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Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated The Upside (2019) in Movies
Jun 22, 2019 (Updated Sep 25, 2019)
After a bit of a bleak start to January I was looking forward to something with a little humour and The Upside did not disappoint.
Kevin Hart is always one of those actors that strikes me as an acquired taste. I enjoy lots of his roles but they do have a tendency to grate a little. Dell made a wonderful change though, it really suited him. This is probably the most serious role I've seen him in and I'm hoping that this is going to lead to more things along this line.
The other actors make good work of their parts. Kidman's role is rather small and a little predictable but entertaining nevertheless. I'd be hard pushed to tell you what I've ever seen Cranston in apart from Malcolm In The Middle, I can't say I was as impressed with him as I was Hart but he made for a good partner in crime.
There's one thing that confused me though was the very opening of the film. The first scene shows you events from further down the timeline but there doesn't seem to be any reason for it. I've been contemplating possibilities, potentially to show that the main character of the film isn't just Dell, but that becomes evident on it's own. I'm really shrugging my shoulders about its inclusion, it's quickly forgotten and doesn't really have any impact there and probably detracted from its inclusion later on.
The Upside is a remake of the French film Untouchable (original title Intouchables) which in turn was inspired by the real life story of Philippe Pozzo di Borgo and Abdel Sellou. It's a charming story, delightfully amusing, and quite incredible to discover is inspired by true events. It certainly gives you something to stop and think about, and the fact that there are stories out there like this does give you back a little faith in humanity.
What you should do
It's well worth a watch, I think I'm even going to say that the money on a cinema ticket would not feel like a waste.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
A collection of sports cars would be quite nice, and the money to keep myself insured on them!
Kevin Hart is always one of those actors that strikes me as an acquired taste. I enjoy lots of his roles but they do have a tendency to grate a little. Dell made a wonderful change though, it really suited him. This is probably the most serious role I've seen him in and I'm hoping that this is going to lead to more things along this line.
The other actors make good work of their parts. Kidman's role is rather small and a little predictable but entertaining nevertheless. I'd be hard pushed to tell you what I've ever seen Cranston in apart from Malcolm In The Middle, I can't say I was as impressed with him as I was Hart but he made for a good partner in crime.
There's one thing that confused me though was the very opening of the film. The first scene shows you events from further down the timeline but there doesn't seem to be any reason for it. I've been contemplating possibilities, potentially to show that the main character of the film isn't just Dell, but that becomes evident on it's own. I'm really shrugging my shoulders about its inclusion, it's quickly forgotten and doesn't really have any impact there and probably detracted from its inclusion later on.
The Upside is a remake of the French film Untouchable (original title Intouchables) which in turn was inspired by the real life story of Philippe Pozzo di Borgo and Abdel Sellou. It's a charming story, delightfully amusing, and quite incredible to discover is inspired by true events. It certainly gives you something to stop and think about, and the fact that there are stories out there like this does give you back a little faith in humanity.
What you should do
It's well worth a watch, I think I'm even going to say that the money on a cinema ticket would not feel like a waste.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
A collection of sports cars would be quite nice, and the money to keep myself insured on them!
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Colette (2018) in Movies
Jul 2, 2019
Directed by Wash Westmoreland, “Colette” is a biographical drama based on Colette, the French novelist. This is a film that is truly worth watching at least once in a lifetime.
Movie goers may start off with an impression that this film will only attempt to lavish them with grandiosity and a dash of drama that may or may not really be all that thrilling. A pleasant surprise – it goes much deeper than visual decadence and a bit of tear jerking.
Keira Knightley’s performance as Gabrielle Colette is one that shares with audiences a riveting evolution of a repressed young woman and her transformation into a controversial force to be reckoned with in a rapidly transforming entertainment industry.
Knightley’s performance is perhaps her best yet, with captivating depictions of raw human emotion in all its complexities.
Dominic West plays the role of Henry Gauthier-Villars, Colette’s husband. Gauthier-Villars is portrayed as an opportunist who puts greed before the value of others. He employs ghost writers to make him fortunes while he engages in debauchery. His life is filled with great possessions, parties, and beautiful women.
The intertwining of his path with Colette’s demonstrates the ways that a woman can be ravaged by love, giving everything they are only to find out it may never be enough.
Themes of gender and sexuality play a strong role in this story. Denise Gough is captivating in her role as Colette’s lady lover, Mathilde de Morny. In a time when women could not even wear pants, these characters began to write new rules by rejecting the repression of high society.
‘Colette’ shows us that our journeys are never so simple. A person who may seem close to destruction or repressed domestication has the ability to rise like a phoenix above the ashes, into something new and more ravishing than before.
The film has a magical feel with cinematography that puts the viewer right in the moment. It draws the audience in with subtle detail and continues to develop into a real experience of a complex and winding story.
Movie goers may start off with an impression that this film will only attempt to lavish them with grandiosity and a dash of drama that may or may not really be all that thrilling. A pleasant surprise – it goes much deeper than visual decadence and a bit of tear jerking.
Keira Knightley’s performance as Gabrielle Colette is one that shares with audiences a riveting evolution of a repressed young woman and her transformation into a controversial force to be reckoned with in a rapidly transforming entertainment industry.
Knightley’s performance is perhaps her best yet, with captivating depictions of raw human emotion in all its complexities.
Dominic West plays the role of Henry Gauthier-Villars, Colette’s husband. Gauthier-Villars is portrayed as an opportunist who puts greed before the value of others. He employs ghost writers to make him fortunes while he engages in debauchery. His life is filled with great possessions, parties, and beautiful women.
The intertwining of his path with Colette’s demonstrates the ways that a woman can be ravaged by love, giving everything they are only to find out it may never be enough.
Themes of gender and sexuality play a strong role in this story. Denise Gough is captivating in her role as Colette’s lady lover, Mathilde de Morny. In a time when women could not even wear pants, these characters began to write new rules by rejecting the repression of high society.
‘Colette’ shows us that our journeys are never so simple. A person who may seem close to destruction or repressed domestication has the ability to rise like a phoenix above the ashes, into something new and more ravishing than before.
The film has a magical feel with cinematography that puts the viewer right in the moment. It draws the audience in with subtle detail and continues to develop into a real experience of a complex and winding story.
ClareR (5879 KP) rated The End of the Ocean in Books
Nov 6, 2019
The End of the Ocean by Maja Lunde is Climate Fiction (Cli-Fi) at its best and most stark. At its best, because everything that happens feels as though they are the reasonable consequences of what we are predicted now; most stark, because this is truly a terrible version of the future.
In the present day(2019), 69 year old environmental activist Signe discovers that her home town, and in particular her ex-boyfriend, is responsible for cutting up and shipping off ice from their glacier to sell to the rich, so that they can have glacial ice in their expensive cocktails. She decides to sabotage the shipment, and steals some of it - or what she can carry in her boat. She sails her ship through a terrible storm with the intention of taking it to the person responsible.
In 2041, David and his daughter Lou, arrive at a refugee camp after escaping from war and fire in their French home. There is little water and food, but David is hopeful that his wife and infant son (who they’ve been separated from) will be there or arrive soon.
The two stories are linked when David and Lou find Signe’s boat in the garden of one of the abandoned houses.
This is such a powerful book. It takes current scientific research and arrives at the extreme end of its prediction: drought, famine and war. I had to read it in short chunks, because I found the story so moving and intensely depressing, to be honest. It doesn’t feel exaggerated: I didn’t read it thinking “Well that would NEVER happen”. It’s all too plausible, in fact. I really liked how the two stories ran parallel to one another and joined up in the latter half of the book, with the boat as some sort of symbol of hope.
It’s not all depressing though. There is an element of hope, and we see the enduring strength of the human spirit. I have The History of Bees on my bookshelf, which I will read now - and I’ll definitely look out for the third in this quartet of books.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK for my copy of this book.
In the present day(2019), 69 year old environmental activist Signe discovers that her home town, and in particular her ex-boyfriend, is responsible for cutting up and shipping off ice from their glacier to sell to the rich, so that they can have glacial ice in their expensive cocktails. She decides to sabotage the shipment, and steals some of it - or what she can carry in her boat. She sails her ship through a terrible storm with the intention of taking it to the person responsible.
In 2041, David and his daughter Lou, arrive at a refugee camp after escaping from war and fire in their French home. There is little water and food, but David is hopeful that his wife and infant son (who they’ve been separated from) will be there or arrive soon.
The two stories are linked when David and Lou find Signe’s boat in the garden of one of the abandoned houses.
This is such a powerful book. It takes current scientific research and arrives at the extreme end of its prediction: drought, famine and war. I had to read it in short chunks, because I found the story so moving and intensely depressing, to be honest. It doesn’t feel exaggerated: I didn’t read it thinking “Well that would NEVER happen”. It’s all too plausible, in fact. I really liked how the two stories ran parallel to one another and joined up in the latter half of the book, with the boat as some sort of symbol of hope.
It’s not all depressing though. There is an element of hope, and we see the enduring strength of the human spirit. I have The History of Bees on my bookshelf, which I will read now - and I’ll definitely look out for the third in this quartet of books.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK for my copy of this book.
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