10s Movie Review - Mary, Queen of Scots

Director: Josie Rourke
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 124 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, Guy Pearce, David Tennant, Jack Lowden, Joe Alwyn
 
Description: Mary Stuart’s (Saoirse Ronan) attempt to overthrow her cousin Elizabeth I (Margot Robbie), Queen of England, finds her condemned to years of imprisonment before facing execution.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2024 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 8: A FILM FROM A EUROPEAN COUNTRY
 
Review: There is a large group of Scots seeking independence from the British. In the sixteenth century, the two nations sharing an island were formally merged. This was preceded by a long difficult feud between two queens. The protestant Elizabeth preferred to see her northern neighbors fall under her empire, though she had no descendants to take the throne. Neighbor Mary Stuart was Catholic and led the Scots for nearly 15 years after claiming the throne from the English.

Mary had already been widowed after two years of marriage after her French husband lost his life. She returned to her homeland at eighteen, where her brother took over. Mary had no intention of getting married again. She extended an outstretched hand to Elizabeth to deal with each other in peace. In London, people thought very differently. Elizabeth even sent a possible suitor to Edinburgh in hopes of appeasing Mary Queen of Scots.

The film features two strong actresses in the main roles. But it’s a long wait to see Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie eventually share the screen. This encounter produces the most exciting verbal fireworks of this royal biopic. A lot of intrigue, secret agendas and scheming precede it.

You should see this film for the acting alone, Ronan and Robbie are amazing. And it’s a beautifully looking film with good political mindgames.

Rating: 3,5 / 5

Movie Review - See How They Run

Director: Tom George
Genre: Mystery/ Comedy
Runtime: 98 minutes
Year: 2022
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Adrian Brody, Ruth Wilson, David Oyelowo
 
Description: In the West End of 1950s London, plans for a movie version of a smash-hit play come to an abrupt halt after a pivotal member of the crew is murdered.

Review: Thanks to a fine cast and good pace, you’ll fly right through the murder mystery comedy “See How They Run”, which both praises Agatha Christie’s work and makes fun of it.

London, 1953. We open in the West End, the place to be for anyone interested in theater. The play “The Moustrap” is being played for the hundredth time, which is a whodunit by Agatha Christie. American director Leo Kopernick complains: “It’s such a typical detective play”. He is in London preparing for the film version: “If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all”.

Not much later, Leo is found dead in the theater, and that’s where the whodunit starts. Who could have killed Leo? That’s where Inspector Stoppard and rookie partner Constable Stalker come in.

Don’t expect any big surprises in the feature debut from director Tom George. With “See How They Run” he shows how to skillfully seduce the viewer: the setting is beautiful, the cast great and the pace fast. Especially Stoppard and Stalker are a fantastic duo to watch, bickering and clumsy putting the pieces o the puzzle together. Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan, who played these characters, were my favorite thing about the film.

I love a good whodunit. And, in my opinion, “See How They Run” really succeeds. It was highly enjoyable and they actually also had many nods to Agatha Christie, probably the queen of whodunits. To actually feature her as a character is maybe a bit too much, but overall I loved this film. 

Rating: 4/ 5

10s Movie Review - The Way Back

Director: Peter Weir
Genre: Drama/ Adventure
Runtime: 133 minutes
Year: 2010
Starring: Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Saoirse Ronan, Colin Farrell, Mark Strong
Description: Siberian gulag escapees travel four thousand miles by foot to freedom in India.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2022 MOVIE CHALLGEN
WEEK 40: A WAR MOVIE
 
Review: Australian director Peter Weir doesn’t make that many films anymore. The man behind such modern classics as “Dead Poets Society” and “The Truman Show” delivers “The Way Back”. At the point of release, it’s only the second film in 12 years. And while this film about an epic, inhuman hike once demonstrates Weir’s craftmanship, “The Way Back” lacks just that little bit extra to turn a good film into an unforgettable one.

“The Way Back” is based on a true story recorded by Polish lieutenant Slavomir Rawicz in “The Long Walk”. In this book, Rawicz describes how, as a prisoner, he escaped from a Siberian gulag and embarked on a harsh journey, from Siberia through Mongolia and finally ending up in India after crossing the Himalayas. A journey of more than six thousand kilometers.

Ever since the publication of this book, in 1956, there have been doubts about the veracity of Rawicz’s story. Indeed, no evidence of it has been found, and it remains to be seen whether he could ever have managed to escape from the gulag where he was imprisoned. In the end, Peter Weir decided to dedicate the film to three unknown survivors who would have made such a journey, and to build the rest of the film around the book and present it as a fictional story in order to avoid controversy.

It was expected beforehand that “The Way Back” would become a major Oscar favotie because of the epic nature of the film and because six-time Oscar nominee Weir has never won the award before. It soon becomes clear, however, that the film cannot quite live up to those expectations. This has nothing to do with the good direction or excellent actors, but more to do with the screenplay that pays too little attention to the mutual group dynamics of the prisoners who undertake the journey together.

It's hard to keep a film without some form of conflict interesting, and while “The Way Back” does a nice job, it’s a shame that 133 minutes of little happens other than a long hike. Even when, in time, a young girl (well played by Saoirse Ronan), joins the group and forms a bond with the oldest member of the group (Ed Harris).

This all makes for a pretty straightforward film. A group of people with just one goal and the entire film is devoted to that goal. Good, but not great.

Rating: 3, 5/ 5

Movie Review - The French Dispatch

Director: Wes Anderson
Genre: Drama/ Comedy
Runtime: 108 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Léa Seydoux, Timothée Chalamet, Christoph Waltz, Saoirse Ronan, Jeffrey Writgh, Anjelica Huston, Adrien Brody, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Tilda Swinton, Elisabeth moss, Benicio Del Toro, Rupert Friend, Frances McDormand, Liev Schreiber, Henry Winkler, Jason Schwartzman, Mathieu Amalric, Bob Balaban

Description: A love letter to journalists set in an outpost of an American newspaper in a fictional twentieth century French city that brings to life a collection of stories published in “The French Dispatch Magazine”.

Review: Wes Anderson’s exuberant cinematic world I immediately recognizable to any film lover. With symmetrical compositions, use of color palettes, and ensemble of top actors and extremely detailed sets, Anderson brings somewhat melancholy stories to life in a comical way. This is no different in “The French Dispatch”, with the difference that with even more detail is has become an extremely enjoyable maze of stories and sets. With his latest film, Wes Anderson manages to make at least three full-length feature films in less than two hours. “The French Dispatch” contains an unprecedented wealth of references, styles, locations, details and fun.
With his new film, Anderson simultaneously pays tribute to The New Yorker magazine and his hometown of Paris. In the fictional town of Ennui-sur-Blasé, the editorial staff of The French Dispatch magazine is followed. The film takes the structure of one of the magazine’s issues and the delves into several stories. This magazine contains and obituary, a travel story, and three longer main articles. These articles tell of a student uprising, a painter in prison, and a culinary reviewer who goes to a police station to taste chef Nescaffier’s food.
In “The Grand Budapest Hotel”, Wes Anderson already worked successfully with frame narratives. Once again, the various narrative perspectives flow freely through each other. Yet the whole remains an extremely coherent story. Scenes follow one another at a fast pace, without ever running out of steam. All of these different storylines are also full of humor and extremely interesting stylistic choices.
Everything seems possible again in Anderson’s world. For example, there is a chase scene that takes place entirely in an animation style. In “The Grand Budapest Hotel” there was already a chase made in stop-motion. This break in style does not detract from the film at all. This animation is yet another fantastically thought-out ingredient in this mishmash of influences and styles.  
Wes Anderson not only creates a labyrinth with a multitude of styles and storylines. The sets are also more of a maze than ever. When culinary reporter Roebucj Wright arrives at the police station, it consist of an incredible number of rooms. The camera follows Roebuck through all these rooms with their own identity. In half a minute countless details pass by.
“The French Dispatch” is a declaration of love to cinema from which the passion for the medium shines. It contains everything that makes film such a fantastic art form: complex storylines, a unique visual style and a constant play with light, color, movement and sound. “The French Dispatch” is yet another highlight in Wes Anderson’s already impressive oeuvre and an outstanding form of cinema.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

10s Movie Review - Brooklyn

Director: John Crowley
Genre: Drama/ Romance
Runtime: 111 minutes
Year: 2015
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen, Domhnall Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters

Description: Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) is an Irish immigrant in 1950s Brooklyn, where she quickly falls into a romance with Tony (Emory Cohen). When her past catches up with her, however, she must choose between two countries and the lives that exist within.

Review: “Brooklyn” didn’t win any Oscars, but with three nominations in the major categories, it did stand out. With her Irish background, the New York-based Saoirse Ronan seems to have been born to play Eilis Lacey in the film adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s novel on emigration. The quiet and unworldly girl grows up in a conservative Irish village, where she lives with her lonely sister and mother. Not long after her bitchy boss complains about daughters leaving their mothers behind, she gets the chance to go to New York and build a new life. Once on the boat to the continent, Eilis loses her sense of home and ends up in a duel between promising America and her heritage in Ireland, personified by the two potential life partners Tony Fiorello and Jim Farrell. One a simple plumber from Brooklyn, the other a wealthy man with a bright future who is left a big country house by his parents.
On the surface, “Brooklyn” seems to be a romantic film about a girl who has to choose between lovers on either side of the ocean, but essentially it’s about a new start, maturing and the choice between an uncertain future and a safe past. Emory Cohen plays Tony, a jovial New Yorker who fully surrenders to Eilis. Domhnall Gleeson is the more conservative yet trusted Irish boy who never left his country. Both have a credible chemistry with Eilis, but also face a much greater choice in her life.
The way “Brooklyn” is filmed, is subdued. Romantic and humorous scenes are subtle and regularly appeal to the imagination by implying rather than explaining. For example, Eilis struggles to change clothes on an American beach before she later confidently shows her New York bathing suit to her Irish friends. The arguments here are short and the visual jokes quick, but the situations say enough about Eilis.
In general, the controlled tone offers a rustic charm compared to the frenzy of modern love stories. Saoirse Ronan knows how to deal with this and plays her role convincingly: introverted and susceptible when she is overwhelmed by a completely new world. Then to be much more steadfast in her success or, on the contrary, vulnerable in the tear-jerking moments that feel sincere and never melodramatic. The supporting actors also fit perfectly into their surroundings of sober Ireland and proud America, where Eilis is always trapped.
This contrast is further accentuated by the impressive cinematography, set design and costume design. New York in the 1950s looks amazing. Compared to the somewhat grey Ireland, New York brings pastel colors and lively and picturesque streets. They form a seductive world for the young Eilis.
“Brooklyn” is a thematically strong drama, especially thanks to the nuanced interplay of a balanced cast and the beautiful production design. The romantic story cleverly conveys the feeling of emigration, has an impressive protagonist with Saoirse Ronan and carefully depicts the two places that tear the heart of Eilis apart. A beautiful fairytale story about homesickness.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

Movie Reviews - Lady Bird

Director: Greta Gerwig
Genre: Drama/ Comedy
Runtime: 94 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Jordan Rodrigues, Odeya Rush

Description: In 2002, an artistically inclined seventeen-year-old girl (Saoirse Ronan) comes of age in Sacramento, California.

Review: What do you want to be when you grow up? Many people who are on their dead bed don’t even know the answer to that question. But for some it’s clear very early on in which direction their life is going. For some it’s an eternal search. Teenager Lady Bird is somewhere in between. But can you blame other fort his?
Actress Greta Gerwig already wrote a handful of screenplays and made her directorial debut about a decade ago. But with “Lady Bird” she shows herself as a true filmmaker. The central character in this coming-of-age story is teenager Lady Bird and her search for her purpose in life. And her relationship with her mother is a big part of that. One moment they are listening to an audiobook together in the car, filled with emotion. The next minute, Lady Bird throws herself out of that car after a discussion with her mom.
She is actually called Christine, but because she is bored of the dull life in Sacramento, she decides to give herself the name Lady Bird.
The quest for adulthood is a common given in movies, because it makes room for character development. And that’s something that keeps a dramedy interesting. But in “Lady Bird” everything falls into the right place. And not only because of Greta Gerwig. Also actress Saoirse Ronan, who plays the title role.
“Lady Bird” is not the kind of film with rigorous twists or melodramatic changes and happenings. And this all makes this film very relatable. And Gerwig doesn’t force a moral on you either.
Not only Ronan deserves praise. Also her movie mom, played by Laurie Metcalfe, deserves to be mentioned.
“Lady Bird” is an excellent coming-of-age story, very well performed by Ronan and Metcalfe and a great director Greta Gerwig.

Rating: 4 / 5

10s Movie Review - Loving Vincent

Director: Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman
Genre: Animation/ Drama
Runtime: 95 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Douglas Booth, Josh Burdett, Holly Earl, Robin Hidges, Chris O’Dowd, John Session, Helen McCrory, Eleanor Tomlinson, Aidan Turner, Saoirse Ronan, Joe Stuckey, James Greene, Martin Herdman, Bill Thomas

Description: In a story depicted in oil painted animation, a young man comes to the last hometown of painter Vincent van Gogh to deliver the troubled artist's final letter and ends up investigating his final days there.

Review: The works of Vincent van Gogh are recognizable. They used Van Gogh’s paintings for “Loving Vincent”, the first hand painted movie.
I always appreciate and respect people who make animated movies. Hand drawn, computer animations, stop motion, claymation, it always leaves me thinking about all the work, love and passion that went into the project. For “Loving Vincent” it took 125 painters to create about 65 000 frames for this 95 minute animation.
For the story, they mixed truth and fiction. We meet the son of Van Gogh’s mailman, who has to deliver the painter’s last letter a year after his death, to his brother Theo. The young man, Armand, travels to Paris to investigate Van Gogh’s legacy.
When it comes to styles, it’s divided in two parts. The here and now is based on Van Gogh’s painting style. Flashbacks are shown un black and white drawings/ paintings. This last isn’t Van Gogh’s style.
The film is being very clever in ‘thinking outside the frame’ so to say, to imagine what happened outside the frames of Van Gogh’s masterful paintings. And how it would have looked from someone else’s point of view.
The result is a dynamic film, where Van Gogh’s paintings show an unique world. This is combined with an educating and exciting story. I really want to see a making-of of this film, because this cost so much effort and energy.

Rating: 4/ 5

00s Movie Review - The Lovely Bones

Director: Peter Jackson
Genre: Drama/ Thriller/ Crime/ Fantasy
Runtime: 135 minutes
Year: 2009
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Michael Imperioli

Description: Centers on a young girl (Saoirse Ronan) who has been murdered and watches over her family - and her killer - from purgatory. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.

Review: “The Lovely Bones” sows that last days of Susie Salmon’s life and her first steps into heaven. Susan is a 14 year old girl, who dreams of becoming a photographer. Her life abruptly ends when she is brutally murdered. Her parents start a search for the killer. Meanwhile, Susie is in the ‘inbetween’, a place where the dead end up when they aren’t ready for heaven yet. And she watches how her father becomes obsessive in his search for the man who killed his daughter.
The film looks magical, the ‘inbetween’ looks beautiful.
Stanley Tucci and Saoirse Ronan are the two highlights of the film. Both performances are solid and strong. Ronan fits the dream world perfectly and Tucci is creepy as the sinister Harvey. He gets totally lost in his role and it’s really hard to imagine someone else in this role.
The tempo of the film is not that solid though. Sometimes it’s fast paced, sometimes it’s a bit of a drag. And the tone of the film sometimes switches too, which makes it a bit messy here and there. This doesn’t fit the dreamy world at all.
It’s really hard to rate this film, because it’s a really beautiful movie. It looks gorgeous and has some really good performances. And the story is beautiful as well. But there are some inconsistencies here and there. A case of ‘the book was better’ is in place here, but I still really enjoyed the film.

Rating: 3,5 / 5

Movie Favorites: Atonement

Synopsis: When Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan), 13 years old and an aspiring writer, sees her older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and Robbie Turner (James McAvoy) at the fountain in front of the family estate she misinterprets what is happening thus setting into motion a series of misunderstandings and a childish pique that will have lasting repercussions for all of them. Robbie is the son of a family servant toward whom the family has always been kind. They paid for his time at Cambridge and now he plans on going to medical school. After the fountain incident, Briony reads a letter intended for Cecilia and concludes that Robbie is a deviant. When her cousin Lola is raped, she tells the police that it was Robbie she saw committing the deed.

 

Unique Selling Point: The movie is based on a best-selling novel and it stays very close to the source. It’s a romantic drama, set during world war II, with secrets, lies and betrayal as important themes.

Most Valuable Player: Saoirse Ronan as young Briony Tallis. She is fantastic and overshadows her very experienced co-stars.

Best Moment: The moment where Cecilia and Robbie meet up at the fountain. We get to see their version and how Briony sees it.

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 15: The Host

Director: Andrew Niccol
Genre: Science Fiction/ Thriller/ Romance
Runtime: 127 minutes
Year: 2013
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Diane Kruger, Max Irons, Jake Abel, William Hurt

Description: When an unseen enemy threatens mankind by taking over their bodies and erasing their memories, Melanie (Saoirse Ronan) will risk everything to protect the people she cares most about, proving that love can conquer all in a dangerous new world.

Review: After the Twilight saga ended, author Stephenie Meyer had one more book that could be turned into a movie. Andrew Niccol, who we know from “Lord of War” and “In Time” was given the task to direct “The Host”.
The story is set in the future where mankind is taken over by parasites called Souls. They mean well and are convinced to help people in times of war and hunger. Melanie Stryder is one of the last humans, but is also taken over by one of the Souls. But the human in her is still very strong and she finds a way to work together with the Soul.
Like “Twilight” the young actors have the biggest roles in the story and a love triangle is present. That makes this movie more like a paranormal version of “Twilight’. The storyline is like “Invasion of the Body Snatcher”, but it never grabs you like the 1978 movie did. The movie is slow at times, because they are trying to create some character development. They never succeed in making us love the characters.
Saoirse Ronan plays her role well, but that annoying voice-over in her hear is a real burden. Unfortunately it’s necessary for the story. Diane Kruger and William Hurt don’t disappoint either, but the rest of the actors are forgettable.
“The Host” is the victim of a badly executed scenario, which already wasn’t strong as a novel. There is absolutely no tension and this movie feels like it takes forever to end. At some points it was so boring and ridiculous, I just wasn’t entertained.

Rating: 1,5/ 5