While watching the Oscars Sunday night, I was often rooting for The Favourite, Yorgos Lanthimos period drama about the Queen of England and her two consorts fighting for power. Yet I kept being reminded of another period drama about royal fights of power, a film I’d forgotten even existed, – Mary, Queen of Scots. That film was nominated for a few awards, didn’t win any, but the clips sure looked interesting.
Buy Mary, Queen of Scots (2018) Blu-rayIt stars Saoirse Ronan as the titular queen of Scotland and Margot Robbie as Queen Elizabeth. The two are locked in a battle of wits over who will reign over the whole of Britain. Reviews all seem to note that, much like The Favourite, it is quite historically inaccurate, but that it has a lot of fun pitting these two interesting actresses against each other. The costumes and make up look gorgeous as well. So yeah, I’m not really that into costumed, period dramas, but I’m happy to make Mary, Queen of Scots this week’s pick.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
Ralph Breaks the Internet: I enjoyed but didn’t love the first movie. It never quite fulfilled its promise, but was more or less a fun diversion. I’m sure I’ll watch this sequel as I do have a small child in my house but I’m not gonna be in a rush to get to it.
The Possession of Hannah Grace: Shay Mitchell stars in this exorcism horror flick.
The Little Mermaid: 30th Anniversary Signature Collection: This was always my favorite of the Disney Renaissance films. It’s a classic story, it has one of the best villains, and the songs are super fun. This was released on Blu-ray a few years back as part of the Diamond series. This Signature release has got a few new features, keeps a lot of the old ones, and slings a whole bunch of old content to the online world so as to save disk space.
To Sleep with Anger (Criterion Collection): Danny Glover stars in this drama about an enigmatic Southern drifter who shows up on the doorstep of an old friend in South Central Los Angeles causing all sorts of turmoil.
