Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation blah blah blah is a new installment in the Suicide Squad group of movies, that remarkably after this will be adding a third installment called Suicide Squad to be released next year.
Hard to describe this any more than just being a mess. Margot Robbie is a talent and can steal scenes but she is given so little to work with in this movie. The plot is that she has broken up with The Joker, once and for all, and she takes it hard. She does something silly in hindsight which makes her a target for many people who avoided her when she was under the protection of said Joker. There is police (Rosie Perez) and other villians, notably Ewan McGregor’s Roman Sionis. The title refers to Birds of Prey which becomes the end result of all of this. Three other women who come together in Gotham to seemingly act as vigilantes. Not sure that I would classify them as superheroes, although when the one does her version of extreme singing, you may look upon that as a unique skill (which it most definitely is). In the end, although Robbie can work well with the right material, and she has no lack of work these days, this string of projects isn’t the best place for her talents.
I re-watched The Imitation Game this weekend and will continue to contend that it is one of the best films of this decade. It should have won Best Picture. It is strange times indeed when a country and its justice system treats a war hero (Alan Turing) as a criminal, and resorts to hormone therapy against him. What a tragedy! Great performances by Keira Knightley and Benedict Cumberbatch. The whole cast was well suited and showed how they all pulled off the greatest victory in the war effort, with the end explaining that it saved two years of more war and lives. The Queen has recently pardoned Alan Turing, but it seems rather empty for a man who created the basis for modern day computing.
I also re-watched Silver Linings Playbook this weekend and think the performance of Jennifer Lawrence is spot on, and deserved the Best Actress award. It makes me pause however, knowing that BOTH The Imitation Game and Silver Linings were Harvey Weinstein projects. How does Jennifer Lawrence go from obscurity (Winter’s Bone in 2010) to a twice Oscar winner? In truth I don’t really want to think about it long, since I respect and admire her talents although her recent projects haven’t been as good as her earlier choices (Red Sparrow, Mother! and Passengers were all not very good). Yes this story is a bit schmaltzy and too perfect with the parlay and the dancing competition but it is good. Still they are a group of people that I wouldn’t want to share a dinner. A few too many challenges there. These days with very little content out, re-watching some quality past films is fun to pass the time.
Mondays With Robbie 