MARCH 2020 - FILMS (CINEMA)

A few films viewed before the cinemas closed their doors ........ a feel good shaggy dog story, disgust and outrage at corporate America, a tense drama and a peculiar horror film, prompting the question - WTF was that all about?

Dark Waters (2019)

You have to scratch your head and wonder about companies that prize profit over people... knowingly poisoning a town's water and it's own employees - WTF! Has Mark Ruffalo ever been in better form? I doubt it.

A film to make you righteously angry.

From Wikipedia.......

Dark Waters is a 2019 American legal thriller film directed by Todd Haynes and written by Mario Correa and Matthew Michael Carnahan. The story dramatizes Robert Bilott's case against the chemical manufacturing corporation DuPont after they contaminated a town with unregulated chemicals. It stars Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins, Bill Camp, Victor Garber, Mare Winningham, William Jackson Harper, and Bill Pullman.

The film is based on the 2016 New York Times Magazine article "The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare" by Nathaniel Rich. Parts of the story were also reported by Mariah Blake, whose 2015 article "Welcome to Beautiful Parkersburg, West Virginia" was a National Magazine Award finalist, and Sharon Lerner, whose series "Bad Chemistry" ran in The Intercept. Bilott also wrote a memoir, Exposure, detailing his 20-year legal battle against DuPont.

Dark Waters was theatrically released in a limited capacity on November 22, 2019, by Focus Features, and went wide on December 6, 2019. The film received positive reviews from critics and has grossed $21 million.

The Lighthouse (2019)

A strange one to be sure....... isolation, disconnection and a slow descent into madness while surrounded by ever increasing squallor. Willem Defoe and Robert Pattinson are extremely intense. I wouldn't say I necessarily enjoyed it, but I'm glad I watched it. At least I won't die wondering.

From Wikipedia......

The Lighthouse is a 2019 psychological horror film directed and produced by Robert Eggers, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Max Eggers. An international co-production of the United States and Canada, the film was shot in black-and-white with a 1.19:1 aspect ratio. It stars Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson as two lighthouse keepers who start to lose their sanity when a storm strands them on the remote island where they are stationed.

According to Eggers, although the final story bears little resemblance to Edgar Allan Poe's fragment "The Light-House", the film began as an attempt by his brother Max Eggers to do a contemporary take on the Poe story. When the project stalled, Eggers offered to work with his brother and the project evolved into a period thriller with the Poe elements largely removed. Dafoe and Pattinson were cast as the lead characters in February 2018. Principal photography began on April 9, 2018, and lasted a total of 34 days in Leif Erikson Park in Cape Forchu, Nova Scotia, Canada, and inside a hangar at Yarmouth International Airport in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

The film had its world premiere at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival on May 19, and was theatrically released on October 18, 2019, by A24. The film was praised for its technical aspects (notably the cinematography and production design), Eggers' screenplay and direction, and the performances of the leads. It was nominated for Best Cinematography at the 92nd Academy Awards.

The Invisible Man (2020)

Another extremely tense edge of the seat drama. Elisabeth Moss is very good, as per usual. She always seems to be downtrodden and a victim in her roles. I loved her in The Handmaid's Tale.

From Google....

After staging his own suicide, a crazed scientist uses his power to become invisible to stalk and terrorize his ex-girlfriend. When the police refuse to believe her story, she decides to take matters into her own hands and fight back.

The Call of the Wild (2020)

I read the book by Jack London a few years back - thoughts here. Long enough ago that I couldn't say whether the film is faithful to the story, but I did really enjoy this. Harrison Ford is very good. What's not to like about a film about a dog with spirit and intelligence in abundance?

From Google.......

Buck is a big-hearted dog whose blissful domestic life gets turned upside down when he is suddenly uprooted from his California home and transplanted to the exotic wilds of the Alaskan Yukon in the 1890s. As the newest rookie on a mail-delivery dog sled team, Buck experiences the adventure of a lifetime as he ultimately finds his true place in the world.


Ranking top to bottom
1 Dark Waters
2 The Call of the Wild
3 The Invisible Man
4 The Lighthouse