Once I post this review, Dave will read it and realize why he thought there was cheese in the popcorn. At least I think he will.
Dave: What would you get if Tim Burton directed a film with no plot and a lot of creepy characters? You’d get Dark Shadows (2012). But if he directed another one, you’d get We Have Always Lived in the Castle. This film had (mostly) intriguing characters and great costume and set design, but I was just left feeling like it was empty as the credits rolled. Nearly everyone in the film, save a few townspeople, are portrayed as fantastic, almost caricature-like creatures that add to the creepy otherworldliness of the atmosphere. Taissa Farmiga as the lead is stunningly unsettling while she stares and walks angrily around with her arms rigidly at her sides and Alexandra Daddario as her sister is believably fragile, like a recently-institutionalized Donna Reed. But Sebastian Stan’s portrayal of Cousin Charles wrecks the atmosphere, yelling through most of his lines in an overwrought American accent. It feels like he’s auditioning for a role as the annoying contestant with anger management issues on a reality show. There’s no mystery or nuance, and that ruins everything else for me. The situation isn’t helped, though, by the incredibly jerky plot and unclear narrative. (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
I really thought this popcorn had cheese in it. I’d based my entire review around the existence of cheese, partly because the popcorn was yellow, a little rich and salty, and I knew we had a whole brick of cheese in the fridge. So as the credits were wrapping up I asked Joe how much cheese he’d used. He said none, and my mildly witty review was thrown into chaos. There must have been buckets of butter and a damn lot of cumin to make this so rich and yellow. I’d definitely eat it again, with or without cheese. (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2)
Joe: Inconsistency, thy name is We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Although anchored by an impressively immersive performance by Taissa Farmiga (frankly, if she doesn't develop permanent shoulder and back problems from the hunched-over skulking, I'll be pleasantly surprised), the film can never find its center. The moments of fleeting competence are often overshadowed by truly ridiculous directorial decisions, like a lingering shot on cookies that turns out the be nothing more than a lingering shot on cookies. Shirley Jackson's shopworn themes are present throughout, but it's never delivered with the freshness it deserves. The climax is particularly fraught with over-acting, sophomoric camera angles, and ham-fisted symbolism. It made The Blob look like high art. (⭐️⭐️1/2)
Dave and I haven't been great about making sure that we don't replicate recipes. Though it's only happened a couple times, it's still a bit disappointing to discover our overlaps. I checked and double-checked this week. We had previously made Tex-Mex Mix I a couple times (and consistently gave it high marks, so that points to something, right?), but this tasted so familiar. This is because, as I discovered while writing this review, that it is precisely the same recipe as Tex-Mex Mix I, just sans cheese cubes. Is this recipe also good? Well, friends: instead of using butter spray, I used real butter. And I added salt. So of course it was delicious. Absolutely delicious. (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2)
Popcorn recipe from: Popcorn Board
We Have Always Lived in the Castle on IMDB.
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