A Quiet Place: Day One Film Review

17 Thursday Oct 2024

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Significantly weaker than the previous two, especially the first one. I was waiting for the character to sacrifice herself, but her story was disappointingly, well, pointless. Also imagine pitching this film, and the execs asking ‘so the character’s want is pizza?’ It’s not, but it takes them too long to explain why she wants to go to this specific pizzeria in Harlem. There should have been more hints throughout the film. I was also unhappy with a random British bloke keeping her company. It’s always a British guy, for whatever reason. Seeing New York in ruins, people covered in dust from fallen buildings, especially the image of the Brooklyn Bridge collapsing and falling into the river, hurt even this non-New Yorker, who’s only visited the Big Apple a few times. The rating is mostly for the 9/11 metaphor, which made the film feel less futuristic. I still haven’t seen Pig by Sarnoski, but I’ve heard good things and I can’t wait to check it out this Halloween.

5/10

Longlegs Film Review

16 Wednesday Oct 2024

Posted by Joanne in movies

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film, film review, film reviews, films, gwen stefani, horror, horror-movies, longlegs, maika monroe, movie, movies, nicolas cage, osgood perkins, reviews

In the last few years Nic Cage has desperately tried to break away from being known as ‘that guy in every movie ever’, by choosing weirder and darker characters and starring in more horrors, and showcasing his range. An average viewer nowadays has not seen Bringing Out the Dead, or Moonstruck and it’s a shame. It’s surreal to see younger viewers being introduced to his work through these odd horrors. Here he shines as Longlegs and I wish he had more screen time. I’m glad to see Maika Monroe’s career doing so well, we all wanted her to go far after the success of It Follows. Longlegs is a fun and messed up horror that really deserved a better resolution. Oh and I’ve always said it but Maika Monroe’s facial features look like a perfect mix of Gwen Stefani and Keira Knightley’s faces, it’s actually startling. I really like Osgood Perkins previous work, including The Blackcoat’s Daughter with Emma Roberts and Kiernan Shipka and Gretel and Hansel, so no surprise that this one worked so well. I will also be seeing his next film based on a Stephen King novela The Monkey.

7/10

Am I OK? Film Review

16 Wednesday Oct 2024

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am i ok, am i ok?, dakota johnson, film, film review, film reviews, films, lauren pomerantz, movie, movies, reviews, stephanie allynne, tig notaro

I have not come across a film this relatable since I watched Disobedience in 2018. Am I OK? is a stunningly written story of a 32 year old girl named Lucy who finally comes to terms with being gay, as her best friend of many years is about to move abroad. Lucy feels confused, lonely and abandoned, but decides to give herself a chance to find the type of love she was always meant to experience. I loved Lucy’s observaton that Jane has control issues, because as a teenager she was forced to move from her home country, the UK to the US. The girls discuss long distance friendships, and have this Sex and the City type of frienship where they discuss sexual encounters, which adds a comedic element to the film. It has a really beautifully written coming out scene since which covers anything from feeling confused about not figuring out she was gay earlier to not enjoying sexual relationships with men. This may be my second favourite film of 2022, after The Quiet Girl, because it’s so beautifully written I simply cannot wait to see what Lauren Pomerantz writes next.

9/10

The Substance Film Review

16 Wednesday Oct 2024

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What Barbie should have been. Less telling, more showing. The Substance is the perfect mix of that Stephen King novela where the obese person becomes just deflated skin, The Blob and that R. L. Stine’s Goosebumps book where the girl can’t take her Halloween mask off, and it’s a mix I loved. Since The Leftovers I have enjoyed Margaret Qualley’s acting and she really was the perfect fit for this role. And so was Dennis Quaid as the crazy producer named, surely intentionally, Harvey. I would have preferred someone else as Elisabeth, and throughout the film I kept thinking that this role would have been perfect for Julianne Moore, but this is one of Demi’s better performances. The Substance is an excellent, even though literal, commentary on aging and the pursuit of fame. And I have never seen a more stunning billboard on the Sunset Strip or anywhere around LA, I will now research who took that beautiful photo.

8/10

All I do is watch movies, the good, the bad and the ugly. Sometimes I make my own.

Check out my latest film (120K+ views on Youtube):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP3Iz23hD7M

I’ve seen over 6000 films and 220 TV shows. I have a degree in Film Production, and wrote my dissertation on Italian neorealism. I mostly gravitate towards social issues films, anything Ken Loach, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica or Jafar Panahi, etc.

I rate films within genre. I watch a lot of films on Mubi, Filmbox Arthouse. My favourite directors are Yasujiro Ozu, Ken Loach, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Zhang Yimou, Roberto Rossellini, Ingmar Bergman, Brian De Palma, Vittorio De Sica and Andrzej Wajda. My favourite actresses have always been Jodie Foster, Sally Field and Julianne Moore. I’m nostalgic and reminisce a lot. I’m at the cinema 10 times a month. And I’m a Polish-British millennial.

I will watch anything:

15.04.2011 ‘You forgot the number one rule about remakes: never fuck with the original.’ (Scream 4)

01.06.2011 ‘We need to become doers.’ 2×16 ‘You’re a doer, remember?’ 5×22 (Greys)

5.08.2011 “It’s just… Meredith always makes me think screwed up people have a chance.” (Greys)

9.10.2011 ‘You be wowed, I’ll be drunk.’ (The Big C)

10.11.2011 ‘George is dead and Izzie is gone and we’re all different. We’re different.’ (Greys)

17.12.2011 ‘I thought I was headed in the right direction. My Dark Passenger back behind the wheel. But if I was so sure I knew where I was going…How did I get so lost?’ (Dexter)

23.01.2012 ‘You’re drowning, Grey.’ (Greys)

18.11.2012 ‘You’re a serial killer and I’m more fucked up than you are.’ (Dexter)

7.05.2013 ‘I think my antidepressants just kicked in.’ (The Big C)

10.05.2015 ‘The sad widow is my friend. My best friend.’ (Greys)

‘When I lived in Porpoise Spit, I used to sit in my room for hours and listen to ABBA songs. But since I’ve met you and moved to Sydney, I haven’t listened to one Abba song. That’s because my life is as good as an Abba song. It’s as good as Dancing Queen.’ (Muriel’s Wedding)

‘I used to think about
your life in New York. I tried to imagine your room. I kept track of the time difference, so I knew when you were awake and when you were asleep.’ (Disobedience)

‘Nothing’s clean, Howard. But we do our best, right?’ (The Aviator)

‘No, I’m not quitting. I don’t quit things.’
‘No, actually you do. Your mother quit your father. Your father quit you. You quit your boyfriend and if I read your hospital chart correctly you quit your life momentarily on a couple of occasions. You quit. It’s what you know how to do.’ (Greys)

‘Where the hell was I that year?’
‘Your were watching television’. (Everybody Loves Raymond)

‘It’s impossible to worry about anything else when there’s blood coming out of you.’
(Short Term 12)

‘I wanted it to happen. And when we were girls… Even then, it was the same. It’s always been this way! I have always wanted it.’ (Disobedience)

‘Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes you play games in your head. You make up someone, someone good.’ (Greys)

‘There comes a moment when our lives change forever. The moment we admit our weaknesses, the moment we rise to a challenge, the moment we accept a sacrifice, or let a loved one go. And sometimes the change in our lives is an answer to our prayers.’ (Desperate Housewives)

‘Yesterday I went to the movies all day by myself. One after the other. I’ve never done that before. I had a really happy day.’ (Doing Time for Patsy Cline)

‘I just need something to happen. I need a sign that things are going to change. I need a reason to go on. I need some hope. And in the absence of hope, I need to stay in bed a feel like I might die today.’ (Greys)

‘She saved me my whole life. Without her, I’m nothing.’ (The Favourite)

‘Don’t wonder why people go crazy. Wonder why they don’t. In face of what we can lose in a day, in an instant, wonder what the hell it is that make us hold it together.’ (Greys)

‘Bree sobbed quietly in the restroom for five miutes, but her husband never knew, because when Bree finally emerged, she was perfect.’ (Desperate Housewives)

‘I am not food, you cannot just eat and eat.’ (The Favourite)

‘I don’t love him.’
‘Of course you do.’
‘No!’
‘Don’t take me for a fool Olive, I’m many things but I’m not a fool.’
‘I know that, you’re brilliant.’
‘Don’t you see, it’s over. Whatever this is, was, it’s over.’
‘I love You.’ (Professor Marston and the Wonder Women)

‘At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing, is reason enough to celebrate.’ (Greys)

‘Many years ago, a neighbour and a good friend of ours took her life, and that left us all heartbroken and perplexed. But somehow, when I was alone in that hotel room, I forget about all the pain that she caused. In those awful moments, I thought maybe she had the answer.‘ (Desperate Housewives)

‘What happened last year when you fell in the water?’
‘I almost drowned. Do you think I did that for kicks?’
‘You put your hand in a body cavity that contained unexploded ammunition.’
‘I was trying to save a patient!’
‘Why is it that every other person in that room had the sense to hit the deck? You know people run away from this line between life and death. You seem to stand on it and wait for a strong wind to sway you one way or the other. You’re careless with your life. You’re not slitting your wrists but you’re careless. Probably because your mother told you you were a waste of space on this planet. The problem is you believed her. And if you don’t want out one of these days you’re going to die because of it.’ (Greys)

‘This is the street where I used to live and these were the people with whom I shared my life. I met them the day they moved in. And I saw what they brought with them. Beautiful dreams for the future. And quiet hopes for a better life. Not just for themselves, but for their children, too. If I could, would I tell them what lies ahead? Would I warn them of the sorrow and betrayal that lie in store? No. From where I stand now, I see enough of the road to understand how it must be traveled. The trick is to keep moving forward, to let go of the fear and the regret that slow us down and keep us from enjoying a journey that will be over too soon. Yes, there will be unexpected bends in the road, shocking surprises we didn’t see coming, but that’s really the point. Don’t you think?’ (Desperate Housewives)

‘Was your life not working when you let that slip out from under you?’
‘When are you going to stop suggesting that I’m suicidal?’
‘When you start acting like someone that wants to be alive.’
‘Give me my chart.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I’m not suicidal, and if it says that I am, then it’s wrong.’ (Greys)

‘There is nothing wrong with me.’
‘Then show me your arm.’ (Degrassi)

‘Look, my whole life, I have been the freak. The girl who nobody picked for dodgeball. The girl who didn’t have a mom. The girl who dressed funny because it was her dad buying her clothes. And then, tonight I looked at these people, and I thought maybe there’s a future where I don’t have to be a freak. Maybe I can be who I am and that’s okay.’ (Everything Sucks)

‘Dr, I have been this way since…since I can remember. There is no cure.’ (American Horror Story)

‘He was so crazy about me, I couldn’t breathe. So we tried drinking our way back into love, but it never made sense in the morning. So I ran. And every time I came back, he was here. And he was still crazy about me.’ (My Blueberry Nights)

‘Bree van de Kamp had always wanted to live her life with elegance and grace. That is also how she wanted to die. Her plan was to pour herself a glass of her favorite chardonnay, put on her most stylish nightgown and leave behind a note on embossed stationery.’ (Desperate Housewives)

‘All we have is this moment. The future is just a fucking concept that we use to avoid being alive today. So be… here…. now.’ (Six Feet Under)

‘On the train coming here, we were in the same cart, I saw you, you were reading and you feel asleep. I didn’t dare to look at you, you were so beautiful, it was scary. Afterwards, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. It made me smile. Then I thought of all the men who would get to hold you, who’d make you laugh. How lucky they were.’ (Enemy at the Gates)

‘It was a good day. Maybe even a great day. Even when it was hard, I was the me in my head. There was a moment when I thought I cant do this, I cant do this alone. I close my eyes and imagine myself doing it, and I did, I blocked out the fear, and I did it.’ (Greys)

‘There comes a time when we must expose our weaknesses. When our secrets can no longer remain private, when our solitude can no longer be denied, when our pain can no longer be ignored, but sometimes we feel so alone that a weakness we thought we’d overcome suddenly becomes too strong to fight.’ (Desperate Housewives)

‘Why did you get married, Esti? Why didn’t you just leave? So everything was all right when I left?’
‘No. I was ill.’
‘What sort of ill?’
‘In my head.’
‘If I had to sleep with a man, why not with our best friend?’
‘Oh, Esti…’
‘It hasn’t been a complete disaster.’
‘And that’s enough?! Do you have to have sex every Friday?’
‘It’s expected.’
‘It’s medieval. What happened to you?’
‘Nothing. You happened to me. And then I started teaching and that became important. I give them ambition.’
‘To do what? Push out seven babies and be a good wife?’
‘Don’t. Don’t. I help them to value themselves.’
‘Okay, but what about you?’
‘That is me. And you? Are you happy?’
‘Yes, I am.’
‘Have you been with other women?’
‘No. Not really. And you?’
‘No.’
‘But, Esti… Do you still
only fancy women?’ (Disobedience)

‘OK, then, listen. Let’s not get caught.’
‘What are you talkin’ about?’
‘Let’s keep goin’!’
‘What d’you mean?’
‘Go.’
‘You sure?’
‘Yeah. Yeah.’ (Thelma & Louise)

‘She let me live at Nora’s house. She let me believe that I was a part of their family. I fell in love with that family. What am I supposed to do, just sit there, pretend I’m related to them? I was happy. For the first time in my life I was happy.’ (Brothers and Sisters)

‘You will be left all alone with your bitterness and your rage and your knowledge that you loved her and she loved you and you threw it away for them.’
‘Do you love her?’
‘Yes.’
‘And Have you always?’
‘Yes.’
‘So then ask her.’
‘Olive, will you forgive me?’ (Professor Marston and the Wonder Women)

‘No razors, no scissors, no fucking freedom.’
(Short Term 12)

‘You can’t take a picture of this. It’s already gone.’ (Six Feet Under)

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~ Film and TV Reviews

Monthly Archives: October 2024

A Quiet Place: Day One Film Review

Longlegs Film Review

Am I OK? Film Review

The Substance Film Review