I Love A Gal With A Headband!!

 Caught up a couple of shows and movies this week and was reminded that, among the many things I love, I have a particular weakness for a pretty girl wearing a headband/hairband in her hair, and whether it be someone like sassy Sophie Thatcher in the sci-fi slasher COMPANION (as the robotic made-to-order girlfriend Iris):

…or svelte Dichen Lachman in the cerebral epic SEVERANCE (as the icy and pensive Miss Casey), that headpiece accessory will always be the kryptonite that reduces me to a simpering fool! 

MY! Don't BOTH of them look Fetching as HELL?!!!

Maybe it’s growing up in the 70’s where it seemed EVERY girl I liked was wearing them or (far more likely) the massive crush I had on Scooby Doo’s Daphne, but it’s a look I just LOVE and it was great to see two such examples this week!

PS: Both the film Companion and the Apple+ series Severance are great and are highly recommended!!! Check 'em out, yo!

"See How They Run"

As I've mentioned a few times here, one of my favorite actresses is the lovely Saiorse Ronan, and I try to make a point of seeing any and EVERY one of her movies as they come out! And while I still haven't had the time to check out her latest flick "FOE" (though I DID read the book and loved it), I did manage to see her 2022 comedy mystery "See How They Run" finally!

Done in the quirky style of Wes Anderson (of whom I also love and of whom Saoirse has made many films with), this is an Agatha Christie type "mystery-within-a mystery" where a cad of a director (Adrien Brody) is killed in a way identical to the Murder Mystery play they are doing.

Sent out to investigate the crime are Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and his assistant Constable Stalker (Saiorse). Like most Christie-type set-ups, this is one of those "room full of suspects" who, while the detectives investigate the scene of the crime, slowly start dropping like flies around them!

While certainly not in the calibre of Anderson, this movie is still fun and very colorful and satisfied my Saiorse Ronan cravings until I can get to see FOE myself!

Entrancing "Poor Things"

 Wowowow, just caught the amazing movie "Poor Things" by eccentric director Yorgos Lanthimos, a movie about which much talk has been buzzing, but let me assure you, the film is WELL worth the PRAISE it is getting!

Starring Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe in a sort of gothic horror fairytale, I first described the movie to friends as a sort of "Tim Burton Meets Guillermo Del Toro", and while there IS a bit of that, you know what the film reminded me of (at least the early half)  was more along the lines of the QUAY BROTHERS with its shaky, macabre imagery and fanciful designs!

We meet brilliant surgeon Godwin Baxter (Dafoe under extreme makeup) conducting his business of medical advancements in the field, while raising a young woman with the seeming mind of a child named Bella. 

Though happy in her secluded life with Dr. Baxter, she is kept a secret from the people of the village and is forbidden from leaving the borders of the house. But Bella is curious about the wide world outside her window and as she grows, becomes more and more frustrated about her virtual confinement.

The overprotection and secrecy by the good doctor is well warranted, however, as we find that Bella is the result of an surgical EXPERIMENT with RE-ANIMATING a recently DECEASED pregnant woman's CORPSE...reactivated with the help of her unborn child's brain put into her head in place of her old damaged one!!

Since then Baxter has raised Bella as his own and, up until recently, she has been content to play in the house and yard. But the outside world is calling, and eventually the wide-eyed woman-child breaks free and is out to explore life as much as her voracious appetite can take!

Indeed, she travels everywhere near and far- from fancy towns and restaurants to sailing the seas to far-off places. We soak in the wondrous, magical places she visits as she does, and little by little, we see the once naive and innocent woman becoming a strong and self assured young lady!

The visuals, the characters, the acting, everything was SO GREAT, and I'm determined to see it again and will DEFINTELY be purchasing it on bluray when and IF it ever DOES!!!

BTW, when Poor Things had first come out, someone had uploaded crude handheld recordings of it online. And while not the way such a film should be viewed, these clips were the first images I saw of the movie and I have to say, the blurry, grainy and shaky camerawork actually ENHANCED the feel of the movie for me. I got a REAL "Nosferatu" vibe from these early clips as it looked like legitimate 1922 film footage! I mean, look at these grabs. Don't they look unsettlingly vintage?!

 I've loved Yorgos Lanthimos other works like "The favorite" and "The Lobster" (though still haven't seen A Killing a a Sacred Deer), but Poor Things is surely his best one YET!!!