Change Your Image
samratchford
Reviews
Daisy Jones & The Six (2023)
Fan of book and show
I was a big fan of the book and nervous of the show. Up until nearly the end of the 3rd episode I was underwhelmed but the rest was great. It captured the era brilliantly and the chemistry and live performance scenes were electric.
I would also argue this is one of the best love triangles ever shown on TV.
Of course the music was going to be difficult and you have to suspend some disbelief that these songs are part of a great album butt the energy in the performances help you buy in to it.
In some ways it is a shame I was already familiar with the story as I knew where the story was headed but so well made I still delighted in it and the last episode was really well done.
Conversations with Friends (2022)
Good advert for monogamy.
I watched Normal People and read both that book and this one. I was well aware of some of the short coming of this book so feel my expectations were well managed. That said I was not prepared for the dullness that followed. The force of personalility of both Bobbi and Melissa was totally absent, the passion of the affair was lacklustre.
So dull, so dull. Passionless people living dull lives. Nick was totally miscast and came across as a flop rather than caged. Frances was just wet.
The source material was pretentious but at least had something to say about power dynamics in relationships and secret passion. This was totally missing in the show. Whole scenes of nothing. The tension of the holiday scenes were missing. Awful.
À bout de souffle (1960)
Waste of my life.
Working through a list of 100 greatest films which brought me here. Ii am a fan of French cinema and old films in general but this left me bewildered. Its so poor, it might have historical film school influences that a student could churn 5000 words over but for me the movie is poor, it stands up very badly even against average films of this era.
Eighth Grade (2018)
A gem, Confused by some of the hate.
For transparency I am a Father of a 13 yr old Boy and 11 yr old Girl, so part of my love for this film is how it reflected on my life, my anxieties, and my worries which I guess is part of good "art".
Most of the negative reviews seem to be "unfunny, not like eighth grade now or in my day, to slow, or cringing". I think maybe it was written from the perspective as an adult looking in to what we think modern life is like but the social media, insta-filters and YouTube-life were spot on. I was also fortunate to hear a review of the movie so knew exactly what I was getting into.
For me the main character in the plot is anxiety. The Anxiety of Kayla in not knowing how to be, the anxiety of her Dad in how to cope as a single parent and even the anxiety of the other kids in how to be cool.
Aspects of this movie scared me but was deeply thought provoking. Huge credit to the makers in resisting trying to make it bigger with more drama or comedy. It just ends up as a well made thought provoking movie.
Uncut Gems (2019)
Utter mess
The overall soundtrack but especially the first 10 mins could be used as torture interrogation. I was ready to confess to anything by the time the background music softened (slightly). Grating music, over amplified background chatter and shouty dialogue made me almost turn off.
The film is watchable but hugely frustrating. I think Sandler portrays the chaotic lifestyle pretty well and I thought the female leads were pretty strong.
I think where I just struggle is the amount of stupid decisions this guy makes. It got to a point where i just started losing interest in where the story was headed and by the end I had zero interest in the outcome. I stuck with it and there are some good points but just left with a feeling of missed chances.
The Coldest Game (2019)
Not exactly a thrill a minute but entertaining enough.
Reminded me of a decent Sunday night TV drama. I thought Pullman was excellent and the plot was nicely handled.
It would have helped me with clarification whether this had a basis in real life and having found out it was fiction it made me think some of the plot could have had a bit more suspense.
I did not really buy into the relationship of the US spy team. I got that one of them was a mole but I was neither intrigued nor invested in who it was.
Having said that, its an enjoyable film and worth a watch.
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
Never has production issues been so clear
If Malek grows a mustache and cuts his hair then cinema goers can suspend disbelief far enough to be watching a pretty good Freddie mercury. The accent was a bit off putting but oh the teeth....... WHY? its a movie not an impersonation. I am glad Malek got an oscar because it was a fantastic physical performance but why did they persist.....
Apart from that a lot of this was watchable. If you are a queen fan then you will love it. I understand the rating vs lifestyle depiction issues but there really is so much nod and winking going on that it starts to lose credibility.
The live aid scene was fantastic. It jarred for me as i know they totally screwed with the timeline of live aid, the band break up and his diagnosis. However i kind of got why they did that.
A Star Is Born (2018)
Best opening 45 mins in a long time
A lopsided movie. The first part was truly exhilerating, the chemistry crackled and some scenes stand up against any movie. The scene including the journey and then first performance was incredible, it reminded me a lot of the Goodfellas tracking scene, great camera work but also symbolic in terms of character.
The rest of the film was kinda off key. It was never clear that everyone felt Ally was losing her soul (which is what i felt) and it was also not clear what journey jackson was on. His hearing, his relationship and addictions were kinda jumbled.. i felt the award ceremony scene was also overdone.
I like bitter endings in movies but this one jarred especially. I was confused to what the message is. Is Jackson on some type of noble suicide which quite frankly is nonsense. The suicide should have been either removed or driven by addiction not some type of stepping aside message.
We were robbed of a redemptive crescendo for the relationship (how hood would that have been?) Instead we had what i assume was an artisitc redemption for Ally right at the end. I felt this was kinda had no build up and was just dropped in.
Great movie but really frustrating.......