Marcus Aurelius' garbled dream

Somewhere in the middle of the movie Gladiator 2, somebody makes the eponymous quote for the umpteenth time - "Marcus Aurelius had a dream that was Rome"... To which somebody speaks up and says.... "And what was the dream again?"

And that, to my mind, is the essence of the movie. Good visual effects, great in parts, as may be expected. Some very riveting action sequences. Paul Mescal as the Gladiator lacks the intensity and charisma of Russell Crowe (but admittedly a tough act to follow so lets cut him some slack). But overall we have no sense of gravitas or purpose. The difficult circumstances that brought Hanno aka Lucius to the arena do not seem to be reflected in his periodic grinning.

We lose all hope in screenplay - especially in the second half - that is resplendent more of Age of Empires than serious intrigue, and interspersed with characters like Ravi (the doctor from Varanasi who is communicating between two Roman armies). Or the key character Macrinus (Denzel Washington), who suddenly, in a paroxysm of ambition, takes on the mission of overthrowing the Roman monarchy altogether. All in all, extremely confusing second half.

But well, given the movie is so close to my heart and that of a few kindred men, I would still say go and watch the movie. Do not expect this movie to hold a candle to Gladiator 1 in any manner, but rather a very different movie, a very light Gen Z-style Gladiator Lite version 

14/20

Beast Noir

It seems The Beast (La Bete (French)) is a movie that's very hard to describe. We have Lea Seydoux. Across 3 entirely different existences. And the doomed relationship with a man who is obsessed with her. And the pigeon that is the harbinger of death.

It is not easy to understand what this movie is about. But one thing is clear. There are certain memories that are in the minds of Leah. Well into the distant future. And the AI works at clearing off those memories, creating an unique noir fateful spectacle...A one-of-a-kind movie, hard to describe. This is not entertainment, this is stream of consciousness prose.

15.5/20

The Civilized Wild

 Wikipedia prefaces The Wild Robot as a survival film. I think it is a coming-of-age film. A robot – Rozzum (Roz) 7134 (Lupita Nyongo) is shipwrecked on an island wilderness. Looking for a controller, Roz figures out the ways of animals and their language too, but draws no empathy except from a somewhat conniving fox Fink (Pedro Pascal). An unlikely bond with a gosling – Brightbill (Kit Connor) – leads to the formal definition of a mission objective – to teach Brightbill to eat, to swim and to fly – in other words to be a parent. But bringing up a gosling much like bringing up a human child is no easy task, and both the robot regimen as well as the formative gosling undergo a makeover and find some true sense of purpose and lives well led. An interesting watch, expectedly heartwarming, good for a break, not a Dreamworks masterpiece

14.5/20

The Revisitation

Someone said that the greatness of the Alien franchise lies in continuous re-invention. Alien Romulus is an installment after some gap - in 2142 a space probe investigates what looks like the abandoned USCSS Nostromo. As expected they run into the xenomorphs at some point - what you perhaps do not expect are a young protagonist (Rain - Cailee Spaeny) who is trying to escape the servitude of her current assignment and escape to the planet Yvaga, a synth (Andy - David Jonsson) with the calmest of demeanors that belies its cold calculating self, and Rook - a synth aboard the spacecraft with an exceedingly conflicted primary directive. I do not recall the Alien franchise - not Gravity - demonstrating the law of conservation of linear momentum to dodge xenomorph acid in zero gravity stasis. Also the last fifteen or so minutes traverse an entirely different genre - perhaps a new strain of sci fi mutant horror in the series. This is no Doom or Quake style FPS through the corridors of a spacecraft. It is less frenetic, more deliberative, no less ruthless and amoral, and in the end also a survival story with a fresh cast, fresh science and a fresh outlook

16.5/20

Mira-cles

The sleeper hit you know nothing about. Lera (Veronica Ustimova) on earth, with her father Valeri (Anatoliy Beliy) in space. A meteor shower gone all wrong in Eastern Siberia. Lera fights for her life instructed by her father from the space station . Mira is a no holds barred massacre on earth, teenage angst, survival and self discovery. On Prime Video and a must watch for sci fi fans. And yes IMDB ratings aren't everything - especially for a Russian movie 🙃

16.5/20

Finding Character

Finding oneself is a journey, and even Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) hides low self-esteem and ADHD behind layers and layers of trash talk. A used car salesman with all of nine people in his life – Deadpool gets transported to a different timeline to find the Anchor Being (Wolverine (Hugh Jackman)) – however the instance of the multiverse where this rather tenuous association between Deadpool and Wolverine is to be is called the Void – a Mad Max-esque (with credits) world where one Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin) turns out to be the arch-villain. With many other characters such as X23 (Dafne Keen), Elektra (Jennifer Garner), The Human Torch (Chris Evans) and Gambit (Channing Tatum) in tow. Adequately entertaining, with a reasonable storyline and engaging renditions of 70’s and 80’s music (think Like a Prayer to Time of Your Life), this is saving the hackneyed Marvel franchise – for now. As with the multiverse and our timeline in the story. High marks for energy

15.5/20

Please let Anxiety go

Here I was in the movie hall, overcome with emotion, thinking of how universal a correlation between retaining all your memories - good and bad - and coping skills i.e. not being overwhelmed with anxiety - is. Anxiety is a keeper - its protective instinct is just as strong as joy and/ or anger. But coupled with the other new cast of characters post-puberty - ennui, jealousy, disgust, embarrassment - anxiety is just about the one thing that becomes too much to cope with - whether you are a parent or a child. And sometimes in the face of a lot of new real-world emotions on the way to adulthood, we need to find more of our childhood selves including coming to terms with our failures and the possibilities therein - to learn to cope and to believe that we are not only "good persons" but that we come in many shades and that it is ok. Inside Out 2 is a brilliant watch and Disney hits it out of the park by extending the "sadness" attribute to "anxiety" - and a lot more nuanced and with no loss of universality

17.5/20

Face your Fears

So you want to watch a horror movie. Not all of us are able or willing to commit a few hours, step out to (not exactly family stuff), savour some slow and ominous buildup, and duly get freaked out multiple times. Where is the space for the quick horror fix? the one that looks for the fear that is inherent in daily life? How do you feel when you are the sole person, in the dead of the night, in a train compartment, and alight in a deserted station? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue0sTfVaeTw) How well can you trust in the early days of a relationship? Who is freaking out whom? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wghdBOIH6sA) Who else is the third wheel with amorous roommates? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXQhcKk7Q2c) What if the worst fears over a date came true (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8Mpv5QvhIg) ... and what if you cannot even imagine what a "bad date" can be (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzVyCuvj1_s)... It is in the mastery of the mundane - the mild fear turning into an unspeakable terror - that creators on Alter (https://www.youtube.com/@WatchALTER) and Screamfest (https://www.youtube.com/@screamfestla) - Youtube channels - excel. Do you scratch when you itch? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toeG9OWeqdU&t=664s) Do you let in trick-or-treating children in hoodies? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zipj8eXcclk). Highly recommend getting out of the comfort zone, making good use of free time as opposed to long essays, and supporting some truly inspired if unknown creators

16.5/20