That’s not the start of a bad joke, but three movies I saw during a wild week of Hurricane Milton.
An Irish Gal…actually the movie’s THE OUTRUN and stars Saoirse Ronan in the made from memoir book The Outrun by Amy Lyptrot. The English teacher in me says the book was better than the movie BUT, that’s not to say it wasn’t moving.
Director Nora Fingscheidt co-wrote the script with the author and hired Yunus Roy Imer as cinematographer, a giant job considering they filmed on the remote island of Orkney North of Scotland.
I think the film was a little too skippy in its movement from moment to moment. So perhaps a better editor next time around. Saoirse was amazing though as the woman battling alcohol addiction by grasping nature with all its power and challenges.
A Joker…as in The Joker Folie A Deux, which is an acutal psychiatric condition by which someone’s obsession links them with another person’s condition. My son hated it, Tim Dillon (who had a cameo) ranted about it, but since the soundtrack was mainly a 70’s deal, I didn’t detest it, merely thought it was an actual indictment of our horrible penal system. Again songs like Carpenter’s Close to You and the Bee Gees To Love Somebody go straight to my heart. But agreed, the story went nowhere, and one more time for good measure: going nowhere is what happens to people who are sentenced to long term penalties. But I’m no softy, I’d re-instate the death penalty for murder and rehabilitate all the rest.
An NBC Exec…as in Willem Dafoe’s character Dave Tebet in SATURDAY NIGHT who threatens Lorne Michaels (played by Gabriel LaBelle-who also played Steven Speilberg in his bio-pic) in the story of the very first night of Saturday Night Live. The movie was interesting in managing a HUGE cast and keeping the pacing frenetic. We don’t get too many moments we can hang onto (seems to be a trend this year, ala Megalopolis), but the characters while too many, were well drawn. My faves: Belushi (Matt Wood), Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith), Milton Berle (JK Simmons) and Rachel Sennet (Lorne’s then wife Rosie Shuster).
