Movies reviewed this week: Red Notice and Once Upon a Time in China.
11/18/2021: Red Notice (2021): **
There’s an interesting movie lurking inside this shambolic, inert thing. In a world where Ryan Reynolds really steers into the hints of real anger lurking under his performance? In a world where that one scene where Gal Gadot is actually sociopathic is the tone for her entire performance? That movie could be seriously interesting.
As is, waste of a lot of charisma.
11/19/2021: Once Upon a Time in China (1991): ****1/2
The 2021 Criterion restoration is amazing. I’d only seen it in an old 35 mm print and Tsui Hark’s use of color and shadow deserves the crisp richness of this edition. The mano a mano fight scene in the rain, towards the middle, is particularly engaging for Hark’s willingness to let the water blur the action, and the early scene in which Rosamund Kwan is framed by her own shadow never looked so good.
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