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Finding Emily | Film Review

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  After being given the wrong number by a girl on a night out, Owen (Spike Fearn) teams up with a psychology student (Angourie Rice) to find the right Emily. I am here for all of the original rom-coms, so when I first heard about this one, I was really looking forward to seeing it. But I was even more excited when I saw all of the positive reviews. I really really liked this movie. As said, original rom-coms seem to be back in full force and I will always be a fan! The main character, Owen, is really sweet and fun to follow. The story is really grounded. All of the characters feel authentic and the story feels rooted in reality, even when the dialogue feels a bit over-the-top. The main actors, Fearn and Rice, have great chemistry and the relationship that they create with their characters is really sweet, and so much fun to watch. Their development is lovely and it's fun to be able to root for them as their relationship forms. If anything, all I wished was for them to have more tim...
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Repulsion | 100 Movies Bucket List

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I hadn't heard of this film before seeing it on the bucket list. The premise was an interesting one that could go in a few different directions, so I was interested to see how it would play out. I have mixed feelings about this one. The film moves slowly at first. We spend a lot of time getting to know and understand our main character, Carole, but because it's a psychological horror, with so much of it being centred on Carole's thoughts and emotions, having this time to understand her is beneficial. This is a psychological horror in the truest sense. All of the horror starts from Carole's mind, and for most of the film that's where it stays. And even when this horror becomes real, this happens as a result of Carole's thoughts. It's really interesting watching the character's descent into paranoia and madness. Seeing the way things escalate to mirror her state of mind really allows the audience to see what she's thinking, and it's fascinating to ...
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The Spiral Staircase | 100 Movies Bucket List

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  I hadn't heard of this film before seeing it on the bucket list, but I did like the premise so I was looking forward to seeing it. I liked this film a lot. It's really fun watching older murder mysteries; seeing the way that tropes have grown and changed over the years is fascinating. But it's also equally fascinating to see the way things have stayed the same - the eclectic group of characters is definitely something that has continued to be portrayed in modern murder mysteries. One of the things that this movie explores is violence against women, and in particular, violence against vulnerable women. Looking at this issue through the trope of a murder mystery is very effective at forcing an audience to look at a real issue by packaging it in a fun and somewhat familiar plot. The film is quite slow moving, which always surprises me in films that have such a short runtime. Particularly for a murder mystery. With only 80 minutes to play with you'd expect the action to n...
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The Invite | Film Review

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  When Angela (Olivia Wilde) and Joe (Seth Rogan) invite their upstairs neighbours over for dinner, the night takes an unexpected turn that forces the couple to examine the future of their marriage. I'd heard such great things about this movie when it first came out, including many predictions for Oscar nominations, so of course I had to see it! To be honest, I was a bit disappointed. I liked the movie, but I didn't fully understand all of the exceptional praise it was receiving. The cast is a definite standout though. They're all fantastic and feel authentic in their roles. The dialogue is really fun and quippy, particularly at the beginning when we're getting to know the characters. It gives an interesting insight into who they really are. But with that, the film is very dialogue-heavy, to the point that it definitely feels like it could, or should, be a play. And it stays like this until the end, so if you're not a fan of dialogue-heavy movies, or just don't ...
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Jacob's Ladder (1990) | 100 Movies Bucket List

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  I'd only seen the 2019 remake of this movie, so this was a new watch. I had no idea how close or far apart the movies would be, or if they'd have the same twists, but I liked the direction the newer one went in, so I was looking forward to seeing this version. I also always look forward to psychological horrors in particular, which made me even more intrigued about this one. I really liked this movie. The beginning of the film does a good job of establishing the character of Jacob. You really feel like you know him and he's a great character to follow. We get the psychological horror aspects from almost the very beginning; we have a character who very obviously cannot trust his own mind, and that's a really interesting dynamic from an audience point of view. This is the character we're following, so if he can't trust his mind, we can't trust anything we see either. And the more the film leans into this, the better it is. It's great that the film can do...
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Colony | Film Review

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  When a bioterrorist attack causes a zombie-like reaction from its victims, the survivors must work together to stay alive. I hadn't heard of this film until it came out, but after seeing that it was directed by Yeon Sang-ho, who also directed 'Train to Busan', the best zombie movie I've ever seen, I was really hopeful about it. I loved this movie. It had a great start. There was a build-up that gave us enough necessary character information to make us care, while also being short enough that we could get into the main plot quickly. We got to know the characters as much as we needed to, and once we get into the story we really get the chance to build connections with them. You care about them really quickly, which makes you all the more invested. The zombies are designed really well, in a way that's genuinely scary while also feeling fresh and different from the designs used in previous movies. The film is so engaging and fast-paced that you don't want to look ...
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Near Dark | 100 Movies Bucket List

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I'd never heard of this film before seeing it on the bucket list, and seeing that it was another vampire film didn't really fill me with confidence. But the fact that it's directed by Kathryn Bigelow really intrigued me, as this isn't the kind of film I'd associate with her.  I didn't love this one unfortunately.  From the start it feels a lot more grounded than a typical vampire movie. It's very rooted in reality.  It gets into things right from the start. It takes less than 15 minutes for our main character to be bitten, which is great. We know what we're here for, we know what vampires are, we don't need a long explanation. The characters aren't the most interesting. We only ever get to know them in this situation, so while the vampire aspect is interesting, it gets old, and eventually we have to be able to either connect with, or somewhat like, the characters to stay interested in the story.  The issue is that some of them are two-dimensional...
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