Tag: Penelope Wilton

REVIEW: Eternal Beauty [2020]

Jared Mobarak

I’m in my oils. You cannot just watch part of Craig Roberts‘ latest film Eternal Beauty. You might think you could since it’s seemingly as schizophrenic as its lead character Jane (Sally Hawkins), but that chaos is premeditated so that it can find tonal and thematic sense by the end. I was about twenty minutes in when “hate” started to solidify as a reaction to what I saw because it felt like Roberts was poking fun at the disease—purely using Hawkins’ monotone delivery and erratic actions for laughs. If I…

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REVIEW: Summerland [2020]

Jared Mobarak

Stories have to come from somewhere. The above quote is a big part of playwright Jessica Swale‘s feature directorial debut Summerland because of its lead Alice Lamb’s (Gemma Arterton) vocation. She writes academic theses about folklore wherein she dissects the scientific and anthropological reasons behind both the supernatural and impossible characters/settings/phenomena within myths. It’s also a rather all-encompassing statement considering how little we know about the character herself. Where did she come from? What events transpired to render her reclusive and ultimately reviled by the nearby townsfolk of Kent? What…

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REVIEW: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel [2012]

Jared Mobarak

“Top of the mountain” It’s a rare success to see a film as great as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel excel because of its leading cast of seniors. Since this bunch of peerless British performers so often shine in the background, we forget how good they really are. An inspired group, they portray Deborah Moggach‘s odd mix of retirees with an authenticity that brings her novel These Foolish Things to life inside the vibrant hustle and bustle of its Indian locale. Whether looking for new love, lost love, companionship, an…

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REVIEW: Shaun of the Dead [2004]

Jared Mobarak

“Don’t forget to kill Philip” Anticipating the release of Hot Fuzz has made me want to see the Simon Pegg/Edgar Wright career works. Having heard how great the UK series “Spaced” was, I bought an import from Britain and just recently finished it. The show was great, pop culture abounds, hilarity from start to finish, and much like “The Office,” they knew when to stop and not let the show take a fall with filler and repetition…cough…US “The Office”…cough. What better segway from those two seasons then to go right…

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