Female Film Critics 24/375
I startled myself awake the morning after my screening with the shocking realization that nothing in the trailer — which has been ubiquitous and inescapable at cinemas for months now — is actually in the damn movie. Or is it? Maybe some of it is? The movie itself had already faded from memory, mere hours later, it’s that blah…
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Most critics don’t seem to be fans of Matthew Vaughn’s new action comedy, Argylle, but luckily, I’m in the minority of those who had a blast with it. The film is about an introverted spy novelist played by Bryce Dallas Howard, who is drawn into the activities of a sinister underground organization. It’s best to not take this film too seriously. Just allow yourself to enjoy the ridiculous ride. Argylle is a fast-paced, witty, and action-packed spy comedy that’s well worth seeing on the big screen.
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With director Matthew Vaughn, best known for Kick-Ass and the Kingsman films, one expects foolishness. This isn’t Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy—or even The Spy Who Loved Me. Argylle is preposterous and messy, but I’ve seen worse, and without the good cheer of Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell. It’s pitched at a heightened reality with cartoonish stunts, over-the-top action, zany dance choreography, and disco music. I doubt I’ll see another sequence this year with someone on jerry-rigged knife-blade ice skates slaying enemies in a sit-spin, or people twirling in a gunfight among smoke canisters that bloom into technicolor hearts.
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“The greater the spy, the bigger the lie.” This is a great way to describe the new action thriller, Argylle. No one is who they say they are…or are they? Everyone is a double, triple or even quadruple agent in this well choreographed Dancing with the Spies espionage escapade.
Argylle is the title character in a series of spy novels written by the reclusive Ella Conway, played by Bryce Dallas Howard. After Aiden, a real secret agent (Sam Rockwell), shows up at her door ready to save her and her beloved cat, Alfie, from almost certain death, Ella realizes the plot of the new book she’s writing is mirroring real world events in real time. But are they predictions or are they memories?
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There are places where the two films intersect, making Barbenheimer less ridiculous than the memes suggest: Both Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) and Barbie (Margot Robbie) are midcentury icons, Oppenheimer as the father of the atomic bomb that forever changed the way humans live in the world, and Barbie as the doll that broke the mold, freeing little girls from the tyranny of baby dolls and forever changing the way children play with dolls.
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It’s not easy being a stereotypical doll. At least, if your name is Barbie and you find yourself unexpectedly facing an existential crisis. Hype for this rendering of the life of Mattel’s classic toy had so many photos of Margot Robbie and a bleached blonde Ryan Gosling, as Barbie and her boytoy Ken spread across so many websites, that the production became a candy-colored mystery but with Greta Gerwig at the helm and a script by her and husband Noah Baumbach,) it seemed likely Barbie would not be a feature-length kiddie toy commercial. And it isn’t. This is, to borrow a phrase from the Eurythmics, sisters doing it for themselves. With dolls.
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Like the doll’s copious wardrobe and accessories, the movie Barbie leaves lots to unpack—and probably more than people might expect. This funny, eye-catching film sports pitch-perfect performances from Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, paying tribute to the iconic toy while skewering the patriarchy and feminist window-dressing. It’s also a coming-of-age story about Barbie herself.
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There’s a dream every female filmmaker must have of their projects getting support on a grand scale, as amplification from studios and outside sources with influence can make all the difference to a film’s success. That being true, writer/director Blerta Basholi must be over the moon after November 9th’s screening of her award-winning film Hive in Washington, DC. Not only were Basholli and Hive’s star, Yllka Gashi in attendance, but so were the president of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani, who is only the second female president in Kosovo’s history, and AMA, MTV, and Grammy-winning musician, supermodel, and activist Dua Lipa.
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