stuff by paige

 It took me a while to get around to watching this film - I just hadn't found myself in the mood to watch a teen dramedy. However, after reading a Twitter post about the writer and director, Alice Wu, I decided to finally give it a go, and I am very glad that I did. The Half of It follows introvert Ellie as she helps Paul, a jock from her school, by ghost writing love letters for him to the most popular girl in school, Aster. The twist is, however, that Ellie herself is also romantically interested in Aster, which sets up for a rollercoaster of a coming of age movie.  Alongside the laugh out loud development of Ellie and Pauls friendship, the romantic scenes, and the heart breaking reality of lying to a friend, this film explores some really complex themes surrounding small town mentality, sexuality and religious pressure, academic pressure and planning for the future, and the hardships, stereotyping, and racism faced when immigrating into a small town. I really really loved ...

Love and Monsters really took me by surprise, and I ended up enjoying it so much more than I would have ever thought. The film follows Joel (Dylan O'Brien) as he sets out on a journey in the midst of a mutated monster apocalypse to rekindle his relationship with his pre-apocalypse girlfriend. Along the way, Joel makes friends, overcomes his fears, finds his strengths and realises there's more to life than just purely surviving. Love and Monsters features some really interesting ideas, mixing sci-fi, dystopia, romance, comedy, and monsters, bringing a really fresh movie experience, especially to say that this was a feature which was based purely on a script and not derived from a book or TV show like many films nowadays. I also found that I really appreciated the casting; Dylan O'Brien is great (although I feel he is being typecast for running roles), Michael Rooker is brilliant, and I was also extremely excited  to see Arianna Greenblatt who played Young Gamora in Avenger...

 Now, I don't usually enjoy costume dramas - partly because of an old lecturer who was so obsessed with them it made me never want to hear of them again - but I actually found Bridgerton enjoyable.  Bridgerton follows multiple girls attempting to find husbands in 1813, Regency Era England, narrated by the all-seeing Lady Whistledown, an anonymously ran paper documenting all of the gossip which takes place during the season.  Filled with fancy frocks, suave suitors and a whole lot of risqué business from the very first episode, I found myself surprisingly intrigued by the show. Despite being set in 1813, the show is far from what you expect, displaying a more updated perspective on the era, with many laugh out loud scenes and some Maturely Rated ones also. The main storyline which weaves throughout the show follows the relationship between Daphne Bridgerton, a beautiful debutante with skin that would put a Glossier model to shame, and the Duke of Hastings, Simon Basset, ...

 Part of my reasoning for watching this film was because Natalia Dyer is in it, and to say I've only ever seen her in Stranger Things (2016- present)  and Hannah Montana: The Movie (Dir. Peter Chelsom, 2009), that isn't much to go off of. However, I quite enjoyed it. Yes, God, Yes is a comedic coming of age movie which follows a young Christian girl at a Christian camp as she explores her sexuality within the constraints of religion, and discovers that even those who shame her are committers of "sin" themselves. The film very effectively captures the cringiness which comes with growing up, alongside the double standards which come with gender and sexuality. This film is extremely well shot, with wonderful lighting and many visually beautiful settings - wow, how we do love cinematography. The acting is also great, Dyers performance in particular being very convincing, and also slightly comparable to the character she plays in  Stranger Things ; a "good girl...