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Reviews
Look Both Ways (2022)
Light-hearted fun
This film sits somewhere between a 6 and a 7 for me.
It's a light-hearted rom-com with some good performances from Lili Reinhart, Danny Ramirez and Luke Wilson in particular.
The stakes are a little low in both sides of this Sliding Doors-esque story in which one version of Natalie has a baby and one doesn't, so it never really feels like there's a lot of jeopardy for the main character regardless of her choice. But I do appreciate that neither side is painted as the 'wrong' or 'negative' choice, and that each story has a different love interest.
Far from groundbreaking, but some comfortable fluff I'd probably watch again.
Normal People (2020)
Starts strong, becomes dire
The first half of this show was so relatable and really was wonderful to watch. The cinematography was beautiful and the plot moves just quickly enough to keep it really engaging.
But once I got to the second half, I just found myself getting totally bored of it all. The complete lack of communication between the characters drove me insane and the situations used to break them apart just didn't seem realistic at all.
The characters would break up and act like they hadn't seen each other in years, when realistically it would have been a few weeks at most. It all becomes so melodramatic and over the top.
And the most frustrating thing is that it's never explained why Marianne's family, in particular her brother, is so vile. He's verbally (and at one point physically) abusive for reasons that are just never touched upon. Is this purely to create some form of sympathy for who would otherwise be a very mundane and privileged character?
Overall, it's a good concept which should have been half the length.
Enola Holmes (2020)
Poor characterisation
Most negative reviews are about 'feminism' being unrealistic for this period drama, forgetting that the film takes place during the suffragette era.
That being said, the characters are practically unrecognisable for anyone who knows anything about Sherlock Holmes. Henry Cavill is terribly miscast, giving a sympathetic and sentimental performance as Sherlock, Sam Claflin is playing Mycroft as such a basic villain he might as well be replicating his performance as Mosley in Peaky Blinders, and Millie Bobby Brown has a tendency to overact throughout.
The plot line is also incredibly predictable, and there's really very little mystery to solve.