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...

I had this movie sitting in my watch list since it was released onto Netflix, and I am so glad that I finally got around to watching it. Directed by Amy Poehler, Moxie follows a teenage girl who takes inspiration from her mothers rebellious youth and decides to make a zine to protest against the sexism in her school. This film very accurately depicts issues which girls face in school surrounding how they are taught to act in certain manners and put up with gross and unacceptable behaviour from their male counterparts, raising some very important discussions about issues women and girls of all races, shapes and sizes experience and how men and institutions which allow this behaviour to continue should be held accountable. Although this is a movie which on the surface is targeted towards a female demographic, I think it is important for boys and men to also watch this movie, as the issues raised aren't issues which are women's and girls to fix, but for the men to. Moxie also feat...

When Deadly Illusions popped up on my Netflix feed I added it straight to my watchlist. It sounded right up my street; a thriller drama revolving around an author who finds her life and her fiction blending with one another upon hiring a nanny.  On paper this sounds like a great premise, however within the first ten minutes I began to regret my decision to watch it. The acting and dialogue is extremely unrealistic to start with, with key narrative drivers being explained in a very on the nose way rather than leaving the viewer with space to piece the story together. These issues also went hand in hand with the films predictability, as within the first thirty minutes I had guessed the main plot elements which were to come. The one thing which I would say the film did somewhat well was blurring the line between fiction and reality, but I feel this should have been something which was implemented later into the film, as it already felt unrealistic to start with, meaning that the blur...

Escape Room really took me by surprise, and I actually found this movie to be an enjoyable and suspenseful watch. The film instantly hooked me by starting off with a very high stakes scene from near the end of the film, investing my interest in the character and giving me a little taste of the thriller and horror elements to come.  As with most films of this genre, like SAW and Final Destination , the characters fit into the usual stereotypes; the smart but shy girl, the edgy underdog with a pair of fingerless gloves, a rich man used to getting things his own way, the platinum blonde lady who is underestimated, the token smart Asian, and the token fat dude. However, I felt the movie does a good job of breaking past these particular stereotypes with some of the characters back stories and actions whilst in the escape rooms. This film kept me predicting and guessing narrative points, making me feel very smart when I got them right and leaving me gobsmacked when given a completely o...

 I watched Happy Death Day  a few years back and I didn't recall it being terrible, so when Happy Death Day 2 U popped up on my Netflix home screen I thought I would give it  a go. The overall premise of this film series is that the main character, Tree, gets stuck in a ground hog day situation and has to solve her own murder in order to escape the loop. In the first one she successfully manages this, however in this film more characters get dragged into this loop through her boyfriend Carter's room mates science project. This project ends up being the main solution to the time loop problems, and also explains how the time loops started in the first place. Rather than being a slasher comedy like the first film, this movie fits into a weird sci-fi teen drama genre. This mixture of genres could have made for an interesting and potentially good watch if it wasn't for the fact that the acting and narrative are just not very good. I overall felt that this film really did not ...

 Just to start off; I'm not particularly a fan of the To All The Boys franchise. The first one was okay, as cheesy as it is, but I really do not think the world needed a second or third instalment.  I found out about To All The Boys: Always and Forever through a YouTube advert, and I was set on watching it just to see if I was right, that the film would literally just be a two hour long drawn out version of the trailer. And I was right. There was nothing of surprise for me in this movie as I already knew exactly how it was going to go, as the trailer had told me everything that I needed to. Usually a trailer is a sneak peek into a film, intended to entice you to want to see more, but apparently whoever put this movies trailer together didn't get the memo. Anyway, onto the film. The main narrative arc which the main characters Lara-Jean (Lana Condor) and Peter (Noah Centineo) go through during this two hour long movie is whether they will end up going to Stanford together and...

 "If you don't document yourself it's simple, you just don't exist."  Spree follows the story of Kurt (played by Joe Keery) an outcast individual who aspires to be a social media influencer. Whilst working as a Spree driver, Kurt comes up with a deadly plan to become viral with his account KurtsWorld, with a series which he titles 'The Lesson.'  This social media thriller starts off painting Kurt in a somewhat positive light, revealing that his family is struggling and that he really just wishes to have friends or people who find him cool and want to listen to him, which is a major aspect of how social influencers stay relevant.  I initially felt quite sorry for Kurt, however things took a sinister turn as Kurt's 'Lesson' is revealed - he is murdering his passengers live as a ploy to gain viewers and buzz around his channel. The murders are set up in a prank style format, which makes the one viewer which he does have believe that he's not ...

 I would put a spoiler warning for this film but there's really no need to; we all lived through it. Death To 2020 is a documentary/mockumentary covering the shambles of a year which was 2020. I enjoy a good documentary as much as I love a mockumentary, so this film was right up my street. Featuring multiple famous faces, including Samuel L. Jackson, Hugh Grant, Lisa Kudrow and Joe Keery to name a few, the film tells the story of the past year through "interviews" and news clips, making commentary on all things political, pandemical and social. There were so many events covered which I myself had forgotten took place in 2020, so the film served as a sort of revision session - I would definitely put this film on a future history class syllabus.  Of course, key events which were discussed extensively included the COVID-19 virus, the BLM protests, and the presidential election. With the coverage of COVID, the film highlights how many large companies and businesses, such as c...

 If you can handle blood, violence and subtitles, you HAVE to watch Alice in Borderland. Adapted from a manga series, Alice in Borderland follows Arisu (Kento Yamazaki) and his friends as they find themselves transported into a desolate alternate version of Tokyo, where they are forced to compete in games to collect cards and extend the days they have left to live. The show is a perfect combination of everything I enjoy about anime and live action - lots of action, tension and crazy story concepts with the element of seeing a real flesh person going through those things, making things seem so much more real and intense.  The show being live action also meant that the cinematography elements hit even harder, especially in the first episode where the setting is established through eerie extreme longshots, emphasising just how desolate Tokyo had become. The games are extremely difficult and usually result in the losers of the games meeting a gruesome end; rather reminiscent of t...

 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...

 I feel as though I haven't heard people speaking about Jordan Peele's multi-award winning film Us  in a long time, so I decided that it was my job to do so. Starring Lupita Nyongo and Winston Duke, (both incredible actors), the film takes a psychological approach to the horror genre. The story follows a family of four on holiday as they return to the location in which the mother, played by Nyongo, endured a traumatic experience as a child. The secrets of her trauma and the events of the past begin to unravel and reveal as the family are tormented by homicidal versions of themselves (the title of the film is quite literal). The film is visually stunning the whole way through, shot with a vibrant and vintage feel which ties in well with the theme of personal reflection and reminiscence throughout. There are many clever parallels within the movie, one which I really liked being the ballet comparisons between the tethered and their surface selves as they went about their identica...

Okay, fine, I'll admit that I have turned into a major weeb. And by that I mean I willingly and eagerly spent my money to watch the latest My Hero Academia movie in cinemas.  My Hero Academia is an extremely popular anime as of the moment, having it's merchandise on sale in Primark (that's how you know you've made it) and is currently deep into it's fourth season.  This anime was a love-at-first-watch show for me when I was introduced to it by my boyfriend, as not only did I love the characters, but the premise of the whole show to me was just so fun.  Heroes Rising was only on limited release in cinemas where I live, so I jumped to the opportunity to see my beloved anime boys and girls on the big screen.  The screening had a minuscule turnout (as expected, can't imagine there's a thriving anime community in Leicester). This pleased me, as it meant we could enjoy the film comfortably and wouldn't have to endure the annoying clamour of M...

I finally made the time to watch the scaly phenomenon that has been doing swimmingly this Oscar season. Straight off the bat this film is so wonderfully designed with such a lovely colour palette. Of course, revolving a film around a Mermaid/God/Amphibian man would call for variations of blue and green colouring throughout, but I just found the colours so wonderfully whimsical and beautiful that I thought it was worth a mention.  The sound track is absolutely enchanting also, and I loved the fact that even though Eliza (Sally Hawkins) is mute, she adores listening to and dancing to music. Music is a universal medium, and therefore having the bonds between  characters developed through their sharing of music is rather symbolic of how music can unite people, and even creatures, of all different backgrounds. Speaking of Sally Hawkins, her performance is brilliant, not only being convincing as a person living mute, but also in how endearing, and also strong, she comes ac...