“I didn’t have much interest in this to begin with, other than it’s place in the awards conversation. Timothy Spall had made it into some early predictions, but as the nominations neared, he was losing ground. I was mostly thankful that it meant that I probably wouldn’t have to see this movie that didn’t seem like it’d do it for me. The morning that nominations came out, I heard this called for a below the line award. Then another. And another. Huh, this really racked them up, with a total of 4. Crap, I’m gonna hafta go see this now am I?
It actually took some doing. I tried to go on MLK day, dashed out from my yoga class and ran as fast as I could in the very very cold (picking up a power bar on the way) only to arrive ten minutes late to a sold out show, and then had to trek back another 25 min in the cold to go home. Scheduling constraints and higher priority films pushed it out, until finally I made it.
My suspicions proved correct. I didn’t like this movie at all. Visually, sure it was pretty. Yes, Spall gave a great performance (anyone else feel like God purposely placed him in the wrong time period, specifically so that he could act in period films?). But there was really no plot (which is a lot to ask your audience to sit thru for 2.5 hours) and our title character really isn’t very likeable (again, not something ideal for 2.5 hours).
There were some side characters I liked, although for everyone that I liked (such as his maid) there was another that annoyed me (such as his over talkative hotel owner lady friend). It’s up for cinematography, production design, costumes, and score. The first I didn’t notice too much. The next two make total sense (period piece with lots of bright colors). The fourth, ugh, I did not like that score at all. It sounded dismal.
Let’s just be real here. This was never gonna be my movie. While it may have impressed those that go for your prestige art house pics, it didn’t fit with this entertainment driven viewer.
Mr Turner – \m/ \n”