the ocean

I've been catching up on my movies lately. I finally saw the new Star Wars, for one thing. I've never been that super into the franchise, but I thought it was pretty good. They did a good job playing on the fact that Adam Driver is super punchable, and I thought the plot moved at a nice pace. It as comforting to see Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher in something that didn't reek of desperation again, and the new characters avoided Jar Jar Binks levels of awfulness. I'm still kind of wondering why they can't come up with a plot that doesn't involve the need to destroy some giant weapon, but it's not like I really turn to CGI space fantasies for script innovation, anyway.

I watched Carol on the airplane coming back from Europe, which was especially interesting when I realized they weren't going to edit out the nude scenes and there were, like, five year olds all around me. It was a good movie, though! I've never been the biggest Mara booster, but I have to admit she gave a really good, lived-in performance. And of course the Blanchett is always solid. I was afraid that it would be one of those kind of musty, boring period pieces, where everything is set designed within an inch of its life but nothing really happens. It was actually really compelling, though. Fun sexy times.

I also enjoyed Spotlight. Again, I thought it might be slow, but it wasn't, which is kind of amazing, since its subject matter is basically people doing a lot of research. Everyone gave solid, understated performances, even though Rachel McAdams doesn't really look like any reporter I've ever seen, even if reporters still existed. And I thought they did a really nice job conveying the horror of these molestation cases without being exploitative. It was the feel good Catholic church scandal flick of the year.