Little Birds

I’ll forever be sad about Kay Panabaker no longer acting. You have got to see her in this! I am always shocked when people are surprised how good Juno Temple is. Where were you when she was in Atonement or killing it in Cracks or even Wild Child? This, may be my absolute favorite of hers. From a couple of kids wanting to get out of their small town, through following a boy and living in a big city with no money or job to sexual assault.

8/10

Cape Fear

A very good remake of a wonderful thriller. One of the very few films that presents women as what seems like just an addition to a man, but does right by them by not focusing on standing by a man and looking pretty, but giving them a good kind of fragility and innocence that is intruguing. The ending when they’re all dirty from jumping into the river and lack of nudity in a film where sexuality plays an important role is impressive.

If you hold on to the past, you die a little every day.

8/10

The Secret Lives of Dorks

Niecely surprised. The onion scene reminded me of The Big C pilot when Cathy’s husband eats an onion he hates to prove Cathy he still cares about their marriage. It was light, funny, teen drama and as the title hints, dorky making this teen comedy good. I might have turned it off it didn’t have Vanessa Marano in it, and that would be a mistake as it got better with every second.

6/10

Swiss Family Robinson

I have never read the book or seen the treehouse in Parisian Disneyland, maybe it’s only in Florida, but the film was satisfying. It features a spectacular tree house, lots of animals and a girl pretending to be a boy when being kidnapped by pirates (how is that suitable for children?!). I only had an issue with it being slightly too sexist, as everyone treated mother like she was made of porcelain, the girl too, mother telling father the boys need wives, but it’s the 50s, so I’ll let that go. But the truth is, if we could drop everything and live on an island for the rest of our lives, we all would.

5.5/10