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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)

7.0 (11 Ratings) Rate It

Movie

A writer forms an unexpected bond with the residents of Guernsey Island in the aftermath of World...

Baby Driver (2017)

Baby Driver (2017)

8.2 (159 Ratings) Rate It

Movie Watch

A talented, young getaway driver known as Baby works for a crime boss, helping criminals escape from...

The Dig (2021)

The Dig (2021)

7.7 (3 Ratings) Rate It

Movie

Period drama, based on a novel, which is based on true events. As the second world war approaches, a...

The Pursuit Of Love

The Pursuit Of Love

(0 Ratings) Rate It

TV Show

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)

6.8 (17 Ratings) Rate It

Movie Watch

Five sisters in 19th century England must cope with the pressures to marry while protecting...

and 3 other items
     
Lily James (0 more)
  
Lily James, Amanda Seyfried (0 more)
All the guys (0 more)
Not the best male vocalists
I really like a good number of the songs. Some even better than the original versions. The only things that could have made it better was if the had found male actors that could carry a tune. Lily James and Amanda Seyfried more than make up for their shortcomings though. Overall a good listen.
  
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! (2018)
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! (2018)
2018 | Comedy, Musical
ABBA music and Lily James did well (0 more)
Very clunky (0 more)
Wouldn’t watch again
Contains spoilers, click to show
I should start by saying I watched the first film every day for a fortnight, such is my love for it. I was really disappointed by this version. Lily James did well taking in the role of young Donna but the story was so disjointed. For example, Sophie is sick once and knows she is pregnant? I also feel Cher’s role was unnecessary, she’s never been on the scene for Donna or Sophie then she turns up, decides to be grandma and is immediately accepted, just so she can sing a couple of numbers?

Good choice of ABBA dogs, not the most expected ones.
  
Yesterday (2019)
Yesterday (2019)
2019 | Comedy, Fantasy, Music
All of the Beatles songs... I am of a certain age. (2 more)
Lily James - simply gorgeous
A joyous fantasy.
Not "bad" per se... but doesn't feel like a Danny Boyle film. #linear (0 more)
He loves it, yeah, yeah, yeah.
A joyous fantasy film - I just loved it from beginning to end. The full review is on One Mann's Movies here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2019/06/21/one-manns-movies-film-review-yesterday-2019/
  
Yesterday (2019)
Yesterday (2019)
2019 | Comedy, Fantasy, Music
Charming (2 more)
Cinematography
Hamish Patel and Lily James
Script (3 more)
Lack of Premise Progression
Stale Use of Songs
Overshadowed, Bland Romance
A Beatle Bummer
In a ambitious musical fantasy shows Jack, played by Hamish Patel as a struggling musician looking to find a break in his career. With the help of his manager Ellie, played by Lily James, believes in his dream to stick by his side throughout the struggles. Jack gets hit by the bus and the world seems to have forgotten one of the most popular bands of all time: The Beatles. And now only Jack knows and tries to revive their catalogue for the world to hear again.

It is a pretty charming film throughout, and it really had a lot of strong performances to carry it's premise. Hamish Patel and Lily James have good chemistry, and there is a sense of history between them, as they have been good friends all of their lives, but never tried to put themselves in the next step. Lily James is the one who tries to pursue into that more, while Hamish is focused on himself and the music. Truthfully, there isn't a whole lot of depth besides that history. We are relied on this to carry the romance which is a huge factor of the movie. So much that it distracts everything else and both characters act irrational instead of acting like normal human beings and having a conversation.

It's a sharp film to look at. The lighting, production design, cinematography is wonderful. It has the Danny Boyle stamp on there, especially an obvious slanted shot in the beginning of the film. Even the score has trinkets of The Beatles layered throughout.

The script needed rewrites...there are many ways that this premise could've been successful, but after the film was over, it proved me wrong...this premise is troubling in many ways. There isn't a good way to progress this kind of story and I wanted the film to pursue the story from a fantasy perspective. Especially with something like Rocketman where the songs become part of its whole story. Every Beatles song after another sound so trite and it's because they lack the flavor of what they are genuinely about. It rushes through each one and uses a LOT of songs that it becomes a headache after a while. I think Hamish has a great voice for it, but I couldn't stand how the songs were treated throughout this movie. Especially with it's terrible third act where it becomes a huge, convenient mess for everyone. The script was simply bad.

I would wait for it if interested. Seeing it in a theater might give an impression for its great filmmaking, but a very hollow experience in my opinion.
  
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)
2018 | Drama, History, Romance
6
7.0 (11 Ratings)
Movie Rating
A little dull and lacking
I didn’t particularly think much of the book for this, it was a little too sickly sweet. The film however appears to ignore most of the sickly sweet fluffiness and at least embraces the serious side of the story about the war. However that doesn’t mean it’s any better. Instead it comes across as rather dull and the plot itself is entirely predictable. It has a great cast, with Lily James, Michiel Huisman and Matthew Goode notably standing out, so at least they make it watchable. It’s just a shame that the story has had most of the detail and heart taken out of it - it seems like a very long film yet isn’t particularly detailed. Another one to add to the ‘read the book instead’ pile.
  
The Dig (2021)
The Dig (2021)
2021 | Drama, History
8
7.7 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Acting from Fiennes and Mulligan - top notch (1 more)
Cinematography is gorgeous
Why make it so "man heavy" when history was otherwise? (1 more)
Found the asynchronous editing irritating
Archaeology with no fedora required
It’s 1939, and as World War 2 approaches, widower Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) hires rough and ready excavator Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) to dig into one of the ancient earth mounds on her property at the site that will become famous as Sutton Hoo in Suffolk. Requesting the help of her cousin Rory Lomax (Johnny Flynn) to photograph the effort, the site slowly gives up its Anglo-Saxon treasures attracting the attention of first the Ipswich museum and then the pompous Charles Phillips (Ken Stott) of the British Museum. A battle is on for both the control of the site and the resting place for the treasures found.

Against this backdrop there is a critical illness emerging, a son (Archie Barnes) and his attachment to the father figure of Brown and a potential romance between Rory and archaeologist Peggy Piggott, trapped in a loveless marriage.

Talent:
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Johnny Flynn, Lily James, Archie Barnes, Ken Stott, Monica Donlan.

Directed by: Simon Stone.

Written by: Moira Buffini (from the novel by John Preston).

Bullet points of my thoughts:

+ Superb acting by Mulligan and Fiennes – Oscar noms for both?
+ Young Archie Barnes impresses as the son Robert
+ Cinematography by Mike Eley shows the open Suffolk skies at their best
+ Based on fact, a fascinating historical record of the real excitement of uncovering the past
o The script deftly melds the archeology with the love story subplot: but was the latter really necessary?
– Curious “man heavy” script, replacing some of the historical female characters with men and making Peggy Piggott (Lily James) a bit of a klutz
– Asynchronous editing decision I found to be distracting and unnecessary.


For my full review, please see the video at https://youtu.be/m8Ad8B8dkSY .
  
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! (2018)
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! (2018)
2018 | Comedy, Musical
The actors are still the same from the previous film (apart from the ones from the flash backs) (1 more)
They still stick to Abbas songs
They made a few things that didn’t match the first film (0 more)
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!
Contains spoilers, click to show
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again is a sequel that takes place when Dona dies and Sophie decides to re-open the hotel in her moms memory while she finds out she’s pregnant in the meanwhile. It also has flash blacks on Donas life since she graduated until she got pregnant with Sophie.

It’s fun. It’s emotional. And it definitely has the Mamma Mia vibes.
Apart from the things that don’t match the first film (for example the order that Dona met Harry, Bill and Sam isn’t correct) I really enjoyed the film and it definitely makes me dance to it.
It also has really good new actors, for example Lily James as young Dona and Cher as Sophie’s grandmother.
  
Baby Driver (2017)
Baby Driver (2017)
2017 | Action, Comedy
Well, that was an … interesting … film

I've seen movies before where the songs were specifically written for that movie, and were used to propel the plot along (aka musicals).

I've seen movies before where the songs were 'dropped into' the story, but could almost just as easily have been left out with no real loss to the narrative.

This falls somewhere between those 2 extremes, with the titular Baby a reluctant get-away driver (paying off an old debt) who suffers from tinnitus, and spends the majority of the movie with his headphones in listening to music from his various ipods to drown out that constant ringing.

Somewhat cliched in parts - one last job, indeed! - with an eclectic mix of music, I found the romance between Baby and Lily James waitress Debora to be somewhat unbelievable, with the film - at the very start - almost going full-on musical (too much so for my sake), as Baby dances and weaves his way through crowds to collect coffee after the first expertly-choreographed car chase.