, so it’s always nice to see him.

Let’s imagine you find a magic box, and there are four superpowers inside. Super strength, super speed, flying and mind reading. The members of Annie Taylor can have one superpower each. What do you choose?

Jan: I know what Michi wants… I think he would really enjoy flying. But I’m not going to let him have it! (laughs)

Gini: I want to have flying too!

Jan: A mind-reading person would get really fucked up in two months-

Gini: Ok, who has the longest hair- Michi gets mind reading. (laughs) Long hair don’t care! I’m getting flying then.

Tobi: I want super speed!

Jan: Yeah, you have a really slow motorcycle! I get super strength then!

What can we expect from Annie Taylor in the future?

Gini: We’re going to be recording our first album the next two weeks at Dala Studios in Winterthur, and then we’re going on tour. The record is going to be out in 2020. I hope we get more gigs, so we can see a bit more of Switzerland!

Jan: Also, 17 days is going to be the first song of this album, that’s why we released it as a single. So we might release another one in the next couple months.

https://www.facebook.com/annietaylorband/

[weaselbeaselpants]

Why I Hate Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd

Hate is a strong word but, yes, I really don’t like the 2007 Sweeney Todd. I didn’t like it when it came out (and I was already a big Burton fan girl AND my family is made up of theater people. Don’t you dare try to Burton-splain or Theater-splain me). The musical fan in me dislikes it for overshadowing the story which I think is much better on stage, while the Burton fan in me hates it for being the “best thing Burton’s made since the 90s” according to some. More on that later.

Let me dissect the two things that irk me most about this adaptation:

1) Johnny Depp’s Sweeney Todd

Let’s get something straight about stage shows: every actor is gonna play a role a little differently. Every (good) actor brings a new dimension to a character or portrays them in a way that brings something new to the audience, be it people who’ve seen the show hundreds of times or those watching the musical for the first time. This is even more complicated when you have a movie adaptation of the play. The movie is likely gonna be seen more than the stage musical, so you have to get used to that version being the only one people know and thus being an interpretation of character people will like the best. You CAN’T expect Johnny Depp to play Sweeney like Len Cariou or George Hearn. Johnny is not only NOT those actors, his portrayal of the character follows a very different characterization and mannerisms than them. 

Personally - I like my Sweeney being this angry person ready to burst with rage at the drop of the hat, someone who seethes hate everywhere he goes but doesn’t seem to turn heads, yet he still has a sense of humor about a situation, possibly as a way to adjust to his new philosophy. That doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be sad or solemn though. He’s clearly in pain on the inside, and like a real psychopath is trying his best to feel something again while trying not to return to the pain of loosing his wife and child. I also like Sweeney trying - possibly failing - to put on this air or everything being okay like he’s still just a humble barber and not a nihilistic serial killer. Basically, I like my Sweeney being highly emotional. I like my baritone-bass, Cariou/Hearn type Sweeneys.

Depp and/or Burton is going for a “lost all emotion and joy, never smiles, empty shell, cold and clearly brooding”-type Sweeney. Whatevs. The problem isn’t that you CAN’T play Sweeney that way. Sweeney’s only requirement as a character is that he be a psychotic, revenge-driven, deeply heartbroken man that’s so bent on revenge he ends up destroying the very thing he set out to avenge. You can play up his emotions or lack there of as much as you want.

My problem is that I don’t think Depp plays that well.

I don’t know whether it was his choice, Burton’s choice, or both to have Sweeney sneer more than a 1st grader at a teacher who told him he has to spend recess doing homework- but seriously THAT’S ALL I SEE. Depp looks like he’s trying too hard to look angry and super serious. He’s so edgy looking and his dryness doesn’t come off as engaging to me. His emotionless performance feels lazy. It doesn’t help that he can’t sing either. Like, seriously, Johnny Depp can’t sing. Helena Bonham Carter can sing better than him. I suppose Sweeney Todd isn’t the kind of musical where characters are supposed to sound ‘pretty’, but they could at least sound like they’re hitting a note.

Speaking of Helena-Bonham-Lovett, while I don’t like her performance, I think it’s way more solid than Depp’s. That’s because - again - while this Lovett is very different from the much preferred Landsbury-type, it’s still a version of Mrs. Lovett and gets the most of what her character should be down: desperate, sick and twisted, in-Love with Sweeney and dubious in nature, leaving your to wonder how much worse she is compared to him. Landsbury Lovett is a nasty hag pretending to be a warm grandma; Carter’s Lovett is a worn-out prostitute; whichever way you go you have a desperate, delusional monster cook. It’s not my Mrs. Lovett, but it is a Mrs. Lovett.

Depp’s Todd is sooooooooooo broody you guyz that he doesn’t even feel like Sweeney anymore. He just feels like a generic heartless killer DONUT STEELE GUYS! The character is lost beneath the over-under-acted performance and star power.

2) Tim Burton’s super emo-phase directing

Prepare for the Burton-hipster in me to come out.

I hated Tim Burton’s visual storytelling and mood as a director in the 2000s. For starters, everything has a super dark, shadowy (ugly) filter. It ruined Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it ruined Alice and Wonderland and it ruined this to some extant. IT’S A TIM BURTON FILM. We don’t need a grey, hazy, deluded color scheme to show that it’s gothic. Actually I think Burton benefited a lot in his earlier movies by having lots of scenes shot in sunny environments with good color schemes to better compliment when things got melancholic, gross, weird, or messed up. Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands are the shining examples of this trope. Not every scene looks super deep or grim, so they stand out from the rest of the scenes in the film and establish tone.

Of course, if there’s one story that could benefit from a washed out, dry color scheme I think it IS this film, and I do like the contrast for how bright the blood is. I just wish the lighting wasn’t so overbearing in EVERY scene, no matter what the intended mood. Also it looks kinda bluish. Like it’s an Evanescence music video, probably not helped by the overabundance of CGi. Also, Victorian London is muggy and gross. Burton’s film makes even London at it’s dirtiest feel kinda polished through his lighting and set design. Les Mis did a better job at showing you the grungy side of it’s environment.

More important than visuals is the way in which Burton directed his actors and wrote characters at this time. No matter what the film he was making at the time, every character and every actor looks like they just got punched in the gut and act super dry. The only film that benefited from this ‘charisma’ was Corpse Bride: the story is bleak, melancholic, and at times cynical, it’s characters should emanate that for the sake of the story.

Much like Depp’s Sweeney, everyone whose not Helena Bonham Carter looks emo, angry, emotionless or sad, which by the way doesn’t help Sweeney stand out. Everyone looks like or feels like they’re serial killers. This is a cast of mostly deplorable characters but very few true-blue killers like Sweeney and Lovett. And if they’re supposed to be characters pushed to becoming Sweeney 2.0, like Joanna or Toby, the movie doesn’t do a good job at portraying that. Anthony gets it the worst since he’s the starry-eyed idealist who is too good for this or any world, but instead comes off as a creepo with weird hair. His plans for Joanna are supposed to be alarming, but you’re never supposed to feel like he’d do something bad to her. Movie!Anthony is so much of a crazed stalker that you really don’t want to spend ANYTIME with him or Joanna.

--

I find this adaptation overrated.

In the world of theater, you have to put up with the fact that not everyone can afford to see Broadway shows or take leap of faith and jump at a college or community theater production hoping it’s somewhat decent. Some people are gonna stick to the movie versions and that’s fine (Grease and Chicago are way better movies than they are stage-shows, in my opinion). So if someone prefers the Depp film to the show there’s not much you can do. That’s their opinion and that’s what they were introduced to first.

But then you get these movie critics and film buffs who say things like “this is the best Tim Burton film since (insert pre-1995 Burton film here)” and “it’s so well written, why doesn’t he make stuff like this anymore?”...I kinda wanna scream.

TIM BURTON DIDN’T WRITE SWEENEY TODD. The story is good cause he’s adapting an already existing story to the screen. Frankly, I think his flavor of gothic hinders the story. And the whole “this is the only good new Burton movie”-thing is also really annoying. Big Eyes is great. Heck, if you’re big on Tim Burton’s tropes being used to better affect, Frankenweenie is a better example than this film.

The thing about Tim Burton is, I think he’s better at working with small-scale stories, conflicts and themes than he is at tackling “deep” stuff, which Sweeney Todd is. Burton’s movies are simple in their complexity. That’s why when he tries to write war-based movies or “chosen one” stories like Alice in Wonderland or Planet of the Apes, it falls on it’s face. A Burton movie is more entertaining when he’s obviously just having fun with the stuff he likes and isn’t trying to present himself or his film as some auteur-masterpiece. In fact, if there’s any gothic musical more fit in Tim Burton’s hands than Sweeney Todd, I would say it’s Phantom of the Opera. That musical is ALL melodrama. It feels more at home with Burton than the moral- character driven bloodbath horror of Sweeney Todd. But hey, I guess that’s indicative of people thinking ‘well it’s goffik, so it’s perfect for so-and-so regardless of what their style is and what story we’re trying to tell’.

-

Rant done. Been waiting to get that off my chest since forever.

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior Home and Drive-In Edition July 24, 2020: THE RENTAL, MOST WANTED, YES GOD YES, AMULET, RETALIATION and more

Are we all having fun yet? Does the fun ever truly begin when you’re in the middle of a pandemic, and no one can seem to figure out how to get out of it? While I love New York’s Governor Cuomo and the amazing job he did getting us through the worst of it, he just doesn’t seem to know how to get movie theaters reopened, nor does he seem to care. I mean, they’ve had four months now to figure this out and New York City is already in Phase 4 (which was supposed to be the last phase of the reopening).  It’s a real shame, because this has been a ridiculously hot summer and with none of the “cooling centers” from past summers being possible, it is brutal out there. Fortunately, there are a few decent movies this week to watch at home and some in the drive-ins that are popping up all over the country.

I gotta say that I’m particularly bummed that my favorite local theater, the Metrograph, won’t be opening any time soon, but starting Friday, they’ll be starting “Metrograph Live Screenings,” which will consist of the type of amazing programming the theater has gained a reputation for since opening four years ago. They are offering new “digital memberships” at $5 a month or $50 annually (about half the price of a normal membership) so that you can watch any of the movies being offered at home. The program begins on Friday with Claire Denis’ 2004 film, L’Intrus, which Metrograph Pictures picked up for release. That’s followed on Monday with St. Claire Bourne’s doc, Paul Robeson: Here I Stand.  You can see the full list of screening times and dates (many with filmmaker introductions) on the Official Site, and this will be a good time for those who can’t get downtown to the coolest area in New York City to check out the Metrograph programming until they reopen. (Apparently, they’re working on a drive-in to open sometime in August. Wish I had a car.)

If nothing else, it’s safe to say that IFC is killing it this summer. The indie distributor stepped right up to the pandemic and said, “Hey, we’ll play in those drive-in theaters that have mostly been ignored and didn’t play our films for decades!” It has led to at least two big hits in the past few months.

This week, IFC releases the horror/thriller THE RENTAL (IFC Films), the directorial debut by Dave Franco.  In it, brothers Charlie (Dan Stevens) and Josh (Jeremy Allen White) decide to take a weekend away with their significant others, Charlie’s wife Michelle (Allison Brie) and Josh’s girlfriend Mina (Sheila Vand), who also happens to be Charlie’s creative work partner. They have found a remote house to rent, but they’re immediately suspicious of the caretaker (Toby Huss), who they think may be spying on them. He’s also racist towards Mina’s Arab lineage.

The premise seems fairly simple and actually quite high concept, and there have been quite a few thrillers that played with the premise of a creepy landlord/caretaker, including last year’s The Intruder, directed by Deon Taylor, and a lesser known thriller called The Resident, starring Hillary Swank and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Part of what makes The Rental different is that Franco co-wrote it with Joe Swanberg, so you know it’s going to be more of a character-based thriller than some kind of gorefest. Sure enough, this deals with the competitive nature between the brothers and the jealousy that arises when you have such a close working relationship with your brother’s girlfriend. It’s what happens between these two couples over the course of this vacation that makes you even more interested in their behavior after things start happening to them, but there’s a pretty major twist that happens just when you think you know where things may be going.

That’s all I really should say about the plot to avoid spoilers. Although the third act veers into the darker horror tropes we may have seen before, that’s also when it starts to get quite insane. Franco clearly shows he has the eye for the type of suspense and timing necessary for an effective thriller, and his cast, including wife Alison Brie, really deliver on all aspects of his script to deliver shocking moments that will keep you invested.

In some ways, The Rental might be the most obviously accessible movie of the weekend, and since it will be playing in drive-ins (and maybe a few still-open theaters?), it probably is worth seeing that way i.e. with others, although it will also be available via digital download, of course.

Another “Featured Flick” this week -- and I’m guessing this is one you won’t be reading about anywhere else --  is Daniel Roby’s MOST WANTED (Saban FIlms), a real-life crime-thriller starring Josh Hartnett as Globe and Mail journalist, Victor Malarek, who discovered that a French-Canadian junkie named Daniel Léger (Antoine-Olivier Pilon) had been sentenced to 100 years in a Thailand prison for drug trafficking in 1989.  As Daniel attempts to survive the violent conditions of the Thai jail, Victor tries to uncover the crooked practices by the Canadian federal police to get Daniel imprisoned for their own means.

This is one of two Saban Films releases that really surprised me, maybe because I’ve gotten so used to them releasing so much action and genre schlock meant mainly for VOD, usually starring fairly big-name action stars from the past, usually not doing their best work. Most Wanted is a far more serious crime-drama that tells an absolutely amazing story from North America’s famed war on drugs from the ‘80s. First, we meet Antoine-Olivier Pilon’s Daniel, a lowlife junkie who is trying to find a place to live and a job, something he finds when he gets into business with Jim Gaffigan’s Glenn Picker, a complete low-life in every sense of the word. It’s funny, because when Gaffigan’s character is introduced, you’re immediately reminded of the famous “Sister Christian” in PT Anderson’s Boogie Nights, and as we watch Picker completely humiliate and then betray Daniel, you realize that we might be seeing one of Gaffigan’s best performances to date.

What keeps Most Wanted interesting is that it tells the story on a number of concurrent storylines, ignoring the fact that one of the threads might be taking place years before the other. Through this method, we see how Daniel begins working with Glenn, while also seeing Victor’s investigation, as well as the sting operation being perpetrated by the Canadian feds, as represented by the always great Stephen McHattie. (McHattie’s appearance is also a telltale sign that this is indeed a Canadian production, as is the role played by author and filmmaker Don McKellar.)  I’ve always feltHarnett was a really underrated actor especially as he got into his 30s and started doing more mature roles, and while his reporter character may not always be the central focus of the story, his attempt to get his editor to respect his work is something far too familiar to far too many writers. One also can’t sleep on the fantastic performance by Antoine-Olivier Pilon, who really holds the film together by starting out as a scumbag almost as bad as Picker but through his troubles to survive in Thai jail, we start to become really invested in his story. (The only character who doesn’t get nearly as fulfilling a story arc is Amanda Crew as Victor’s wife Anna who gives birth just as he gets involved in this major story.)

I wasn’t at all familiar with Daniel Roby’s previous work but the way he broke this story down in a way that keeps it interesting, regardless of which story you’re following, makes Most Wanted as good or better than similar films by far more experienced and respected filmmakers. (For some reason, it made me think of both The Departed and Black Mass, both movies about Whitey Bulger, although Daniel’s story is obviously very different.)

Okay, let’s get into a trio of religious-tinged offerings…

Natalia Dyer from Stranger Things stars in YES, GOD, YES (Vertical Entertainment), the semi-autobiographical directorial debut by Obvious Child co-writer Karen Maine (expanded from an earlier short), which will open via virtual cinemas this Friday as well as at a few drive-ins, and then it will be available via VOD and digital download on Tuesday, July 28. The coming-of-age comedy debuted at last year’s SXSW Film Festival and won a Special Jury Prize for its ensemble cast. Dyer plays sixteen-year-old Alice, a good Midwestern Catholic teenager, who has a sexual awakening after a racy AOL chat. Wracked by guilt, Alice attends a religious retreat camp where the cute football player (Wolfgang Novogratz) catches her eye, but she constantly feels pressure to quell her masturbatory urges.

I’m not sure I really knew what to expect from Ms. Maine’s feature film debut as a director. I certainly didn’t expect to enjoy this movie as much as I did, nor did I think I would relate to Dyer’s character as much as I did --  I’ve never been a teen girl, nor have I ever been Catholic, and by the early ‘00s, I was probably closer to the age that Maine is now versus being a teenager discovering her sexuality. In fact, I probably was expecting something closer to the Mandy Moore comedy Saved!, which was definitely more about religion than one character’s sexual journey.

Either way, I went into Yes, God, Yes already realizing what a huge fan I am of coming-of-age stories, and while there were certainly that seemed familiar to other films, such as Alice’s inadvertent AIM with an online pervert early in the film. Even so, Maine did enough with the character of Alice to keep it feeling original with the humor being subdued while definitely more on the R-rated side of things. On top of that, Dyer was quite brilliant in the role, just a real break-through in a similar way as Kaitlyn Dever in Book Smart last year. (Granted, I’m so behind on Stranger Things, I don’t think I’ve even gotten to Dyer’s season.) The only other familiar face is Timothy Simons from Veep as the super-judgmental (and kinda pervy) priest who Alice has to turn to when confessing her sins. (A big part of the story involves a rumor started about Alice and a sex act she committed on a fellow student that keeps coming up.)

Yes, God, Yes proves to be quite a striking dramedy that I hope more people will check out. I worry that because this may have been covered out of last year’s SXSW, it might not get the new and updated attention it deserves. Certainly, I was pleasantly surprised with what Maine and Dyer did with a genre that still has a lot to tell us about growing up and discovering oneself. (You can find out where you can rent the movie digitally over on the Official Site.)

Another horror movie that premiered at this year’s Sundance is AMULET (Magnet), the directorial debut by British actor Romola Garai, who also wrote the screenplay. It stars Romanian actor Alec Secareanu as Tomaz, a former soldier who is offered a place to stay in a dilapidated house in London with a young woman named Magda (Carla Juri from Blade Runner 2049) and her ill and dying mother. As Tomaz starts to fall for Magda, he discovers there are sinister forces afoot in the house with Magda’s mother upstairs being at their core.

I was kind of interested in this one, not just because it being Garai’s first feature as a filmmaker but also just because Sundance has such a strong pedigree for midnight movies, probably culminating in the premiere of Ari Aster’s Hereditary there a few years back. It feels like ever since then, there are many movies trying to follow in that movie’s footsteps, and while this was a very different movie from the recent Relic, it had its own set of issues.

The main issue with Amulet is that it deliberately sets itself up with a confusing narrative where we see Tomaz in the present day and in the past concurrently, so it’s very likely you won’t know what you’re watching for a good 20 minutes or so. Once Tomaz gets to the house, escorted there by a nun played by Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake), the movie settles down into a grueling pace as the main two characters get to know each other and Tomaz explores the incongruities of the decaying house.

Honestly, I’m already pretty burnt out on the religious horror movies between The Lodge and the still-unreleased Saint Maud, and the first inclination we get of any of the true horror to come is when Tomaz discovers some sort of mutated bat-like creature in the toilet, and things get even more disturbing from there. Although I won’t go into too many details about what happens, the movie suffers from some of the same issues as Relic where it’s often too dark to tell exactly what is happening. As it goes along, things just get weirder and weirder right up until a “what the fuck” moment that could have come from the mind of David Lynch.

I don’t want to completely disregard Garai’s fine work as a filmmaker since she’s made a mostly compelling and original horror movie – I have a feeling some might love this -- but the grueling pace and confusing narrative turns don’t really do justice to what might have been a chilling offering otherwise.

Going by the title and the fact it’s being released by Saban Films, I presumed that Ludwig and Paul Shammasian’s RETALIATION (Saban Films/Lionsgate) was gonna be a violent and gritty crime revenge thriller, but nothing could be further from the truth. Adapted by Geoff Thompson from his 2008 short film “Romans 12:20,” it stars Orlando Bloom as Malcolm, a troubled ex-con doing demolition work while fighting against his demons when he spots someone in the pub from his past that caused a severe childhood trauma.

This is another movie that I really didn’t know what to expect, even as it began and we followed Bloom’s character over the course of a day, clearly a very troubled man who has been dealing with many personal demons. Make no mistake that this is a tough movie, and it’s not necessarily a violent genre movie, as much as it deals with some heavy HEAVY emotions in a very raw way.

Honestly, I could see Geoff Thompson’s screenplay easily being performed on stage, but the way the Shammasian Brothers have allowed Malcolm’s story to slowly build as we learn more and more about his past makes the film so compelling, but they also let their actors really shine with some of the stunning monologues with which they’re blessed. While this is clearly a fantastic and possibly career-best performance by Bloom, there are also good performances by Janet Montgomery, as the woman who loves Malcolm but just can’t handle his mood changes. Also good is Charlie Creed-Miles, as the young priest who tries to help Malcolm.

I can easily see this film not being for everybody, because some of the things the film deals with, including pedophile priests and the effects their actions have on the poor, young souls who put their faith in them, they’re just not things people necessarily may want to deal with. Make no mistake that Retaliation is an intense character drama that has a few pacing issues but ultimately hits the viewer right in the gut.

A movie I had been looking forward to quite some time is the Marie Currie biopic, RADIOACTIVE (Amazon Prime), directed by Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) and starring the wondrous Rosamund Pike as the famed scientist who helped discover radiation. Based on Lauren Redniss’ book, this is the type of Working Title biopic that would normally premiere in the Fall at the Toronto Film Festival, and sure enough, this one did. The fact it wasn’t released last year makes one think maybe this didn’t fare as well as potential awards fodder as the filmmakers hoped. It’s also the type of movie that works too hard to cater to the feminist resurgence from recent years, which ultimately ends up being its undoing.

The problem with telling Marie Currie’s story is that there’s so much to tell and Redniss’ book as adapted by Jack Thorne just tries to fit too much into every moment as years pass in mere minutes. There’s so much of Marie’s life that just isn’t very interesting, but trying to include all of it just takes away from the scenes that do anything significant. Maybe it’s no surprise that Thorne also wrote The Aeronauts, Amazon’s 2019 ballooning biopic that failed to soar despite having Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones as its leads.

I’m a similarly huge Rosamund Pike fan, so I was looking forward to her shining in this role, but she does very little to make Marie Currie someone you might want to follow, as she’s so headstrong and stubborn. This is the most apparent when she meets Pierre Currie, as played by Sam Riley, and maybe you don’t blame her for being cynical, having had much of her work either discredited or stolen by men in the past. Shockingly, Pike’s performance seems all over the place, sometimes quite moving but other times being overly emotive. Almost 90 minutes into the movie, Anya Taylor-Joy turns up as Curie’s grown daughter, and it’s one of the film’s biggest infraction, wasting such great talent in such a nothing role.

While Radioactive could have been a decent vehicle for Ms. Satrapi to flex her muscles as a filmmaker, the movie spends so much time having Currie fighting against the male-dominated science field that it loses sight of why she was such an important figure in the first place. Radioactive just comes across as a generally bland and unimaginative by-the-books biopic.

Also on Digital and On Demand this Friday is Chris Foggin’s FISHERMAN’S FRIENDS (Samuel Goldwyn Films), another quaint British comedy based on a true story, much like the recent Military Wives. Rather than being about a group of singing women, this one is about a group of singing men! What a twist!

Daniel Mays plays Danny, a music biz exec from London who travels to the seaside town of Port Isaac, Cornwall with some of his record company coworkers. Once there, they discover a local group of singing local fisherman, known as “Fisherman’s Friends,” who Danny wants to sign to a label. He also wants to get closer to Tuppence Middleton’s single mother Alwyn, who, no surprise, is also the only pleasant-looking younger woman in the town.

Fisherman’s Friends isn’t bad, but if you’ve seen a lot of British movies from the last few decades, then you’ve already seen this movie, particularly the “fish out of water” humor of a guy from the big city trying to relate to the down-to-earth ways of folk in a fishing village. It’s the type of really forced humor that is perfectly pleasant but not particularly groundbreaking in this day and age with so many filmmakers trying to do cutting-edge work.

Instead, this goes for a very typical and cutesie formula where everything works out with very little real conflict even when it throws in a needless subplot about the local pub falling on hard times and selling to a rich man who has little regard for the ways o the town.  On top of that, and even if this wasn’t based on a true story, it’s very hard to believe anyone in the music industry or who buys records would be that interested in this group to make them worth signing a million-pound record deal. (Apparently, this really happened!)

I think it’s adorable that filmmakers are trying to turn character actor Daniel Mays (who you’ve seen in everything!) into a romantic lead, especially when you have James Purefoy right there! Instead, 56-year-old Purefoy is instead cast as Middleton’s father, while she’s put into a situation where she’s the love interest for a man that’s 23 years her elder. This kind of thing rarely bothers me as it does many younger female critics, but their romance is just ridiculous and unnecessary if not for the formula. As much as I enjoyed seeing Dave Johns from I, Daniel Blake as one of the singing fishermen, there really isn’t much for him to do in this.

If you like sea shanties and you are a woman over 60 (or have a mother that age) then Fisherman’s Friends is a cute butnever particularly hilarious British comedy that tries to be The Full Monty. But it never really tries to be anything more or less than the formula created by that movie 23 years ago, so it’s quickly forgotten after its saccharine finale.

Unfortunately, I just wasn’t able to get THE ROOM (Shudder/RLJE Films), the live action directing debut from Christin Volckman (Renaissance), but it’s now available on VOD, Digital HD, DVD AND Blu-Ray! It stars Olga Kurylenko and Kevin Janssens as a couple who leave the city to move into a an old house where they discover a secret hidden room that has the power to materialize anything they want, but this is a horror film, so what might seem like a fairy tale is likely to get dark. (I actually think I saw the trailer for this on Shudder, so I’ll probably check it out, and if it’s worth doing so, I’ll mention it in next week’s column.)

Yet another horror movie hitting On Demand this Friday is Pamela Moriarty’s A DEADLY LEGEND (Gravitas Ventures) that stars Corbin Bensen as a real estate developer who buys an old summer camp to build new homes unaware of the dark history of supernatural worship and human sacrifice. I’m gonna take the fifth on this one, which also stars Judd Hirsch and Lori Petty.

Available via Virtual Cinema through New York’s Film Forum and L.A.’s Laemmle is Gero von Boehm’s documentary, Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful (Kino Lorber), about the photographer who had a nearly five-decade career before dying in a car crash in 2006.

From Colombia to various Virtual Cinemas is Catalina Arroyave’s debut, Days of the Whale (Outsider Pictures) set in the city of Medellin, where it follows two young graffiti artists, Cristina and Simon, who tag places around where they live but coming from very different backgrounds, but they eventually bond while part of a revolutionary art collective.

Danny Pudi from Community and Emily C. Chang from The Vampire Diaries star in Sam Friedlander’s comedy Babysplitters (Gravitas Ventures) as one of two couples who have mixed emotions about having kids, so they decided to share one baby between them. Okay, then.

Netflix will also debut the rom-com sequel, The Kissing Booth 2, once again starring Joey King as Ellie, who is trying to juggle her long-distance romance with Jacob Erlodi’s Noah and her close friendship with Joel Courtney’s Lee.  I haven’t seen the first movie. Probably won’t watch this one.

Next week, more movies in a variety of theatrical and non-theatrical release!

If you’ve read this week’s column and have bothered to read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com, or tweet me on Twitter. I love hearing from my “readers,” whomever they may be.’

[kamelodi]

Get to know me tag!

Tagged by the beautiful @toomanyfeelsexogdi, lovely @ilikechimchimnuggets, sweet @kaidonutsuniverse. ✨

Tagging: @loyalkaisoo @wuace @xxlostinthedragonxx @livinka-n-diland @wakawaka33 @hellomellowyellowjello @dcc1288 @monkeecamsie (Do it if you want to! I apologise if you’ve already done it! :>) 

Rules: answer these 92 statements and tag 10 people.

THE LAST:

1. Drink: Orange juice. Gotta get that Vitamin C because I ain’t getting that Vitamin D. It’s so cold here, I feel like my nose is going to fall off. :< Please eat lots of oranges to protect yourself against the cold everyone! :> 

2. Phone call: My friend Toby. He let me listened to his dog whine through the phone. Great thing to fall asleep too. :> I wish I had a pupperino. 

3. Text message: My sis-in-law because I wanted bubble tea! 

4. Song you listened to: What Redbone would sound like if it were a Cat Piano Cover

5. Time you cried: Today!

HAVE YOU:

6. Dated someone twice: Yes, only once~ I actually remember sneaking out of my house once when I was really young, lied to my family just so I can have a sleepover with them. We didn’t do anything inappropriate but I nearly got lost in the streets by myself at night just to see them. We haven’t talked in years and it’s funny how they live down the street to me now. :> 

7. Kissed someone and regretted it: Yes! I would rather kiss a frog than kiss them again. 

8. Been cheated on: Fortunately not yet. 

9. Lost someone special: Yes. 

10. Been depressed: :(


11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: No! I don’t think I will ever drink hahaha but I do want to get drunk once and see if I do anything funny. Just so I have a funny drunk story to tell. :>

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS:

12-14: Blue has been my favourite colour since I ever knew about colours. It’s really pretty, calming, like the sky. However I definitely think colour is associated with personality because nowadays I prefer to tell people that I like red ever since I wanted to become more confident. I think the intensity and passion of the colour is what I wanna be rather than a passive and calm blue. But that’s how I show myself to the world, I’m still an alice blue inside (I say that because my name is Alice and alice blue is a shade of blue! hahaha). I will always love black...even if it’s a shade. It’s just sophisticated, classy and mysterious. 

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU:

15. Made new friends: Yes! Hopefully it will last! :> 

16. Fallen out of love: Was I really in love with that person? 

17. Laughed until you cried: Yes, my friend was reading a poem to me and I fell onto the middle of the road and laughed until I cried. It was the way he read it. No one else can make it funny but him.

18. Found out someone was talking about you: Nope!

19. Met someone who changed you: No...? But ever since I joined Tumblr a few months ago, I got to talk to people who has had a major influence on me. Before that, I would just stalk them online so I’m happy to have finally talked to them. :>

20. Found out who your friends are: Yep!

21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: Ya! 

GENERAL:

22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: 50%? 


23. Do you have any pets: I have 3 lovely pet fish who like to splash in their pretty fish bowl and I stalk this beautiful cat who appears in my neighbourhood. 

24. Do you want to change your name: Not...really? When I was 8, I remember asking my mum if I could change my birthday. It was really silly because it was the date that the Simpsons movie was going to be released lmao and I guess that was me expressing my excitement? Twitter/tumblr style lmao. But I love my birthday. 💕

25. What did you do for your last Birthday: Every single birthday, we go to my favourite fancy restaurant and eat lobster. 

26. What time did you wake up: 8am because food. 

27. What were you doing at midnight last night: Watching The Little Mermaid for fic writing purposes! But I fell asleep while watching it! 

28. Name something you can’t wait for: kaisoo’s wedding. I even have a speech prepared. 

29. When was the last time you saw your mom: This morning. 


30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: A lot of things...I really wanna go back in time. Let’s build a time machine. \o/

31. What are you listening right now: The Weeknd - Die For You | The Theorist Piano Cover

32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: Yep!  


33. Something that is getting on your nerves: My uncle smokes and drinks a lot. He has lung problems but he’s really stubborn about overcoming his addictions or going to the doctor. He just stays in his room, play games and every 2 minutes he would cough and clear his throat very loudly and it drives me insane. I’m too scared to talk to him. 


34. Most visited Website: Youtube/AFF. 

LOST QUESTIONS.

35. Mole/s: Many! I’ve even had some removed...it was my biggest childhood dream to have them gone tbh! 

36. Mark/s: Some!? 


37. Childhood dream: Wanting to be like wonder woman, do every job in the world. I had a whole list of what I wanted to be like an author, doctor, lawyer, singer, artist, director, actress etc. I would count them off my fingers really quickly like my whole life was planned. But growing up, I learnt a few things about the world, myself and my family and I know now that I really want to be a doctor! I still have an interest in many things but I think it would be wonderful to take care and save all the wonderful people I want to be. :) Also publish at least one book in my life! My ultimate life goal! 

38. Hair Colour: Light brown. 

39. Long or short hair: Medium?

40. Do you have a crush on someone: I don’t do crushes. ;) 

41. What do you like about yourself: I am small. 

42. Piercings: Ears! 

43. Blood type: ABO because I don’t know! ^o^  

44. Nickname: Arisu!!!!!!!

45. Relationship status: In a relationship.  

46. Zodiac: Capricorn 

47. Pronouns: She/her

48. Favorite TV Show: Can I say EXO Showtime? I also like Hannibal! I really wanna get into House of Cards or Game of Thrones lmao. 

49. Tattoos: No....t yet. 

50. Right or left hand: Right. 

51. Surgery: Dental surgery?

52. Hair dyed in different color: Yes! My favourite was red, I will go back to it soon. :> 

53. Sport: Running! Track and field with my super short legs! 

54. Vacation: Seoul?

55. Pair of trainers: 3. 

MORE GENERAL:

56. Eating Currently: A starburst. 

57. Drinking currently: Nothing but I should drink some water. Stay hydrated everyone! 

58. I’m about to: go workout! 

61. Waiting for: sleep! 

62. Want: turn my dreams into reality! 

63. Get married: yes!? I grew up watching this TV sitcom where there’s this really rich lady who married 8 rich husbands. I joke to my mum that I will be like her. 


64. Career: Something medical, something literary. 

WHICH IS BETTER

65. Hugs or kisses: Hugs! Warm bear hugs. :>


66. Lips or eyes: Eyes. I wonder what Kaisoo would choose lmao. 

67. Shorter or taller: Taller. I’m really not asking for much because I’m super smol. 


68. Older or younger: Older? 


70. Nice arms or nice stomach: Nice stomach? 

71. Sensitive or loud: Loud like Baekhyun please! 


72. Hook up or relationship: 
Relationship pls. 

73. Troublemaker or hesitant: Trouble maker. 

HAVE YOU EVER:

74. Kissed a stranger: nope! ^o^ 

75. Drank hard liquor: nope! ^o^ 

76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: nope! ^o^ 

77. Turned someone down: yep!

78. Sex in the first date: nope! ^o^ 

79. Broken someone’s heart: yes. 

80. Had your heart broken: yes, it’s karma. :)

81. Been arrested: nope! hopefully never! 


82. Cried when someone died: yep! 

83. Fallen for a friend: yep! 

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

84. Yourself: it’s a tough journey getting there but eventually yes. 

85. Miracles: yes
! always having hope.

86. Love at first sight: Yes! But I think the Japanese phrase “Koi no Yokan” describes how I see it better, “The sense one can have upon first meeting a person that the two of you are going to fall in love.” 

87. Santa Claus: no. T^T 

88. Kiss in the first date: yep! :> 

89. Angels: I think people can be like angels. I also have this silly thought that I have a guardian angel these days. 

OTHER:

90. Current best friends’ names: Toby, Zeri 

91. Eyecolor: Dark brown! 

92. Favorite movie: Classic list - Her, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, A Beautiful Mind, Oldboy, The Handmaiden, Amelie 

[beauticate]

Myra Perez, Floral Designer

As one of Sydney’s most in demand creative florists for the last fifteen years, My Violet’s Myra Perez is used to 4am starts and some seriously long days. She generously took us through her favourite products for looking rested when you’ve had no sleep, shared how to actually get said sleep when your brain just won’t turn off and the undeniable power of an eyelash perm.

When I was 21 I had a corporate job and would walk past a particular florist on my way to work every day. It sparked an interest for me, because to be honest I didn’t know what I wanted to do until then. I just knew it had to be creative and that I couldn’t be sitting in an office all day.

This florist was kind enough to answer all the questions that I bombarded her with and encouraged me to do a floristry course to discover if it was really something I loved. Before I knew it, I had enrolled myself into a floristry course at TAFE, enjoyed it so much that I signed up for Certification II, got work experience at one Sydney’s leading florists and the rest, as they say, is history. All this time later, the thing I still love most about my job is seeing how happy flowers make others. The smiles and positive feedback from clients gives me amazing energy and keeps me going.

I love makeup and always have… in fact, once upon a time I was actually very good at it. However in my current line of work I have early starts and I would rather get that extra sleep than be up to do my makeup.

These days my focus is on having great, blemish free skin at 5am. Skin care has definitely become more essential than make up. I like a natural, fuss-free look, day to day.

My daily beauty routine starts at 4am.

After a quick shower to wake myself up, I apply the first half of the Rationale Essential Six, The Immunologist Serum and Super Antioxidant Serum. I love the Immunologist UltraCreme, it’s so good and leaves my skin feeling really hydrated. Then I’ll apply my Rationale Superfluid SPF50. A few years ago I got sunburnt so badly that my face got swollen, and since then I’ve always applied SPF50+ without fail, and will wear a cap or hat if possible. We often work out in the elements so sun protection is essential for me. Finally, I mix up a glass of water with 15ml of Collagen Inner Beauty Boost from The Beauty Chef, and then I’m out the door, in the van and off to market.

If it’s been a long day I’ll pop on some eye gels for a little extra collagen boost to help my tired eyes out.

Currently I’m obsessed with Skyn Iceland Hydro Cool Firming Eye Gels from Mecca.

I cleanse with the Rationale Pro Ceramide Cleanser followed by their Catalyst Serum and DNA Night Cream.

To help me get a good night’s sleep I take The Beauty Chef’s Sleep Inner Beauty Powder. I’m constantly on the go and find it really hard to switch off, as often I’m up late planning the next day, so I find this tonic helps me fall into a deep sleep. A must have for those who can’t close their eyes at night.

My must have for a night out is a red lip and lots of lashes.

If I’m going for a true matte my favourite is MAC Ruby Woo or if I want a slightly glossier red it’s Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet in 39, La Somptueuse (Ed. note: discontinued). I’m hopeless with applying falsies so I prefer to get mine professionally curled (Kristin Fisher Eyebrows do my eyelash perms and I’ve never looked back!) then once I apply two coats of Diorshow Iconic Overcurl Mascara and I’m good to go!

If I have time, I’ll do something fun with eyeshadow as I’m a huge fan of it.

My girlfriend Tobi Henney, who is an Australian makeup artist based in NYC, taught me how to do a subtle smokey eye. First, I use a natural colour that compliments my dark skin, like a bronze gold (I’m currently using Burberry Eye Colour Wet & Dry Glow Shadow in 002 Nude). Then I go in with a darker, chocolate shade and, using a small brush , dab a hint in the corners and around the eye socket, with the eye closed. A cat eye is also a really nice look - I love Dior’s Precision Eyeliner in black, as it’s like a felt pen and so easy to use!

Growing up I wasn’t allowed to use makeup. I think lip gloss was the only thing I owned till I got to ninth grade and then I was allowed to use mascara.

My mother had bad acne as a child so she wasn’t keen on my covering up my skin, plus growing up in El Salvador beauty regimes were the last thing people focused on. She still did her best to take care of herself and in return educated me on what not to do. I have a memory of her slapping my hands whenever I got the urge to touch my face or rest my face in my hands. She would say, “your hands have been touching too many things!” She would often make honey masks or use another natural remedy if I had a break out. 

I have really thick hair so I get it cut every 6 weeks to take the weight out.

I’ve recently gone from balayage to all over glossy dark, and it’s much healthier and easier to maintain.  I’m probably not supposed to but I wash my hair daily as I always find it’s sticky and full of pollen dust. I like Kevin Murphy Angel.Wash, it smells amazing and seems quite gentle on my hair. 

I am obsessed with sneakers and have a big, colourful variety in my wardrobe. My latest lolly pink Adidas trainers are a current fave and on high rotation.

I just celebrated my fortieth birthday and wore a bright red tulle Alice McCall skirt and plain tee, dressed up with some velvet Senso heels. I have lots of Viktoria Woods and Camilla & Marc in my wardrobe… I cant help myself! It’s the same with designer bags. I seem to spend money on cross body bags I can rock to the markets or out to dinner with my husband Baz.

My line of work is demanding - the hours are brutal and to be honest no one ever believes just how hard it is to be a florist.

Your hands get pretty overworked and so does my overactive mind! So I find that I feel the most beautiful when I’m not in peak season. I tend to get more sleep, take time out and really just slow right down. That’s when I look and feel my best. 

I attend Pilates as much as I can, ideally multiple times a week. Fluidform Pilates in Wooloomooloo has changed my life. Its exhausting but worth it.

A client of mine insisted that Fluidform changed her life and that it would change mine too. I had never tried it and didn’t know much about it but I trusted her and thought, why not? Although most sessions I’m cursing my instructor Dannielle on the inside because I’m in pain and sweating bullets, it’s a good pain. Plus that whole hour of no phones, no noise, and instead just focusing on my breathing and a particular move is major chill out time for me. I love it and am completely hooked.

My favourite spas for facials are Rationale and All Saints Clinic. I’m an avid Rationale addict so will never miss my monthly facial, as it always makes me feel like a million bucks when I walk out. 

I'm also currently loving Sensory Deprivation Therapy at the Float Factory in Glebe. It takes me to a seriously chilled out zone and I walk out as though I'm floating on clouds.  I try to take care of my body with regular massages and my Pilates sessions. 

When I was younger I used to think 25 was so old.

Then I thought 30 was even older and dreaded that I would be grey, haha! Now at 40 I’m not at all fazed by getting older – it’s a natural part of life which I embrace.

I’m not a fan of seeing girls younger than me messing with their faces. There’s so much time ahead of them and the constant desire to be so perfect is such a worry. Once they’re older and look back at their younger selves, I'm sure they'd think about it differently. 

As I get older, I’ve realised it’s so important to take the time to just slow down, chill out and get a good nights sleep.

It’s harder to shift excess weight and keep glowing skin when you are not allowing your body to stop and rejuvinate, as it constantly thinks it’s in ‘fight’ mode. So I have to put down my phone, put away my diary and get some proper rest.

Story by Zoe Briggs. Photography by Amy Hibbard.