Conclave

Just come out of the cinema after watching Conclave, and I was impressed.

Unless we are (or have been) a Catholic Cardinal, we don't know what goes on behind closed doors after a Pope dies. Conclave gives us a convincing glimpse of the machinations and intrigue.

Fiennes is outstanding as the "Dean" - the one entrusted by the past Pope, to conduct the ancient procedure which selects a new one.

The close-up camera work is excellent. Long corridors, talking heads, facial looks, body movements, and even the sound of breathing do a lot of heavy lifting to create a tense yet controlled and subdued mood. Superb settings, sumptuous costumes. Good dialogue and interaction.

Conclave has a slow pace - but it's a mood piece so that's fine. We gradually go deeper and deeper into the process, but also into the minds of the senior clerics assembled. There is emotion and scandal.

Strong film 8/10. But Fiennes 10/10, and possibly an Oscar for best actor?

And now...a film for adults.

Based on Robert Harris' 2016 novel, CONCLAVE takes the viewers inside the Vatican during the College of Cardinals' process of selecting the new Pope...filled with Political in-fighting, twists, turns and surprises galore.

And...if the average age of the folks in the Movie Theater I attended a showing is any indication..."Grown-Ups" are flocking to this film.

As Directed by Edward Berger (ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT), CONCLAVE moves along sprightly, unraveling a mystery - not a "whodunnit" but rather a "who's gonna get it" - and it gets surprisingly tense.

This is thanks, in part, to the fine, fine actors that have been cast in this film. Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort in the HARRY POTTER films) anchors the events as the "Dean" of Cardinals who is tasked with leading the disparate group of Cardinals to a consensus pick of the next Pope. He acts as much as a Detective as a Facilitator as he battles his own conscious of faith...and ambition...all while uncovering schemes and plots of some of the "humble servants" vying for the top job.

Ably assisting is John Lithgow, Isabella Rosellini and quite a few others (mostly unknown) who battle for the "pole position" in the race to be the next Pope. Special notice should be made to GREAT Stanley Tucci for his supporting turn as one of the contenders who's platform seems to be "I don't want this" but who, underneath, really, really wants it.

Don't be surprised if both Fiennes and Tucci (as well as Director Berger) are mentioned come Oscar nomination time (they are that good).

As stated above, this film has twists and turns galore and it is a fun ride to roll with these turns, but if I am being honest, I felt that this film went "one twist too far" and should have/could have ended 10 minutes before it ended (without the one last twist). Now, some would say that this final twist is the point of the film, but...I would have been fine without that point being made.

You be the judge...and join other "adults" in the movie theater.

Letter Grade: A-

8 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)

This is a political thriller. With a bit of tweaking this sort of vaguely labyrinthine plotting goes on wherever there is a quest for power and control.

The main actors - Fiennes, Tucci, Lithgow, Rossellini and Msamati, deliver powerful performances, and the film is worth seeing for these alone.

The script is well written, although cliched in some parts, but does provide tension, momentum and intrigue.

The settings equally play their part and, given the scale, add gravitas and authenticity, not just a backdrop.

Having said all of that, and without giving away anything away, the ending felt added on, and didn't properly integrate with the rest of the film. Whilst the message was well intentioned, to an extent, it undermined the build up in the rest of the film - it felt simplistic and a la mode - unnecessarily. A pity, because if as much attention had been given to this part of the film as the rest, it would have been a better film.

I just got back from the theater after seeing "Conclave," a film I was extremely excited for and liked a lot. For most of the movie I was so captivated by the gorgeous cinematography, fantastic performances, great score, and quality costume and production design, that I was convinced this must be a 10/10 movie. But then, unfortunately, the ending arrived.

I believe that the ending to a film is the most important part. What will you leave the audience with? What is your final statement to them? Well, in this movie, it's so contrived, confusing, and absurd that any final statement becomes muddled, and I left the theater with a bad taste in my mouth. The ending is so unrealistic that it threatens to destroy every frame of what came before. It is done purely to make a statement about the church and to shock the audience. Now, this doesn't ruin the movie as a whole (not to me, anyway), but it does unfortunately mar an otherwise superb film.

Acting, intrigue, dialogue and cinematography are spot on throughout but the warning signs are there earlier in the movie. When the potential candidates talk about being a new liberal progressive church, it makes you wonder where else there going to go with it and boy do they go with it.

I let the odd tone shift go but the ending, which I won't spoil, that comes out of a different movie and causes the lead to go against everything they shoot for during the movie.

It seems like a slightly less expected political thriller over what is a big event in the world as and when it happens but then shifts like rollercoaster in the final scenes.