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Reviews
One Day (2024)
Excellent but be prepared
One of the absolute best shows I've ever seen, but it absolutely wreaked me. It stays with you long after you've finished it. Really makes you think. I also hope this mini series's wins lots of awards. It should. The fact you can't stop thinking about it and cry days afterwards is a testimony to the material, but also the actors portrayals. Even the supporting actors were well cast and amazing.
I don't know how many people who watched understood that when Dex was recalling their times together in his mind in the last episode, in the very last scene where he turned back around and came back to Em and started kissing her passionately - that never happened. That's what he WISHED he had done looking back, now that in present day he knew she was indeed the great love of his life. Then he would have never wasted all those many years apart when they could have been spent together with Em. That's what this show is about. Wasted time. Missed, precious opportunities. So sad. Very heart wrenching.
I wish people would stop talking about the actress not being pretty enough for the part (their opinion). She was definitely pretty enough, but the emphasis was on how she stood out to Dex being the person she was, whom he found to be very deep and honest and passionate about things that mattered to her. He just adored her as a person and this is what fueled their many year best friendship. If she was a stunner, their relationship would have been no different from all the other women Dex was with romantically. Em was different. That was the point, so physically she also looked different, meaning not a stunner, though definitely pretty in her own right. (And she was meant to look physically awkward in her younger years, and grew into her beauty more as the years went by.)
I agree with other reviewers about really missing pivotal scenes that were never shown...when Dex and Em finally consummated their relationship (which we had no idea based upon how each behaved after Dex arrived back in Paris for a visit until he grabbed at her once in her apartment and started kissing her), when they got married, etc. Although discussed, I really wanted to see these scenes play out.
I also watched the preview for the 2011 movie I keep reading about, but the dialogue between the actors seems very rushed, compared to this version so I don't think I'd enjoy watching it.
I've read the series follows the novel so I'll definitely give that a read.
So definitely give it a watch, prepare to binge (it's really hard to stop once you start watching), and after episode 12 get many boxes of tissues ready and prepare to have your heart just pulled out of you as you watch things unfold in the most heart wrenching, saddest way possible. Like is full of ups and downs, happiness and sadness, love and loss and time lost and grief, then the start of healing. Well worth the watch.
Life Itself (2018)
Wow! So Intense! So Beautiful!
If you scroll through the public's reviews, they aptly sum up this film and the emotional journey you're about to embark on. It's intense, powerful, and beautiful - all woven together, just like life itself (no pun intended), with all its ups and downs, twists and turns. I was riveted from the beginning, yet there were a few times I felt like I emotionally just couldn't keep watching. Not much to add beyond what's already been written by others, beyond this film will stick with you long after the credits roll. Warning to get the tissue box ready and don't watch if you're not in a good headspace, cuz it's quite the emotional ride.
Yesterday (2019)
Loved!
I loved this movie. Really liked the cast/characters in the movie. Great script. Of course, amazingly wonderful music.
Always Be My Maybe (2019)
Netflix Did It Right! Really Funny Enjoyable Movie!
If you're looking for a funny, light hearted movie, this is definitely a good one to catch. I was never bored once. Crazy Rich Asians? Didn't get the hoop la. That one just couldn't hold my attention, but Always Be My Maybe certainly did! The characters were all well written. The actors were believable and did a great job. There is even a VERY unexpected and quite hilarious "cameo" one would never expect. (I won't spoil the surprise for you!) The movie was already cute, funny and quite enjoyable, but this great cameo really threw it over into an even higher level of enjoyment! So if you enjoy a light hearted, well written and performed romantic comedy, you should catch this one. I'm reading some negative reviews based on the format being predictable. Well, we all know what typically happens ("The Formula") in romantic comedies. Nonetheless, if the story is well written and the actors performances are solid (as in this case), it can still make for a very good movie. Please make more like this Netflix! This was a really a good one! So good I've already watched it twice in one week and laughed even more and harder the second time around.
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
10 for Entertainment - 6 for Authenticity
Loved the movie, but then looked up what was factual and what wasn't, and learned much of what was depicted in the movie never happened. I found this really surprising because two members of Queen were involved in making the movie, so I'm surmising perhaps they needed to agree to altering/making up events in order to get this movie made. I realize movies need to move along and there are also time constraints in telling a story, but (although not billed as a documentary) I'd have much preferred a more accurate (rather than made up) version of many events of Freddie's life.
Love Rami's performance! Big, big fan. So enjoy him on Mr. Robot. He absolutely knocked it out of the park with this performance. Other cast members were all excellent as well. It really felt like one was actually watching Queen on the screen, rather than actors. That's how believable they were! Immensely entertaining script although, again, I just wish they had told true, factually accurate stories rather than making several up.
Can't believe how they recreated both the Live Aid venue, as well as the performance to a T. That was really mind blowing, but really wish they had included all the songs Queen performed at Live Aid. Believe me, no one in the theatre would have complained about the length of the movie if they had.
Audience clapped at the end to show their appreciation. It was pretty awesome, but then disappointing to then learn so many events depicted in the movie either never happened or happened in a completely different way...
STOP READING HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW SOME EVENTS THAT NEVER HAPPENED OR HAPPENED IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WAY.
Freddie was already living with the guys in the band before he became a member. He didn't meet them for the first time after a performance in a club.
Freddie didn't meet Mary the night he met the band.
The character of Mike Meyers never existed. Thus, the entire very amusing scene depicted in his office with the band never happened.
Freddie never quit the band. The band mutually decided to take a break and then mutually decided shortly thereafter to resume recording and touring.
Freddie did not reveal to the band his AIDS status shortly after getting back together, just prior to the LIVE AID concert. He disclosed it later on.
The band actually toured for a few months prior to LIVE AID, while in the movie it was depicted as LIVE AID was to be their very first performance together again as a group and they were concerned about how their performance would be since they had supposedly JUST gotten back together and felt they might be rusty.
Freddie didn't meet his eventual male companion the way it was depicted in the movie.
Freddie was bi-sexual and had encounters with other women besides Mary, though the film dipicted Mary as the only female he had ever had a sexual relationship with.
The film chose not to give a realistic portrayal as to the extent of drug/alcohol/sex fueled life Freddie led - though that part didn't really bother me at all.
These are just a few instances of made up scenarios that never happened as dipicted in the movie as having occurred. It seems it would have been very easy to more accurately tell Freddie's story and still retain the entertainment element.