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Showing posts from February, 2021

I Still Believe | Film Review

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  This film premiered on Amazon Prime Video a couple of weeks ago. It came out in 2020, but wasn't available for Prime members until the premiere. I didn't know much about it, other than it being a true story, but the plot sounded like something that I would really enjoy, so I decided to watch it. Jeremy Camp (K.J. Apa) is an aspiring singer who meets Melissa (Britt Robertson) in college and instantly falls for her. But soon, tragedy befalls the new couple. I really enjoyed this film. There is really great chemistry between the two leads. Not only do you believe them as a couple, but you believe that they are really going through everything that is happening in the film. As well as being a drama, music is very important to this story. The music throughout is completely stunning - each song serves a different purpose, and they all work really well in the context of the film. This may be due to this film being a true story, but even in a short time you can feel how 3-dimensional

January Post Round-Up | 2021

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  I've decided that each month I'm going to do a round-up of the posts that I uploaded the month before. Not only so that there's easy access to any posts that you may have missed, but also so that I can look back and see what posts I've written each month. So, here are the posts that I wrote in January: 2021 - This was my first post of 2021, and it was all about what I wanted to do with my blog this year. Endings, Beginnings | Film Review  - And my first film review of the year. A somewhat interesting romantic drama that wasn't as good as it could have been. All About Nina | Film Review  - This is a movie about a troubled comedian, and it was a lot better than I thought it would be. After We Collided | Film Review - The sequel to the movie 'After', which wasn't as good as its predecessor.  Meditation // Losing Focus - I started meditating in December, and I wrote a post about it in January. More accurately, about losing focus while I'm doing it.

Reader's Block

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  The Urban Dictionary definition of 'Reader's Block' is: when you cannot, for the life of you, pick up a book and read it. And this is exactly what I'm dealing with right now. I have a huge stack of books that I want to get through throughout the year, and I have pre-ordered an additional four, which will be arriving individually between April and November - but I just can't find the will to read. I've found that I go through starts and stops with reading. It can take me months to finish a book, or it could take me less than a week. Though usually that depends on how engaging the book is. But recently I've found it really hard to just pick up a book and read it. Even when I have a book in my hand, I find my mind wandering to all the ways that my time could be better spent, or all the things that I would enjoy doing more. And because of that, it creates a cycle. I don't read, so I feel guilty about not reading. So I pick up a book, read a few pages, and

Red Dot | Film Review

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  This came out on Netflix last week, and I think I watched it on the day it came out, just because I was searching for something to watch, and it happened to pop up. But lately I've been trying to watch more foreign films, and this seemed like a good one (it's Swedish). David (Anastasios Soulis) and Nadja (Nanna Blondell) go on a trip to the wilderness in order to see the Northern Lights and rekindle their marriage. However, they soon find themselves on the run from an unknown assassin. I actually liked this film more than I thought I would. Now, that's not to say that it's an amazing film, but I'd definitely say to go into it with an open mind. These two characters are really interesting. We don't know much about them, but we don't really have to. We are watching this for the plot, and so any two characters would have worked well. The film builds tension really well. There are small hints as to what will happen, and what the cause of events is, but we are

To All the Boys: Always and Forever | Film Review

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I've reviewed both of the movies that came before this one: To All the Boys I've Loved Before   and To All the Boys: P.S. I Love You   and made no secret of how much I liked them - so here comes the final film in the series. As Lara Jean (Lana Condor) returns from a family trip to Korea, it's time to start thinking about college. But when tough decisions have to be made, will Lara Jean and Peter's (Noah Centineo) relationship survive? I love revisiting these characters every year - it feels like seeing a friend that you haven't caught up with in a while. I really enjoyed seeing these characters again. The plot itself isn't anything new, but that doesn't make it any less entertaining. I'm pretty sure fans of the series would have watched a third film about anything, as long as Lara Jean and Peter are at the centre. Lara Jean is a really strong character who knows exactly who she is. She is really well-written, and because she is such a strong character, t

Sex Education (S1&2) | TV Show Review

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I started watching this show just over three weeks ago, and I've just started re-watching it. So I feel like now is the best time to review it - especially because I have no idea when Season 3 is coming out. Having a mum who's a sex therapist hasn't made 16-year-old Otis Milburn's (Asa Butterfield) life easy - especially because he's so socially, and sexually, awkward. But when it is discovered that his mum's career has made him an unlikely sexpert, he teams up with his classmate, Maeve Wiley (Emma Mackey) to provide the students of Moordale with much-needed sex advice.  It would be impossible to get across in words how good this show is, but I'm going to try anyway! Okay, so my initial reason for wanting to watch the show was seeing one of the scenes from Season 2 on YouTube. I didn't really know what the show was about, but that 1 minute clip was completely hilarious, so I thought that I'd watch the first two episodes and see if I liked them. I hav

The Prom | Film Review

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I'm currently listening to 'The Prom' soundtrack as I write this, which should give you a small clue as to how I feel about the film.  A group of Broadway stars in need of some good PR travel to Indiana in order to support a girl who wants to go to the prom with her girlfriend. I loved this film. I have a serious weakness for musicals, and rarely find one that I don't like, but even with that, this was a lot better than I expected it to be. First of all, without knowing anything about the film, the cast is amazing. The film stars Meryl Streep (Dee Dee Allen), James Corden (Barry Glickman), Nicole Kidman (Angie Dickinson), Kerry Washington (Mrs. Greene), Keegan-Michael Key (Principal Hawkins), Andrew Rannells (Trent Oliver), and Jo Ellen Pellman, as our principal character Emma Nolan. No matter how people feel about some of these casting decisions, there is a lot of amazing talent here. And while the actors do a great job, I have to particularly shout-out Andrew Rannells

The King of Staten Island | Film Review

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I remember seeing the trailer for this film ages ago, and being really excited to see it. And then it took ages to come out, and I forgot about it. But if it hadn't come out on the Sky Premiere channel, I would have eventually bought it from Amazon Prime Video, because I really wanted to see it. This semi-autobiographical film tells the story of Scott Carlin (Pete Davidson) growing up in Staten Island as he deals with a lack of direction, multiple medical problems, and the loss of his father at a young age. I enjoyed this film a lot. I didn't quite know what to expect, or what the tone would be, so I was pleasantly surprised. I loved all of the characters, but Scott was such an amazing character. He was complex and funny and charming and someone that you can root for, even though you understand why the people in his life become frustrated with him. I especially liked the interactions between Scott, his mother Margie (Marisa Tomei) and his sister Claire (Maude Apatow). You reall

Malcolm & Marie | Film Review

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I've heard quite a bit about this film, both before it was released, and immediately after it came out on Netflix. I wouldn't say I was particularly excited to see it, but I was very interested in it. Tensions boil over and a relationship changes forever when a filmmaker and his girlfriend return home from his movie premiere.  I have mixed feelings about this film. I liked it more than I initially thought I would, but overall I'm not a huge fan.  But as I said, there were definitely things that I liked about it. For a start, the premise of the film is interesting. There's a reason why films like Marriage Story are popular - because it's always interesting to see the inner-workings of a relationship that's not your own. And Malcolm (John David Washington) and Marie's (Zendaya) relationship is interesting. Particularly with this couple, while watching them argue, we can see just how well, and how intimately, they know each other; because they know exactly how

The Rental | Film Review

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  I knew nothing about this film before it came out on Amazon Prime Video. But I am a fan of both Dave Franco, who directs the film, and Alison Brie, who stars in it, so I had high hopes! Two couples go on a weekend getaway, and slowly become suspicious of the owner of their rental home. But suddenly a fun couple's retreat becomes something much scarier. I didn't like this film, which is a shame because the premise is ambiguous enough that it could have become so many different things. Now, as ambiguous as it is, the premise is also something that has been done before. I'm pretty sure at least 50% of the horror movies that no one ever watches are about a group of people who end up at a mysterious house. However, this film does turn that premise around and make it something else, which was interesting to see. The characters are interesting enough (if a bit bland), but we don't really get to know too much about them. This would have been fine if the film was completely pl

Sightless | Film Review

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  This had been on my radar for a while, and because of the premise, I was really excited to see how it would be different to other similar movies. Former violin player Ellen (Madelaine Petsch) is left blind after being attacked. However, she soon grows suspicious of the people around her. But can she discover the truth about her attack before it's too late? I really wish I liked this film more than I did, because it had a lot of potential. My initial problems came with the character of Ellen. I never quite believed her. And not because I thought this would be a plot point in the story or anything, but she just never seemed genuine. Part of this is because we never really get an insight into who this character is. It is hard to have feelings (whether positive or negative) about her because we don't really know anything about her. We are told from the offset that there are people that Ellen doesn't trust, but because there are only a limited amount of characters in the film,