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Reviews
Mean Girls (2024)
A whole lot better than I expected
This movie is not for everyone. It is a musical version of the original updated to better reflect the social media era. The songs are good, acting is mostly decent and there enough fidelity to the original without reading everything. This could have been very bad and I was a bit worried about this movie undermining the original but if you like musicals and teen drama, you can't go past this. This is a very specific sub-genre of course but the low ratings here are really from people who don't like musicals or don't realise that chessy plot lines and exaggerated acting come with the territory. Fun and silly overall.
Jury Duty (2023)
Touching, funny but morally problematic
Jury Duty is a brilliant concept with acting that is quite unbelievable and includes real moments that are not actually acting at all. It's a funny series with some lovely human moments. Unfortunately the whole is underpinned by lies, deception and a dangerous messing with one man's conception of reality. The Truman Show Delusion is a serious type of psychosis and this show has manufactured this delusion in a way that could have harmful and lasting impacts on one lovely man. The show concludes with a very moving big reveal but most will feel uneasy about how they got there. Ronald deserves $100k no doubt but he also needs ongoing support and payment for a commercial deconstruction of his sense of what is real and what is not.
Frasier (2023)
Disappointing and unfunny
Starting off with the nephew and son was awful - the nephew could have been a lovely blend of Niles and Daphne but was just a rip off of Sheldon. Jokes just don't land and plot is a bit ridiculous. I wish I could get through at least the first episode to see if it gets better but the show is so unwatchable. As someone who enjoyed the original series, I feel this has tainted everything. It would have been better to just imagine what happened to everyone - not destroy the characters and opt for slow drama or slapstick ridiculousness. Even the jokes about academia which seem pretty easy to make just fail to land. Original fans will hate it, new viewers will find it tedious.
Glass Onion (2022)
Brilliant movie, different genre to first one
Everyone comparing Glass Onion to the Knives Out original have totally missed the point. They are very different movies - just with the same detective. I wouldn't even call this a mystery movie, it's a thriller and the mystery elements there are not meant to be hard to solve or formulaic - this is meant to be ridiculous and on an epic scale. I loved the first movie but it's ridiculous to compare the two. I prefer movies to be under 2hrs so watched this in 3 parts but longer movies are super common now and it was good to watch at home on Netflix. The brief mentions of COVID lockdown without labouring it, will mean this movie should hold up for years.
Lion (2016)
Such an important and beautiful story
I watched Lion again to share it with my partner and I cried again. This is an important and largely true story that is incredibly moving. The storytelling is exceptional and scenes in India and Australia are so well crafted. Dev Patel is likeable and talented but it is the child main character of Saroo who steals the show. The older brother character Mantosh also plays an important counterbalance. I started looking into the real Saroo Brierley and hope he continues to share his story to help support orphans and prevent child slavery. This movie will hold up for many years and something I will no doubt watch again.
Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin (2022)
Barely watchable
They took a fun franchise and chose the most unlikeable character for a spinoff -what could go wrong? There are a few redeeming qualities but there are not even any good a capella performances. Still, for some reason I kept watching -maybe because of nostalgia for the movies as well as liking Sarah Hyland. Shooting in Berlin is also great but it's weird having almost everything in English. Lera Abova is excellent as the DJ sister and it was nice seeing her smile come thru without totalling softening her as a character. Gisela as the villain is a bit ridiculous but still provides some interest.
Heartbreak High (2022)
Absolutely brilliant
Heartbreak High is a brilliant Australian show. I loved the original series and it remakes are always a risk but they have done an incredible job. Many of the references and slang might confuse foreign audiences but it would still be very watchable and engaging. The acting is excellent and avoids the common cringe factor we get with high school settings. Some may see this as derivative of Sex Education but the original vastly predates this other great series. There is careful effort to ensure queer representation but not contrived. Second season starts a bit slow and hard to piece together after over a year off but then becomes very likable again.