WIDOWS and THE GIRL

The top three films this weekend with Rotten Tomatoes reviews:

• Fantastic Beasts                                     40
• Dr. Seuss' The Grinch                           57
• Bohemian Rhapsody                              62

I don't go to J.K. Rowling and animated features anymore.  I saw Bohemian Rhapsody last week.

So this weekend I went to:

                                                                      Rotten Tomatoes

                                                                 Reviewers  Audiences

• #4 Widows                                             91             63

• #9  The Girl in the Spider's Web          40             46

Widows is a heist film directed by Steve McQueen, who also was co-writer with Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl).  This is not the Steve McQueen who you saw in the 1968 movie, Bullitt.  Can you believe that was half a century ago?  That McQueen passed away in 1980.

The Steve McQueen, to the right with Flynn, is a British director, producer and screenwriter.  He won two academy awards for his 2013 12 Years a Slave.

Widows was a well-crafted production with several twists.  Worth your while.

Stieg Larsson was a Swedish author who wrote three books in his Millennium series, all published posthumously from 2005.  A decade later, 80 copies of the threesome had been sold.  He died at the age 50 in 2004, and the cause was said to be eating processed foods and copious amounts of coffee.  The Girl (...with the Dragon Tattoo, Who Played with Fire and Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest) in all his books is Lisbeth Salander, somewhat based on an awful experience when at the age of 15 he witnessed the gang-rape of an acquaintance named Lisbeth.

Rooney Mara was Lisbeth with the Dragon Tatoo, while Noomi Rapace played her in #'s 2 and 3.  This fourth version was written by David Lagercrantz, with Claire Foy (in the middle, below) as The Girl in the Spider's Web.  I just mentioned Claire last month, and she has risen to now be among my favorite actresses.  Will there be a 5th?  Sure, for Lagercrantz has already published The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye.

The Girl films are all Swedish noir, stylish, sexually provocative, daring and a challenge for reviewers.  You'll either like it or not.  They possibly will reflect your innermost thoughts.

Three films open this weekend, here with Rotten Tomatoes reviews:

• Roma                                              99
• Shoplifters                                      98
• The World Before Your Feet    100

Go if you can, but chances are that none will be shown in your local theaters.  TWBYF is a documentary about the five boroughs of New York City.  I was just there.  Would have loved to compare my experience, for, while tour buses served as my feet, I wonder what I missed.

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I might add that, suddenly, there are now four ocean storms on the other side of this world: