be movies
Shobhit was scheduled to work until 6:00 last night but then he had to cover someone's shift at the end of the day, so he worked until 7:30, getting home right around 8:00.
By then I was an hour into the ninety-minute film I was watching an advance digital screening of for review, an Amazon Studios movie called Uncle Frank. I had already seen before starting the movie that it was getting pretty mixed reviews (MetaScore 52), but when it first started I had high hopes, mostly because of how much I like virtually all of the character actors in the cast. But, over time the script somewhat implodes on itself, struggling with anything approaching authentic character development. The performances were all still good: I gave it an overall grade of B-.
So, it was shortly after 9:00 by the time I was done writing the review, so before I headed for bed we had time for just one episode of season four of The Crown—a show I have always truly loved, and this may still be my favorite season. I heard on a podcast that, given this is the season where Princess Diana finally comes into the picture, it's almost as though all three of the previous seasons were just an extended prologue to this, and I kind of agree with that.
I also learned yesterday that season 5, with the show's next new cast (it has a different cast every two seasons), won't be released until 2022. I'm fine with this, as it is consistent with an already-established pattern: seasons 1 and 2 were 2016 and 2017; they then skipped a year before season 3 came out last year, and then season 4 was 2020. This means an extra-year break in between each turnover cast, which I actually think is helpful, as it helps distance however attached viewers might have been to the previous cast. And as great as both Claire Foy and Olivia Coleman have been each playing Queen Elizabeth II for two seasons, I think next season's casting of Imelda Staunton in the role is truly inspired—as is Lesley Manville for Princess Margaret. I can't wait, but I am also totally on board with it not happening until 2022. Probably the reason has more to do with the pandemic than anything else, but it's a glitch that will work well for the show's overall run, in the end.
Now that I've gotten back into movie reviewing, it's been interesting how the movies available for me to review have come in fits and starts as I do it from home watching them streaming online, no longer able to spread them out more evenly with scheduled showings at movie theaters. Now, there will be a week or two with nothing new and of interest to take a look at; as of right now, last night's movie was the first of five in as many days that I have put on my calendar to watch and review—with a break on Tuesday next week; another movie on Wednesday; a break on Thursday (Thanksgiving); and yet another movie next Friday. So, between last night and next Friday, that's fully seven movies available for me to watch and review, which likely would have been in theaters under normal circumstances, without a pandemic.
Speaking of pandemics, I keep wondering about movies or novels set during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, and my online searches are finding a curious few that have ever been released. That was such a major global event, I can't help but think, how odd—except, perhaps, that the concurrent World War I sucked up all the attention, even though it actually claimed notably fewer lives. I did finally find a novel published in 2013 set during the Spanish Flu in 2018 at the library though, and have put it on my list. I had hoped to find some movies but every list of "movies about pandemics" I can find have only movies focused on cholera or AIDS or polio. Why has nothing been set during the Spanish Flu? Evidently the one notable exception from television was season two of Downton Abbey, which is fascinating to be reminded of, and makes me consider rewatching just that season—except that there is still so much other still-unwatched television to get through.
[posted 12:33 pm]