Mank (2020) UMR Stats
Mank (2020) UMR Links
UMR Review of Mank (2020)
Movies about movies are very hit and miss. Mank falls into that category. The hits: Wonderful performances across the board with Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried shining the brightest. The movie looks awesome. Making it black and white was a very smart decision. The misses: I never got emotional attached to Oldman’s Mank. The back and forth in time do not really work for me. Movie has a few too many subplots. Final thought: I liked the movie, but not as much as I would have guessed.
Chicago 7 will make my top 10 films list which I usually put together on New Years day. Ma Rainey may be an honorable mention.
Hey Dan…..just finished Midnight Sky…second half was better but what a crappy ending. The best trivia? At one point, one of the characters is watching On The Beach. That of course starred Gregory Peck. Peck’s nephew Ethan Peck plays the younger version of Clooney in this one. I like trivia like that.
Hey Dan….thanks for the review of Mank. Funny that you mentioned Midnight Sky….I am about an hour into it…..not impressed yet….and now I am not thinking it is not going to get better. We have the same thoughts on The Old Guard and Project Power. I liked Mank more than you….and I agree Hubie Halloween is not too bad…way better than I would have guessed. I did like Netflix’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Viola Davis as Ma gives a great performance…..as does Chadwick Boseman. Good stuff.
Just watched this. What a big disappointment. Visually stunning at times and some scenes like a montage at the 1934 California gubernatorial election and at the end when the secretary’s situation is resolved remind me of other films, maybe even Citizen Kane. However the rest of the film is just a bunch of rants set around meeting Marion Davies or Irving Thalberg or Hearst or Louie B. Mayer. Amanda Seyfried as Marion and Arliss Howard as Mayer seem to be the only Americans in this American story. Herman Mankiewicz, Hearst and even Orson Welles are played by English actors. Up there with other duds from Netflix like The Old Guard, Project Power and George Clooney’s Midnight Sky (what a snoozer). At least you know what to expect from Netflix’ s Adam Sandler’s “Hubie Halloween” which is better than the rest of those, but again that isn’t saying much.