There are a number of things that did not make sense with the new movie “The Favourite”. The first is, why are two Academy Award Winning actresses, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz in this horrendous mess? How could they have read this bad script and still taken this movie? Why is Rotten Tomatoes giving this bad movie, with no real story a 94% rating? This movie takes place in the 1800’s in France during the war with England, so it is known as a period piece, but who cares?

I have always wondered why the French use to wear those huge wigs during that time – never realizing how ridiculous they look; to say nothing of how hot it must have been to wear so much fake hair. Towards the end of this movie, there is an overweight naked French man with a long haired fake wig who is pelted with oranges and he suddenly appears in this strange scene with no buildup or explanation. He just suddenly appears out of nowhere, covering his privates with this hand, and people are throwing oranges at him. Why? This was never explained but how can you explain something this idiotic and random anyway? Its something they did in the 1800’s in France or a candid camera film editing stunt?

This is one of the few movies I can remember where I walked out before the end because I could not stand to waste the full 2 hours. This is one of the worst movies I have seen in a while and it should be missed. Do not be fooled by the critics, because they are wrong. Run from this embarrassing waste of 2 hours.

The new film “The Mule” is about a story that were it not true, the overall experience would not be as believable or as good as this movie is. Clint Eastwood both stars and directed this movie and one of his best in recent years, and a good comeback from the bad “The 15:17 to Paris” released in February. It is amazing to see Eastwood still going strong at age 88 and I am sure if anyone asked him how he feels about being 88 years old he would say that “he is too busy to care”.

The Mule is about money and what a 90 year old World War 2 Veteran Earl Stone does to keep his house from being foreclosed on. To get a new truck for himself and to survive another day. By chance he becomes a mule, smuggling drugs from Mexico to Indiana and at first it seems a simple job where he does what he is told and at the end of the trip he collects a great deal of money. Over time the value of the cargo he is carrying grows exponentially as does the danger he puts himself in. What everybody finds out eventually when they deal with criminals and murders who smuggle drugs, is that eventually you will get yourself into a great deal of trouble and if you one day want to walk away, you cant, they will just kill you. The side story of Stone’s wife, played by Dianne Wiest I thought was very well done and showed how Earl Stone ignored his family most of his life, concentrating instead on plants because of his job as of all things, a horticulturist.

I thought the acting throughout this movie was very good, including Andy Garcia as the drug kingpin in Mexico and Bradley Cooper as the DEA Agent. Unfortunately, the Rotten Tomatoes ratings for this movie are an anemic 63%, which surprises me because I give this movie a solid 80%. I do recommend The Mule.

The new film “At Eternities Gate” is about Vincent Van Gogh and the isolated depressing life he lead long before he was ever known to be one of the greatest painters of all time. His isolation right after his best friend, Paul Gauguin left him for the city eventually caused him to cut off his ear.

I thought the scenes of van Gogh painting and creating were very impressive as was the acting of Willem Dafoe who played Van Gogh and Oscar Isaac who played Paul Gauguin. However, I found this movie mostly too slow boring to recommend, despite the relatively high ratings. Just not my kind of movie.