Everything That Dies, Some Day Comes Back

Although I am as exhausted with superhero films as the next person I've always had a bit of a soft spot for these particular characters (not sure why, I was not into the Fantastic Four comics) so I paid my money and took my chances with it. Like the recent 'Superman' we skip over the origin story - here at the outset we get a very brief recap in a short montage sequence  -  they go into space, radiation changes their bodies, they come home.  Fine by me, let's get to the action!  That action takes place on Earth-828 (not ours) so that the backdrop to the story is the kind of retro futuristic world which people in the early part of the twentieth century thought the future would look like.  It's a set design I liked a lot.  Maybe it was my imagination but even the CGI special effects had a nice retro feel to them - I especially liked the look of the Human Torch and the Silver Surfer.   The casting of the Four is fine: in particular Pedro Pascal and V...

This 2019 film written and directed by Kitty Green may be the first drama inspired by the #MeToo movement. It covers one day in the work experience of a junior female assistant, Jane, at a film production company.  On the surface not much is happening, but  there is a lot of small and subtle stuff  going on that accumulates to create a claustrophobic and unsettling atmosphere.  Playing Jane is Julia Garner (Ruth from the Netflix series 'Ozark') who is superbly able to convey someone who resembles a coiled up spring - intent on doing her job, and trying to ignore the culture in the office, and the small slights she suffers.  The lack of a s core, further adds to the oppressive atmosphere. As the film unfolds it slowly becomes clear that the head of the company, her boss, is sexually exploiting young women.  The fact that we never see him makes this somehow even more disturbing.  It also emphasises the gap in status between him and his staff.  The m...