fionacvioletta Reviews

The Wrong Missy (2020)

If you miss comedies being funny...

[10/10 · 9 April 2022]

Not since Steve Martin & dirty rotten scoundrels or Mel Brooke's catalogue have I seen something that made me & my partner laugh so much throughout.

Why the low score on IMDb is beyond me, maybe people no longer recognise humour & comedy because they've never seen it before.

Lauren Lapkus gives an incredible performance, sustained funny. At first I didn't know whether I'd warm to her, how funny it would be, she's a new star of comedy, compare her to Peter sellers, Steve Martin, Jim Carrey & Will Farell. I'm looking out for her work now.

Her straight man in this comedic gem, a hard thing to do but he does it well, is David Spade who does a great job at letting her shine & sustaining the comedy & laughter & playing a man looking for love & companionship in all the wrong places.

An actually funny script, an actually funny film, I thought comedy had died in Hollywood to be replaced with weak scripts & autopilot performances.

This film bucks that trend, give it time & if you miss comedy, you'll soon have a gem.

Miss Violence (2013)

True to life

[10/10 · 9 November 2021]

Masterful filmmaking, filmic perfection in its superb depiction of great darkness.

Having witnessed three families with similar darkness, I can say this film feels very real & is true to the experience of & situations & characters & effects that such situations bring about. It shocked me with how true & overwhelmed me with emotion when I watched the denouement it's effects on the characters because it's so true. This director & screenwriter is now on my list of those to watch, his talent should be applauded.

I, Psychopath (2009 TV Movie)

Revolting degradation of life

[1/10 · 26 March 2021]

In the first few minutes of this tripe we're shown a cat idly toying with a petrified mouse. We then see it torture the mouse. We then are shown the mouse collapsed, it's little heart heaving for its final breath. To think a sentient, intelligent being was handed to it's feline torturer & killed in order to illustrate an idea that is so obvious & ubiquitous it doesn't need illustration, for a documentary makes me wonder if the documentary maker knows as much or more about being a psychopath as his subject.

Romance Doll (2020)

A warm, insightful & intelligent story

[10/10 · 22 August 2020]

This film is personal, a film by a woman that will certainly resonate with women everywhere & it feels real. It's not the grey sludge formula of Hollywood, all fast edits & flashy cliches, pre-digested junk food, that leave one feeling none the better. On the contrary, this is observational & all the better & both fun, funny, more intense, haunting & meaningful for that. It will stay with you for a long time afterward.

The writer & director, crafted a beautiful, often poetic, comedic tragedy (with the sting removed so that the real pathos is clear but never lachrymose) about love, sex & relationships.

The film takes a wry, nonjudgmental & warm look at the frailties that love brings & how women are loved but often nonchalantly (by those who one day may know better, with a few nudges along the way, as this film supplies). If your man takes you for granted, watch this with him.

The tone is tender, sharp, clever & everyone is sensitively, insightfully portrayed, beautifully drawn, even when short hand is necessary. Yuki is a great auteur whose future work I can't wait to see. The actors are also really impressive, & the lead role of Tasuo is so well portrayed, one flick of his eyes & one sees his soul. Brava Yuki Tanada. Brava.

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

Chilling

[10/10 · 5 July 2019]

If you've ever seen a UFO, this will chill your blood. V convincing, well acted, written and directed.

Summer of Rockets (2019)

Beautifully done...

[3/10 · 3 July 2019]

Left wing propaganda throughout, a preachy, clunking betrayal of our nation, despicable and made by the BBC, of course. The constant bleating that people who wished to maintain our strength, influence in the world via the empire, were evil and by implication those who wished to run it down and enfeeble it, good. Lies, lies, all lies but such beautifully portrayed lies and so finely acted too.

Viking (2016)

Powerful & intense drama

[10/10 · 2 June 2019]

After all the negative reviews, which now seem obviously to be paid up, anti Russian trolls, (which seems v tiny minded, one may not like their politics but one can appreciate their artistry surely) am surprised to see this is a great film, beautiful cinematography, powerful performances & a very dramatic & fascinating insight into Europe's history. If you're a fan of Vikings, the amazon drama series, you'll love this too. It's extremely atmospheric and however awful the world today may seem, at least we have modern plumbing and child sacrifice is a rarity in Croydon nowadays.

Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

A missed opportunity

[6/10 · 2 June 2019]

As another reviewer said, the 1971 version is vastly superior in some ways, firstly for accuracy to period. This version has so many axes to grind that it irritated me. Visually it is stunning, and the trials of women in a man's world very true if I could only get past all minorities cast as English and Scottish courtiers, which broke the spell of accepting this film as the reality of 16th century Britain, where blood was the tie that bound our nation, they may as well have been wearing pink flamingos on their heads, they stood out in neon as anachronistic. Secondly Darnley was bisexual but the gay theme thoughout was in the way it was handled another anachronism, putting speeches about 'being true to your nature, which is all that matters,' into Mary's mouth ( very shocked she'd have been) seems shoehorned into the script, no-one in their right mind would say to someone who had just slept with their husband and being counter to the Christianity and doctrinal divisions and allegiances that are or were at the heart of this situation. It's also a rather satanic thing to say, if we are all true to our natures, half of us would be murderers of the first person to truly anger us before we even reach adulthood. So much about this film was nauseating. But the art direction was superb, it is ravishing to look at, when not anachronistic, the scenery of Scotland looks utterly magnificent, the performance of Mary Queen of Scots was touching and believable. Margot Robbie was as convincing as a prom queen made queen but the evil John Knox almost stole the show but couldn't quite from the tragic and lovely Mary, beautifully portrayed by Saoirse Ronan.

Beauty and the Beast (2014)

Nothing more beautiful...

[10/10 · 19 May 2019]

...may be imagined. This is so beautiful that I gasped several times at the truly stunning images before me. As a child I particularly loved this tale and nothing could improve on the romantic imagination of a little girl, I thought, it never has before but this exceeded anything I imagined and in every way I found it truly satisfying. It captivates, enraptures with beauty beyond the gorgeous and fantastical dreams of a child. Perfect and I highly recommend to all those who are interested.

Aurore (I) (2017)

A gem for women by women

[10/10 · 11 May 2019]

This is an engaging, delightful light comedy for women about women, no wonder so many reviewers didn't like it - misogyny is so tedious - it's not about, nor for men. The only shame is that there aren't more films like this and that this curio, (as it is so rare for a film to have a menopausal woman as it's subject) hasn't been lauded by the PC lip service payers, as there is a genuine need for this type of film for women. At the same time, this comedy is light and sunny, a reassuring treat for every woman who faces 'the change' eventually. When it hit my mother, I mean hit, it can devastate, she said,'no-one told me it would be like this, one minute i'm beautiful & men won't leave me alone, next they want to run me over & am growing hair in places I didn't think possible. No-one tells you!' Humorous & charming & very enjoyable, this tale needs to be told & it's been told here well. Direction, acting, everything about this gem is extremely well done and the result is it feels fresh, filled with wry humour, enlivening and real. Those that have called it a bore etc probably don't like women that much either. Highly recommended to all women, it's about you and your life.