Geoffrey Dennis

You don't have to fully understand it (I don't) to appreciate this surreal steampunk feminist take on Frankenstein. Every scene is blackly funny, eye-popping, over-the-top. You are fully engaged and trying to anticipate where this could possibly go next. Emma Stone totally commits to this performance that demands total commitment. A wonder. Mark Ruffalo demonstrates a range he is rarely allowed to show. Willem Defoe as the Dr. Frankenstein stand in literally takes on the deformities normally assigned to the monster. They and his gradually revealed backstory form a stigmata he bears inflicted by the miracle that is humanity. A weirdo companion piece to Barbie. One of the best movies of 2023.

Epic! Shakespearean! Blacksmithy! A feast for the eyes and the soul.

I loved, loved, loved the original series. I'm now four episodes in to the new one, and I have to say that while I love the character of Givens, I miss the more memorable supporting cast. I've yet to connect to any of the other LE or underworld figures as I did with Boyd, Eva, Art, Brooks, and Limehouse. I realize that whereas Givens was the outlier in the early series, here he's cast as a compatible voice of reason, but the grim urban underworld of a decaying city is not terribly novel. The Wire did it better, as did Atlanta, and Breaking Bad. I will continue to watch, but it has yet to jell for me like the old hillbilly noir.

This leisurely parable about the madness of civil war has several layers of meaning, but it's not for everyone. It requires patience and an appreciate for dark, dark Irish humor.