svrowell

While I was watching 'Thelma', I kept thinking how awful it could have been in lesser hands. Luckily, though, it's in greater hands, with the perfect amount of, and approach to, being emotionally engaging; and humour that's very true to the situation of being around old people, and being old, but never cliched, and is also funny about many other things (shoutout to the bonkers 'Annie' musical scene). Why 'Thelma' wasn't showered with Oscars, I will never know - at the very least, June Squibb and Richard Roundtree should have been shoo-ins. On the other hand, giving a great performance is more important than a stupid Oscar, so that's some comfort. The rest of the cast were also great. Huge congratulations to all involved!

I feel like I only ever write IMDb reviews when I'm fired up about things being insufficiently appreciated, which is as good a reason as any, I guess. Anyway, I only just watched Hope Gap and found it much more complex and affecting than I had expected, to be honest. Annette Bening gives one of her best performances, as a truly complex, fascinating character. I'd assumed she would be a two-dimensional saintly abandoned woman but this was very far from the truth - she is borderline scary as a human but still someone you feel for, very much. Hope Gap is uplifting as much as it is sad, but never in a cliched way. And even though it's about a marriage breakup, it's colourful - not the usual cliche of dreary English surrounds in autumn/winter to match the topic. It looks beautiful.

I have been obsessed with. T. R. Baskin (which is the name I know this movie under) since I saw it as a midday movie when I was a kid. I know it wasn't well reviewed on its release, being one of the occasions when even the great Pauline Kael got it grievously wrong (see also The Accidental Tourist, to name but one other example). Anyway, Candice Bergen is fantastic, going from cool as a cucumber to vulnerable in a completely believable way, plus making a fine fist of the script's many, many zingers. James Caan is also excellent, and Peter Boyle is wonderful - funny and touching, in a memorable performance. This is yet another movie that has subtleties that seem to be beyond even a lot of intelligent people and, in my experience, once seen, it is never forgotten. I would give anything to know what happened to TR - my guess is she either became a valium-addicted housewife because she ended up, in desperation, marrying some idiot; or she became an acclaimed author, whose life got better with every passing decade.