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jennydeane
Reviews
The Voyeurs (2021)
Captivating premise, ludicrous ending
The main ideas behind this movie are intelligent and captivating, and raise thought-provoking questions. However, the movie's final act is so ludicrous that it throws everything away when it could have done so much with the content. Disappointing.
Outlander (2014)
Strangely addicting
This is an utterly unbelievable and truly ridiculous show. It's also oddly heartwarming and addictive.
Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (2016)
Rory Gilmore: a failure
Ya know, even with all the money, connections, and opportunities a girl could wish for, even with an entire town believing in you and telling you you're amazing, you can still be... incredibly average...less than average - even a failure? This is Rory Gilmore's reality.
Where Lorelai leads Rory will follow, right? Well at least Lorelai knew who the father of her child was. Does Rory even know that? (I really hope it's Wookie Man, because that sure would be a twist.)
Bitter much, you ask? Well yes actually, and I think I've earned that. I've been with this show far too long not to feel a little angry at how our main protagonist turned out.
And I'm not sure what the writer is trying to say here, either. Maybe we're shown that Emily's traditional life is most stable, since stability crumbles with Lorelai and then completely implodes with Rory. Maybe we're told that having a huge ego can really ruin your life and alienate everyone around you. Maybe we're told that being average is perfectly fine and we shouldn't inflate our children's sense of self-importance because it can fracture them and cause their failures to feel so catastrophic they may lose their sense of self. Maybe this show is just a dramedy and I'm overthinking it. Whatever the case, it's definitely not a story of empowered women and we are left with a flat out despicable Rory who is a broken, brittle shell of what she once was.
On that note, Alexis Bledel's acting got worse and worse with each season of Gilmore Girls and in AYITL, she feels so masked and fake and hateful that it actually makes me wonder if she meant to come across that way and I've been misinterpreting. Rory is an aimless, immoral failure who has had everything handed to her - no wonder she'd seem jaded and broken when she realized she couldn't hack it in the real world.
I'm so disappointed that Rory didn't learn from her previous mistakes, and now she's making bigger and far greater mistakes and not even questioning them. It's impossible to feel bad for her - I found myself hoping things got worse and more embarrassing for her because she kinda deserved it.
Tell Me Your Secrets (2021)
Extraordinarily lazy writing
The more I think about this show, the more annoyed I am. None of these ridiculous storylines made any sense, when you really think about them.
The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)
Missed opportunity
You know, I really wish Uncle Henry/evil Uncle Henry had died on Bly Manor property so there could be four versions of him.
Midsommar (2019)
Riveting
This movie is just brilliant. There are so many complex layers to what is going on here - at face value you could think of it as a trippy, bizarre adult fairy tale. But when you dig deeper, you'll find a lot more under the surface.
I initially thought the opening was an emotional ploy to help us empathize with Dani, but now I see it is the thesis of the entire movie. Ari Aster himself said it was an "operatic break up movie" and that is a perfect description. Through her personal tragedies, Dani finds meaning and community again - she finds people to hold her, to cry with her - things she should have had all along.
The cult setting is clever - it's ritualistic shock and gore at every step, seeming to underline Dani's heightened sense of foreboding and horror and her struggle to process the tragedy with her family and with Christian. But by the end of the movie, Dani embraces the ritualized gore and sees it's necessary for moving on (in more than just one sense). The cult has shown her how to cope and given her a community to do so. Their tragedies are planned and measured; they have responsibility for their own traumas. It's pure art.
It's a raw, sometimes uncomfortable roller coaster ride that gives you plenty to chew on. 10/10
Emma. (2020)
Excellent & Exquisite - A Must See
Excellent and exquisite. This rendition of Emma knows what it's about and delivers it delightfully. I have to say, here Emma is a real biotch - she is cold and bites hard (in a playful, devilishly cruel kind of way of course). But while she starts off mean as heck, this gives her more opportunity to grow - and by the end of this beautiful movie, you've seen Emma change and mature dramatically.
I think it's interesting to note that the '96 version opening scene shows a globe spinning and lightly talks about how "one's small town is one's world" - this version of Emma does a superb job showing this truth rather than telling. The "small town" feel is pervasive here and relatable. Emma as meddler made more sense: she is painfully bored, has limited friends (most of whom are quite silly), and is incredibly vain. The lavish food and set contribute to this feeling of bored vanity as well.
The climax of the movie is well crafted and painful - and everything comes together at once. The Miss Bates incident is especially hard to watch and very personal here, and the conflict with Harriet feels more real and complicated than other versions.
I also really enjoyed Mr. Elton - he is complete cringe but not over the top.
Very enjoyable - 9/10
You (2018)
C'mon Beck, you're a better writer than that... aren't you?
There are several jokes in season one about a character not taking the time needed to write good material... Harbinger much? This show is just plot hole after plot hole.
The Frankenstein Chronicles (2015)
Frankenseanbean
Frankenstein Chronicles? More like boring Frankenbean SeanBean franken-I-don't-care-anymore-I'm-confused chronicles.
Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019)
A little disjointed
In order for the film's final 15 bloody minutes to feel justified, read some information on the Manson family for some context. I am a Tarantino fan, I know his style and what he does with violence, and I understand dealing with real life events garners more care and respect, but the ending of this movie felt over the top and out of place. Up to that point, we haven't received any solid justification for the extreme violence that takes place.
Part of the reason the ending felt out of place was that the first 3/4 of the movie also have a totally different pace and tone. Leonardo DiCaprio steals the show - I was fully entertained with his storyline and the clever throw backs to old Hollywood. The scene with California Dreamin' was extremely effective and nostalgic. There were a few pacing issues and overly long scenes that went no where. Overall a solid 7 despite a few problems.
Game of Thrones (2011)
Game of Thrones used to be my favorite TV show...
...until Season 8. Game of Thrones will live in infamy as the example of how *not* to handle a final season. It's sad how such a compelling, magnificent story could completely go down the drain in only 6 episodes, and end a captivating show so simplistically and cavalierly. D&D, everyone is sorely disappointed.
But please note - Season 8 was garbage mostly because Seasons 1-7 were stellar. If you're considering whether or not to start the trek into Game of Thrones, be forewarned.
Before Season 8, I'd have given it a 10/10. The bold twists, outstanding dialogue and character development, and amazing sets, costumes, effects, and music placed Game of Thrones onto another grading scale altogether. But by that same token, my extremely high expectations were not met in its final moments - where (and I think most fans would agree), it matters the most.
Game of Thrones: The Iron Throne (2019)
Just canceled my HBO subscription...
Season 8 was such a devastating atrocity and completely ruined this once magnificent show.
Game of Thrones: The Bells (2019)
What a mess! Rushed and hollow
Out of the plodding boredom that the rest of Season 8 has brought us (minus the extremely disappointing white walker "war"), episode 5 finally picked up the pace and gave us some bold character developments.
The only problem is, Dany's change in particular was so sudden, unexplained, and hollow that it lacked any real impact and was unbelievable. What a throw-away and how disappointing for her character. She deserved better.
Besides the white walker story line debacle (a total disaster - leave it out or at least do it justice!), I don't really mind what the writers are doing with the story line in general (even with Dany turning "Mad Queen"), but they are rushing major plot points/character development with bad writing and lack of explanation that it's a total, jarring letdown.
All of our favorite characters feel like cardboard cutouts, lacking the conviction, depth, and complexity that Seasons 1-7 brought us. Their actions and motivations no longer make sense. And just to top it off, you have used-to-be-favorites spouting some fairly terrible lines (that part where Tyrion tries to be funny? Umm... *cringe* what was that?). Throw in a Euron ("Urine") vs. Jaime fight for no apparent reason, and sprinkle in a very unsatisfying "death" scene (? I think) of Cersei (acting uncharacteristically un-scary and unprepared throughout this episode) in a sniveling Jaime's arms (and did you see his real two hands in that shot?) - and you have episode 5.
In addition, there are some serious logical inconsistencies that are just laughable! In the last episode, one of Dany's dragons is shot down and killed in an instant by an "invisible fleet" that Dany "forgot" about (according to the writers (!!)), and in this episode, her last dragon somehow destroys the same fleet plus half of King's Landing? What a joke.
Amazing visuals, set, costumes, and wow, I loved the music! But a hollow waste.
Game of Thrones: The Long Night (2019)
Disappointed! Missed opportunities and depth
Season after season they've been tantalizing us with the connection between the Night King and Bran... and up until the last 10 minutes of this episode you think the Night King can't be defeated like the rest of the walkers and the dead... until out of the blue, Arya gets past all the Night King's generals/an entire group of the dead and leaps up and stabs him through his armor? Really? It would have been so much more impactful if the Night King had actually killed Arya when she jumped out, and Bran had killed him using their shared connection/power. This was a perfect opportunity for another crazy/clever Hodor/Hold the Door twist that would have given so much more depth to the Night King and to his defeat. Bran has been silent and full of secrets for so long - but I was convinced he wasn't totally useless and he was saving everything for this scene and this moment. Disappointing.