i really like films SPOILERS

this used to be where i got angsty about having an ed but now im gonna talk about films and thats growth and im proud of myself. robin, he/him

[greenhatsinthesky]

lockdown film no. 44 - Loving Annabelle (2006) dir. Katherine Brooks

03/06/2020

- basically all the scenes with Annabelle and Simone were incredibly uncomfortable and felt like a weirdly written teacher fanfic or some shit

- you can try and age a character by making them smoke and saying that they’re emotionally mature, it doesn’t change the fact that this girl is still a minor

- I sure didn’t go to an all girls boarding school but class discussion was never as deep as it seems in stuff like this

- i had a really interesting conversation yesterday with my pal liisa — she said that often young people develop crushes on people that they know they can’t have, like celebrities and teachers. Kids have hormones and it’s not their fault that they have feelings that they think means that they’re in love with their teacher. Its the adult’s responsibility to know that its a minor they’re in contact with and not to encourage them and think that anythings gonna happen

- the sex scene with Simone and her man was… a bit rank to be honest. Obviously not the worst straight sex I’ve seen but my face was A Grimace

- her bathwater is fucking filthy. Do not dunk your head in that ma’am

- “gypsies are the children of the devil” WHAT ?? Ok update this priest is surprisingly very woke

- no offence but… where is the chemistry ? I dont see it. Probably because of the dynamic between them but I just dont clock how these two even had a connection in the first place

- LOOK AFTER YOUR CAMERA WOMAN FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

- you’d think that if they tried to make Annabelle so emotionally mature they’d have made the decision for her to be able to understand that no means no ?

- honestly I’m over an hour in and I’m just finding this incredibly boring. Cat is a twat, I cannot root for the central couple because it’s morally very wrong and none of the characters are very engaging. We know they aren’t going to live happily ever after because one is a child and one is a grown woman, so it feels a bit too much like a message of “dont be gay, it won’t work out”, and I have precisely no time for this

- simone loses her job and will now have it on her record that she had a relationship with a student, and Annabelle is left at a school that she hates with no real friends to speak of. 10/10 wouldn’t watch again

[greenhatsinthesky]

lockdown film no. 43 - Beast (2017) dir. Michael Pearce

02/06/2020

- ahh yes, the classic “choristers breath”

- I remember watching this last year in the first lockdown and I could not for the life of me figure out what her neck hair symbolised. Ill keep you updated

THE SMILE AHHH

- i recognise Clifford from somewhere. I hated how he asked if he was alright to adjust the thing he gave her despite already doing it and how uncomfy moll obviously was with this

- THE SISTERS FROM KILLING EVE WHAT. Also imagine hijacking your sisters birthday to announce you were pregnant. I mean this in many ways but could never be me

- ok yes I appreciate that the first guy was being a prick and that moll had told him multiple times to fuck off so in that sense I’m glad thingy showed up with a gun but just the irony of him almost shooting a man who was doing dodgy stuff to a woman without her consent and then once that man had run for the hills, for him to go over to that woman who is clearly very shaken up and take her arm without asking. just… men. I know he thinks he’s trying to help but anyone with a shred of awareness would surely be able to read that this might not be the best thing to do right now

- nothing scares me like being on top of a tiny rock with an absolute gale blowing off the sea. Would be nice to kiss someone there though

- my god this mother is just awful she’s just reeling off “oh you’re stupid” “no” “so you’re selfish” “no” “so you’re basically just a twat” FUCK OFF MATE

- DONT PRESS ON YOUR WOUND IT MAKES ME FEEL ILL

- oh my god I forgot that she stabbed someone. That makes more sense why she stabbed herself in the flickery light nightmare. 

- sex in the forest is all fun and games until you’ve got a literal worm up your arse and an entire thistle in your ear. un/fortunately I do not speak from personal experience

- whoever tried burying her couldn’t have done a worse job unless they literally didn’t bury her

- HER BROTHER … IS ASKING ABOUT HER “LOVE LIFE” ??? WITH PASCAL ? And she’s just deadass out here like yeah he is outstanding in bed. Or out of bed because so far we’ve only seen them do anything in the open air

- oh wait not its not her brother its cliff. Thank god

- I love how the mother is so proud of moll for implying she’d stop talking to pascal and she thinks its because she thinks he’s a bit dodgy and not because moll’s recently been informed he’s a suspect in the murder of a cHiLD

- where did the police come from ?

- RED FLAG RED FLAG (in reference to pascal thumping the steering wheel and yelling “WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN TALKING ABOUT BEHIND MY BACK” when moll said that cliff had questioned her)

- it was not consensual you were an adult and she was a child

- “you just said you loved me. Why?” “i don’t know”

- The Mother: (to Moll) maybe I’ve been too soft on you. Me: I doubt that. 

- to be honest it feels like quite a significant red flag to go out with someone who hunts for fun. Idk just seems kind of sketchy. Also her pulverising the rabbit with the butt of the gun was wayyyy worse than just shooting it. 

- I’m not sure what it is but mouths are just really creepy 

- the police questioning scene — fuck. me. what a wise woman that detective was. Loved it when she goes “a lot of us are bullied” clearly internally going “we don’t all kill people because of it”. And I don’t think its that she’s protecting pascal because she wants to take revenge on the world (might be partly that) but she’s never met anyone like her before and its fucking wild when that happens ! Just unfortunate for her that she needs to meet a possible murderer to be like “yeah we’re gonna get along”

- wait I feel so stupid who’s the lady who’s kid is dead

- cliff: it doesn’t change the way that I feel about you — fuck off ! How do you feel about her ?! You gave her an army thing and she never showed any interest in you

- THE SMELL OH MY GOD ABSOLUTELY READ

- oh to be a droplet of water falling from jessie Buckleys chin. Oh well

- i… despise how happy cliff is to hear that moll is now worried about pascal maybe having done it. Literally every man in this film is trash

- I retched when she started putting soil into her mouth. That bit was fuckin very intense. 

- my god these are made for each other. The moment when she put her hands out on the table, palms up, not reaching for him but allowing him to make the decision to come to her

- i think the phrase “it’s over” is said at least five times in the film, and every time someone says it, it's never true. It’s either straight up misinformation or the person trying to convince themselves that they’re right, and this is very interesting to me

- “kiss me” WHAT

- there’s so much red in this film at very key moments but I’ve not figured out what it means. Will have to watch again, again

- him lying on the road surrounded by broken glass unable to move, he’s the rabbit from earlier

- they are both literally insane. At least one of them had to die and I’m glad it was him for sure

- i really liked this film. A lot a lot — it was one of the most complex portrayals of a relationship of this kind, one so toxic with absolutely psychopathic people at the centre. Everyone around the two central characters are so awful that we can’t help but empathise and sympathise with moll and pascal, which is impressive because sometimes its difficult to sympathise with murderers

- i’ve seen some people saying that moll is the beast (interesting) and this is symbolised with the theme of the hair on the front of her neck. As I remember, in an earlier scene she sees it in the mirror and pulls it out, but later she sees it again and leaves it? Apologies if that’s wrong. Initially I thought “hmm, interesting, I understand the imagery of that” but then I’m thinking “if the only way you can symbolise that a woman is the beast is to give her body hair, maybe you need to have a little think about casual misogyny, because I read that as you saying “women who have body hair are hideous”. You might not have meant it in that way, but there’s intent and impact

[greenhatsinthesky]

I've gone completely off the rails in terms of doing things in order but I'm writing reviews for films I watched nearly a year ago so I’m throwing absolute caution to the wind and watching the films I want to watch in the order I want because otherwise they shall simply fester with no thoughts. and this would not be ideal. god help me when I get round to all the films I don't want to rewatch but we’ll just have a week of hell when that happens :)

[greenhatsinthesky]

lockdown film no. 52 - Athlete A (2020) dir. Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk

29/06/2020

cw: sexual assault of minors, abuse

- powerful

- I’ve never done gymnastics, apart from in school, but one of my favourite you tubers is nile Wilson so I was really interested to watch this when it came out — I saw that he’d posted about it saying how important it was and what a great documentary it is, so I went to watch it a few days after it released. 

- it’s kind of funny to think that every time I watch the olympics, especially in sports that I really like, like martial arts, boxing, gymnastics, etc., I always get kind of sad that my parents didn’t put me in elite sports from childhood because then I would be able to do all this cool stuff and you’d have that moment when you succeed and feel like you’ve done really well, which you see a lot in sport. But then I remember watching celebrity sas who dares wins with Victoria Pendleton and she was talking about how when she was a kid she didn’t really like cycling, she just happened to be really good at it, so everyone was like “you can’t stop, you’re too good !” And then that makes me more glad that I wasn’t put in elite sports as a child

- when Jamie was talking about how she found herself looking forward to treatment because nassar was the only nice adult about that makes a lot of sense because every other adult there is interested in your physical performance and maybe they care about you, maybe they don’t. But if there’s someone who’s nice to you around, it makes a lot of sense that you look forward to seeing them. And it sucks that now they feel guilty for feeling like that when they were children because now they know what it was that happened to them. But then also it makes sense that nassar would thrive in an environment where he was the nice one, and could gaslight these girls into thinking that he was their safe haven at the ranch

- I didn’t know Nadia Comaneci was 14 when she won the olympics. I know she was a child but FOURTEEN

- it’s so fucking creepy to know that after Nadia won the olympics so many little girls started gymnastics and then you have their coaches, especially Bela and Marta karolyi, controlling them as if they were dolls. “Nadia was Romania’s best product.” 

- I’d seen the clip of kerri strug before in a compilation video of “most inspiring olympic moments” or something like that and even though it was presented as heroic it still felt off. She has an injured ankle, and she has to perform a vault, which she somehow manages, landing on one foot. She crawls off the mat, very obviously in a lot of pain, and pretty much straight away her foots been taped up and Karolyi’s carrying her around like he’s holding some kind of trophy. 

- in the scene where they had footage of nassar being interviewed by someone who had been told that he’d molested girls and he was explaining that when you he’s fixing a coccyx you have to anally penetrate the patient I legitimately retched I felt sick it was disgusting

- it’s literally insane that after Rachel denhollander and Jamie dantzcher coming forward anonymously nassar was running for the school board. And people voted for him. The things that white men can get away with will never fail to astound me. 

- I cannot even imagine how it would feel to appear in court in front of your abuser and know that they were going to prison. And to have so many other people around you doing the same thing

- it was so great to see Maggie at the end still doing gymnastics and loving it and excelling at it in an environment that wasn’t the US elite squad. Not to state the bleeding obvious but guess it looks like if you nurture someone while they work doing something that they really like it turns out a lot better than if you abuse them relentlessly

- overall this is a fantastically made documentary — it was well paced; while there were a lot of people to follow it was easy to remember who everyone was; there was great use of archive footage and it was one of the most powerful films I’ve seen in a while. all in all — please watch this. It’s really really important that we know stuff like this and hear from the people who have experienced it firsthand

[greenhatsinthesky]

lockdown film no. 42 - Bombshell (2019) dir. Jay Roach

02/06/2020

- i just watched a youtube video about Charlize Theron’s makeup and it was so good that they had to put a statement at the beginning saying that all the portrayals in this film are by actors

- I really hated the title card on the lift. come on. give me more

- CASEYBABY

- “Trump has a problem with women” “can you back that up?” “yes” *whacks down The Folder*

- my god this cast is outrageous. I can't recognise Charlize Theron at all; Noah vosen is Nicole Kidman’s lawyer; one of the sisters from a cinderella story works in makeup and bloody Malcolm mcdowell is Rupert Murdoch ?? 

- wow the scene with Rudi bakhtiar when he said he wanted to see the inside of her hotel room and internally she was going “apologise. Make it your fault.” Ow 

- the moment where Kayla was in that guys office and he shuts the blinds and we’re excluded for a millisecond was fucking creepy

- it’s really cool to see Kate McKinnon in a non comedy role. We see her on snl and all these fantastic comedies (some less fantastic but she’s still great) but I hadn’t seen her in a really intense drama before, especially

- oh my god I remember when I first watched this I absolutely lost my mind when Kate mckinnon and Margot Robbie started having a gay time 

- “yes well you have to bring a vibrator from home to the convention. The question is what does a man do with a vibrator?” Their chemistry in this scene I’m literally dead. 

- holland Taylor taking Kayla to see Roger felt an awful lot like Daniel going to the lion’s den. And then Kayla walks in and holland Taylor closes the door and were on the outside again

- first time I watched the scene with Kayla in rogers office when he tells her to pull up her skirt I legitimately thought I was gonna throw up

- it makes me really genuinely upset the amount of women in this film (and absolutely the amount of women in real life) who are apologists for rapists and all round despicable men because they’ve been brainwashed to believe that everything that happens to them in trealtion to men is their fault. Or even if they know its not their fault (see Rudi bakhtiar) they know they have to make the man as comfortable as possible to try and preserve their own safety because there’s no knowing what they would do if you made this person more angry, even though its not their responsibility to monitor someone who’s feelings are their own problem 

- maybe I was just watching it wrong but I felt like the scene where there were different cards with the women talking about what had happened to them could have been much stronger

- i think one fundamental problem with this film is that there are literally no people of colour here at all. We all know fox is racist and so it would likely hire white people at a greater rate than people of colour but I cannot believe it was only white women being harassed in this workplace. As well as this, Kayla is a fictional character. Jess isn’t based on a real person, but someone like her probably existed, and both of their storylines are really interesting. Racist white people have space for people of colour if they aren’t “loud” about their identity and if they can imitate the racism of the white people around them. In the same way that the men in this film have time and space for misogynistic women. I’m just a bit mad that the writers decided to add fictional characters but the only fictional characters are white, in a sea of characters based on real white people. Also, the only talk about race is the bit about father christmas, really ?

- the scene with the news women saying how great Roger is and how they’ve never been told what to wear and how they need trousers because it’s kicking off about a leg cam but they’ve never been fitted for trousers and they’re putting these crazy high heels on their feet with plasters all over the gaff was pretty wild. I liked it. It was very sad

- even on second watch the scene where calls jess and they talk on the phone. Fuck. Robbie’s acting here is outstanding and mckinnon takes it perfectly from having jokes about having a heart attack about bill o’reilly calling her when actually its Kayla to being so supportive about talking to lawyers about what Roger did and why she wasn’t able to help her before all the stuff came out and how her position at her job is so precarious because she’s gay. And then she can tell Kayla’s not ok and she can’t really do anything but she’s there for her as much as she can be. I also appreciate the fact that there isn’t actually a scene in this film where anyone is physically harassed — the scene where Roger tells Kayla to pull her skirt up and the flashback where he goes for megyn is all we get

- it might not have been deliberate but in the scene where Rupert Murdoch says “i hate that its come to this” and Roger says “me too” made me a bit yiKES

- overall I think this is fine, but for a topic so rich its kind of a shame the film isn’t better. I’m not sure what its lacking but I think of other things I’ve seen like the show Mrs. America and how the ending of that absolutely shattered me, and that’s what I wanted from this. The jess/kayla storyline I found to be one of the more engaging things about the film, which like I say is strange in a film with this topic. I don’t know. The acting is good, the makeup and prosthetics are frankly out of this world - it was just a shame to me that other aspects were a bit lacking

[greenhatsinthesky]

lockdown film no. 39 - Brief Encounter (1945) dir. David Lean

29/05/2020

- this was my first time watching this film and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. The day we watched it me and my parents went on a walk and decided it would be our viewing since my parents had been quoting it for days and my mum couldn't believe id never seen it. my dad made three delicious pizzas and we settled in

- the vOICES lord. Their accents are so wild imagine actually talking like this

- the passive aggression of bringing someone a tea and them saying “oh thank you! There’s certainly enough tea in it”

- it can’t just be me who thinks the main lady looks like a mix of thelma AND Louise ??

- good lOrd this film made me hate the children

- “my birthday’s in jun and there aren’t any pantomimes in jun” — the child delivered this line with such monotony I can only think they must have been drugged

- I love the idea that falling in love can be a violent thing that happens to a person. 

“i must be getting to the hospital” “I must be getting to the grocer’s” “what exciting lives we both lead”

- it’s so funny how we think that old films are kind of dull and people were stiff and passionate back in the day but the chemistry that these two actors have is fantastic and they have a really great sense of just enjoying being in each other’s company. The dialogue isn’t one sided or stilted and I really like bits like them splitting the lunch bill and the tip. The scene when he’s talking about the coal mines and preventative medicine broke my heart because she was very honest about not knowing what the heck was going on but she just wanted to hear him talk about something that he was passionate about

- THEYRE PUTTING THEIR CHILD IN THE NAVY ??? HE IS AN INFANT BOY

- I wish trains were still like this. Oh to be on a platform with your lover and leap onto a moving train and hold their hand and blow them a kiss through the tiny window

- THE SCENE WHERE SHES HAVING A CIGARETTE THE STRINGS ARE IN ALL BY MYSELF I GOT REALLY CONFUSED THINKING I WAS IN SOME BRIDGET JONES TIME MACHINE

N.B. - both of their jawlines could cut glass

- ok update on the music Eric carmen wrote all by myself in 1975 and based the verse on Rachmaninoff’s piano concerto no. 2 in c minor, op. 18. This is fantastic and I love it

- this films has to be about how you’re not fulfilled in your own life and so meeting another person suddenly seems to make everything better. I don’t think they could have possibly had the same connection if they both weren’t married

- ooh the tILT when she runs out oh my god 

- “youve been a long way away from me, haven’t you? Thank you for coming back to me”

- bless Fred 

- I find this film a really interesting take on what the line is of when a relationship you have with another person becomes cheating. it also reminds me of a thing someone said about love being a choice, because both Alec and Laura make decisions throughout that they probably shouldn't -- kissing in alleyways; sneaking around distant friend’s flat -- but in the end they both decide to go back to their spouses because that's the commitment that theyd decided to make. I don't know I just think its interesting

[weaver-z]

I hate how in the Cruella trailer she’s all “people try to hold me down… I am woman…. hear me roar……” as though people are opposing her for misogynistic reasons and not because her primary motivation is SKINNING PUPPIES? 

[guts2002-deactivated20211208]

margaret thatcher

[greenhatsinthesky]

lockdown film no. 38 - A Matter of Life and Death (1946) dir. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

27/05/2020

I feel like my dad has generally good taste in films about men, so when he suggested this for a watch on a Wednesday evening, I agreed quite happily. It helped that I’d seen it listed in hundreds of lists, and the image of David Niven and Kim Hunter was so iconic that I couldn’t very well refuse

- in general I liked this film. It’s almost comedically british, and I find the idea of a relationship between Niven and Hunter completely absurd, but is so often the way in old films where there’s a relationship just cos. Having said that, I understand that if you were about to die and you were talking to a person who expressed that they cared about you, you’d probably be inclined to say that you love them. I have a feeling 

- something I absolutely love about this films portrayal of heaven is that it’s entirely secular. It’s not a christian representation, and looks more like a hotel in the sky than heaven, or what we imagine heaven to be. I like the idea that heaven is all admin, and that instead of angels you have clerks. 

- I love the shot of Peter walking along the beach away from the sea, discarding his uniform and walking up towards the dunes. Beautiful 

- why is the little boy naked? Why is he playing the flute

- WHY ARE THEY CALLING EACH OTHER DARLING AND KISSING ON THE BEACH? Y’ALL JUST MET

- ‘sacre brouillard’

- I love the French guy? Concierge? He lost his head! O-ho!

- “I love her” Again — y’all just met!

- felt like I was gonna get whiplash watching them play ping pong

- this would be absolutely stunning as a play. All the sets, the staging, they could do so much with the sound and the more surreal sequences — I’d love to see it. 

- THE STAIRS. They would be difficult to do on stage maybe but it’d probably be doable!

- the shot of his eye closing… but from the point of view of being inside his eye??? That made me feel so ill. it’s really clever and actually probably fairly easily done? I’m seeing some weirdly coloured fabric and massive model eyelashes 

- very interesting bit where Peter kisses Kim even though she’s frozen. Conductor 71 says “she won’t feel it!” And Peter says “it doesnt matter”. Conductor 71 responds, to himself, it seems, with “oh, he is English. What is the good of kissing a girl if she does not feel it?” Very astute. 

- something I really enjoy about this film is the astonishing diversity they show. There were some (not many) propaganda posters in the second world war of soldiers from different countries in their different uniforms, but that diversity isn’t shown a lot in films. 

- “when in the course of human events our men and women came to your country as your allies it was not to become your prisoners.” “sir, may I bring you up to date, we are living in the twentieth century, not the eighteenth.” “may I bring you up to date, sir, we are not alive at all.

- the fact that he asks for a jury of American citizens and people (i mean, men) from all different cultural and national backgrounds appear makes me happy. Apart from the incredibly conspicuous absence of women

[greenhatsinthesky]

lockdown film no. 37 - Slumdog Millionaire (2008) dir. Danny Boyle

23/05/2020

- I had seen this once before and it was an interesting experience because a) it was billed as a feel-good film and it Was Not at all until the last ten minutes and b) my dad really freaked me out by predicting what the last question was going to be. I lost my mind and he was very proud of himself

- the concept of this film is so good. Very easily put into a logline, really strong cinematography, great performance, aces

- also love that during production they decided to translate a third of the dialogue from English into hindi 

- salim’s character was very interesting. From being a kid and being horrible to all the other kids when they were staying with the terrible man and taking Jamal to sing for him — I wasn’t 100 % if he was going to let Jamal get blinded because he seemed pretty set on having a “successful” life. When he slung the acid at the man’s face I had hope for him but then he let go of Latika’s hand and my heart broke

- I hate how everyone was laughing at the host’s jokes like he’s really not that funny guys 

- PAPER PLANES

- while that songs an absolute banger there were some really tender moments between Jamal and Salim like where they were on top of the train with their hands linked

- and suddenly they’re old ! wacky shit

- it’s crazy how shoes hold so much currency

- “how did she die?” “a road traffic accident. maximum pileup.” “I thought she died in childbirth” “exactly, sir. she was on the way to hospital when it happened”

- doesnt feel great that Jamal saying “this is the real India” after getting beaten up by a police officer was very likely written by a white British person

- LOCH BIG BEN. NEXT TO SEAN CONNERY’S FLAT. I love him

- as I always seem to be, I was disappointed that they defaulted to Jamal and Latika being in a romantic relationship. Hayao Miyazaki said “I’ve become skeptical of the unwritten rule that just because a boy and girl appear in the same feature, a romance must ensue. Rather, I want to portray a slightly different relationship, one where the two mutually inspire each other to live - if I’m able to, then perhaps I’ll be closer to portraying a true expression of love.” I feel that this is astonishingly relevant to this film, and I wish they’d taken a bit more care and put more thought into Jamal and latika’s relationship because this fits far better with them than a romance, I think

- it was extremely stressful trying to get into the host’s psyche of whether or not he genuinely wanted to help Jamal in the cricket question. It quickly became clear he didn’t 

- the first time I watched this, I watched it with my dad. It was also his first time watching. It did, then, surprise me that well before the final quiz scene, he said “i know what the question’s going to be”. I said “what?” And he said “I do, I’m going to write it down and give it to you”. He wrote it on a slip of paper, folded it up and passed it to me, and I put it on the armrest on my side of the sofa. When the film finished, I opened up the slip of paper, and on it was written (it was literally written) “what is the name of the third musketeer? Answer: Aramis”. And when I tell you I lost my mind? I Lost My Mind. When I asked him how he knew it, he said “it was the only thing that had been established that they hadn’t come back to.” My dad, everyone. 

- the dance sequence at the end is great and all, but my absolute favourite part of it is where the youngest versions of Jamal and Latika were dancing together. That absolutely warmed my heart

- this is a good film, and im glad it got the recognition that it did, although it is worth noting that it’s not generally favoured in India, and one of the most well known filmmakers in India described it as  “very anti-Indian”. He said “All the bad elements of Bombay’s commercial cinema are put together and in a very slick way. And it underlines and endorses what the West thinks about us… And at every turn is fabricated. At every turn it is built on falsehood. I was ashamed to see it was being appreciated widely in the west”. It would be extremely dodgy for me, as a person who is not Indian — and even worse, white — to ignore the viewpoints of people who know a lot more than I do and come from the place where the film is set and just go “it’s a great film, so realistic blah”. It received awards in the West and did incredibly well at the Academy Awards, but who votes on that? A lot of white people who have an extremely skewed idea of what realistic portrayals of marginalised groups actually are

[firstactproblems]

Oof. The Golden Globes really just disrespected Michaela Coel like that, hunh?

Especially after everyone was tripping over themselves over PWB’s Fleabag?

[greenhatsinthesky]

“it’s not to do with race”

I think you’ll find it fucking is pal

[rizahawkais]

i never saw i may destroy you but emily in paris getting nominated over it is literally white supremacy in hollywood

[greenhatsinthesky]

this is 100 % correct

I never saw Emily in Paris in full but I may destroy you was a masterpiece of the most epic proportion and Michaela Coel is a visionary. end of

[greenhatsinthesky]

lockdown film no. 36 - The Laundromat (2019) dir. Steven Soderbergh

22/05/2020

- dire 

- I thought this film was going to be good and I don’t think it could have been any more of a let down. One of biggest problems is that this film just doesn’t know what it is — it lurches really awkwardly between different storylines and there’s absolutely no coherence between any of the storylines. Meryl streep does well with what she’s got and I think she’s actually pretty good as someone just trying to figure out why things are the way they are and why she’s been mugged off so much. But overall the whole thing is so disjointed and split  between trying to tell a serious story of what’s going on in this specific case with Meryl Streep, and then this more comedic, fourth-wall-breaking situation with Antonio Banderas and Gary Oldman and the other cases they were involved with. structure who

- I enjoyed the relationship established between Meryl Streep and her husband, they had really nice genuine believable dialogue so it was a shame he died immediately 

- the annoying thing is that this could have worked. I don’t mind fourth wall breaks — the big short was a really good example of how straight up telling the audience what something means, and happily completely abandoning nuance and subtlety can fit with a film thats actually super serious and has a lot of heavy issues going on. When we put this film on, I was hoping it would be something similar to the big short, because the topic is similar, but this was just an incredible mess

- also gary Oldman’s accent in this? Please die in a fire

- she starts in a middle seat and ends up by the window? Come on

- having David schwimmer sat in a bar talking to people who know a lot more than we do was just so boring. Half the storylines could have been scrapped, just give me something to care about please. I don’t care about any of them

- I realised with about half an hour to go that Meryl streep was the woman in the glasses so I guess it was more entertaining this time round to realise who she was straight away

- jesus Christ jUST MAKE ONE FILM. STOP TRYING TO MAKE FIVE FILMS IN ONE IT DOESNT FUCKING WORK

- the music in this was so annoying as well. We had that really smooth drinking-cocktails-in-a-bar-on-the-beach theme when the two guys were explaining stuff to camera an like yea I get they’re meant to be comedic and yet we’re meant to hate them but still

- another one of few saving graces is that Antonio Banderas looks great in a roll neck

- the storyline with Charles (I think his name was?) was a bit confusing because we spent a lot more time with him without any particular reason as to why we should care more about him than the other storylines? Also it was supremely uncomfortable because initially I thought he was being weird with his daughter so the only saving grace was that it wasn’t his daughter and was actually his daughters friend. Which is still awfUL but at least it wasn’t incest

- he needed to get in a bin for so many reasons. Just hated him. Like everyone in that storyline was terrible and I had no reason to empathise with any of them, and not even in a fun way like in the social network where there’s something a bit more interesting going on. Also the acting when Simone hit Astrid was pretty diabolical to be fair

- when Astrid was describing her relationship with Charles I actually felt so sick not even gonna front it

- “The world is just men hiding behind piles of paper” 

- I enjoyed the bit where they talked about the difference between privacy and secrecy

- GRAPHIC BLACK MARKET ORGANS NO THANKS M8

- I didn’t know what was going on with that weird bit with the organs people and the guy who they were asking to divorce his wife and honestly I was too far gone to care at this point but that scene where they put porn on the tv was supremely uncomfortable to watch with my father, thanks

- “everyone sleeps better at night when corruption has been vanquished” ok thats metal and I like it

- having a recorder in the filing cabinet felt very hustle, and just reminded me how good hustle was and that I should be watching it instead of this

- it was strange for Meryl Streep to break the fourth wall. I didn’t like that. it would have worked if she’d been having some kind of internal monologue before this point but ohhhhh the inconsistencies

- it was a welcome break to see Barack Obama 

- the ending was… y’know, the bit where it ended. It was really annoying because films like these normally make me feel stuff, but this didn’t make me feel anything. I can imagine the bit when they realised they could have Meryl Streep as the statue of liberty right at the end because in theory thats electric but it fucking wasn’t

- it feels like they came to making this film thinking “this is a really important thing that happened and we should make a film about it” but if you can't make a good film about it then thats just a terrible way to approach it. if, first and foremost, the piece of art that you're making doesn't fulfil its function as a piece of art then it doesn't matter if it “makes a statement” or “makes us consider ourselves and the world” like if I don't care about the film without the external factors then you done fucked up. 

- how long the takes are is one of the only bits that I find impressive because that looked stressful to do

- when it cut to credits I was like “… that it?” 

- don’t bother with this honestly its diabolical

[queer-eyes-full-hearts-cant-lose]

Some of my favorite Letterboxd reviews for THELMA & LOUISE

[greenhatsinthesky]

lockdown film no. 35 - Thelma & Louise (1991) dir. Ridley Scott

15/05/2020

This was my first time seeing this film — I’d never seen it before, didn’t know what happened even though apparently everyone knows the end, all I knew was that it was a sort of buddy movie and it won best picture in ’91. I was very excited and good god I was not disappointed

- “you a little young to be smoking? it lowers your sex drive” *lights up*

- the premise of this feels a little like American honey. Terrible home life for one of the main characters and she just runs away 

- I literally always forget how fit Susan Sarandon is. Who gave her the right

- the south scares the absolute shit out of me. however, I would love to go dancing in a country bar as long as I wasn’t hate crimed

- the scene with thelma and Harlan was well done in the sense that I felt physically sick watching it. Also I was glad that it didn’t get to the point where he actually raped her, and we got small details like him kicking her feet wider because that added to a real horrible sense of dread and we know that he would have done it if Louise hadn’t come in with the gun. 

- “I’m in deep shit, Jimmy, Deep Shit, Arkansas.”

- I love the fact that thelma just had her entire suitcase with her while she was sunbathing. Also appreciated the details in that scene like her scuffed feet and the bruises on her knees because it was super consistent with what we’d seen so far. And I don’t like it when things are shiny especially in stuff like this

- good god brad Pitt is so sexy in this

- can’t cope with the guy doing curls when their car was getting filled up

- “How come you never told me about what happened to you in Texas?!” TRAUMA BABIE

- a really big part of me wants to be brad Pitt’s character in this. I want to be a polite cowboy who helps women realise they deserve more than they think they do. Maybe not the mass shoplifting and stealing vast amounts of money from said women, but

- geena Davis and brad Pitt’s chemistry was… impeccable. They acted the scenes they had together so well and even their sex scene was almost endearing because when jd was kissing down thelma’s stomach she said “wait” and he did and he rested his chin on her and they just looked at each for a bit before launching into that whole bit and even something as small as that made the whole thing feel like the both of them were really into what was going on

- when we realised that jd had taken their money it was one of the more heartbreaking moments in the film, cos he seemed legit. It was quite funny actually, when that reveal happened my mum said “it’s bad that he took all their money, but at least he gave thelma a good time. And that’s important”. We ended up having an unexpected but nice discussion on the importance of women’s pleasure

- watching thelma rob the store was easily one of the most entertaining things, and it was ace to see her character develop over the course of the film

- “there’s no such thing as justifiable robbery” “where’d you get this?” “stole it”

- i loved how thelma just said “ok” when Louise said that she wasn’t talking about Texas. She told her to drop it and she did and just said “it’s ok”. She didn’t apologise for asking because then it puts something on Louise to forgive her 

- the hold up with the police officer was one of the politest things id ever seen and it wasn’t out of either of their characters at this point. Thelma was more confident and probably drunk and basically channelling jd at this point and Louise was the one following her lead so it was an almost complete role reversal from the beginning which I loved

- acab apart from Harvey keitel

- the way that their appearances changed throughout the film was so interesting. At the start Thelma was kind of frothy and buzzy and gradually she became almost hardened by all that had happened but she didn’t lose the essence of her character. Her hair changed and her face seemed to get darker and almost more weathered but not in a way that beat her down, in a way that made her stronger. And louise looked different as well — they both picked up memorabilia on the way so by the end they’re both wearing hats from the people who have hurt them and Louise has the cop’s sunglasses. She changes as well but she also learns from thelma in a way that we wouldn’t have expected her to at the beginning of the film. The final lorry driver scene had this in that they were playing off each other and Louise was remembering how thelma handled the nazi police officer

- the locations were spectacular

- i guess one of the things that this films about is how much people can stand until they can’t stand it anymore. The recurring theme of the god awful truck driver is a really good example of this because the first two times they see him, first they yell at him, then they ignore him because they’re on the run from the law, and then when they meet him again they blow up his truck because it was too much. he’d gone too far every time, it wasn’t like the last time was any worse than the times before, but this time they’d decided they couldn’t let him pass them by

- it was a really nice bit of comedic relief having the guy on the bike and the “oh my god he’s a nazi” police officer

- the car chase in this is one of the better ones id seen. And the shot of all the cars following them from high up? i’m absolutely reeling

- i nearly shit myself when they almost drove right over the edge and then the helicopter came up. 

- oh my god speaking of the hats they blew off both their heads when the helicopter came up and they didn’t put them back on ! In that moment they’re stripped of any of the armour they’ve gathered over the course of what’s happened and it’s just them without any of the other stuff so they’re the most vulnerable we’ve seen them for a while

- when I first saw it I really wasn’t expecting the end and it still hit me a lot second time round. Nearly welled up a bit at the bit where Harvey keitel was running after their car in slow motion

- I was just talking to my mum about this and we both thought it was interesting how the story so easily could have been the sexual assault, and while the story wouldnt go the way that it would if Harlan hadn't almost raped thelma, the story doesn't become the trauma, it’s so much more layered than that

- i love this film. Im really glad it gets clout and im pleased that there can be films directed by men that are about women and that are done really really well. Please watch it

[greenhatsinthesky]

lockdown film no. 34 - The Half of It (2020) dir. Alice Wu

13/05/2020

I enjoyed the stop motion bit at the beginning a Lot. It was a shame they didn’t do more with it throughout the film

- couldn’t take the first band scene seriously because when they were singing Annie’s song all I could think of was being in a football stadium in Sheffield singing the greasy chip butty song (sheff gang rise up)

- don’t know who needs to hear this but if you want a favour from someone do not pull them off a moving bike

- the scene where Ellie dropped all her stuff and aster helped was pretty basic but I did really like how Ellie stood up with the phone glued to her head

- it feels very much like a shakespearean comedy with false identities, which I’m super here for

- (just clocked its Cyrano de Bergerac. At least its better than the shit storm that was Sierra burgess)

- oh the bathroom scene. Dead. Love that. Focus pulling ? Yes please. But the girls ? Get in the bin

- the idea of revising for a date because in reality you have Nothing in common is an absolute nightmare but it’s what Paul would do because he’s like effort = love. I don’t think I agree with that. Obviously you should put effort into your relationships with people but you can’t bludgeon someone into loving you, nor can you bludgeon yourself into loving them. If a person Does Not Love You for whatever reason, it doesn’t matter how much effort you put in. And then that feeds into really toxic stuff of boys not knowing how to take it when someone doesn’t like them and how they’ll then think “I just didn’t try hard enough” and that just leads to stacks and stacks of bludgeoning which is obviously a terrible vibe

- it slightly upsets me how high they play ping pong. technique left the chat

- ellie really was not subtle when she was saying the reasons why someone might theoretically like aster. Come on pal. 

- the scene where Paul made taco sausages for Ellie and her dad was so sweet the way he was standing behind them waiting for their reactions… big golden retriever energy

- “You’re not just a girl”

- “I’m not? Then what are you?”

- CUE EXISTENTIAL CRISIS

- i was getting big carol and Therese in the tunnel vibes when they were driving to aster’s place. Having seventeen playing in the background felt, again, a bit basic

- AWW BABY ELLIE ZOOMING AROUND WHEN ASTER TOOK HER CLOTHES OFF TO GET IN THE WATER

- it was good how when aster got out of the water (presuming she was naked), we went straight in and sat very close with Ellie because aster not wearing clothes isn’t the point of any of this scene, it’s about Ellie and aster and that particular bit was about Ellie and realising the effect that aster has on her. I could waffle for ages about how wlws are conditioned to believe that loving women is predatory and how that has massively affects this scene but I feel like that’s kind of obvious 

- the vending machine bit where Paul kisses Ellie was so awful on so many levels — obviously rank that he kissed her because Ellie didn’t want him to and aster saw, but one thing that really made me sad was how, when Paul said “it’s a sin. You’re going to hell” it was also really upsetting to him because Ellie is his friend and because I guess he equates being gay as someone doing something wrong — it would be as if one of my closest friends did something that didn’t line up with my idea of them, like being racist and beating someone up. that would make me sad so him finding out that Ellie isn't straight made him sad in the same way

- trig’s proposal is literally my worst nightmare. It’s manipulative for starters and I hate the idea of a public proposal, but it’s so hypocritical for him to quote a really nice verse from the bible saying love does not boast and then kind of boasting about the love that he has for aster and using such awful language like “she’ll make me a great wife” doesn’t feel like he understood that verse very well

- i just have to say that asters character did not feel developed at all. We got to the end and I didn’t feel like I was connected to her at all, I know she wasn't really one of the main characters but for the amount of time we spent with her I would have hoped she’d be a bit more rounded as a person

- it was good that Ellie and aster had a kiss, but when I first saw I really didn’t like the way it was done because it made an iffy callback to an earlier scene where paul says that he kissed aster and Ellie was confused because he couldn’t have known that aster wanted him to kiss her. But then in this scene Ellie doesn’t take into consideration what aster wants at all, so it just feels a bit jarring in Ellies character for her to do something like that

- paul running by the train was soft. I liked it

- in conclusion this film is …. fine. I was excited to watch it initially because I’d heard it was a new queer film with a main character who wasn’t white, so I was hyped. I think it is a queer film in the sense that the main character is queer, but her queerness isn’t explored as such, which I think is a shame. It’s definitely good to have platonic relationships at the centre of a story, but I was hoping they’d have more aspects of a queer storyline in this film, so I guess I’m saying it didn’t play out the way I was expecting it to. Having said that, that’s not the films fault 

[greenhatsinthesky]

lockdown film no. 33 - Gladiator (2000) dir. Ridley Scott

13/05/2020

- I saw this film the first time when I was maybe 13? My dad decided that it was time for me to watch this Oscar winning epic, but we had to watch it in two parts because it was so long, and pretty damn violent for squeamish, baby me. Me and Dad managed this all in one, seven years later

- the opening is… really something isn’t it

- (just found out it was filmed in Surrey. Gutted)

- I got shivers right through to my scalp when he made that first speech to his soldiers that ends with “Brothers — what we do in life echoes in eternity.” Genius (there’s a chance it was because my room is the temperature of the arctic but nonetheless it was very moving)

- I had a foley workshop this morning and my tutor was talking about how foley should be subtle, but often the sounds need to be exaggerated so we’re absolutely sure that what we’re hearing is what we’re meant to be hearing. Likely because I came in with that mindset, they went absolutely ham thick on the foley for the opening battle scene

- “Enough of politics. Let us pretend that you are a loving daughter, and I am a loving father” — the fact that this line was said quite gently by Richard Harris’ Caesar Marcus Aurelius makes it so heartbreaking because there is absolutely no pretence that their family’s relationship is outrageously dysfunctional, and that’s not even getting onto the incest

- Joaquin phoenix is great in this. When he’s told he isn’t going to be emperor he’s like a stroppy kid who just wants to make his dad proud of him and now he’s a psychopath. That scene’s fantastic anyway, I love how the statue of caesar is right on commodus’ shoulder the whole way through, and really oppressive after commodus has killed Marcus Aurelius

- also fun fact about that scene — apparently phoenix was so stressed out about shooting it that he fainted right after they cut

- the little *fwoop* when he flipped the sword over was a bit much and then saying “the frost. Sometimes it makes the blade stick” before slicing the other guy felt a bit too bondy for this but you know what ? I respect the swagger

- there was an absolutely ineffable sense of dread and pure terror when the roman army was approaching maximus’ home and his son was running and waving thinking it was him. I hated that bit

- “those giraffes you sold me. They won’t mate. They just walk around eating, and not mating. You sold me… queer giraffes.” Whoever wrote this deserves every Oscar this film won, and I want it framed in my kitchen

- I enjoy the fact that they could have so easily done a training montage gladiator style when Maximus had been bought by proximo. Instead they took time to get a bit more into his character and for us to meet juba and the other gladiators. We didn’t need to see him training as a gladiator, that’s not what we’re here for. This film isn’t about fighting — sure, it’s got some great scenes in the colosseum which are entertaining to watch, and there’s stacks of gratuitous violence, but I feel in this case it’s warranted because you can’t get away from the brutality of the games in this context. The film itself is more about Maximus as a general, a gladiator, a husband, father and person and how he relates to the ever conflicting idea of “Rome” and the permanent violence it seems to require to keep that idea going under the reign of commodus. Maximus was required to kill in the army, but there it felt like it was for a purpose: to protect the idea of Rome and the emperor and the people that he cares—here he is required to kill just because he is required to kill. That would obviously change the dynamic but it says a lot about his character that he doesn’t seem to have any qualms about killing a person he doesn’t know for the entertainment of more people he doesn’t know and will likely never meet

- when Maximus walks through the cage it exactly mirrors the opening scene and him walking by all his soldiers as they salute him as their leader and I really liked that

- “i did not say I knew him, I said he touched me on the shoulder once” — why does this film have so many relatable lines 

- one of my favourite things about this film is essentially nothing to do with the film itself, and it’s how my dad will yell stuff from it at opportune moments. When I was learning to drive and going round corners, he would say “hold the line” like Maximus does in the amphitheatre. once, when we were climbing up a hill and it got a bit steeper near the top and I got a bit more tired and started to slow, he clapped me on the shoulder, pointed up the hill and yelled “STRENGTH AND HONOUR! HOLD THE LINE! STAY WITH ME!” just to encourage me up this hill and I love him so much for it

- absolutely cannot stand the bit in the chariot fight where the archer woman gets fully sliced in half. Couldn’t deal with it in 2013 and can’t deal with it now

- fun fact this film got the thumbs up thumbs down thing the wrong way round. In the scene where maximus’ identity was revealed to commodus, he moves his hand from a neutral position to his thumb pointing upwards, which means that he is sparing maximus. Often the emperor would use this code to signal to the winning gladiator if they should kill the loser. However, apparently thumb down didn’t mean “finish them”, it actually meant “throw down your weapon”, and the thumb pointing upward was meant to symbolise the sword thrusting up into the loser’s body. However this might also might be incorrect, I have not by any means done extensive research

- “it vexes me. I am terribly vexed.” Another classic dad quote

- just ruminating on ancient rome. Legitimately cannot imagine a worse occupation than being a gladiator. I’m sure if I thought about it a bit more I’d think of worse jobs, but right now, this is the one

- they used… real tigers for the scene with Tigris ??? Not happy about that. First of all, how ?

- I love the constant talk of the dream that was Rome, and the constant talk in tandem of the mob and how fickle they are. There is the dream that is Rome and there is the reality of the fickle mob. They obviously can’t coexist but those everyone we meet wants something better, in some way

- I don’t know if phoenix made a conscious decision about his speech but it really fit with what I said before about him being a petulant child because his speech didn't sound completely developed and reminded me of a child’s speech in how he pronounces certain letters. It adds so much to the character because he is a completely abhorrent person who wants to sleep with his sister and have a pure blood heir, have complete control over the roman empire and kill anyone who comes between his dream of what that empire could be under him. But then at the same time he sounds like a kid who’s not getting his own way

- I do not want a snake in my bed

- ‘“Strength and honour,” Maximus said to Juba. The two men smiled and rested their foreheads together.’ I did beam at this bit

- apparently proximo was meant to live in the original version of the film, but Oliver reed died during production, before all his scenes were filmed, so his character had to be killed. The last shot of him is from the back, so we don’t see his face, and a shot from earlier where he says “shadows and dust” is cut in right before he dies. The film was dedicated to reed’s memory

- OH another thing I Loved about commodus was how he had a white horse, and white armour in the final battle with maximus, while maximus has black armour, which is the standard. Because commodus has such an idea of who he is, and in his mind, he is Rome’s saviour, even though he knows full well he doesn’t have any of the qualities of a good emperor. White is typically the colour used to signify that a character is good, and pure, etc. so I really enjoyed the inversion of that to show commodus’ character and the character he wants Rome to see

- this isn’t a film about violence, it’s about a philosophy

- one last thing is that when I rewatch films to write up these things, I often skip parts because I get the gist of what’s going on and I don’t need to watch the whole thing. With this, even though it was 2 hours 35, I watched the whole thing, and I think that says a lot about how good a film it is

[greenhatsinthesky]

Lockdown film no. 32 - Intouchables (2011) dir. Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano

08/05/2020

I’d seen this film a few times before - one very happy memory was watching it with my friend sez after a sleepover when we were about 13 or so, but this viewing was with my parents over a pizza

- the opening is so good because its a situation that doesn’t feel totally alien but its not exactly commonplace, so it’s pretty perfect as a first scene. We meet the main characters, their relationship is established, and we get to have a dance to earth wind and fire as the credits go up. Dream !

- I couldn’t imagine this film going in a completely chronological way and being any good. It’d just be shit

- it was really interesting having the people in the interview talking about how passionate they were about social care and helping disabled people and all that but looked at Phillipe like he was an alien

- obviously we were meant to root for the relationship between Driss and Philippe but it says a lot about Driss that he was the first person to engage in a dialogue with Philippe and have a conversation with him, even if it was an argument about music for part of it

- “my feet are beautifully coiffed” - DEAD

- one of my favourite tropes is someone absolutely refusing to do something (bonus points if their reasoning is no we don’t do that we’re men) and cut to them doing the thing looking really ashamed

- one of my favourite bits was when Driss realised that he could pour boiling water on philippes legs and he didn’t feel it and it was like he’d discovered the best game ever

- driss and Philippe had such good banter and if the actors didn’t have that chemistry the film would have been utter dogshit

- driss’ face when the opera started is something that I want wallpapered in my house

- one thing I really like is how Driss obviously has to accustom to Philippe’s lifestyle, and I don’t mean being his carer or stuff like that, but taking an interest in art and music and the stuff that Philippe is interested in, but does it in his own way. He talks to him during the opera and makes it clear how absurd it is, he paints something like the one they saw in the gallery and then they sell it to philippes friend who we obviously don’t like. And they share interests, one of the best scenes in the whole thing is at Philippe’s birthday where he gets the musicians to play loads of stuff for Driss and they just chat about the vibes they get from it and then Driss puts on earth wind and fire and they just have an ace time its really nice

- the poor woman in the move one seat along bit bless her

- ohhhh the shaving scene !!!

- my dad said that he was watching it once and noticed that when the subtitles say Freddie mercury, driss says Jose bove, so he googled him and found out he was a political activist who smashed up a mcdonalds in the 90s

- the ending is So Satisfying. Its just so nice and heart-warming and the fact that its based on a true story is all the better and they’re still pals !

- I am permanently raging that there's been an English language remake of this with Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart in it. I get generally mad at remakes of films if the principle reason that they're being remade is because they're not English because this is such a good film and it shouldn't be tampered with, it doesn't need to be touched. if people could just get over themselves and just accept the subtitles then everything would be grand and we wouldn't be inundated with so many unnecessary and awful English remakes of excellent foreign language films thank you