Zombies on Film
Book
ZOMBIES ON FILM chronicles popular culture s greatest and most terrifyingly intriguing monsters in...
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Madison's Nightmare: How Executive Power Threatens American Democracy
Book
The George W. Bush administration's ambitious--even breathtaking--claims of unilateral executive...
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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - Season 1
TV Season
The iconic police procedural series "Law & Order" is perhaps best known for its two-part structure....
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The Invisible Man
Ken Bentley, Tom Newsom, Jamie Robertson and Matthew Cochrane
Book
In the midst of a snowstorm, a stranger arrives in an English country inn, seeking solitude. Soon,...
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Doctor Who - The Third Doctor Adventures: No.2
Guy Adams, Tim Treloar, Katy Manning and Nigel Fairs
Book
Big Finish travel back to Doctor Who of the 1970s, recreating the era for two all-new Third Doctor...
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Body Bags (1993)
Movie
Three short stories in the horror genre: the first about a serial killer, the second about a hair...
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BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated The Power of the Dog (2021) in Movies
Dec 7, 2021
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)
![Richard III](/uploads/profile_image/5c2/8ee25ca2-5ea1-4489-8c5f-2c33cd9fa5c2.jpg?m=1522355491)
Richard III
William Shakespeare and Thomas Cartelli
Book
This Norton Critical Edition of Richard III is based on the First Quarto (1597) edition of the play...
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Art and Text
Aimee Selby, Dave Beech, Charles Harrison and Will Hill
Book
The use of text can be seen in some of the most avant-garde artwork of the twentieth century; Rene...
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Public Sector Economics and the Need for Reforms
Book
The public sector has grown substantially in the last fifty years. In the euro area, for example,...