![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
It's been a pretty quite week since Christmas. Like much of the country I've had a cold and been disinclined to go out, so it has been as predicted most relaxation, reading, trying out my new paint brushes (very pleased), and commenting on some fic. No writing; the not!Yuletide fic remains in need of its last read-through and incorporation of a couple of extra small thoughts I had about it. I never write much anyway when staying with my parents, because I don't like writing in a room with other people so would have to shut myself away and I don't want to. But I've a few days at home before returning to work, so will try to do a bit then.
In addition to the above non-news, I have managed to see a couple of films, both of which I recommend whole-heartedly.
Glass Onion. New years eve, Netflix. The Knives Out 'sequel', i.e. also starring Daniel Craig as a private detective with an accent, in an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery. Great fun, with a sunny setting and a set of characters you can feel uncomplicated contempt for, as Miles the tech/whatever billionaire invites his former friends and now sycophants to a ridiculous private island for a weekend party. Miles is only partially based on Elon Musk - there are plenty of billionaire scammers believing in their own genius to go around - but there were some very entertaining moments on that front. Most of all, it has a good script: a proper mystery that fits together as it should, no half-measures and sloppy plot holes to make me annoyed that the production has been lazy.
Corsage. Cinema for this one on new year's morning, my second trip since Feb 2022, and a total of 6 people there of whom we made up 4. This centres around a fantastic performance by Vicky Krieps as Empress Elisabeth of Austria being thoroughly fed up as she reaches 40 and finds life in the Austrian court presents levels of boredom that would make watching paint dry intellectually stimulating, and routine compliments on her beauty more conducive of anxiety than pleasure. I hugely enjoyed it, and my parents and sister found it interesting* though I think that it is probably more straightforward to watch if you know a little bit of the history - or indeed the mythologising - of Elisabeth herself. Filmed impressively on location with the exception of a hilly Northamptonshire.
*We agreed it was far less depressing than the new year's eve we saw Cold War, which had been reviewed as the heartwarming fictionalised tale of the director's parents' romance.
In addition to the above non-news, I have managed to see a couple of films, both of which I recommend whole-heartedly.
Glass Onion. New years eve, Netflix. The Knives Out 'sequel', i.e. also starring Daniel Craig as a private detective with an accent, in an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery. Great fun, with a sunny setting and a set of characters you can feel uncomplicated contempt for, as Miles the tech/whatever billionaire invites his former friends and now sycophants to a ridiculous private island for a weekend party. Miles is only partially based on Elon Musk - there are plenty of billionaire scammers believing in their own genius to go around - but there were some very entertaining moments on that front. Most of all, it has a good script: a proper mystery that fits together as it should, no half-measures and sloppy plot holes to make me annoyed that the production has been lazy.
Corsage. Cinema for this one on new year's morning, my second trip since Feb 2022, and a total of 6 people there of whom we made up 4. This centres around a fantastic performance by Vicky Krieps as Empress Elisabeth of Austria being thoroughly fed up as she reaches 40 and finds life in the Austrian court presents levels of boredom that would make watching paint dry intellectually stimulating, and routine compliments on her beauty more conducive of anxiety than pleasure. I hugely enjoyed it, and my parents and sister found it interesting* though I think that it is probably more straightforward to watch if you know a little bit of the history - or indeed the mythologising - of Elisabeth herself. Filmed impressively on location with the exception of a hilly Northamptonshire.
*We agreed it was far less depressing than the new year's eve we saw Cold War, which had been reviewed as the heartwarming fictionalised tale of the director's parents' romance.
