The Imitation Game and Big Eyes: Reviews
Caroline is spending the weekend with her big sister Gwen so Peter and I decided to go see some films that might not be appropriate for Caroline or might bore her to tears.
The first is the Imitation Game, which is up for a number of Oscars and each nod is deserved.
It is a telling of the story of Alan Turing who is considered by many to be the father of the modern computer and his involvement with the Enigma machine. But it is also about the man himself and the enigma that was Alan Turing.
This film is beautifully directed and filmed with strong performances across the board. Mr. Cumberbatch rightly deserves his nomination for this role and what he did with it. Ms. Knightly is also brilliant and well deserving of her nomination. I really hope that they are cast in another film together because they work well off of each other.
They did take liberties with Mr. Turing’s life putting things in odd orders and making him more of an anti-social genius than he really was. That would be the anti-social part not the genius part because Mr. Turing was a genius. They did not whitewash his homosexuality or what happened to him later in life. The ending of the film is painful to watch and it should be.
I do think that the large screen gives it scope that it will be robbed of on the smaller screen.
The second film is Big Eyes about Margaret Keane and her husband Walter Keane and the painting that Margaret Keane painted that Walter Keane took credit for.
I remember back in 1986 when this went to trial so I was interested in what Tim Burton was going to do with it since he is a big fan of Margaret Keane and owns a number of her original pieces.
Give credit to Mr. Burton, he was pretty even handed with it. And more credit to Christoph Waltz whose performance of Walter Keane was masterful and a crying shame he was not nominated for an Oscar for this.
The bigger crime was not nominating Amy Adams for the powerhouse performance as Margaret Keane. She does more with a look than I have seen many actors do with pages of dialogue explaining their feelings about the matter. Also Terrance Stamp continues to amaze me with his ability to do a lot with a little.
I think this is the best thing Mr. Burton has done this century. Yes, there are one or two Burton-esque touches to the piece but they don’t throw you out of the film but comment on the character who is seeing them.
This one isn’t as critical to see on the big screen. I think it will translate well to the large TVs we all seem to own but if you like Tim Burton’s Ed Wood, this is the film for you.
I am grateful for two really good films that both entertained and got me thinking.
The first is the Imitation Game, which is up for a number of Oscars and each nod is deserved.
It is a telling of the story of Alan Turing who is considered by many to be the father of the modern computer and his involvement with the Enigma machine. But it is also about the man himself and the enigma that was Alan Turing.
This film is beautifully directed and filmed with strong performances across the board. Mr. Cumberbatch rightly deserves his nomination for this role and what he did with it. Ms. Knightly is also brilliant and well deserving of her nomination. I really hope that they are cast in another film together because they work well off of each other.
They did take liberties with Mr. Turing’s life putting things in odd orders and making him more of an anti-social genius than he really was. That would be the anti-social part not the genius part because Mr. Turing was a genius. They did not whitewash his homosexuality or what happened to him later in life. The ending of the film is painful to watch and it should be.
I do think that the large screen gives it scope that it will be robbed of on the smaller screen.
The second film is Big Eyes about Margaret Keane and her husband Walter Keane and the painting that Margaret Keane painted that Walter Keane took credit for.
I remember back in 1986 when this went to trial so I was interested in what Tim Burton was going to do with it since he is a big fan of Margaret Keane and owns a number of her original pieces.
Give credit to Mr. Burton, he was pretty even handed with it. And more credit to Christoph Waltz whose performance of Walter Keane was masterful and a crying shame he was not nominated for an Oscar for this.
The bigger crime was not nominating Amy Adams for the powerhouse performance as Margaret Keane. She does more with a look than I have seen many actors do with pages of dialogue explaining their feelings about the matter. Also Terrance Stamp continues to amaze me with his ability to do a lot with a little.
I think this is the best thing Mr. Burton has done this century. Yes, there are one or two Burton-esque touches to the piece but they don’t throw you out of the film but comment on the character who is seeing them.
This one isn’t as critical to see on the big screen. I think it will translate well to the large TVs we all seem to own but if you like Tim Burton’s Ed Wood, this is the film for you.
I am grateful for two really good films that both entertained and got me thinking.