Manda's MovieWatch

What a beautiful story and journey of grief. A new look at the possible motives for Shakespeare in writing Hamlet, although this is really a story about Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes, it’s her journey. It’s quite beautiful: outstanding cinematography, sets, costumes, and the acting by all is amazing…but Jessie Buckley: standing ovation. Highly recommend seeing it on the big screen and letting yourself get lost into this world. (Be prepared: it might take you a few minutes to recover after the credits.) 0 watch checks from me! I think Ryan would’ve stayed awake for this one. BP contender for certain.

It was good. Not great, but good. Follow-ups are always hard to pull off. If you liked the first one, you’ll like this one. Ariana and Cynthia still sing amazingly although the music overall doesn’t match the grand songs of the first Wicked. The costumes and sets are beautiful, but I was disappointed that the ending gets Hollywood-ified and is different from the musical. Nessa as a character (and her tie-in demise) was almost laughable- not great editing there. But still worthy of the big screen if you can get there. 3 watch checks. Ryan would be asleep in the first musical number. 

The best monster telling of Mary Shelly’s story I’ve seen so far. It asks who is the real monster- the created or the creator? I was pretty impressed as I don’t usually enjoy monster stories. Jacob Elordi and Oscar Issac do an amazing job bringing the creature and the doctor to life with complexity. It’s visually beautiful in a Gothic and dark way. Expect gore – it is a monster movie after all. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I think Ryan would stay awake for this, 1 watch check.

Finally closing the book on these characters, but it’s been a fun read. Downton fans will love this flick because it has all the things we love about Downton: beautiful sets & costumes, a peak at high English society, witty repartee, our favorite characters who just can’t move on and a reminder that some things change and some things never do. I enjoyed it but it also felt a bit boring, it’s what you expect and it’s been drawn on a little too long. I guess I was hoping for a twist or maybe something unexpected? This one you can rent and Ryan would have been asleep in the first 10 minutes- not his cup of tea. 3 watch checks.

Not sure I can be fair with this review as the original Superman is one of my all time favorite movies. All pale in comparison to Reeve but David Corenswet was a pretty good runner up. Visually, this was a beautiful superhero movie but…please DC, don’t try to be funny- leave that to Marvel. We love you for the dark & tragic universe you are. Krypto & Green Lantern were pretty cringe. I thought Nicholas Hoult was pretty awesome as Lex Luther though. Bronson too, was a great Lois. Although it was entertaining, overall I was still disappointed. 2 watch checks, Ryan would stay awake for this and it’s built for the big screen, so see it on one if you can.

This is an overdue post: I watched this movie in summer. It was only released on prime, I believe. I knew about it because my brother had worked on the movie. I watched the trailer and my interest was peaked. It’s shot in a Blair Witch Project type of documentary style but it takes a turn.  I’ve said this before: I’m not a huge scary movie fan but it did surprise me, I thought I knew where it was going with Bigfoot lore but then went boogeyman darker. I’m not sure I can give it a real fair rating as it’s not the genre I enjoy, but I was glued to my television watching it- maybe not for the best reasons; high shock factor. I do love a low budget cult classic and this has the makings for that. I was saying “whaaaaaatttt??” a lot. 3 watch checks, your only option is to rent and Ryan would stay awake for this while looking at me in disbelief and saying “what the heck are we watching?!”

I love a dark horse story, and this is a good one. Puzzle loving nerds can be dangerous too! Some unexpected twists and a good set up for a sequel that I’m guessing is coming. My only complaint is some of the gruff bad guys felt a bit too cliche for me. Only 1 watch check, Ryan would stay awake and you could rent it but big screen would be better.

Pleasantly surprised at this one. A solid sci-fi thriller for sure with a little heart thrown in. An easy watch, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Yes there’s some very bizarre things, but it’s Sci-Fi, expect weird. I liked the mix of action and both main characters are pretty awesome to watch. Probably would be better on a big screen (but I think it’s an Apple TV movie so not even sure if that’s an option), 2 watch checks for me and Ryan did stay awake!

I’m so bummed that I couldn’t get to all the Best Picture nominated films this year. The only one I did not see was I’m Still Here and I’ve heard it’s amazing, probably a front runner for international feature Oscar. I’ve gone back-and-forth between Conclave, A Complete Unknown, and Anora for which one I think will win. I have to pick a lane and we’re down to the wire…so I’m going with Conclave. I thought that movie was gonna be boring and I found myself kind of fascinated by it so I’m impressed that it kept my attention so well, so that’s my pick. Side-note: I think my favorite one to watch of all of them was A Complete Unknown. I just enjoyed it and was entertained. Ryan’s pick is Anora- (no surprise there, of course he’s rooting for the porno).

This movie was based on real events (from a book) and it was such a sad mark on our history but I was not a big fan of how they chose to tell it. The switching of perspectives, flashbacks, real news clips, and imagined symbolism felt random and left me with whiplash. It was distracting from the brutal events this movie was bringing to light. It felt disjointed or trying too hard to make a statement, which was unnecessary in my view as the subject matter alone makes a clear enough statement. All that said, it was a powerful and profoundly upsetting film but…I still got a little bored (which I kind-of hate to admit but I’m keeping it real). 3 watch checks, you can rent it (but I do wonder if the big screen would have kept me more engaged?) Ryan would not have made it through this one.