Movies, Film, and Chili

  Conclave  is a drama about the naming of a new Pope. Edward Berger  directed the film, and his direction quality has increased since All Quiet On The Western Front .  Peter Straughan, who is better known for writing Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, is ambitious in his political statements, which I believe would very much alienate most religious people by the end of the film. It does overall diminish the film's integrity and value. Ralph Fiennes  plays Lawrence quite well and you can see his turmoil throughout the film. I believe there is an alternate ending that would see him in a different state by the end of the film, but alas we might never see that ending. John Lithgow  and Stanley Tucci  both play their respective political pope rivals as expected. Tucci the liberal, and Lithgow is the conservative. Since the film follows mostly Lawrence there is much to be desired from both of these characters. The film will still be nominated for an Oscar, but I fou...

  Gladiator II is the direct sequel to the 2000s modern classic.  Ridley Scott returns to direct. Someone in the marketing department needs to be fired as I went into the film thinking it would be horrible. It was great to get David Scarpa to write, as the story and the screenplay were better than expected. He wrote Napoleon and did the screenplay for The Day the Earth Stood Still . The CGI could have cooked a tad bit longer too. The film is not without its flaws, Yuval Gonen  has stupid tattoos on her face that are more distracting than immersive and the romance between her and Paul Mescal  is not believable. Speaking of Mescal, he struggles at the beginning of the film but finds his own towards the end. He starts at a four and ends at a seven. Pedro Pascal plays a complicated and well-written character as was Denzel Washington . Both Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger  were just annoying. The character of Ravi  played by Alexander Karim  was unnecessar...