Letterboxd — Your life in film

It’s basically a “girl with a dream” drama but set in the porn industry. Although, I wasn’t sure why she wanted to be a porn star, her desire to be one didn’t feel overly convincing. Take the porn scenes away and it’s nothing we haven’t really seen before. But it was ok.

Predictable and unoriginal. I’ve seen this type of film a hundred times before. It offers little extra.

Some might say Playground is too simplistic, that it lacks depth and offers no insight into the social complexities of bullying and why it happens. But from a child’s perspective, which is how this film is innocently presented by crouching down to her level, bullying is nonsensical, confusing and it comes from nowhere. A tough watch with an exceptionally moving main performance.

I could have done without the daft final 20 minutes but the rest was pure entertainment. Not a big blockbuster fan but this was worth seeing on the big screen.

Franz Rogowski makes this film. What a performance.

I finally watched Casablanca to see what all the fuss was about. Given it's reputation and status, it was slightly underwhelming. The romance didn't work for me but I absolutely loved the way it was shot. Old black and white movies look superb.

Aliens exist.

Despite it being ridiculously cheesy (even for the 80s) and despite me really disliking Cruise, I just watched Top Gun for the first time since I was little and it’s still brilliantly entertaining.

Not really my type of film, but I watched it so many times as a kid so there’s a lot of nostalgia attached to it for me.

I’ve always been a fan Joy Division’s music but I somehow never got round to watching Control until now. It’s quite standard as biopics go, but it feels authentic and honest. You can clearly see how Curtis’ epilepsy and deteriorating mental health had an understandably dark impact on his later songwriting. Still can’t really get over the fact that he was only 23. Just a young lad that expressed himself through his art/writing and left a legacy of relatable songs in his tragic wake.

I love films like this. Stories of unexpectedly powerful yet brief human connections that have long lasting emotional impact.

That was…weird. Felt like a big ego-project without anyone else being interviewed.

Brac has a real skill at capturing these obscure and fleeting holiday romances that people either experienced or fantasise about.