Film and TV

I watched Spencer and it was only so-so. I knew it wasn't going to be a full biography, just a snapshot of her life, but it was too "impressionistic" and fantastical for me. It's indeed like a horror movie. The film starts out very slow and claustrophobic, as Diana arrives for Christmas and keeps having whispered conversations and sneaking off to vomit due to her eating disorder.

She's having an emotional breakdown and keeps imagining herself as Anne Boleyn due to a book left at her bedside. Her husband Charles gives her the exact same necklace as Camilla Parker Bowles, and she tries to resist wearing it, but acquiesces to her dresser. At dinner, Diana hallucinates breaking the necklace and eating the pearls in her soup. Lots of imaginary things like this preoccupy the movie before we actually get to real conflicts, such as Diana not wanting her sons to shoot pheasants this Christmas, a royal tradition that Charles is insisting on. Also Major Alistair Gregory acts like an officious busybody constantly intruding on Diana and trying to remind her of duty. She eventually decides to escape a dinner and go to the neighboring estate which used to be her home as a Spencer. This is the only time Major Gregory decides, "fine, let her do what she wants." Park House is abandoned now and boarded up, but Diana breaks in and contemplates suicide as she recalls her past. The director uses this excuse for an indulgent sequence showing Diana in tons of her famous outfits, as if this movie was covering much more than just 3 days in her life. I wish the movie had spent more time showing her interacting with her sons, rather than being so interior.

Meanwhile, Supergirl had her series finale last night. For some unknown reason, my recording had weird static over all the audio, so I had to mute it and just watch with captions to follow the dialogue. Only about 20 minutes at the end came through clear of static. I'm glad that they dispensed with the battle quickly so we could move on to the wedding and the goodbyes. I was surprised by all the guest stars returning, including Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant. Jimmy Olsen also looked weird with a mustache. Overall it was satisfying. I wonder if any of the superheros will appear on other Arrowverse shows. The CW keeps advertising some 5-episode crossover including stars such as Black Lightning, whose show was already canceled. Plus Diggs from Arrow has been popping up on various shows lately. It seems like a show ending doesn't mean you won't see some characters return.