# W.E. (Madonna produced fillum on Wallis Simpson)



## Ted Striker (Jan 24, 2012)

The Kings Speech (it wishes) meets Johnny English (it actually is) meets Escape To Victory (ok, one scene) with (completely unnecessary) shades of Nil By Mouth.

With the funny doofus from Coupling playing it straight as a womanising alcoholic 'shrink'.

It's like clunky hackneyed cliched patronising kids film with Mature/Adult motives.

Can someone else please watch it so I can compare notes on it's rubbishness?!


----------



## butchersapron (Jan 24, 2012)

She actually directed it as well as producing i think.


----------



## gabi (Jan 24, 2012)

It's got mixed reviews. Not terrible in the US, astonishingly bad in the UK.

Do i recall there's some surreal scene where they dance to the sex pistols? for no apparent reason? years before the sex pistols were born?


----------



## Ted Striker (Jan 24, 2012)

Hahaha, thanks for reminding me, not just dancing to the Sex Pistols, but dancing to the Sex Pistols after the future King Of England had spiked the tray of champers (at a private cinematic screening of a film with a load of posh dignatories that was sending them to sleep) with amphetamin pills.

Reading that back makes it sound like cinema gold


----------



## Reno (Jan 24, 2012)

gabi said:


> It's got mixed reviews. Not terrible in the US, astonishingly bad in the UK.
> 
> Do i recall there's some surreal scene where they dance to the sex pistols? for no apparent reason? years before the sex pistols were born?



That's not so unusual. Anachronistic pop and rock songs have been used in quite few period films in an attempt to lift them out of the custom period rut. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I thought it worked here.

W.E. isn't terrible and it isn't great. I'm not much of a fan of Madge, but she was always going to get a hard time with this. There were many people ready to stick in the knife before anybody had even seen it. The period section of the film works quite well, it's the modern framing story that feels superfluous. I've seen a lot worse films over the last year, some of which got rave reviews just on the reputation of the directors.


----------



## redsquirrel (Jan 24, 2012)

Her excuses for downplaying the facist sympathies are utterly pathetic. Not that that necessarily makes it a bad film.


----------



## october_lost (Jan 25, 2012)

Having done a film about Evita Peron, what would you expect?


----------



## Reno (Jan 25, 2012)

Madonna Closet Fascist Shocker !


----------



## maldwyn (Jan 25, 2012)

_*Mark Kermode reviews Madonna's W.E.*_

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SE2LMHQmQS0*


----------



## Reno (Jan 25, 2012)

I wished the man just for once had a surprising opinion on a film.


----------



## maldwyn (Jan 25, 2012)

He liked that last Twilight film, which did surprise me. besides, the W.E review_ was_ funny.


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Jan 25, 2012)

redsquirrel said:


> Her excuses for downplaying the facist sympathies are utterly pathetic. Not that that necessarily makes it a bad film.


One thing I have learned in my life. When Madonna writes and directs films you can be sure they're unalloyed shit.


----------



## Iguana (Jan 25, 2012)

Reno said:


> That's not so unusual. Anachronistic pop and rock songs have been used in quite few period films in an attempt to lift them out of the custom period rut. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I thought it worked here.



I can think of at least 3. Moulin Rouge, A Knight's Tale and I think Marie Antoinette, I haven't seen it but I think they dance to 80s pop.


----------



## TopCat (Jan 25, 2012)

Mrs Magpie said:


> One thing I have learned in my life. When Madonna writes and directs films you can be sure they're unalloyed shit.


The only thing worse is when she stars in films.


----------



## gabi (Jan 25, 2012)

Iguana said:


> I can think of at least 3. Moulin Rouge, A Knight's Tale and I think Marie Antoinette, I haven't seen it but I think they dance to 80s pop.



Three of the worst movies I've ever sat thru coincidentally. Madge has made it 4.


----------



## gabi (Jan 25, 2012)

TopCat said:


> The only thing worse is when she stars in films.



she was ok in desperately seeking susan i think, but then again i was about 4 when i saw that.


----------



## TopCat (Jan 25, 2012)

gabi said:


> she was ok in desperately seeking susan i think, but then again i was about 4 when i saw that.


Nah she was dreck in that. I bet they told her to just "be yourself" because she was really bad.


----------



## Reno (Jan 25, 2012)

maldwyn said:


> He liked that last Twilight film, which did surprise me. besides, the W.E review_ was_ funny.



Kermode is a devout Christian, so he probably approves of all that "no sex before marriage" propaganda.


----------



## _angel_ (Jan 25, 2012)

Mrs Magpie said:


> One thing I have learned in my life. When Madonna writes and directs films you can be sure they're unalloyed shit.


Has she ever written and directed before?


----------



## Reno (Jan 25, 2012)

.


----------



## Reno (Jan 25, 2012)

_angel_ said:


> Has she ever written and directed before?


 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1042499/

I haven't seen it. Was nearly tempted because of Eugene Hutz


----------



## october_lost (Jan 25, 2012)

Reno said:


> Kermode is a devout Christian


Heard this before, but where is the proof?


----------



## Reno (Jan 25, 2012)

october_lost said:


> Heard this before, but where is the proof?



He's talked about it himself many times. Where do you think his obsession with The Exorcist comes from ?

The proof can easily be had by googling "Mark Kermode" and "religious".


----------



## discokermit (Jan 25, 2012)

Reno said:


> He's talked about it himself many times. Where do you think his obsession with The Exorcist comes from ?
> 
> The proof can easily be had by googling "Mark Kermode" and "religious".


i think his reviews are pretty good though. he doesn't go on about religion.


----------



## Reno (Jan 25, 2012)

discokermit said:


> i think his reviews are pretty good though. he doesn't go on about religion.



I'm not a huge fan of his reviewing style. He's more of a "media personality" than one of the critics I look too for good writing or interesting opinions on film and in his case it's often more about ego. He has lots of bees in his bonnet about stuff and he is one of those critics who will always be supportive of a film by a director he loves, no matter how wretched the thing may be.

I'm not holding the fact that he is a regular church goer against him, he appears to be relatively liberal Christian. He does have a bias against films that deal sympathetically with things like infidelity and on those occasions his Christian values come through. That's why he approves of the sexual conservatism of something like the Twilight films.


----------



## Jeff Robinson (Jan 25, 2012)

Reno said:


> I'm not a huge fan of his reviewing style. He's more of a "media personality" than one of the critics I look too for good writing or interesting opinions on film and in his case it's often more about ego. He is one of those critics who will always be supportive of a film by a director he loves, no matter how wretched the thing may be.



This simply isnt true. If you regularly listen to his podcasts you'll find he constantly berates actors and directors he likes for failing to live up to his standards. Being a public critic is about as egotistic as you can get isn't it? It seems to me that Kermode approaches that role with a good degree of awareness and manages to serve it with a generous helping of self deprication.


----------



## Jeff Robinson (Jan 25, 2012)

Incidently, whether he is a christian or not, I don't see his attitude to sexuality as being a conservative one (in the nadine dorries/ann widdecombe sense) but rather one that is critical of the pervasive commodification of sexual relations and rise of casual misogyny in popular culture of the past three decades.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 25, 2012)

shit haircut though


----------



## Jeff Robinson (Jan 25, 2012)

tis true.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Jan 25, 2012)

Iguana said:


> I can think of at least 3. Moulin Rouge, A Knight's Tale and I think Marie Antoinette, I haven't seen it but I think they dance to 80s pop.


And it's cringemakingly shit in every single one.


----------



## Reno (Jan 25, 2012)

Jeff Robinson said:


> This simply isnt true. If you regularly listen to his podcasts you'll find he constantly berates actors and directors he likes for failing to live up to his standards. Being a public critic is about as egotistic as you can get isn't it? It seems to me that Kermode approaches that role with a good degree of awareness and manages to serve it with a good helping of self deprication.



Nobody who has a more in-depth interest in and knowledge of film rates him or takes him particularly seriously. What he does is light entertainment. I just never find what he has to say about film very interesting or unexpected. He is the film critic for people who just have a casual interest in film and that's fine. There is a place for what he does, but not in my life.

I prefer critics and writers like Tim Lucas, Alison Willmore, Charles Taylor, Stephanie Zachareck, J. Hoberman, Ed Gonzales and even top shit stirrer Armond White. I prefer movie podcasts like Filmspotting, Reasonable Discussions, The Film Talk, NPR Culturetopia, Mondo Movie and Sound on Sight to Kermode's self-serving "rants".

None of the critics I've mentioned, apart from possibly White, promote themselves as a personality the way Kermode does.


----------



## Iguana (Jan 25, 2012)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> And it's cringemakingly shit in every single one.


S'alright in Shrek though.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 25, 2012)

Mondo Movie is a great podcast, glad to hear it is returning.
can't say i've heard of any of the critics you mentioned, reno. where do they write?


----------



## Reno (Jan 25, 2012)

Iguana said:


> S'alright in Shrek though.



No, it was bloody annoying in Shrek. I really like Marie Antoinette though, Sophia Coppola's best film by far and I like it for all the reasons other people seem to dislike it for.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 25, 2012)

i quite like kermode when he's slagging stuff off, but i think he's wrong about a lot of stuff (he totally didn't get attack the block), so i don't pay much attention to him. he


----------



## Reno (Jan 26, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Mondo Movie is a great podcast, glad to hear it is returning.
> can't say i've heard of any of the critics you mentioned, reno. where do they write?



Alison Willmore and Stephanie Zachareck, formerly of IMC and Salon respectively, write for Movieline now. Tim Lucas has a magazine called VideoWatchdog and writes for Sight and Sound and specialises on genre and cult films. J. Hoberman was the main critic for the Village Voice, till he became the latest great print critic to get fired after decades of great work. Charles Taylor freelances and used to write for Salon, Ed Gonzales is the main critic for Slant.com. Armond White is a professional contrarian, very political and the most controversial of all film critics. He is New York based and writes for a several US publications.

I'm also really glad Mondo Movie is back, I listened to it today.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jan 26, 2012)

thanks for that! i don't read nearly enough about films.


----------



## barney_pig (Jan 28, 2012)

I like kermode, even when I disagree with him (usually for the ones he likes, I usually agree about the ones he dislikes). the podcast is a nice way to spend a saturday morning.


----------



## Kaka Tim (Jan 28, 2012)

Apart from anything else - the British royal family are fantastically dull - other then Lady Di's seatbelt dodging interaction with a concrete pillar, they have done and said absolutely nothing original, courageous or interesting for centuries other then 'be royal'.

In fact they are even more boring then Madonna.

The only interesting thing about Edward Windsor was that he was nazi sympathiser who was happy to be head of state in a quisling regime had Adolf conqured blighty.

The fact that are consistantly good box office makes me despair at the extent of Britains cap doffing recidivism and the yanks lack of faith in their own worthy republican heritage.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 28, 2012)

their bourgeois republicanism isn't fit for me to wipe my bellend on


----------



## Jeff Robinson (Jan 29, 2012)

Can't be bothered to go and see this nazi sympathiser sympathising piece of trash just to conclude that it is indeed a fawning, shallow joke co-written by a Kabbalistic crackpot who takes herself far to seriously. _
_


----------



## likesfish (Feb 1, 2012)

Wallis did us a favor.
  Mage should retire


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Feb 1, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> attack the block


I* love* that film, despite, on the whole,  hating SF and anything the least bit scary.


----------

