Films: The Mountain Between Us, Fences, & The Book of Henry

Well, lots of films on telly this week! I just didn't have time to blog about them, with one thing and another.

First up was on Wednesday. They generally do have a "midweek" film on Wednesdays - dunno why they didn't, last week. This week's was The Mountain Between Us, in which Idris Elba and Kate Winslet are both en route (separately) to Denver, in winter, in bad weather - only to discover that their flight has been cancelled. Both with urgent appointments, they join up to charter a small plane, piloted by Beau Bridges. So, off they pop - with his dog - only for the pilot to have a stroke en route. And they crash, quite tidily, onto a mountain ledge in the middle of nowhere, and have to make their way to civilization.

Oh dear. Now, first off, I've been on a plane that size - and let me assure you, you can't hear each other over the engine noise without a set of headphones and a mic. But there they are, casually chatting. Kudos to the pilot who, in the middle of a stroke, manages to land the plane on the only flat bit of the mountain range. And, as mentioned in a review on the IMDB page - I'd like whatever that bouncy dog was on! The humans are starving, rationed to one almond per day - nothing in sight for the dog to eat, but not a bother on him, he's bounding through the snow all the way through.

So, essentially it's a survival picture - or at least, starts that way. As a survival film, I've seen much better. The dog is obviously there for the aww factor - he doesn't do anything clever that I can recall. And our human survivors start out bickering, and all of a sudden, I see them making out. FFS. Honestly didn't see that coming, and to be honest, I didn't detect any chemistry between them. Possibly the least realistic bit of the whole film. And as for the last scene.. jeez. Basically, don't bother, you can do better.

Fences, last night, was much better, with Denzel Washington playing a regular Joe in America in the 50s, making ends meet, and dealing with various life events as they happen. Based on a play, and my only quibble is that it's maybe a bit wordy. But the acting is excellent, the scenarios completely believable.

Best of all for me though, was tonight's The Book of Henry, where Naomi Watts is a single mom with a precocious, 11-year-old son, Henry, who keeps a kind of diary, which she uses to act against her next-door neighbour, whom Henry has discovered is abusing his stepdaughter. It's actually a really charming film, Henry and his brother in particular are hilarious, and it's all quite sweet. Highly recommended.

I was very excited about tomorrow - The Old Vic has taken to streaming shows live in camera (so, played to an empty theatre). And coming up next is Three Kings - a one-man show with Andrew Scott! Showing from Wednesday to Saturday, it replicates a live theatre show, in that you have to attend at the scheduled time - so the only show I can make is the Saturday matinée. For which I snatched a ticket asap! Caveat - despite the different ticket prices, the view is the same for everyone - it's just a question of how much of a donation you feel like making. They're supposed to send me a Zoom link, shortly beforehand - oh, and these are non-transferable, you can only use the link on one device. But boy, do I love Andrew Scott..

And then he went to hospital., Apparently, it's neither life-threatening nor covid-related, but it's enough for him to have to postpone the show till next week. Well, it could be worse. Meantime, that gives me time to join Up in the Cheap Seats tomorrow - they're watching The White Crow, on Amazon. Directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes, it's the story of Nureyev's defection to the West. And with buffering issues, I really must try to start watching a bit earlier, to be able to join the Zoom call afterwards..