“Democracy, Mister Cromwell, was a Greek drollery based on the foolish notion that there are extraordinary possibilities in very ordinary people.”
First Screening. Amazon Prime. There are so many layers to this film that I was forced to think about it for days even though as an overt text to watch I was uninterested and found it trite and boring. However, here we go.
On the face of it, this chronicles the military career of the dictator of Britain as he moves from failure to success against the King of England, Charles I, for the King's consistent refusal to stick to a plan - any plan. Cromwell is rightly played as a man of God that he was, but is miscast with Richard Harris. Harris is a capable actor, and at this time not a full fledged alcoholic, but he can't pull off the smoldering intensity he is reaching for. This was a role that Richard Burton was born for. Good luck putting him in a hair style like this. Although the sets were opulent, they looked horrible in the dreaded, near worthless color tone this film has. I have no idea what they are going for but Fat City looked better. it was really disappointing to see a film that is trying to be on the scale of something like Lawrence of Arabia just flat out fail so badly. The scope is no where near where it needs to be to compete with films like Spartacus or other epics recently shot in the 60.s. Although Guinness's acting style if fitting for that playing the arrogant and impossible king, he is not surrounding by those who can keep up, and this hurts the scenes. So as a practical film, this just does not work.
Underneath this is an Irishman, Harris, playing Cromwell, who raised an army, took it to Ireland, and slaughtered the Irish in a near genocidal war that beggars the imagination for a time before 1800. That was a lot to think about. An Irish James Bond would take another 20 years but an Irish Cromwell in 1970... we'll I'm still not ready for it. Again, bad casting with not enough religious anecdotes. Coupled with this is the timing itself, just a year after the British Army occupied Northern Ireland and shortly before the Troubles would explode in real time. This film has bad timing that it just can't escape. All I could think about in some scenes is how Cromwell's Army is doing to Ireland what the British Army was doing to Northern Ireland at about the same time. That's more than meta.
Underneath that was this very bizarre reading between the lines of Guinness's King Charles. I almost wrote them down. First there was 'no one tells me what to do but God' which was not too bad but then he sends...an armed mob... to Parliament... to arrest elected officials he does not like and is caught red handed. Then in order to get out of the situation he is caught trying ot make deals... with Britain's mortal enemy. By the time he was arrested I was wondering how many classified documents Cromwell's men had found in the King's bathroom in Mar el Lago. I mean, Buckingham Palace. This was not helped by the lines, in which the king declared that it wasn't illegal if he did it, and he was not answerable to Parliament, only to God. Most of these lines didn't sound like an English aristocrat from four centuries ago. It sounded like the Orange Jesus.
The King just absolutely refuses to do things in his own best interest. And the parallel is to dramatic. It's not too hard to stay out of jail, you know. Just don't bribe porn stars, steal classified documents, or make deals with your enemies against your own country. After his arrest, the King acted like he didn't care and it was all a farce. And then when he was convicted, he absolutely could not believe this injustice was happening to him. He thought he was untouchable. Above the law. And my interpretation is that Jack Smith taught him different. My only fear is in ditching one dictator, I hope, like Cromwell, we don't make another.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
“Is Spider-Man grounded?”
First Screening. Cinemark. A powerhouse virtuoso collaboration from the best forms of cinema as art. From the voice actors to the production team and all the artists in between, this film showcases a voice that ties the teen angst saga to the other worldly aspect of comic book "stories" in order to convey a compelling narrative that rips at your heart, elevates your blood pressure, and keeps you on the edge of your seat. As much as the first film was kinda maybe about diversity, this film is kinda maybe about family - only without cars that go into outer space. Miles Moreles is a true American hero, born in love, dipped in fear, taught right from wrong, and is someone who had decided to do something about it - no matter what 'that' is from purse snatching to destroying the universe. As if this were not enough, he is absolutely stacked with meaningful, deeply read characters that include wives, mothers, fathers, daughters, and that special platonic relationship we all share between each other as siblings or friends. This is a special mojo or je nais se quoi that is not so easily caught on film, much less in a novel. But in a comic book arch or a two our animated masterpiece like this, the bonds we form as a people are tough and unbreakable. This film reflects so much of our American experience it hard to fathom how it all fits on one screen, in a little over two hours, littered with jokes, criticism of woke culture, and totally embracing of the other. It breaks taboos (dare we say the 'ugly' word of miscegenation?), promotes law and order (no Officer Chauvins here), and unflinchingly deals with the tough decisions our society faces (want that debt ceiling lifted? Then you're going to have to fuck over some citizens down on their luck).
The characters are stacked with the same pain and grief, as they share the same experience from their own universe, but front and center, or I should say standing next to Miles, is the tower of a human being Gwen Stacey. If ever there was anyone who understands what it like to be bit by a spider and faced with shitty decisions between bad and worse, it is her. Gwen is drawn to Mary Sue like levels, perfect in an adolescent former gymnast form wrapped in spandex and looking more like Kayla Mulroney than Emma Stone - and that's okay. Emma's Gwen wasn't bit by a spider, or played drums in a punk band. This Spider-Gwen has a special relationship with her father, ever more fraught by his betrayal - the very thing Miles fears in his own 'verse. She is frightened of reality, but not scared by death. She is capable in every way, except how to make tough decisions. She does not conform the the standard gender flip of recent years (just make the girl do man things and problem solved...), she walks like a girl, fights like a girl, does girl things, and wins. It is tough finding a more positive pop-art role model for my cosplay badass daughter than Spider-Gwen. Her only agenda is help, just like (most) of the other Spider-Men and Women.
And as amazing as Gwen is (and she is the leading reason to see this film, full stop), Across the Spider-Verse is filled with other, new, exciting characters from pregnant motorcycle mamas to determined, pirate like Machiavellian leaders. From Stacey's dad to Peter B. Parker's toddler daughter, you never spend a second in this film wonder 'who is that?' or 'why do I care?' Instead, the film very smartly invests you in the verse first so you can understand the story of all the Spider variants an that having been achieved, they introduce personality. Very smart, clever screenwriting. At the end of the spectrum, after many other roles that I am skipping, are two nemeses that challenge the very notion about whether all of this will survive. Though Oscar Isaac is somewhat replaceable, Spot is not, and will make sure that Across the Spider-Verse will forever be re-watchable as he is imbued with tragedy, comedy, and the all dreaded hubris designed to challenge our fear-filled but determined hero. Spot is on spot.
All of this is wrapped in an amazing canvas of brilliant colors, challenging Cinemarks' promise of 23 trillion colors, edged and etched in ways never seen before on film, not even in the first film. For each Verse has a definitive style, planned out before hand, to the nth degree, in a very Kubruckian way to explain the mode, mood, form, and tone of each character. It all makes sense. From a Sid Viscous like Spider Man, to Gwen's own soft hued world, to even a (spoilers) Lego like existence, the animators of this film have gone over the top to tie the environment into the background to inform the character's style and motive. I do not believe I have ever seen this in any other film and if I have, certainly never to this degree of determination and success. Across the Spider-Verse builds on the first film's WOW! effects, heightened by what was at the time a release in 3-D that absolutely blew me away to where I was actually disappointed that I could not see this film in 3-D, the ONLY film I have ever thought that way about since Gravity. Across the Spider-Verse is similar territory pushed to the next level with what you can tell is a thoughtful menagerie of meaning and purpose.
In the end it will be difficult for Marvel to follow this trilogy with the same success it sees in it's live action franchises, which have floundered and evoked pause if not sheer head shaking in recent years. Across the Spider-Verse may be the best film of 2023 so far, and must blow away the competition in the animated film category next next awards season. There is simply no way to deny the sheer force of this much planning and narrative care. To see Across the Spider-Verse is to be moved by the best forces of Hollywood in the comic book tradition, which has been the goal of Marvel since the first X-Men film. Bravo, I say. bravo.