(¥Y Chairman of the Board: Back to basics
(¥ Taking a ‘Gaycation’
(Y The art of war

And more!

Have an idea for a story?
M arts@theotherpress.ca

 

Some style, but no substance

> ‘Carol’ review

Brittni MacKenzie-Dale
The Phoenix (UBC Okanagan)

 

he eponymous Carol meets
young photographer Therese

Belivet in 1950s Manhattan in
Carol, a film based on Patricia
Highsmith’s ground-breaking
lesbian romance The Price of
Salt. Director Edward Lachman
gives us a wonderfully nostalgic
look at post-war New York. As
a slow romance builds between
the two leading women,
dastardly consequences arise
within their personal lives. As
social commentary, Carol works
to a degree—when the novel
was published in the late 4os,
the subject matter was more
risqué and thus the plot was
more honest—but in terms of
narrative, the film isa bore.

Romance is forfeited for
nonstop tension. Therese and
Carol spend little time building
on-screen chemistry through
humour or fun—instead, we see
them nearly solely struggling with
guilt. Given the temporal context,

this makes sense, but it also makes

it harder to feel anything for these
two women as they never quite
read as nuanced, real people.

A promising first third
leads way to a disappointing
middle act and climax. Carol is
simultaneously on-the-nose (an
early dinner scene between the
two women seems like a parody
of subtext) and subtle to the
point of catatonia. Moments
that should feel flirty, sexy, and
moving read like a checklist: it’s
all stage play and no grit. The
costumes are stunning and the
women are breathtaking, but
there is little character study and
plot progression. The one sex
scene, a welcome reprieve from
the dull flirtations throughout,
comes too little too late.

The best moments in Carol
unfortunately don’t stem from
the main conflict, but from
the subplot between Carol and
her husband. Two powerful
scenes—when her husband
believes, rightfully, that Carol is
being unfaithful, and a moving
child custody scene near the

end—are memorable and

hard-hitting. Thankfully, these
moments are strong enough to
help keep audience attention.
Unfortunately, the usually-
fantastic Rooney Mara delivers a

Marvel's funniest anti-hero

> ‘Deadpool’ film review

Lauren Paulsen
Senior Columnist

 

OOOO

think Deadpool is my new
favourite Marvel movie. I knew
going into the movie I would
enjoy it, having seen the trailers,
but I didn’t know that I would
enjoy it this much. I honestly
knew very little about Deadpool
outside of what the trailers had
shown. I’d heard his name before,
but he wasn’t a Marvel character
I was familiar with, so I went
into the movie fairly blind. Now
I can’t wait to see more of him.
Deadpool’s humour is
its greatest selling point. |
haven't been to many movies
that elicited so much laughter
from the audience. Just the
opening credits set the tone,
and Deadpool’s breaking of the
fourth wall only added to it.
Even his incessant pop-culture
references never seemed out of
place. A memorable one for me
was a shot of Time with Deadpool
portrayer Ryan Reynolds on

the cover as sexiest man alive,
contrasting his horribly scarred
appearance as Deadpool.

Reynolds did an amazing
job of portraying Deadpool’s
character. His sarcastic, macabre,
and dirty humour was a riot. |
thought the jokes might get old
partway through the movie, but
they managed to stay fresh for
the duration of the film. The
makeup crew also did an amazing
job of making Reynolds look
ugly—who knew that was even
possible? I also really enjoyed
the fight scenes. They were
choreographed quite well.

The movie never takes itself
seriously, and that works. There
are many times when Deadpool
pokes fun at his own film’s lack of
budget, such as explaining why
there were only two X-Men in the
movie. Some of the CGI wasn't
all that great, but that might
have been another meta-joke.

Compared to other Marvel
films, I really liked the movie's
unconventional content. It
definitely has an “R” rating
for a reason. It’s probably the
most violent, gory, profanity-

laced superhero movie I have
ever seen. But let’s not forget,
Deadpool isn’t really a hero. He
says so himself many times.

wooden performance. Her skills
are underutilized, ostensibly by
no fault of her own. The great
Cate Blanchett and the even
better Kyle Chandler do their
best to save Phyllis Nagy’s flimsy

If you like comic books and
crude humor, I recommend
you go see Deadpool. Just make

sure that you know what you are

  

Image via www.telegraph.co.u

script, but with poor character
development and little chemistry
between the two leads, this is an
almost impossible task. Gorgeous
but largely vacuous, Carol

never lives up to its potential.

 

 

 

c
2
~

G

o

°

a

5
U

E
=

*

5°
Li

>
<

a
a

c

uv
WW
r=)
.v

a

c

$
(ia
Lo
=
iO
IN
LS

>
vu

a

G
E

 

getting into. I will never look at
avocados the same way again.