Widows

This is the film Spike Lee would kill to direct! Never saw the TV show but the movie is kicking ass, a true female power blended with black-lives-matter and dirty politics in Chicago. Girls in the movie don't act, they simply lived the characters ! I will praise the photography in the movie, those close-ups with Viola Davis are pure classic! Now run to the theater near you and enjoy one of the best movies (if not the best) of the passing year.

Widows is a reminder that new stories and excellent storytelling are waiting in the periphery of the male gaze, that the expansion of interesting storytelling comes from widening the types of characters that can tell their stories. It’s hard to imagine anything less from the likes of Steve McQueen (of 12 Years a Slave) and screenwriter Gillian Flynn (of Sharp Objects and Gone Girl, one of my favorite crime thrillers of all time, funny and pulpy and completely mind-bending), but this movie found its place in the gaps between other heist films. It tells its story through the exquisite beauty of adaptation and underestimation, the negation of action hero archetypes, and (as Slate reviewer Dana Stevens notes) thoughtful commentary about tribal politics and gun laws. Some of the most striking shots are simple ideas like the long, single take shot of the young politician played by Colin Farrell and his aide blowing off steam after a small event, a camera afixed to the hood of the car captures the stark contrast between the neighborhood where he’s campaigning and the one where his campaign quarters are, all the while his monologue about the transactional, futile nature of local politics accentuates the visuals. Farrell’s perennial visits to his political rival’s HQ in a cramped church building punctuate story with beautiful conversational set pieces, like the choral odes **** tragedy. The actual heist is a bit of an anticlimax, as seems the case with all of the great films of the year (the Sisters Brothers and You Were Never Really Here both employ anticlimax effectively). It’s nice to see the way in which nearly all of the legwork is accomplished by the loan, tall, waifish white woman who makes more money than anyone else going on lavish dinner dates with men she meets online. There’s quite a bit of self-awareness in this script that the racial politics of this film use for comic effect. David Kaluuya is an excellent villain: the scene in the gym is stunning in its construction and trajectory; his scene work while staking the women; listening to pointed but subtly presented news clips and learning Spanish on tape; the bowling alley. The Twists this movie has in store are pretty impressive. There’s something here for everyone, especially dog-lovers. That white dog better be nominated for an Oscar.

Don't waste your time if you are expecting either a good heist movie, or a unique film with anything new to offer. This film is neither and was quite cliche and boring for much of the 2nd half. I am shocked by some of the critic reviews, probably because the director has a previous Oscar win. But his previous films he has said each had a personal meaning, and it seems clear, this one had no meaning. There is no concise point, and no reason for the film to even exist. I learned nothing new, was not moved, was not excited much, did not laugh, as the script is very droll, very boring, and much of the characters actions are cliche, the type of thing you can see in any mediocre action or TV show anytime. The only interesting parts were the first 5 minutes, the last 15 minutes, and a few rare snippets of side characters such as Colin Farrell's. If the whole film was about Collin Farrell's character, it might have made for an interesting drama. Instead it is pretty much a cliched heist attempt at a movie, but told through a female perspective, which then adds nothing new to the genre, is less exciting, and with the poor dialogue and **** is not worth wasting time watching unless you enjoy mediocre and cliche average action and TV shows. From Steve McQueen and the level of actors and here, and the "positive" reviews, I expected much, much, more, and was disappointed by the end, and quite frankly bored for much of the last hour. Unfortunately, I would have to officially call this a bomb...

This movie almost bored me to tears, and that would have been the most genuine exhibit of emotion this movie would see. It was a movie that had a very underwhelming and unoriginal plot but tried to make it something it wasn't, a good film. Viola Davis was fine as the lead but offered nothing really interesting bar the occassional awkward outburst or tear that felt overstaged and took you right out of the film. Liam Neeson by his own doing has made himself irrelevant and the scenes he has with Viola Davis are just cringe worthy in light of his recent admissions. I only watched it because of the nominations it was getting, but this film just goes to show that the biggest criminal organisation today is the academy and other award shows who steal nomiations and wards from actors, actresses and film makers who actually dare create something unique and complex. Its exhausting watching movies so offensively boring, how dare you waste millions of dollars and my time.

Two good performances, by Debicki and Belle, subdued by typically oafish performance by Liam Neeson and typically unremittingly intense performance by Viola Davis cannot save a plodding film that features a comically improbable heist floated on the foam of 3 or 4 headscratchingly bizarre and obscure subplots. Sigh.