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Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

8.6 (428 Ratings) Rate It

Movie Watch

Imprisoned on the other side of the universe, the mighty Thor finds himself in a deadly gladiatorial...

MCU Superhero Comic book

Mowgli (2018)

6.2 (16 Ratings) Rate It

Movie Watch

Human child Mowgli is raised by a wolf pack in the jungles of India. As he learns the often harsh...

BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated The Power of the Dog (2021) in Movies

Dec 7, 2021

The Power of the Dog (2021)

2021 | Drama, Romance, Western

8.3

(4 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Deep and Layered

If the movie you are watching has a long shot of wheat blowing in the wind, then you are watching a character drama. If that same film also includes a 5 minute scene of someone braiding rope, then you have THE POWER OF THE DOG.

Written and Directed by Jane Campion (THE PIANO) and based on the best-selling novel by Thomas Savage, THE POWER OF THE DOG tells the tale of 2 brothers, talkative and charismatic Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) and quiet and contemplative George (Jesse Plemons) who are tending their cattle ranch in Montana in the mid-1920’s. As horses give way to horseless carriages, George falls for a widow (Kirsten Dunst) who has an effeminate son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and this relationship makes Phil face his own feelings - and a changing world.

In the hands of Campion, this film is a quiet, introspective look at how a hard-drinking, hard-living Cowboy deals with a changing world - and his own pent up emotions - and it works well. She weaves a fascinating story that takes its time unfurling it’s pages and the time that the audience takes in steeping themselves in the story and the characters is time well spent, indeed.

This is because the great Benedict Cumberbatch (TV’s SHERLOCK) is on-screen for 95% of the film as Phil and he commands the screen every moment that his presence is known. It is a bravura - though eerily quiet and introspective - performance by Cumberbatch. Campion and Cumberbatch create a memorable character that fills the screen not because he is wide or high or showy, but because he is deep and layered and the film spends most of its 2 hour and 6 minute running time peeling back the layers and digging deep into this character. It is an Oscar-worthy performance and is a shoo-in Oscar nominee and would not be surprising if Cumberbatch finally wins his Oscar for this role.

Plemons and Dunst (who played a couple in the first season of the TV series FARGO) are the catalyst that set the film - and the discoveries - in motion, but, though they are good, they have very little to do besides react to Cumberbatch’s characters’ moves.

Surprisingly, the character that does stand-out and the actor who does go toe-to-toe with Cumberbatch’s Phil is Peter, the son of Rose and played by Kodi Smit-McPhee (NIghtcrawler in X-MEN:APOCALYPSE) who is (at first) befriended by Phil as a joke and becomes closer and closer to him as the film progresses. It is through Peter that we dig through the layers of Phil - and it is a fascinating journey.

This is a gorgeous film to look at - Cinematographer Ari Wegner (THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE) is a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination as well - and this is good, because Phil (and the audience) spend long stretches looking out in the wilderness, contemplating the world - and change.

Not the fastest moving film you will ever encounter, but if you are in the mood for this sort of thing and can get caught up with discovering the layers of Phil, then you will be rewarded with a layered and deep experience.

Letter Grade: A-

8 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)

Kudos

Erika (17788 KP) rated The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) in Movies

Apr 7, 2018

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

2017 | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

7.4

(14 Ratings)

Movie Rating

I honestly don't know whether or not I actually liked this movie. The score was god awful, and the 'tension' music came at weird, non-tense times. The sex was plum bizarre and the characters did a whole lot of nothing. The beginning sequence when it's around 2 minutes of a beating heart creeped me out, and made me feel slightly ill to my stomach. Barry Keoghan (AKA the guy from 71 and Dunkirk) did well, though his American accent sounded like a mix between Ryan Gosling and Benedict Cumberbatch doing American accents. Though, as whack as it was, it kind of fit with the awkwardness of the character.

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Show all 3 comments.

Erika (17788 KP) Apr 7, 2018

I definitely liked the fact it was different. The Lobster has been on my to-watch list since it was put on Prime.

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Andy K (10821 KP) Apr 7, 2018

I had to look up what the Sacred Deer thing meant. Now that I know I think it's very interesting.

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Sam (228 KP) rated Doctor Strange (2016) in Movies

Mar 2, 2019

Doctor Strange (2016)

2016 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

7.8

(161 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Wonderful Character Development (1 more)

Mesmerizing Imagery

An Artistic Masterpiece

The imagery created in this film was nothing short of a masterpiece. The fractured world took on a whole new world of its own as this spiralling piece came together. The film was executed to perfection, nothing short of any film that Cumberbatch has been in, however as much of a fan as I am I cannot begin to see the correlation in his character roles throughout all of his films. Although he is much beloved to me as an actor I watch and hope to find some new angle or twist that he brings to his next role.

Kudos

David McK (3425 KP) rated The Hound of the Baskervilles in Books

Jun 16, 2019

Perhaps the most famous of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes mysteries, in which the super-sleuth investigates the supposed Baskerville family curse of the hell-hound on the moors.

What else can I say? Originally serialised by Arthur Conan Doyle, there's been many attempts to adopt this for TV, film or stage over the years, right through from the classic Basil Rathbone 1939 classic (and which many - myself included - still envisage Holmes as) to the more modern BBC Benedict Cumberbatch TV series, one of which has an episode largely based on this story.

Mysterious deaths, ghostly hell-hounds, escaped convicts and the marshy moors all play a part in this ...