Went to see
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri two days ago. I must say I'm pretty disappointed with the movie. It was a complete tonal mess, had a very obvious manner of handling character dialogue and dramatic moments that often felt either hamfisted, sentimentally manipulative, or both. The scene with the deer? Ridiculous and unconvincing. The scene where she scolds the priest? Feels like the director pressing pause on the movie to deliver a self-rightous rant. The movie feels like a less witty, less poignant version of what Tarantino or the Coen Brothers do when at their best. This McDonaugh fellow (the director & writer of this movie) seemingly has a tin-ear for dialogue.
It's also interesting how some people hold up McDormand's character as an anti hero, when it's clear she was a completely unhinged, psychopathic *******. Maybe that's how she was supposed to be read? As a terrible person who legitimizes all her actions by virtue of her grief.
Many have framed the movie as some sort of political allegory for current day USA, but it's a horribly hamfisted one at best and I think the movie is... kind of... terrible...? Maybe not quite that, but I don't think its good.
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And the other movie I saw most recently: The Man In the Iron Mask. The 1976 version, starring Richard Chamberlain, Ian Holm and more. Aside from how it arguably didn't have much of an aesthetic to it (it's very plainly lit, shot and edited), I found it quite involving. Right from the first scene, where our main character is abducted from his home by armed guards, I was feeling invested in the story. Quite a simple old tale, really, with a sort of silly "let me explain my clever plan to you, the villain. This is how I tricked you! Hah! In your face!" ending that wrapped the movie up nicely but wasn't really the most dramatically stirring climax of any movie ever made.
Still, a good movie to watch if you want to experience that old literary classic in movie form. As with many movies of this sort, I'm now curious about what other movies exist that base themselves on the same book. It was good, but perhaps this movie is not the best version filmed?