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Reviews
Catch a Christmas Star (2013)
So glad to 'catch' this!
I assumed this was a new movie until I looked it up. I must have missed it previously. It's thoroughly enjoyable - unrealistic, it's true, but most movies are unrealistic. That's why we watch them - escapism - and if I'm going to see unrealistic fiction I like it to be happy and have some good music and a couple of cute kids who, of course, are wiser than the adults. This movie has all of that. Maybe the villains - the record company man and the actor - could have been nastier but we end up hating them anyway. I could have done without the 'camp' assistant in his pink jacket but I guess there has to be one. I struggled to decide whether Shannon Elizabeth did her own singing or not. If she did, Hallmark really missed an opportunity by not producing a Mistletoe over Manhattan soundtrack album. A Christmas Cracker!
A Very Country Christmas: Homecoming (2020)
Enjoyable - yet mildly disappointing
I had so enjoyed the first two movies in this series that I bought a US DVD so I could watch it before its wider release. I really like Bea Santos and Greyson Holt and the first movie, particularly had a real spark to it. Sadly, the third one doesn't. It leans quite heavily on the awful 'Cake' which seems to tilt it towards being a comedy, while the introduction of the bereaved Grandfather takes it in the opposite direction. Raven Stewart is cute as ever, and now she can sing, too, but Bea Santos didn't seem to have her heart in it at all, which was the real disappointment because she was so great in the first two. Perhaps she recognised that the theme has run its course. My betting is that there won't be a forth one, however much we fans might have wished for it but I look forward to seeing Bea in something that stretches her undoubted talent next time and may that be soon.
Not Cinderella's Type (2018)
Powerful - more 'modern slavery' than traditional Cinderella
Having read some of the other reviews I wondered if I had watched the same movie! I suspect that some folk confuse not liking a movie with bad acting. True, the step-parents are awful caricatures but they are not especially prominent on screen and the tension is built gradually to the point where the stepfather's eyes betray quite frightening intentions. There is, nevertheless, no physical abuse and much of the story is told by Indy (Paris Warner) rather than seen.
This may be a modern retelling of Cinderella but it is also a subtle but powerful insight into modern slavery/abuse.
Paris Warner is clearly a rising star and, frankly, a superb little actress whose career, I'm sure is about to flourish. Follow this up by watching 'Finding Grace' if you want more of her as a troubled teenager for whom life comes good in the end.
Modo Avião (2020)
Airplane Mode - a waste of 96 minutes
I'm fairly new to Netflix and have been reasonably pleased with it until now. Airplane Mode (the title has nothing to do with the content) is a foreign language movie really badly dubbed into English. Its only redeeming feature is a pretty leading lady. The plot is ludicrous, it's full of more unpleasant stereotypes than the average pantomime (even the leading character fits that bill for much of the time) the acting is wooden and the script and dubbing dreadful.I found myself distracted , watching the mouth movements that weren't remotely synced to the sound track. Apparently it's a Brazilian movie but supposedly set in the USA. I think Netflix should be honest and post a notice at the beginning of any such movie to the effect that it is a foreign language film dubbed into English.