By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5437928/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57884483
Colette - (2018)
I'm very aware that looking to cinema for an education in history is pretty foolish, but I'm often inspired to learn more about the subjects I watch - and this was no different with
Colette. Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette earned enough fame to be accepted by her preferred nomenclature "Colette" - but to get there she had to fight her way out of her husband's shadow. Henry Gauthier-Villars had his own one-name moniker, "Willy", and Collette's novels were at first released under his name. In fact, when her "Claudine" novels became a massive popular hit in France, he convinced her to write more, at stages locking her up when her output slowed down. This film starts with their marriage - Keira Knightley playing Colette and Dominic West, Willy, focusing on their sexual proclivities, and a relationship which was at times close and friendly, at others frosty and dysfunctional. Willy parties, and usually spends a lot of money buying drinks and dinner for the countless people with him - it's amazing how he goes through the massive amounts of money the two earn, and one particular financial transaction hurts Colette keenly. In the meantime, Colette explores her bisexuality, and partners up with Mathilde de Morny - kind of daring for the time, but Mathilde openly dresses in men's clothes and openly identifies with being a man. Interesting biopic, but like with many biopics, I don't see myself ever watching it again - it did it's job, encouraging me to learn about these late 19th/early 20th Century figures.
6/10
By http://www.impawards.com/2016/assassins_creed_ver3.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50518324
Assassins Creed - (2016)
Oh boy. $125 million - and honest effort. They weren't fooling around. New Regency Productions, Ubisoft Motion Pictures and all the other production companies and head honchos really wanted this to work. But - and this is an important but - they didn't grasp what's intrinsically fun about the games. Running around in the past and being an assassin - the action and historical accuracy. The present day sections are around 10% of the game, and the more laborious, overarching and narratively complex parts - the parts that should have been minimized. You can guess what happened - we get a few half-decent action set-pieces in 15th Century Spain, but most of this film is set in the future/present with the tangled web of hopelessly convoluted narrative lovingly transplanted for cinemagoers to hate. Don't blame yourself if you don't understand it - it's simply vague and nonsensical. This film's narrative should have been straightforward, and most of it should have played out in the 15th Century portion. Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson and Charlotte Rampling - a dream cast in a film that's a living nightmare to watch - but the reviews that popped up on YouTube are a lot of fun to watch instead.
3/10