Unfortunately I didn't pay too much attention to this as I was watching it while on the phone to my dad, who told me a story about the time he was in a fancy hotel in Nice about 20 years ago to give a presentation for a work conference, but then Roger Moore walked in and completely distracted everyone. Apparently it was very difficult to get the room back.
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Crazy Rich Asians 2018
I am very late to the party on this. Pleased to report that it is worth the hype. Genuinely funny and heartfelt. Hoping there is a sequel!
Edit: apparently there will be not one but TWO sequels. Huzzah! -
Les Misérables 2019
There are a lot of movies set in the Parisian banlieues (La Haine, Divines, Dheepan, Banlieue 13, Girlhood, even 35 Shots of Rum - and those are only the ones I've watched). It's curious how the location continues to provide so much inspiration for good movies. Les Misérables is also good, and fits in well with the canon. I liked how this movie is set over a short period of time, so the character arcs are subtle, which is a…
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Thunder Force 2021
Was looking for something fun to watch while I ate my Friday night takeaway and this movie hit the spot. Really enjoyed watching two women in their 40s goof around playing superheroes. But I maybe could have done without some of the gross-out humour.
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The Great Wall 2016
Very bad. Transparent pro-communist (and Maoist?) propaganda which has seriously not aged well given the recent outrage re. Mulan being filmed near state-run slave camps. I wonder what was going on while The Great Wall was being filmed that we don’t know about. Aside from politics, the film’s structure is muddy, the characters are paper thin and - worst of all - I got bored. There was some tension near the end when the emperor (?) came face-to-face with the…
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When Harry Met Sally... 1989
Not so much a laugh-out-loud comedy as a permanent-smile comedy (in a good way!). I loved how perfectly formed the characters are. It's not surprising that so much of the script is verbatim from Rob Reiner and Nora Ephron's real-life experiences, and I think this honesty and generosity is what makes the movie so incredibly likeable. I will watch this again very soon.
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The Silence of the Lambs 1991
I’ve been meaning to watch this for a while but always chickened out as I didn’t want to watch a scary film in the evening by myself. So I watched it in the morning on my day off instead. Still scary! Anthony Hopkins is terrifying. It’s interesting how Demme chooses to withhold some of the gore - I suppose it shows he had confidence in the story.
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Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) 2020
Amazing aesthetics, weak plot. Felt longer than it’s 1h44m runtime. A shame, because the world building was really cool. Also the title is rubbish.
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Notes on a Scandal 2006
I enjoyed this so much that immediately after it ended I watched the director's commentary, effectively watching it twice in one go. Still not quite five stars though - it didn't move me enough. But the plot was good fun, and I like seeing contemporary Britain on film, untainted by an American lens.
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35 Shots of Rum 2008
I'd been meaning to watch a Claire Denis film since absolutely forever and I am so glad that I finally got round to it. I love films that start with slow establishing shots and then maintain that tone throughout. I also love that at the centre of this film is the relationship between a grown daughter and her father. All of the characters are so delicately observed. All of the drama is in the characters' journeys - I was never…
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Educating Rita 1983
A slow, stageplay-like start, but once things got moving I really got in to it. It's a simple story with only a handful of characters but it's written so well that it works. A shame that this sort of film isn't made so much anymore (or is that just because we have so much TV now?).
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Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde 2003
Possibly the most ridiculously contrived movie I've ever seen. It's painfully obvious that they rushed this in to production to capitalise on the success of its predecessor (which is superb, by the way). Also I don't like how they made Elle a dumb blonde again - the whole point of the first movie was that she self-actualised and realised her own intelligence. In this movie she's a caricature of her former self. Fun to see Octavia Spencer pop up, though.