Late Stage Films

 A retelling of the classical opera "Carmen", but moving the setting to present day California and having the romance be between a U.S. border patrol agent and a Mexican immigrant, was always going to be the least marketable idea for a movie one could possibly have. Given that, I'm happy that the money people decided to go all the way in on, "what if Bob Fossee made La La Land about the border wall?" This is the first film from choreographer Benjamin Millepied, and you can tell, because this is a ~dance~ musical. There are multiple long dance breaks in the film. I loved "Carmen". I probably loved the ambition more than I loved what was on the screen, but I did love it.   For a musical, there are few original songs. "Succession" composer Nicholas Britell crafted a lovely score for it, and that score spends a lot of time driving the film. Melissa Barrera of "Scream" fame is the Mexican woman, forced to run away from her home. Paul Mes...

 A film guaranteed to be remembered more for its baffling Oscars push than for anything that happens on the screen itself, "To Leslie" is perfectly fine. I basically buy the hype on Andrea Riseborough's performance. She finds nuance in her performance - she tends to be quieter than you expect from a toxic mess rural woman, and Riseborough makes sure to always play her as unaware of how toxic she is. Her best scene is the one of aggressive flirting. The man is not interested in the slightest, and is only barely willing to humor her. Leslie is incapable of taking a hint, and keeps pushing harder.   I wish the rest of the actors here were more willing to take the same approach. Basically every actor except Riseborough and Marc Maron (softly strong, but the romance plot he gets is unnecessary) has severe Sundance Disease, in which every negative emotion is played at an 11. It makes the whole ordeal feel rather performative. The easy claim for this little film with a big...