I'm writing this review to warn people who were victims of abuse or a s*xual assault that this movie might trigger you. The movie is advertised as a comedy but not everyone will be able to enjoy it. The story starts well but when we get to the scenes with the main character's elderly mother, this is when the movie stopped being funny to me and was really painful to watch. So if you're looking for a movie to have a nice evening with a few laughs, you might want to avoid this one. And I understand that everyone has a different sense of humour but there are some topics that certain people will never be able to laugh about. I wish I was informed of the nature of the movie before I watched it.
Reviews
12 Reviews
Despite Everything
(2019)
Just 'meh'. Generous 5 stars.
20 January 2021
If you want to watch a good movie you could definitely find something better. I watched it merely as an exercise to "practice" Spanish. The movie is visually pleasing, has a great cast and the story is rather 'meh' but easy to follow and interesting enough to watch if you're learning Spanish. If you're looking for something else, like, to have a laugh, to be moved or to actually fell any emotion at all - give it a pass.
A very important part of history
13 January 2021
..and a very sad male/female ratings ratio. Over a quarter of men who voted gave it 1 star. 1 star! Unfortunately this is not surprising, still disappointing though.
The title of this documentary can be interpreted literally: it shows stories of 2nd wave feminists who talk about their experiences as women, feminists, activists, they also cover a bit of general history of their times. The documentary doesn't cover all feminists nor the history of feminism as a whole, it would be a much longer movie. But it's still an important part of history that should be widely watched and discussed as any other history documentary would be.
Holidate
(2020)
Cringe fest. The rating is a joke.
26 December 2020
This is NOT a good movie. You might enjoy it and that's ok. But don't give it 10 stars just because you enjoyed it after getting drunk (as said in the reviews). At this point the rating is very close to the ratings of romantic comedies like Sleepless in Seattle or You've Got Mail - and those are brilliant and fun classics, this movie is NOT and soon will be forgotten. Just to give you some perspective: The Matrix has now the rating of 8.7 and some people here are saying this one is a 10? Ridiculous. To compare with some other rom-coms: Notting Hill has 7.1, Love Actually has 7.6, The Shape of Water 7.3, Titanic 7.8. Whoever rated this movie 5 or above obviously hasn't seen a good movie in their life. Now that's my rant on IMDB ratings we've been having for some time now.
The script as a whole wasn't that bad. Clichés can be ok but they have to be well executed. They weren't here. Most of the jokes were cringe-worthy and fell flat. The only good thing that saves this movie from being a total garbage are the main actors, especially Emma Roberts. They made their characters believable. And the only rare moments of good humour to be found in this "comedy" were delivered by Emma's acting skills (Luke Bracey's acting wasn't bad but his lines, for most of the time, were terrible).
The Perfection
(2018)
The Handmaiden's ugly step sister
22 December 2020
Better watch The Handmaiden - it's an excellent movie from start to finish. The Perfection is strongly influenced by it but unfortunately doesn't come close to its quality. And it's one of those netflix movies that shows potential but just falls short in quality, and I wish I knew more about film production to be able to put a finger on where exactly they went wrong. Was it execution? Editing? Was it too rushed? All of the above? For sure, it could have been so much better.
Come Play
(2020)
Just watch it (5 maybe 6 out of 10)
6 November 2020
No, it's not a masterpiece that would deserve 10/10 as some have rated it here. But it's not a total crap either so it doesn't deserve 1/10 ratings either.
The story as a whole is actually good, something different. There are few jumps scares, some better than others, there's some creepiness at times. It's supposed to be a horror movie but at times it felt more as fantasy - I think that might be one of the reasons why this movie is rather weak, the director couldn't make up his mind what genre to choose.
The main actors, unfortunately, are terrible. The few ones that are actually ok play only secondary roles. The parents are annoying, you actually hope that at least one of them would die - they're so unlikable (I won't say if anyone dies or not because I don't want to give spoilers). Some the dialogues would make your eyes roll as well. I don't know what went wrong, the movie had so much potential to be so much better. I thought it might have been the budget but for 9mil (to compare: Babadook had only 2mil) I would expect something better.
In short: it's an "ok" movie. Definitely something different. The 5.9 score it has at the moment is fair.
Goodnight Mommy
(2014)
Boring with misleading premise
9 October 2020
I only watched the movie because of the high score on imdb and the movie's description, and I expected something different and something much better. I don't watch trailers before watching movies because often they contain spoilers but I watched the trailer later and I find it misleading. I expected more mystery and creepiness that would keep me at the edge of the seat throughout the duration of the film but that didn't happen. The main horror part of this film is torture so if you're into that you might like it better than I did, as I don't enjoy that type of horror at all. And as other reviewers mentioned - the plot "twist" is really easy to spot very early on. The scenery is nice, the kids and acting in general is good. I think this film would do much better if it was turned into drama.
Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich
(2020)
Gives voice to the victims
28 May 2020
It feels like there's still a lot of information that hasn't been uncovered or at least, hasn't been shown in this documentary, especially regarding other people that were involved. I would assume one of the reasons for that is that the case might be still under investigation, like, what material did they find in Epstein's house? It is said that he had cameras everywhere that would film who was there and what they did with the underage girls. The series mainly focus on Epstein.
Because Epstein got a plea deal in his first trial in 2008 and the second trial didn't take place due to his death, the victims had very little or no opportunity to be heard, and when they talked to the press they were quickly shut down (as shown in this documentary). They are given this opportunity now in these series which concentrate more on the victims and their testimonials. We can get at times shocked at their naivety, I know I had few moments where I was shaking my head in disbelief. But it does show how well the victims were chosen due to their very young age and in most of the cases their dysfunctional background. And Epstein and his wife had a long practice of grooming, manipulation and intimidation, they knew exactly how to pick and control their victims.
These are very good series, informative and we do get quiet a lot of information that hasn't been covered in the press before. I also appreciated that the series concentrated on relevant information and are not too long (I've seen some other Netlix series that were overstretched on 8-10 episodes that could have easily been 4 or 5). Although I think we should have at least one full episode about Ghislaine Maxwell alone as she played a huge role in this scandal
These are very good series, informative and we do get quiet a lot of information that hasn't been covered in the press before. I also appreciated that the series concentrated on relevant information and are not too long (I've seen some other Netlix series that were overstretched on 8-10 episodes that could have easily been 4 or 5). Although I think we should have at least one full episode about Ghislaine Maxwell alone as she played a huge role in this scandal
Dolittle
(2020)
Not bad
6 February 2020
A good movie for kids, it was actually better than I expected. There's a feeling of adventure, some action and humour. The plot is at times predictable but it's ok. The only thing me and my niece were missing was women/girls, as they're very few and they're like 5min on the screen. As my niece concluded "it would seem only boys go on adventures". But my 9 year old nephew loved it.
Proxima
(2019)
"There is no such thing as a perfect astronaut, like there is no such thing as a perfect mother."
5 February 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This is not really my type of movie but I loved it. The story is beautifully told, with simplicity. There are no unnecessary distractions that would spin drama or controversy - like gender discrimination, which is mentioned briefly at times but more as a reminder that something like this exists but is not the main story of the movie. We are presented a story of real people and some of them happen to be astronauts.
I didn't know much about this movie when I went to see it so I had no expectations. The main character, played by Eva Green, is preparing for a one year mission on Mars. We witness her physical preparations which I personally appreciated - like running on a treadmill vertically, practising in full suit underwater etc. We learn how her body will change during the journey, what her life on the journey to Mars would be like. We also witness her personal struggles, it is shown how the whole process is challenging and draining both physically and mentally. It's a slow-paced storytelling which made it more realistic. Alongside this narrative we get to see how her relationship with her daughter changes (Zélie Boulant played the role of the daughter beautifully), how she wants to get her daughter involved as much as she can, how her daughter is fearful and feels lost, she's only 6 years old. How she wants her daughter to do well but we can also see that she's almost in pain when her daughter does well and it would seem she doesn't need her anymore. And we can understand her struggle because her mission, her childhood dream is so important to her, a once in a lifetime opportunity for a French citizen and a woman.
There's one scene that made me angry (spoiler). The crew spent like 3 weeks in quarantine before the journey to Mars. Eva meets her daughter the day before the launch but due to health related precautions they can only see each other through the glass. The daughter mentions that she was promised she would go to see the rocket with her mum, but they didn't. She says it's ok, not a big deal but obviously Eva's character is upset. So the same evening she escapes from the quarantine to take her daughter to see the rocket - and that made me angry. That she took this huge risk to be kicked out from the project for breaking the quarantine - so all her work and her daughter's pains would be for nothing, and she would also disappoint the French nation and all women for wasting such opportunity. Or that she would risk getting infected and then spreading a disease to her crew (none of it happened). I felt that it was an unnecessary move that only showed that women are overdramatic and unfit for such ventures. But then I understood that at this point when she showed her daughter the rocket she proved how important she is to her but also, how important it is to her that her daughter understands the magnitude of what her mother was going to do and that she should be proud of her. And her daughter understood (beautiful acting from Zelie). And so when the rocket launches, her daughter is not crying, she's counting 9..8..7.., she's taking part in her mother's journey and there's no fear in her eyes.
At the end of the movie we are shown pictures of real life women astronauts, most of them with children, that just prove the point of this movie: this is real life. I know that a lot of people, women especially, go through the same struggles and doubts, when they try to connect with their children, when they try to do their best and when they feel that they're missing on something important. And that they face a difficult choice of sacrificing something and they feel they will regret no matter what they choose. We need more storytelling like this.
I didn't know much about this movie when I went to see it so I had no expectations. The main character, played by Eva Green, is preparing for a one year mission on Mars. We witness her physical preparations which I personally appreciated - like running on a treadmill vertically, practising in full suit underwater etc. We learn how her body will change during the journey, what her life on the journey to Mars would be like. We also witness her personal struggles, it is shown how the whole process is challenging and draining both physically and mentally. It's a slow-paced storytelling which made it more realistic. Alongside this narrative we get to see how her relationship with her daughter changes (Zélie Boulant played the role of the daughter beautifully), how she wants to get her daughter involved as much as she can, how her daughter is fearful and feels lost, she's only 6 years old. How she wants her daughter to do well but we can also see that she's almost in pain when her daughter does well and it would seem she doesn't need her anymore. And we can understand her struggle because her mission, her childhood dream is so important to her, a once in a lifetime opportunity for a French citizen and a woman.
There's one scene that made me angry (spoiler). The crew spent like 3 weeks in quarantine before the journey to Mars. Eva meets her daughter the day before the launch but due to health related precautions they can only see each other through the glass. The daughter mentions that she was promised she would go to see the rocket with her mum, but they didn't. She says it's ok, not a big deal but obviously Eva's character is upset. So the same evening she escapes from the quarantine to take her daughter to see the rocket - and that made me angry. That she took this huge risk to be kicked out from the project for breaking the quarantine - so all her work and her daughter's pains would be for nothing, and she would also disappoint the French nation and all women for wasting such opportunity. Or that she would risk getting infected and then spreading a disease to her crew (none of it happened). I felt that it was an unnecessary move that only showed that women are overdramatic and unfit for such ventures. But then I understood that at this point when she showed her daughter the rocket she proved how important she is to her but also, how important it is to her that her daughter understands the magnitude of what her mother was going to do and that she should be proud of her. And her daughter understood (beautiful acting from Zelie). And so when the rocket launches, her daughter is not crying, she's counting 9..8..7.., she's taking part in her mother's journey and there's no fear in her eyes.
At the end of the movie we are shown pictures of real life women astronauts, most of them with children, that just prove the point of this movie: this is real life. I know that a lot of people, women especially, go through the same struggles and doubts, when they try to connect with their children, when they try to do their best and when they feel that they're missing on something important. And that they face a difficult choice of sacrificing something and they feel they will regret no matter what they choose. We need more storytelling like this.
Les Misérables
(2019)
Very good but..
5 February 2020
The movie is very good but left me a bit unsatisfied. It is well shot with good acting from all the actors. But it seems like the story was mixed with La Haine, Banlieue 13 Ultimatum and City of God. The bad cop/good cop story line along with the outsider point of view of one of the policemen felt cliché (as some parts of the dialogue). It has a good message and I could clearly see the intentions of the director in making this movie. But, as someone familiar with French cinema that shows Paris suburbs, police brutality and racism in France in general, I haven't seen anything new here. And I know there's still a lot in those issues that hasn't been shown in movies yet. As this movie is nominated for an oscar I was expecting something more.
1917
(2019)
A story that has been seen before
22 January 2020
Visually the movie is great, I would give 8/10. But the story feels like it's been told so many times before. Me and my friend watched it and couldn't stop comparing it to Lord of The Rings, where we also have a story of two friends going through hell to deliver something to save lives (in 1917 it was a message). I definitely recommend this movie for its visual effect but I wish the director had a better story to tell.
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