Vanina has written 68 reviews for films during 2018.
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The Princess Switch 2018
I will forever be confused by the obsession with royalty, but this is more 'Parent Trap' than 'William & Kate: A Royal Love Story' so I'll allow it. This film is infused with an American notion of royalty: note the Chanel-type suit they put royal Hudgens in - red on the poster and Kennedy pink in the film.
This was a great Christmas comedown watch - hugely predictable but still kind of sweet, and Hudgens was decidedly less bland than the…
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A Kind of Loving 1962
This starts out wonderfully tender-hearted, with Alan Bates just a big hunk of broad-shouldered loveliness, June Ritchie so fragile with her beautifully teased hair, film kisses that make you swoon a little bit just as Ingrid must. No film has ever made me think of L.S. Lowry's paintings as much - the way Ingrid and Vic keep meeting on the hill as we see the city's foggy streets, factories and railways off in the far distance. A really fine example of how small lives and loves are huge in their own way.
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Suede: The Insatiable Ones 2018
The documentary Suede have deserved for so many years. A band so endlessly stylish, they built a cinematic world we as fans could become a part of. They'd deserved a well-put-together film for years, and with Simon's wealth of home videos, I had hoped it was only a matter of time.
I was struck by their openness during the doc - Brett talking about his addiction and the band's reaction to it, the effect Neil's illness had on him and…
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Manic Street Preachers: Escape from History 2017
What a treat to be able to finally watch this, a real Christmas present. An incredibly open-hearted documentary - it's strange to look back on that period of laddism and realise how radical the Manics were - just as they always were, but minus the leopard print. I always found Everything Must Go the most difficult album to listen to, more difficult than The Holy Bible, because the emptiness is so difficult to live with. The Holy Bible is brimming…
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The Holiday Calendar 2018
I love Christmas films and I wish so much these Netflix/Hallmark films could just be written a little bit better. There's nothing complicated about a love triangle when the film pushes the OTP so hard from the very beginning. Then after almost half an hour Ethan Peck (hi, reason-I-watched-this) shows up and it's charming and festive but just very meh. It's bad news when you spend most of the running time distracted by the Christmas decorations on screen.
With every one of these Christmas romances my wish for a truly moving, romantic Christmas film grows bigger.
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A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding 2018
A Christmas film for people who say Paris is "in Europe." When did Converse become cinematic shorthand for know-it-all normcore female leads? Really didn't like this, when I had no huge problem with the first one. Includes an absolutely traumatising close-up of a male foot in a bonding-by-way-of-pedicure scene, it haunts my dreams.
Only silver lining is that it includes a line of conversation that's so odd it has to be a direct Roxy Music quote.
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How Sarah Got Her Wings 2015
It's so addictive trying to figure out why these films look so terrible. I wasn't expecting this to be anything, really, I was just looking for some atmospheric background noises as I ate my soup, but I'm still amazed at the sexlessness of these Christmas romances. Does anyone really find them romantic or enticing? At least romance novels can get a little spicy.
Really just here for the outerwear and twinkly lights.
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The Go-Between 1971
Very much enjoyed this (costumes and Alan Bates, how could I not), but I feel a scepticism over the way this film takes place in two different eras, and I felt the film lets itself down by going down that route.
I had no prior knowledge of the novel the film was based on, and so I was rather confused when the film went from a late-Victorian England to shots of cars driving around, back to late-Victoriana. It turns out…
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Cold War 2018
That image from the poster has been a considerable obsession of mine ever since seeing it in a Picturehouse email newsletter about four months ago. It was instantaneous, kind of a love at first sight, only with this beautiful make-believe couple, the intimacy and warmth coming off of them in waves.
Of course, I was predisposed to love this film because of that gorgeous shot, but I didn't think expect it to hit quite so close to home. The Soviet…
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James Acaster: Repertoire 2018
Remember when Netflix shamed that person for watching 'A Christmas Prince' 30+ times in as many days? I don't want to think about how often I have watched these four specials since they came out. Acaster is a master at cross-references, build-ups and belated pay-offs.
These specials never lag, and especially after watching them several times, it becomes impossible to remember the chronology of the shows - Acaster returns to pay-offs in later specials or uses them to start off…