gemma short writings

I must have been conscious of having fallen behind in my watch goal (2 movies a week), because according to my Letterboxd I watched 12 last month. I also don’t review properly on there, mostly writing silly reviews to be fun, and so I thought I’d try and succinctly provide my thoughts here. The ranking system is flimsy at times, incorporating a mix of objective and subjective, and being entirely based on the star rating I gave each film immediately after watching it. I will try and keep it brief, but I’m not sure if I’m capable of such things. Enjoy!

(obviously, spoilers may occur so read at your own peril. if you want short and snappy and mostly without spoilers, then check out gemima on letterboxd)

2/5 stars

12^th: The Devil Wears Prada 2 (watched in cinema). I can accept that it had promise—I was interested in the approach to worrying about the current state of print journalism—however, this optimism lasted for the whole of five minutes, when it’s revealed that Runway were in a PR crisis after endorsing a fast-fashion brand. Called Speed Fash. Which was so on-the-nose and ludicrous that I recoiled. I never fully recovered. Andy was re-learning all of the same lessons and making the same mistakes as she did first time around, and there were implications that Miranda was no longer able to keep up with the ever-changing times. Ridiculous! If anyone can keep up well into her 70s, it’s Miranda Priestley.

2.5/5 stars

11^th: Muppet Treasure Island. To fully immerse yourself into this one, you probably need to like the story of Treasure Island. I’m always going to root for a film with Gonzo and Rizzo at the forefront, but I’d be lying if I said I could recall much of what happened. For me, no muppet adaptation is ever going to hold up in comparison to A Muppet Christmas Carol.

10^th: All of You. I cannot claim to have watched this romance drama for any other reason than for it starring Brett Goldstein. The sci-fi element of the dating agency was intriguing, and I thought there was room for interesting commentary on how anyone going through the agency ends up practically estranged from their friends. Nonetheless, the constant time jumps were jarring, and I was just irritated by the affair. I couldn’t root for it at all. This could have gone so much further with the sci-fi and dystopian elements of it all. Justice also for Zawe Ashton.

3/5 stars

9^th: Two Weeks Notice. Like with many romcoms, I struggled with how the final third of this unfolded. I also couldn’t bring myself to rate a film any higher than 3 stars that had the most dreadful cameo ever. Beyond that though, I found this compelling. I actually found George and Lucy to be a good match; Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock were sweet together and had great chemistry. I can appreciate a romcom that can show time and time again both how well the characters know each other and how well they compliment each other.

3.5/5 stars

8^th: You’ve Got Mail. I didn’t expect to have a Nora Ephron entry ranked this low, but Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) irritated me to no end. Perhaps I could have sympathised with him more if he hadn’t been deceiving Kathleen (Meg Ryan) for half of the film. Also, I don’t know if any of the characters understand this, but that was an emotional affair! Despite my frustrations that only worsened as the movie went on, especially the final twenty minutes (why does he never think to make sure she can get a job!), I’m always going to enjoy an Ephron film, particularly when it stars Meg Ryan.

7^th: La La Land (rewatch). Honestly, I could’ve sworn it was better than that when I first watched it. On the surface, La La Land is gorgeous to look at and a blend of musical theatre and technicolour cinema, but on rewatch it becomes evident that it is muddled. It doesn’t commit hard enough to being a musical, and many of the stylistic choices are for aesthetic purposes rather than to enhance the film. Emma Stone sadly feels miscast despite her chemistry with Ryan Gosling. On top of that, I found Mia to be much more difficult to root for this time, with her behaviour towards Seb contradicting and jarring. (Although I too would end a relationship if my partner didn’t turn up to my play.)

6^th: The Nice Guys. Although I don’t normally opt for action movies and I was worried I was not going to be able to stomach the violence, I had a lot of fun. Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling make for a compelling comedic duo; Gosling in particular stands out as the laughably bad PI Holland March. I don’t have too much else to say about The Nice Guys as it’s just not my personal preference and I didn’t find it to be all that memorable, but at the same time I couldn’t exactly fault it.

4/5 stars

5^th: Crazy, Stupid, Love (rewatch). It was a tough call between this and 4^th place, but I think my problems with this film were just more egregious. But first, this was an endearing rewatch. Steve Carell does a stellar job at the miserable and misguided Cal, a middle-aged man caught off guard by his wife asking for a divorce. His unexpected friendship with Jacob (Gosling) makes for a compelling watch. Despite having watched it before, I was also surprised to find myself developing a major soft spot for Jacob and Hannah (Emma Stone), and the plot twist late in the film still holds up as one of the funniest misunderstandings in film. With all that being said, Cal’s son is an utter creep and he should have been stopped. He was told countless times by his crush to leave her alone and he never did. Put him in jail.

4^th: The Fall Guy (rewatch). Rated ever so slightly lower than on first watch. I don’t think my opinion of it lowered, I just wasn’t as engaged. While The Fall Guy isn’t doing anything new or special, it’s a fun and compelling watch. Also, as you can probably surmise from the previous three films ranked here, I was in the mood to watch a Ryan Gosling film and he didn’t disappoint. He was perfectly cast as stuntman Colt Seavers, and he had great chemistry with Emily Blunt. While we’re on the topic of good casting, can we please have Hannah Waddingham in more feature films? It’s what the people (me) need.

4.5/5 stars

3^rd: The Sheep Detectives. When the trailer for this film made waves, I’m not sure that anyone could have anticipated just how it was going to succeed at capturing the hearts of the nation. I giggled a lot. I cried my eyes out. I got so invested in this silly little herd of murder mystery loving sheep. Admittedly, the writing was a bit cringe at times particularly towards the beginning, but beyond that it perfectly captured the cosy murder mystery subgenre. I also found myself surprised by how invested I was in the costumes; they perfectly fit the tone of the film while being interesting to look at.

2^nd: Before Sunset. I delayed watching this second instalment in the trilogy because I was too attached to Before Sunrise, deeming it one of the best films I’ve seen in a long time. While this was never going to live up to its predecessor, it does a great job at nearing it. Trying to capture the heart of the first film and still feel like a natural progression while ensuring that both Celine and Jesse feel consistent with who they were nine years before was a tricky feat which was pulled off excellently. I’d even argue it’s more impressive this time around as there is more ground to cover in the space of just over an hour. I’ll have to rewatch sometime when I’m not so emotional; I made the mistake of watching when I was feeling rather upset and cynical about my attitudes towards love. Therefore, I couldn’t give it 5 stars because Jesse annoyed me too much.

5/5 stars

1^st: Project Hail Mary. I watched this in cinema for the third time. I have even watched it since but unfortunately that was from the comfort of my own home. Despite having already seen it twice prior, I felt giddy about getting to spend my afternoon watching this yet again. I’m not sure that a film has ever stayed with me so prominently for so long as this did from the moment I first watched it back in March. And I don’t even normally watch sci-fi!