My Review of Little Women (2019)

 

Written And Directed by Greta Gerwig

Jo: "Women, they have minds, and they have souls, as well as just hearts. And they've got ambition, and they've got talent, as well as just beauty. I'm so sick of people saying that love is just all a woman is fit for. I'm so sick of it."

Over a week ago, I watched and reviewed the 1994 version of this adaptation and while it still remains my favourite take on the source material, there's no denying that this version has a charm of its own as well.

Told in a non linear fashion, this one opened with Jo March (Saoirse Ronan) pitching her book to a publisher who wasn't particularly keen on a female protagonist. Also to Jo's annoyance, he wanted the main character to be married off by the end of the book.

From there onwards, we're going through different periods with Jo and her sisters, Meg (Emma Watson), Amy (Florence Pugh) and Beth (Eliza Scanlen) as well as Marmee (Laura Dern), the more acid tongued Aunt March (Meryl Streep) and of course Theodore 'Laurie' Laurence (Timothee Chalamet) himself.

Most of the plot remain the same. Jo's got an ambition to write and a staunch rejection of anything that would derail, including Laurie wanting to marry her. The rivalry between her and Amy in the first half of the movie definitely felt more contentious than in the 1994 version, with Amy almost being more deliberate in her antagonism towards Jo.

Of course Amy would be the one to become quite the artist in Paris with Aunt March and the one who Laurie would eventually marry. Jo of course would have her own romance with professor Friedrich Bhaer (Louis Garrel) but once it does feel like little time was spent developing that romance than even the 1994 movie did.

As for Meg, she settled into a good life with the nice John Brooke (James Norton) while Beth yet again, tragically died. There was some focus on Meg sacrificing her affluent life for a poorer one with John as well a little focus on Beth's musical talent. Once again, the March patriarch (Bob Odenkirk) appeared but his best scene was trading barbs with the cantankerous aunt before she died and the girls turned her house into a school.

- Greta Gerwig wasn't the original writer/director choice for this movie but she had cited that the book inspired her to want to be a writer and director.

- The sisters are all assigned core colours in their clothing. Jo got red, Meg got green and lavender, Beth got pink and brown and Amy got light blue. Though they did wear different colours as the movie went on.

- Standout music: The score from Alexandre Desplat certainly elevated the movie.

- Chronology: Civil War era in Concord, Massachusetts. 

While the 1994 version would be my preferred take, this adaptation of Little Women has rightfully earned the success and praise it's gotten. It's extremely well cast, the nonlinear storytelling mixed it up and Gerwig's direction was brilliant.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of Black Doves - Season 1 (2024, Netflix Series)

 

Written by Joe Barton

Directed by Alex Gabassi And Lisa Gunning

Sam (to Helen): "People like you and me, darling. We don't get to ride into the sunset but we do get to see the stars go out, so that's something I guess."

Just in time for Christmas, Netflix decided to do their series version of Die Hard. Nah, not really but what we did get was this thoroughly entertaining six part spy series with three of the most talented actors in the UK at the forefront.

The death of the Chinese ambassador and his missing daughter, Kai-Ming (Isabella Wei) brought our three protagonists back into each others lives and with it, a rather complicated mess, a high body count and ever changing alliances.

The protagonists themselves. First of all, there's the enigmatic handler, Reed (Sarah Lancashire). She's not a woman to be trifled and her hold over the Black Doves meant that she had no problem pitting them against one another as well as testing their loyalty at different points during the series. Lancashire does play this type of role to cool perfection, though very little was revealed about her personal life.

Then there was Helen Webb (Keira Knightley). The Black Dove married with two kids to Wallace Webb (Andrew Buchan), the Secretary of State for Defence and seemingly has the idyllic lifestyle. Helen was also having an affair with civil servant Jason Davies (Andrew Koji) while nearly getting replaced by overambitious upstart Dani (Agnes O'Casey). As a character, Helen's a great role for Knightley and she got plenty of great moments throughout the series.

My favourite character was trigger man Sam Young (Ben Whishaw). He's dragged back into the mission, owing debts to both Reed and former boss, Lenny Lines (Kathryn Hunter) while also trying to repair his relationship with ex boyfriend Michael (Omari Douglas). Yup, writer Joe Barton strikes again with great writing for queer men and Sam's the best character of the three with Whishaw rather adept at the action scenes he's given to do.

Honestly the show does have a lot of intriguing character, including a rival triggerman named Williams (Ella Lily Hyland). She was a great foil to Sam and Helen along with the seemingly ambiguous characters like Cole Atwood (Finn Bennett) and Hector Newman (Luthor Ford). The latter in particular had a complicated relationship with Sam that I definitely wanted to see more. 

The only slight disappointment might be Alex Clark (Tracy Ullman), the closest to a truly vllainous person but that was more down to her having very little screen time. On the other hand, her death will have major consequences and ones we should see play out in real time.

- The episode titles were To Love Then, A Little Black Dove, The Coming Night, Go Bang Time, The Cost Of It All and In The Bleak Midwinter.

- Netflix fortunately renewed this show for a second season a few days ago. I would've watched it even if they hadn't.

- Sam admitted while tied up that his favourite Christmas movie was The Holiday. 

- There's a lot of great guest actors in the series such as Papa Essiedu, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Sam Troughton, Adeel Akhtar and Lizzie Hopley to name a few.

- Standout music: Of course it's The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl's Fairytale Of New York as well as Raye's version of Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down). The latter being the theme tune for the show.

- Chronology: Set in London during Christmas 2024 with flashbacks to 2014, 2017 and one further back into Sam's childhood with his trigger man father.

Black Doves was the perfect release for Christmas and I'm really glad that this show did well enough for Netflix to renew it for a second season. Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw and Sarah Lancashire are all on terrific form and the tone was judged well. It was tense where it needed to be, the humour added levity but didn't detract from the seriousness and the personal relationships were all handled well. Excellent stuff.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (2024)

 

Written by Ian Bonhôte And Peter Ettedgui And Otto Burnham

Directed by Ian Bonhôte And Peter Ettedgui

Tagline: "Husband. Father. Fighter. Hero."

I've been waiting a while to watch this and finally this week,I got the chance to sit down and see it. After watching the trailer for the upcoming 2025 movie, I really needed to see this documentary.

To many people my generation and slightly older and even younger, Christopher Reeve has always felt like the definitive version of Superman and that's not to take away any of the good work that actors both before and after Reeve have done with the character. There's just some performances that have lived on for generations and his Superman undoubtedly became one of them.

This documentary might lean heavily into the Superman aspect of Christopher Reeve but there's also plenty that goes beyond it. You get insights from his children Will, Matthew and Alexandra as well as his ex partner, Gae Exton and of course his wife, Dana. There's also some Frank discussions about Reeve's relationship with his own father, Franklin throughout the documentary.

Along with his personal life brought to the forefront, there was his acting career. A Juiliard alumni, Reeve was something of a theatre actor with the call for Superman almost being one that he might not have taken. He did have people in his corner pointing out that it might not have been the best career move. Fortunately, they were wrong, at least for the first two movies.

There's some discussion about later movies (yup, Superman IV: The Quest For Peace) not being a hit while roles like Somewhere In Time were also not fondly regarded at the time. There was also a mention of Reeve tackling gay roles in movies like In The Gloaming as well as a stage production with actor Jeff Daniels.

Within the second half of the documentary, the discussion does turn towards Christopher Reeve becoming paralysed and the dramatic changes to his life from that accident. It's hard not to admire the man for doing the best he could to continue to live his life, continue to work as an actor (which included a TV remake of Rear Window) prior to his death in 2004. This documentary really did live up to its title.

- The DC Studios logo appeared at the beginning, prior to the HBO one. UK audiences can watch this on Sky Documentaries from December 28th.

- Other celebrities who contributed to this included Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg, Glenn Close, John Kerry, Richard Donner and Robin Williams (archive footage).

- We did get to see some screen tests from Superman: The Movie as well that interview where Reeve admitted to not enjoying working with Marlon Brando.

- Needless to say, this documentary has been nominated for several awards since it's release and won some as well.

I genuinely loved Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story. Both as a fan of the man and the iconic character he played, this was a brilliant insight into a man with quite the enduring legacy. An absolute must see.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of Creature Commandos: "Chasing Squirrels"

 

Written by James Gunn

Directed by Sam Liu 

Nina (re Weasel): "I wonder what he's dreaming about."

The Bride: "Probably just chasing squirrels."

Remember when everyone thought Weasel killed 27 children? Well, it turns out that he didn't. Also, eight children died and if anything, Weasel, the poor thing was trying to save them. Talk about misjudging a character.

This episode was his time to shine with the flashbacks and my goodness, they were brutal. All Weasel did was befriend a bunch of children and between a freaked out groundskeepers, incompetent police and kids playing with matches, he got vilified big time.

On the other hand, Weasel did have at least one person in his corner. His lawyer, Elizabeth Bates (Linda Cardellini) genuinely believed he was innocent. She even tried to get him to give her more details on the incident in question but it didn't take. 

Instead as Weasel went off on another mission to Pokolistan with The Bride, Nina and Doctor Phosphorus, we had the Rick Flag Sr and Eric Frankenstein bromance to contend. I mean there was some fighting, initial rival confusion, references to Titanic and When Harry Met Sally but their scenes were enjoyable. I'm still rooting for The Bride to kill Eric though.

As for Circe, well, I think she's telling the truth. Showing Amanda Waller of a Knightmare sequence future with Ilana, Gorilla Grodd and the Amethyst Knights as rulers. Yup, it was enough to scare Waller into sending Project M to take out the Princess. Too bad Rick Sr was too busy thinking with his dick than brain this episode. 

- We got John Economos (Steve Agee) as well as Themyscira expert, Aisla MacPherson (Stephanie Beatriz) in this episode along with Congorilla (Jason Konopisos-Alvarez) and Nosferata in scenes.

- The Dark future included the likes of Batman, Robin, Superman, Wonder Woman, Starfire, Green Arrow, Vigilante and Peacemaker slaughtered.

- Circe might be powerless with her hands covered but she could still get into Waller's head for that particular scene.

- Chronology: From where the previous one left off.

I didn't think I'd care about Weasel but Chasing Squirrels really did make me feel bad for the poor fella. His flashbacks were suitably horrible while the other plots of the episode were also on top form. This one might be my favourite yet.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Anora (2024)

 

Written And Directed by Sean Baker

Anora: "Oh, stay jealous, babe. Stay jealous, honey. Jealousy is a disease, remember that, Diamond. I'm just gonna go chill in my mansion or whatever, you know, no big deal!"

Yes, I finally managed to get to this much hyped Oscar contender of a movie. I was always going to watch but after watching Mikey Madison and Pamela Anderson's Actors On Actors talk the other day, it was time to watch it. Is it worth the crazy hype it's gotten? I think it might be.

Anyways Madison played the titular character, a sex worker named Anora Mekheeva, who also liked to go by Ani. In her line of business, she mostly had friends like Lulu (Luna Sofía Miranda) and rivals like Diamond (Lindsey Normington) and also admirers to boot.

One particular admirer came in the shape of spoiled son of Russian Oligarch named Ivan "Vanya" Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn). Vanya took a shine to Anora to the point where he was both buying her time from her job while at the same time getting a four carat ring to pop the question. Yup, Anora went from cash strapped stripper to marrying a spoiled rich guy before the first hour of the movie.

However getting married to Vanya came with consequences and those were associates of his family that Anora herself had to deal with. Enter the likes of Armenian handler Toros (Karren Karagulian), his henchmen brother, Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan) and Russian henchman Igor (Yura Borisov). Their goal was to get Anora to agree to an annulment on behalf of Vanya's parents. They had their work cut out for them.

For a tiny girl, Anora certainly had no problem in beating the shit out of both Igor and Garnick. She bit the former in the neck and broke the latter's nose and that's not to mention the barrage of verbal abuse she gave both of them as well as Toros. Vanya on the other hand just abandoned her to his parents henchmen.

Then there was the parents themselves. Galina (Darya Ekamasova) made her disdain for Anora well known while Nikolai (Aleksei Serebryakov) seemed absolutely bemused by his son's impulse marriage. Needless to say, this wasn't the fairytale ending for Anora and an ill advised near sex scene at the end somewhat concluded this movie on a murky note.

- For a movie that was highly sexualised, even I was surprised that Mikey Madison admitted they didn't use an intimacy coordinator for it.

- The mansion where a fair chunk of the movie took place was a Mill Basin mansion once owned by Vasily Anisimov, a oligarch with ties to Russia. 

- Standout music: Catherine Slater's Daddy AF, Take That/Calum Scott's Greatest Day and Roman Molino Dunn's Ice Cream.

- Chronology: Present Day Brooklyn as well as a trip to Las Vegas for both a wedding and an annulment.

Anora certainly lived up to the hype. Mikey Madison has certainly earned her award nods this season. It's a great movie with a love story that certainly ended on the kind of note it needed. It's also very funny in parts, which surprised me more.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Small Things Like These (2024)

 

Written by Enda Walsh

Directed by Tim Mielants

Bill: "I'm me mother's name and nothing bad ever came of it."

I watched this movie last night because someone really wanted to see it and I mildly curious about it myself. There's been a few films and TV series that have tackled the Magdalene Laundries and this film had something of a different insight into it.

Instead of focusing on a girl who ended up in one of those awful places, the emphasis here was on coal merchant, Bill Furlong (Cillian Murphy). He's a father of five daughters and something of a well regarded member of his local community with a loving wife named Eileen (Eileen Walsh).

Through flashbacks to his childhood, we saw that the younger Bill (Louis Kirwan) lost his own mother, Sarah Furlong (Agnes O'Casey) while also in flashbacks, Bill had been looked after by the kindly Mrs Wilson (Michelle Fairley). These flashbacks did a lot to inform us about the type of man that Bill Furlong was.

Back in the present day for Bill, it turned out that the nuns had a bit too much power within the local community. Bill was advised not to get on their bad side but his encounter with a young girl named Sarah (Zara Devlin) certainly changed that. 

Then there's Sister Mary (Emily Watson). The Mother Superior of the Magdalene Laundries that Sarah had been trying to get away from. For a character not given a huge amount of dialogue, she's a quietly menacing presence. Sarah's absolutely terrified of her and even Bill was intimidated enough to take Sister Mary's bribe and leave Sarah to her fate.

Of course, because the movie went to lengths to show Bill's morality, he couldn't just turn away from what he knew was going on. While I do feel the movie ended on a bit of an abrupt note, it's not lost on me the gesture Bill made towards Sarah and the likely consequences it would've had for his family within the local community.

- The movie is based on a 2021 book of the same name by Claire Keegan. Both Cillian Murphy and Matt Damon were producers.

- The end credit was dedicated to the women who were victims of the Magdalene Laundries from 1922 to 1988.

- Cillian Murphy had previously worked with Tim Mielants and it was the former's wife who suggested this project.

- Chronology: Christmas 1985 in New Ross, Wexford. The movie was also filmed there.

While Small Things Like These did lose a little steam in its final few minutes, there's no denying that it's a well crafted movie. The subject matter isn't unfamiliar to Irish audiences and Cillian Murphy as always gave an exceptional but understated performance.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Don't Open Till Christmas (1984)

  

Written by Derek Ford And Alan Birkinshaw

Directed by Edmund Purdom

Announcer: "A homicidal maniac is loose at Christmas. His target is Santa Claus. No one dressed as Santa Claus is safe."

A few weeks ago, I was looking for some Christmas horror and then I came across this British movie from forty years ago. Let's just say I wouldn't recommend this one to be honest.

Depending on how you feel about the Silent Night, Deadly Night series, you may struggle with this one. I definitely did. Anyways, killing Santa anyone? Because that's what you're getting with this one.

Yup, a guy dressed in a translucent mask goes through the streets of London during the festive period killing couples to begin with but when a man dressed as Santa got killed in a public setting, it gave the movie a protagonist of sorts with his daughter, Kate (Belinda Mayne).

Kate's got a shitty boyfriend named Cliff (Gerry Sundquist) and there's a plot involving a porn studio and a rival stripper named Sherry (Wendy Danvers). Sherry ended up being a captive of the killer while Cliff was seen as a suspect in the slew of murders taking place over the movie.

There's also Chief Inspector Harris (Edmund Purdom), desperately trying to solve the case while his younger brother Giles (Alan Lake) turned out to be the killer himself. His hatred for Santa does blatantly pull from that horror movie series I mentioned earlier but the brotherly dynamic between the Chief Inspector and the killer was rather poorly explored.

- Caroline Munro appears as herself while Purdom the director played the male hero of the piece.

- Nicholas Donnelly is credited as Dr Birdie but his scenes were deleted.

- The film took over a year to make with the amount of behind the scene disasters that befell it.

- Chronology: It's set during Christmas in London with flashbacks to the Christmas incident that triggered Giles's bloodlust.

I definitely wouldn't recommend Don't Open Till Christmas. It's pretty awful as a movie and it was certainly time that I could've used better myself. Honestly, don't bother with this one.

Rating: 4 out of 10 

My Review of Black Christmas (2019)

 

Written by Sophie Takal And April Wolf

Directed by Sophie Takal

Kris: "You messed with the wrong sisters."

You know the way sometimes the word "woke" can be weaponised as a negative for a piece of media that's usually more diverse? Yeah, I hate when that happens but every once on a while a piece of media somewhat warrants the negativity.

This reboot being one of them. We already got a surprisingly decent remake back in 2006, so was there a need for a version of this horror movie that seemed to be written for the 2010s Tumblr crowd? Apparently so.

Let's get on with this, shall we? To make this movie different but infinity far less interesting than 1974 or 2006, the 2019 version decided that Billy Lens wasn't a compelling enough antagonist to terrorise a bunch of sorority sisters. Nope, a misogynistic cult led by Professor Gelson (Cary Elwes) was the way to go here. That and some dead Hawthorne bloke and possessive goo from a bust.

It's as nonsensical as it sounded with the protagonists in questions being the least compelling ones we've had with this series. There was Riley (Imogen Poots), Kris (Aleyse Shannon), Marty (Lily Donoughue) and Jesse (Brittany O'Grady). Oh and token nice guy, Landon (Caleb Eberhardt).

Alongside Gelson as the ringleader, the frat guys also had the massively antagonistic Brian (Ryan McIntyre), who previously attacked Riley. About halfway through the movie, there's an awfully done sing song about Brian's rapey tendencies by the girls at a Christmas pageant.

Then there's Helena (Madeleine Adams). She's the "traitor" of the group, foolishly misled by the boys into subservience, only to be killed by them. Yeah, the entire film flatlines because the poor handled "men vs. women" commentary that previously didn't do and were ultimately better for not doing. 

- The Cult members were giving serious Ghostface vibes but nowhere near as interesting.

- There's a mid credit sequence with Claudette the cat that I'll admit was funny enough.

- Standout music: The Larks Christmas To New Year and Rose Graham Black Christmas.

- Chronology: 2019 Christmas time, with Hawthorne college being the main setting.

I'm going to be brutally, if I never watch this version of Black Christmas again, it'll be a godsend. The movie just straight up sucks, horribly handles it's message with most of the cast barely phoning it in. Just stick to the other versions and give this one a miss.

Rating: 3 out of 10 

My Review of The Lion King (2019)

 

Written by Jeff Nathanson

Directed by Jon Favreau

Simba: "My father once told me: protect everything the light touches, if I don't fight for it who will?"

Earlier this month, I wrote a long overdue review for the animated movie and with Mufasa: The Lion King coming out this week, it was finally time to actually watch this live action taken on the iconic 1994 movie.

I got to be honest, part of the reason why I held off watching this was down to the fact that it looked so bland and almost colourless from thr trailers. Gone was the vibrancy of the animated movie for this version.

As a movie, it's a bit too dull and muted and especially during scenes where the colour needed to pop. Like most live action adaptations, it largely stuck to what the original movie with a little bit of character expansion here and there.

Once again, Simba (Donald Glover/JD McCrary) was destined to succeed his father, Mufasa (James Earl Jones) and once again, Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor) enlisted the help of hyenas Shenzi (Florence Kasumba), Kamari (Keegan-Michael Key) and Azizi (Eric Andre) to usurp both Mufasa and Simba as King of Pride Rock.

There's a bit more time spent on seeing Scar's ruling ruin the Pride Lands with both Sarabi (Alfre Woodard) and Nala (Beyonce Knowles-Carter/Shahadi Wright Joseph) determined to put a stop to Scar. Nala did so by actually reuniting with Simba, albeit she wasn't too thrilled with his friendship with both Pumbaa (Seth Rogan) and Timon (Billy Eichner).

As you can tell, the last act played out the same between Simba and Scar with a side battle of sorts between Nala and Shenzi to fill up the time. Add some choice moments with Zazu (John Oliver) and Rafiki (John Kani) throughout the movie and it's just a race to the finish line for this one.

- Some new characters included a guinea fowl, a bushbaby, an elephant shrew, and an impala but they had little to do.

- James Earl Jones was the only actor from the 1994 movie to reprise his role. Scar was a more scraggly but lighter coloured lion compared to his animated counterpart.

- Standout music: Same as the 1994 but not as good if I'm being honest.

- Chronology: An unspecified time in the Pride Lands of Tanzania.

I didn't hate this version of The Lion King but I'd be lying if I said I loved it. Compared to it's animated counterpart, it feels very bland by comparison, more than I thought it would. I was largely underwhelmed by it.

Rating: 6 out of 10