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elliedspare
Reviews
Small Axe (2020)
Red, white, and blue
Absolute amazing - I was at church with Leroy Logan yesterday, the person on whom Red, White, and Blue is based. Seeing John Boyega playing this amazing man was incredible, especially when hearing what it was like from a first person perspective. John Boyega portrayed him incredibly, and it was so important to hear how much this role had had an effect on him as a young black British man.
As someone who is just about gen-Z, I know that I have prejudices toward the police due to their racist history, but to see this man join the police force in an extremely racist time in its history, and seeing what effects he had, especially on the metropolitan police, made me realise that there have always been people fighting from the inside.
Such an inspiration person, with such a powerful ministry. I'm so glad that I got to watch this acted out.
It's not without its faults, but I know that Leroy's time in the police service wasn't without its faults. This is such important British history to learn.
Save the Last Dance (2001)
Perfect
On Netflix, this film is listed as 'inspiring, emotional, romantic' and I think that's very accurate. I was not expecting the film to be this emotional, though the description also didn't mention the main character's mother dying in the first five minutes (not a spoiler).
This film is an emotional rollercoaster, dealing with death, racism, absent parents, and the power of dance to name a few things. The fact that, through everything the characters go through, they're able to connect through a love of dance is so prevalent that it made me want to start dancing again, just to feel some of that.
The characters are so well-formed for the time - none of the characters are without their faults, and that plays a prominent part in the their development and relationships.
The racism throughout the film is possibly the most significant part though - as a modern watcher of this film, the school and the relationships between characters felt very normal, but the film makes sure to point out at several points how unusual things like biracial relationships would have been seen to be.
Watching specifically from my point of view, almost every single relationship I know in real life would have been seen as 'other' (queer relationships, mixed race relationships etc) at the time this film was marketed towards, so those points were extremely helpful to me. It also highlighted how much things have or haven't changed.
I also really appreciated how this film highlights white privilege and how it deals with it.
Overall an excellent film. Times have changed, but this film just highlights how the white privilege and racism have become more subtle but definitely as prevalent today as it was twenty years ago.
Thoroughbreds (2017)
Unbelievably boring
This should be the kind of film that I love but... I just... didn't.
It was unbelievably predictable and boring, and I very much doubt I will remember anything about it in a couple of hours.
The chemistry between the two main characters is weird to say the least - it felt deeply uncomfortable to watch and entirely artificial.
I think there were probably several points that were supposed to be shocking or a plot twist, but whatever they were, I don't know.
I think that the horse references were probably entirely lost on me, but that couldn't account for the fact that the film was just straight up bad.
Do Revenge (2022)
Absolutely perfect
I was really in the mood for a typical teen high school movie and I'm so so glad I came across this.
It's the most messy, chaotic, and beautiful film I think I've ever watched. I genuinely cannot recommend it more, and I can't go into my reasons for loving it without spoilers so I just have to write more praise.
Maya Hawke and Camila Mendes are an absolute powerhouse of leads, and the revenge story is absolutely immaculate.
Watch it, and after it has finished, come back and read this review again because I promise it makes perfect sense after watching it.
This is a film that knows exactly which troupes it fits in to and has fun with it.
It has insight, it has multiple narrators, and it has absolute chaos.
Now excuse me, I'm going to go and watch it another 200 times.
Heartstopper (2022)
Everything I could've wanted
I've been a fan of Heartstopper since Alice was crowdfunding to be able to publish the first book, and I am so so happy to say that the series is just as good.
I am so glad that Elle is played by a trans woman and that she as a character was as beautiful and well-rounded as she deserved. I could see my friendship group in every single one of the characters, even though some of my friends took far longer to come out than these characters...
I'm also so glad that the actors do seem to be the same age as the characters they are portraying, because it made the whole series more immersive and enjoyable.
Overall, I would highly recommend this series to literally anyone who seems even vaguely willing to watch it because it is so so worth it. I can't quite express how happy it has made me.
One of Us Is Lying (2021)
Really enjoyed
I absolutely love this book, and if you'd asked me about four years ago I probably would have said it was my favourite, so if I'm honest seeing it had been made into a series was a nightmare come true. However, I wanted to give it a chance anyway. I'm so so glad I did, because I absolutely loved watching it.
Obviously there are points that I didn't appreciate - the actors not being the same age as the characters being an obvious one - but overall it was very faithful to the book. Even with knowing what happens at the end, and pretty much everything that happens before then, I still greatly enjoyed the story telling and the visualisation.
Overall, I would say I am extremely pleased with this series, and I wonder if they're also going to do the second series in keeping with the second book (I am less hopeful about this)