mitrapourmand Reviews

A Christmas Carol (2019)

Good

[10/10 · 14 September 2023]

Well I'm surprised! Having scene so many versions of the classic tale , I wasn't expecting this one to be this good , true it diverts from the original book and has added scenes but I think it also takes a more realistic and if I may say so sinister tone than the original story. In other words we see Scrooge as he would have been had he been a real person; cold , damaged, deeply scarred and traumatized! We follow a man so hurt by the abuse that he has shut down all emotion rendering him to be almost non human, then we follow him as he gradually begins to feel again and by the time that he begins to feel sympathy for another soul he begins to heal and to become human again . This not about magic and ghosts and a simple tale of learning to admire holidays this is a tale of one man journey to hell and back on earth again.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)

Really?!!

[1/10 · 31 August 2023]

It's a funny thing when people watch old movies it just kinda yanks us out of our own perspective and gives us another view, of things that were perceived in the time long gone , the same rule applies to novels as well and the result is sometimes fascinating ( like Iliad ) and sometimes it's not really that good ( Oliver Twist) but sometimes you get something so extraordinarily bad that one might think it's intentional, like movie Perfume and the novel it's based on! Back when it came out I was still a kid the trailer frightened me and I stayed away until a few years ago I tried watching it dozed off and was too bored to bother , then I gave it another shot and boy oh by! It's bad beyond belief the main character has a super nose but no body odor ( this was explained in the novel ) he is this sort of genius madman who wants to persevere every scent , after some bizarre freak accidents he decides to kill teen virgins and preserve their perfume ( to do what ?! It's not explained) and then we are presented with numerous shots of female dead bodies until he completes his task ! I'm not going to expand on the plot or the movies demented theme I'm going to expand how awfully it was made : Non of the actors are invested in their roles ( even the late Alan Rickman) they all seemed to be bored out of their own mind and the worst performance prize goes to the priest !

The narrator was getting on my very last nerve , his voice over was clearly a lazy attempt on behalf of director The opera singing soundtrack! Cliched an distracting But the main issue is that this sh..show is one of the most prominent examples of Kitsch! For those who don't know Kitsch is a form of distorted mirror like mindset in which good is bad and ugly is beautiful, in which individualism is frowned upon and herd like behavior is applauded, and this movie my dears is Ktisch , it goes out of its way to tell us murder and obsession are not inherently bad provided that they result is something special that perhaps an evil man hypnotizing a grieving community of murdered women is not inherently evil if he uses a pure essence of beauty, yes the book keeps calling the nose freak an evil person but it also does this poorly in comparison of how he was about to create something special! And something special can be a perfume or it can be a pure society! And perhaps sometimes evil acts committed by inherently evil characters are not evil in themselves if the result is desired or coveted ! This malice at its finest artistic form this movie has total disregard for human life and I ask again dear Europeans after all you have been through in last century, really?! Again?

Malena (2000)

A parody masquerading as a serious movie

[1/10 · 10 August 2023]

Set in south of Italy during WW2, Malena follows life and turmoils of a lady who is mistreated abused raped forced into prostitution then publicly humiliated and beaten because she is pretty! All the while every man including the main protagonist ( a lustrous fetishist teenager) wants to have sex with her and every other woman ( who are all ugly) want to claw her eyes out because she is pretty. To add salt to injury this lady hangs around throughout all the years of abuse rape and torture and then she returns to the town now accompanied by her husband! Gee she must really like this town. Everything about this movie is melodramatic over the top and ludicrous... even the soundtrack which is really upsetting. What we learn from this movie is : People from small towns are evil period !

Women are jealous harpies Men ( including male kids ) are sex crazed demons devoid of any decency It's ok to stalk people it's love !

When faced with abuse don't do anything about it stay put until it escalates Don't move on cling cling with bloody nails it doesn't prove anything but still .

Even Morricone can compose bad music.

The Whale (2022)

Redemption comes at a heavy price

[10/10 · 26 February 2023]

This is an extraordinary movie in many aspects, almost entirely shot inside an apartment we are told the story of morbidly obese recluse teacher Charlie who just wants to spends his last days with his estranged daughter, His Daughter as we later meet her is described by her own mother as evil! And most certainly is not not a nice person, compared to nice polite and docile Charlie his ex wife and daughter are both uncouth loud and unsociable, the thing is how they are and how they act is because how Charlie had treated them , when he was married to his ex wife and had an eight year old daughter Charlie had fallen in love with another and had left his family what he did not only broke his wife and daughter but also destroyed his own life , Charlie as we meet him is a broken man whose only remaining wish is to reach out to his daughter, but as he and all of us learn redemption is no easy job, and there may be a time when a father who abandoned his own child has sacrifice his own life to have it .

House of the Dragon (2022– )

Good even better than GOT

[10/10 · 24 September 2022]

Here is the hard truth that no one has the heart to tell GOT fans , this series is better than GOT. Now I know what some of the reviewers have complained about yes they used danys theme yes they talk about the prophecy yes there is a princess who is unhappy and wants to be her own master . But dear viewer you are all falling for the same trap as you did with GOT, just as dany wasn't a savior and there were always signs that khaleesi was either not very well in head or a tyrant and many people ( including viewers) chose to overlook it and cheered for her ( oh so the woman who threatened everyone with fire actually burnt a city ? Shocker!!!!) they are all either cheering for Rhaenyra or mocking her feminist agenda! She is not a feminist she is not a beacon of women's empowerment she is a power hungry person( never mind her gender) Other characters are no better because that's what Martins stories are about, absolute power corrupts absolutely! Targaryens ( Valyrians before them ) are epitomes of absolute power , men like Viserys and Jahaeryc are anomalies in that house Deamon Deanerys and the likes of them are norm , arrogant cruel ; tyrants the lot of them. There is a reason why Deamon enjoys personally executing poor defenseless petty criminals ( without trials without a word ) he is a tyrant Rhaenyra booing a crowd of commoners is because she is a tyrant in making Colrys Velaryon urging his 12 year old girl to marry a middle aged man is because he is tyrant, this is a show about mostly unlikable people struggling for more power of course we are not supposed to root for any of them. Because what would be the point if we did?

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022– )

This is not lord of the rings this not Silmarilion .

[2/10 · 5 September 2022]

What is this ? Because it definitely is not Silmarilion nor LOTR , it's feels like a fanfic and a bad one at that . Commander Galadriel?! When did this happen? Galadriels power was rooted in magic , she only mentioned a few times in Silmarilion and she is called Melians servant and pupil not a ninja! When did she became best buddies with Elrond?! She is his mother in law . She doesn't even look or sound like Galadriel, Galadriel is described as tall very very tall with deep vibrating voice . Elrond now has red brown hair? He is supposed to have black hair and deep grey eyes. I'm not gonna describe the story there is none.

I'm all for re writing fantasy I'm all for creating a world in which women were commanders of armies and fought but this isn't the case with Tolkien's work , in his legenderium women don't fight with swords they use magic. I didn't like this series and don't recommend it.

The Black Phone (2021)

Why?!

[1/10 · 19 July 2022]

Why ? Why this genre is so popular? What's so entertaining about watching kids getting bullied, kids getting beat up by abusive parents, kids getting hurt or kids getting abducted by a psycho killer?! I think it says a lot about today's state of mind when people whoop and clap at this things getting depicted as art and call it entertaining. And what's with this tired and tried Stephen kings cliche? ( the writer of the source material to this masterpiece is his son) , kid has special ability, kid gets bullied at school , a creepy ass grown up kills children kid with special ability beats the creep! It's like It and dark tower all over again, hell the killer wears masks that reminded me of penny wise he even has balloons!!!! I think adults who enjoy watching children in state panic and pain should re check their mental health.

The Northman (2022)

Glorious amorality

[5/10 · 4 May 2022]

Visually this movie is stunning, the acting , music etc is perfect it even has a very interesting story , who among us won't be interested in origin story of Hamlet? But while watching it something truly bothered me and I could not place my finger on it , it wasn't the gore and violence either I have sat through 8 seasons of GOT and barley flinched . Then it hit me , it was the glorification of murder revenge fantasies rape and amorality. It's like being proud of Chengiz Khan conquest or being proud of third Reich or something. Killing raping slavery burning children alive (general savagery ) is not to be glorified and celebrated but this movie goes through some length and actually takes it upon itself to make it a celebration of cruelty like hurrrrray killing hurrraaaaa be heading yaaaaaayyyy look at those warriors go look how they sack other nations yaaaaaaa burning children alive! It is a shame that instead of contemplating history we celebrate it.

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Wonder Woman ?

[3/10 · 29 January 2022]

I really liked the first Wonder Woman movie, sure it had its campy dialogues ( like most of Are's lines) and the main actress sometimes loses her touch... but it was at least fun to watch ... I'm sorry but can't say the same thing about this one.

1984, is a colorful bloated cartoonish ripoff of much better DC movies ( mainly Batman returns) but where Batman returns shines due to its originality and a charismatic cast , WW 1984 drags itself across its own plot, where Selina Kyles tragic story has us empathize with her and resent the men who casually abuse (or like straight up murder) women Barbras transformation into Cheetah leaves us empty bored and irritated, Selina was a victim Barbra is not cool (why is she not cool though? She is smart , successful and kind , her only flaw seems to be being rather clumsy in high heels !!! ) Selina suffered so much and finally lost it Barbra wanted to be the it girl ! So one villain backstory in down .

Maxwell lord ( a play on Max Shreck?! Another DC villain) is portrayed as a satire on greed , selfishness and the whole failed ambition of a man who can't accept defeat, if done better his arc and the whole wish and dream turned into nightmare would have been a better plot , but he seems to be side show the main plot is WW love interest! And even that is done so poorly that you're left feeling nothing ! In HP when the third brother calls his dead lover from the world of dead , she is a mere wraith of what she had been when she was alive , cold sad and distant... in WW1984 Steve is reduced to comic relief! He seems more concerned with radiant fashion designs of 80s than the fact the he is possessing another humans body!

I'm gonna skip on other parts of this movie, but it truly could have been great but it's really mediocre and forgettable.

Eternals (2021)

Why so many negative reviews?

[10/10 · 12 January 2022]

I really liked this one , I actually enjoyed almost every moment of it and the thing is I think most people don't get how sarcastic the whole story is! Because it's not a superhero movie it's a movie about free will choice and love!

Eternals are a race of immortals planned and placed in every planet with sentient life in them , they are led to believe that they are fighting to preserve the human (sentient) lives while in reality they're only fighting to make sure that humans and they themselves are sacrificed at the right moment ! The sad part is that just like every other soldier who is blindly following his /her superiors they are not excluded from carnage , and actually are worthless. Only after leading a normal life away from their mission ( army?) they begin to question their life's purpose and their mission. Did I have to fight and kill my enemies? Are they even my enemies? Did throw away every chance of happiness? Why am I following a leader with dubious methods? Why can't I have a normal life ?

Seriously it's a really good movie yes it's a bit campy and yes it's filled with visuals.. but I think it's better than all the avengers movies combined.

Hostiles (2017)

When good men do bad things.

[10/10 · 29 November 2021]

Its 1890 and captian Bloker is assigned to escort his former enemy (now a dying and defeated old man ) to his ancestral home, Captain who is more or less a war criminal and harbors deep resentment for the native Americans hates this last assignment and naturally seeks ways to provoke and demean the other man but as the story unravels itself we realize that neither man is an angle or a demon they are victims of an ongoing brutal struggle, when offered a chance both men are more than capable to show mercy , commitment and compassion, and when faced with challenge both men are more than capable to commit atrocities, so who is to blame here? The dying chief simply wants it all to end and the aging captain just want another chance ( which he gets in the end), also I really liked how war related PTSD is shown in this one, both parties are traumatized and shattered, It is a beautiful movie about good people doing horrible things.

The New World (2005)

Sad tragic but beautiful

[10/10 · 18 November 2021]

New world is the story of Pocahontas the native princess of America before America came to exist , it's the tragic story of a young woman who dares to want more than her life has to offer , she is punished by almost everyone including her own people who view her kindness towards the starving new comers an act of treason and banish her , uprooted from the life she clearly loved and enjoyed she is abandoned by the man she loved and stripped of her title her home and ultimately her own clothes and finally her original name , throughout the whole ordeal she handles all of this with maturity putting her trust in people and is willing to find joy and happiness even in a forced marriage ( yes I guess Rolfe clearly loved her and didn't actually force her into marriage but she was under immense pressure) in the end she is overcomes the betrayal of her first love and even her death ! Truly a remarkable woman and an extraordinary character. Now some people claim that the movie is way too long or there is not enough dialogue in it ... I find it to be refreshing and thoughtful it's like an inner journey of the first colony it's like a painting we are not spoon fed every detail we are forced to watch as this tragedy unfolds. It's not just a beautiful story it's literally a beautiful movie.

Tenet (2020)

The future wants us dead !

[10/10 · 11 November 2021]

Maybe not Nolan's best movie but definitely the best movie of its genre, when faced with a ruined planet the future generations decide to kill their grandparents, us ! They will blame us for everything so the will find a way to dance around the grandfather paradox, you know if you go back in time to kill your grandmother will yo be born to kill your grandfather, they want us dead cause every generation needs to look out for his own and we have /will blow their chances of normal future, but in doing so they will most probably end themselves thus bringing and end to the world so some of them are given information or are somehow recruited to prevent this plan. Tenet is a good example of pure desperation everyone is desperately trying to remain alive to continue living on a small scale it could be a wife trapped in a marriage to an arm dealer on larger scale it could be a whole generation, we do everything we can to have more time we might even try to reverse the time but in the end what's done is done. I really liked this movie I liked everything about the acting was solid the soundtrack was spot on and the direction was a real masterpiece. Don't miss this one .

The Night (II) (2020)

When you can't face yourself

[10/10 · 28 May 2021]

A young, happy couple are forced to take shelter in an eerie hotel, not long after settling in their room they are faced with a set of unnatural phenomena! Is someone bothering them ? Perhaps the hotel is haunted? But it's not as easy as all that , it's not a superficial horror movie it's a deep psychological thriller inside a mind of a man who is outwardly a good and normal guy, but deep inside is so perverse and so tainted that even his own reflection can't stomach him .

Mulan (2020)

Fa Mulan would have been horrified

[1/10 · 9 May 2021]

If you have been given a ballad about a heroic figure in ancient china, what would be the chances of turning it into an unintentional comedy? I would say the chance are pretty low but is it turns out I'm wrong.

To say this movie is a travesty is an insult to travesty, it was a mish mash of everything that could go wrong in a movie on steroids. We have a heroine in making who is apparently magical and can slide of three story buildings (but cant pour a single cup of tea) fighting an army of ninjas in ancient china!!! While being pursued by a bird lady witch, our heroine is so perfect ,she can use her chi (what chi is and how people can use it is not explained so i cant tell you either) she is connected to phoenixes ( again what this links means, what it does and how it works is not explained) she is so tough and cool that she doesnt want to be like other girls ( huh ! Gasp and shocker that is ! How original ) precisely she doesnt want to pour tea ( either your are heroic tomboy or a useless tea pouring so !) so she sneaks off to fight an army of people who dont want gold but are not so adverse at the idea of blood ! This army is made up of ninjas who can run on the walls Mr. Scarf face and the bird like witch lady who uses chi but is not cool ( granted we dont get see much of the witch lady in action much , she just keeps turning into a hawk ) but the witch lady isn't happy with her boss because he doesnt respect her enough. Ok Mulan goes to fight in her fathers place and joins a camping army ( why? She already has chi and as shown later doesnt need training) the training consists of carrying water around ( for some reason ) and Mulan excels! Then she and her small company meet up with bad guys and stuff happen, then she meets with the witch lady and some other stuff happen ! Then she decides to join her friends who had previously told her to eff off, and while riding towards them she leaves her armor behind (why? I guess chi didnt like armor?) she does other stuff and the bad guys is killed, but not before killing the witch lady who had a sudden change of heart.... you know then movie ends ( mercifully). Its not just that this travesty is boring and laughable, its just bad infuriatingly bad.

Sex and the City (1998–2004)

Who finds this educational?! Or even watchable?

[1/10 · 8 May 2021]

Four women periodically gather around in fancy bars and restaurants and mostly talk about their social/love life. Neither of them is a likable or even tolerable. One seems to hump everything that moves , one seems to be prissy self righteous wanna be house-wife ,one is lawyer who is never actually seen working and one is one of the most infuriating characters I have ever seen! God the narrator of this series is disgusting!

Putting this notion aside that these three are more or less focused on their sex/love life these career women ( yeah right :D)also tend to hook up with an army of weirdos! Shady businessmen, unattainable assholes , immature cry babies you name it ! If a decent human being comes their way these women tend to shun them embarrass them or simply cheat on them. But don't be sad they all end up happily married or in a committed relationship! ( one of them ends up with the unattainable asshole previously mentioned) ! The message of this messed up series is .... love ? I don't know! But I know that this is pure toxic junk and portrays women as clingy and desperate.

The Father (I) (2020)

Heartbreaking and powerful

[10/10 · 30 April 2021]

Heartbreaking and haunting, a perfect portrait of dementia as the mind slips away memories fade and are replaced with hallucinations and paranoia and once a perfect gentleman is reduced to the state of infancy , his only remaining daughter is no longer able to care for him and he is sent to a nursing home . But that is not all to it , with proper care and in hands of professional and kind medical staff he too is able to find comfort and peace of mind in hands and embrace of them , so that his remaining days are peaceful. Having dealt with a granny who suffered from dementia this movie's portrayal of sickness as accurate and informative, kindness and patience are the most important thing to keep in mind when dealing with people with dementia and maybe perhaps professional help is required.

Outlander (2014– )

Wow ! Just wow ( I'm being sarcastic)

[1/10 · 2 April 2021]

This is sooooooo bad ! I mean it could be the citizen Kane of bad series! Ok ; buckle up and bear with me : A woman goes back in time to the 18th century! Then and there she is married to a Scottish hunk who loves her much ( but is not above violently beating her ) finds herself constantly in danger of being kidnapped, raped and killed keeps getting saved by the said hunk , has lots of sex with him , goes back to her own time , is reunited with her other husband (who is a decent man and is not a wife beater ) then goes back to the Scottish hunk and it goes on and on and on and on!!!! The novels are really bad and silly ( actually I stopped reading after the wife beating part) but I assumed perhaps the series might be a bit better but I was wrong . Everything about this series seems half baked silly and childish the acting , the pace the music! Everything seems cliche and overtly done : Damsel in distress ? Check Good looking passionate jealous lover who looks like a model but tries to pass as a rebel of the time long gone? Check Cartoonish evil dude? Check Melodramatic folksy music? Check Lots of rape , gore and violence? Check Constant drama over banal existence of these unlikable characters? Check Its a waste of time avoid like plague.

The Witcher (2019– )

Half baked and unsatisfactory

[4/10 · 14 November 2020]

I have read the last wish and though Shakespeare work it was not , the book was decent and amusing so I bought the whole season 1 and binged watched. And it was bad I mean really really bad ! Characters were inconsistent ( one moment super strong the next moment very weak) nothing was throughly explained , the setting was awkward and anachronistic, the dresses sometimes looked too modern ( it's supposed to be medieval Europe like fantasy land am I right? So what was with Yennefers wardrobe?! ) complete strangers fell in love on a whim then left their partner on a whim , the time line seemed to circle in an absurd way, off bit thingys were introduced then forgotten( who was that shape shifting moron?) Was there nothing decent about it ? Yep the third episode is very good Yennefers transformation scene was adequately creepy and still fascinating, but even that episode wasn't with short comings! King Folstat character is completely changed an a very kind lady is added! I don't remember the characters name she just walks around and says Stuff! The acting is good also .

Des (2020)

Appearance can be deceiving

[10/10 · 29 October 2020]

Dennis Neilson nicknamed Des was a quite modest civil servant who led an ordinary modest life and kept to himself mostly, he was the kind of man that no one would pay much attention to , but the thing is that he was serial killer, he killed young vulnerable young men, he strangled them then dissected their bodies. ( I'm not going to go into more grisly details) then by accident he was caught , and was tried then found guilty was sent away for life. But this series isn't about how a killer is caught it's about the killer and his victims , see Des never truly regretted what he did he knew what he did was wrong but never actually came to understand the nature of horrors. He was a man devoid of morality he liked dead bodies so killed people! What happened next was just a necessity to clean up after himself I liked the series because it keeps everything so simple Des killed for the sake of killing there was no trigger no real trauma behind his actions he just happened to like it and if he hadn't been caught he would gone and on and on! Sometimes things are as they seem , but then who would have suspected this man who was so ordinary and unrecognizable? No one and who would have looked for most of his victims outcasts and underprivileged as they were , Des knew it and he took full advantage of it . And in the end this not a series to remember the killer but his victims . PS : everyone keeps mentioning the acting in the series , so skipped it mostly but the acting is also superb!

Jessica Jones (2015–2019)

It's absolutely perfect

[10/10 · 8 October 2020]

New York City; we are introduced to Jessica Jones a private investigator who seems to drink a lot! As we get to know her more we get to see that she also suffers from extreme form of PTSD and has haunting flashbacks of a man! ( granted none of the flashbacks are particularly violent they are creepy) as the story unfolds itself we see that almost a year before the beginning of the series she had been abducted by a man and has been under his control , acting as toy and giving in to his desires and although she believes him dead and wants to move on with her life she is dragged down to a downward spiral of misery because of this man . The series is presented as a based on comics super hero flick but make no mistake this is a complex story about women who survive ( and sometimes don't survive) an abusive relationship. Because the villain of this series, doesn't want world domination or alien invasion he wants to own and control people ( and does it through mind control and with astonishing ease) and it's the protagonists bad luck that this man forms an obsession with her. What makes it absolutely horrifying is that this man has not deluded himself into thinking that he loves his victim he is genuinely in love with her it's just that being the object of love of this person will not get you off the hook on the contrary it means that he will not tire of her and will do anything to keep her ( this includes attempted murder and maiming) kilgrave in my opinion is the ultimate villain an embodiment of rape culture and entitlement, he is the smooth talker who gaslights his companions into believeing that they are the ones who are insecure or troubled or at fault not him he is in clear, he is the non threatening looking rapist who invites his victims for a nice cup of coffee, he is more frightening than Hannibal lector lord Voldemort and Sauron combined because there are men like him out there! He is the abusive husband who twists his wife's wrist behind her back and orders her to smile and look happy or else! He is the looming shadow that scares every woman walking in a dark alley. The show is a must watch for everyone it's one of the best shows I have ever watched.

The Invisible Man (I) (2020)

Not very good

[5/10 · 22 May 2020]

When Cecilia flees from her abusive husband she finds herself victim of an invisible figure! This invisible figure then proceeds to harm her loved ones to the point of killing her sister right in front of her ( in the middle of a restaurant no less) from this point this movie becomes more and more confusing! I really don't recommend it.

Westworld (2016–2022)

Pure brilliance

[10/10 · 9 March 2020]

People tend to compare this epic sci-fi series with game of thrones and I say pleassssssse , these two are no where near comparable. Everything about west world is top notch , direction and edit are done superbly and of course the soundtrack is a treat to the ears . Performances are terrific ( no surprise there ! With names such as evan Rachel wood and edd Harris and of course the brilliant Anthony Hopkins but what makes this series one of the best ( perhaps the best in terms of depth and meaning) is the script of it. No series has ever dwelled on very important but often forgotten queries in regards with self awareness. Of course like many of its predecessors it borrows heavily from Ghost in shell ( one of the best animation ever made ) but still quoting Dr Ford credit where credit is due , kudos to all involved. Two thumbs up.

Joker (I) (2019)

Misleading

[6/10 · 3 March 2020]

Despite the positive and universal acclaims this movie received I found it misleading. Misleading because like so many of its predecessors it chose to further establish the bold statement that people who are driven to crime are suffering from a form of mental illness. Nothing can be further from the truth as many gangsters and mobsters who had been caught committed numerous atrocities to either eliminate their rivals or to have a bigger share of the profit. Yet again Hollywood has chosen to so tired and often times tried cliche that he does it because he is insane and since Alfred Hitchcock's the psycho what better illness than the good old fashioned schizophrenia. Never mind the fact that many people can't differentiate between people who suffer from mental diseases and full fledged psychopaths who knowingly commit crimes to gain more money and scare away others. Making movies like this pinpoint this exact problem with today's society that people don't have knowledge, understanding and enough human compassion to be kind and understanding towards the less unfortunate ( and my isn't that ironic? Since the movie wants us to feel what is like to be the other guy? ) and discrimination is not only frowned upon but also celebrated. If few decades ago people would dare to discriminate against other races and people with different gender / sexual orientation, today they can ( with impunity I might add) single out the ones with mental illness and portray them as killers and agents of chaos.

The Lion in Winter (1968)

We are the jungle creatures ... in the dark

[10/10 · 20 February 2020]

Possibly one of them best dialogue centered movies I have ever seen, this much layered masterpiece offers you another take and understanding of human psyche. Set in medieval times king Henry is to have his Christmas court with his estranged wife ( whom he has imprisoned) his sons and his eldest son fiancée ( who is also the kings lover now how is that for a weird family reunion? ) the family guest is the king of France who hates Henry deeply and seems to have somewhat of a complicated feelings for Richard ( that would be Richard the lion heart the famous , or shall we say infamous crusader) all the boys want the crown and king and queen want nothing but hurt each other when they can . But in the end they are family they can't be separated and they deep down love each other. I can't say anything about the acting here all the actors and actresses are top notch and are the best of the best the script is throughly enjoyable and it's good to see the dark side of the royals who have the habit of presenting themselves as better than they are. But the best part of it is the irony of it all because after all these people were not very different from us . They wanted love and validation and security and when they were denied they would go on desperate measures to get it . It's our tragedy it's our nature we can't be honest with each other but we hate the deception all the while adding to fuel of our own misery being shocked at the turn of the events. In the end we are all the same squabbling in the dark watching out for other jungles creatures while they watch us and are watching out for us.