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La La Land (2016)
La La Land (2016)
2016 | Comedy, Drama, Musical
Truth be told, I didn’t know what “La La Land” directed by Damien Chazelle; and starring Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, and featuring John Legend would be about. As soon as I was given the opportunity to see it I watched the trailer to prepare and the moment I finished that trailer I knew I needed to see the entire film. Emma Stone plays Mia, an aspiring actress just trying to make it in the world. While Ryan Gosling Plays Sebastian, a jazz musician who aspires to open his own club and keep jazz alive.

After running into each other multiple time the two fall in love but as their dreams take them in different paths, they fight to stay together. While the story could be considered a love story, it is so much more. The film is captivating through its combination of wardrobe and scenery. The choreography is impeccable and the music stunning. The opening scene really sets up the quality of the film and gets the viewer excited for the other musical numbers, which are equally just as stunning.
I was hesitant when I first saw Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling in a musical, but they did phenomenal. The chemistry and humor on the screen is endearing and captivating, it pulled me into the story of Mia and Sebastian and made me wonder what was going to happen next.

Back to the music, the songs fit the characters and the story so well. They are woven into the scenes making them important to the story line. Also just in case I have not made myself clear already, the music is amazing. The score composed by Justin Hurwitz is a piece of art, and I know I will be buying the soundtrack. Watching this film made me think back to watching Gene Kelly, Ginger Rodgers, and Fred Astaire sing and dance in films. Quite honestly I have not seen this quality of musical film yet, and “La La Land” excites me with the idea of more films being made of this quality. I know I’ll be seeing this film again once it hit’s theatres!
  
When Polly Met Olly
When Polly Met Olly
Zoe May | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I've seen this book on Goodreads quite often with friends rating and reviewing it so when I saw it on Netgalley as a "Read Now" and with me looking for good chick-lit writers that I'm going to buy again and again, I thought I'd give this a try.

So we meet Polly--a British ex-pat--who is being interviewed for a job at a successful dating agency. It turns out that Polly isn't so good at the dating thing in real life though, as shown in these quotes:

"Didn't you send him a peach and aubergine emoji with a question mark and a winky face when you were drunk?"
"What about that guy you called Mike for four dates then it turned out his name was Matt."

She gets the job and, quite quickly, she's asked to check out a rival firm who is stealing some of their clients. So Polly goes to the other firm as a possible client and meets Olly, the owner. They seem to have an instant connection, a spark, but Olly turns a little cold and clinical towards the end of her interview. They meet by accident a few more times as Polly explores the area surrounding her new office. We don't see him all that often in the book until near the end, to be honest. She's too busy trying to find the perfect partner and setting up dates for her clients.

As the books name suggests, they do end up together but not before hitting a few bumps along the way. It's on a really slow burn and does come a little out of left field when they finally admit they have feelings for each other but after that, the happiness they feel when they're together was really cute.

I loved the camaraderie between Polly and her friend Gabe, he teases her terribly at times but I had to smile. And her friendship with her boss, too, was pretty cool. They made quite a good team at the whole dating agency thing.

I think this was quite enjoyable and will look out for further releases to see if they're as cute as this one was.
  
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019)
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019)
2019 | Drama
What ar*ehole doesn't like pinapple?
El Camino is an impressive gritty follow up to breaking bad that finally gives fans the closure they've been longing for. Now I liked Breaking Bad (id give it a solid 8/10) but its not something ive ever desired to watch again so when I saw El Camino on Netflix I wasn't that desperate to see it but thank goodness I did because it surpasses the show in every way. Starting off where the show ends yet it feels immediately aparent this movie has a different tone/style to it. Its way more gritty, grainy looking, atmospheric and overall feels much more raw and dark. Theres such an over powering sadness too and as we follow Jesse we see just how traumatised and broken he's become from past events and its hard to not feel really emotionally attached, drained, exhausted for him. Playing out as a kind of character progression movie we follow Jesse as he struggles to survive on his own scared and with nothing but a car. Its his progress and changing as a person that keeps the film incredibly engaging and as we whiteness him mature, grown, learn and adapt in this harsh world we see he becomes stronger and while he might hate Heisenberg he almost has to become and learn from him to be stronger as a person and to ensure his survival. Arron Paul is stunning especialy when Jesse is pushed past his breaking point really nailing a great character change from pathetic insignificant bug into a dangerous calculating intimidating danger. What also makes Jesse great is he still knows where he came from and hes always thankful/appreciative and never forgets what he lost or the people that have helped him and inspired him. Cinematography is simply stunning as is camera work and the chill inducing soundtrack really helps make some really tense scenes too. Highly recomended and with a great thought provoking ending that proves trauma/sadness never really leave us once weve experienced it. El Camino is a very pleasant surprise especially for a netflix movie.
  
Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019)
Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019)
2019 | Adventure, Family
The last crusade
Dora And The Explorer And The Lost City Of Gold maybe this years biggest shocker. A mix of Tomb Raider & Indiana Jones this one really does hit you right in the nostalgia gland. After not knowing anything about this character what so ever I was seriously expecting to walk out this movie shortly after it began, so imagine my surprise when just 15 minutes in I found myself not only highly entertained but actually full on laughing constantly at all the jokes too. Ok so Im not really sure who this movie is aimed at to be honest as theres not much in here that will apeal to young kids bar the strange inclusion of two horribly animated cgi characters (which I feel didn't fit at all with the look of the film & ruined the overall visual style of the movie). Dora the movie is also so self aware & full of strange adult humour/jokes that seemingly mock its own source material too which found hilarious. This along with how the overall tone was handled made such a fun & fresh aproach for a kids film that made it exciting & enjoyable to watch. Visually its beautiful with such vibrancy & vastness that sets feel alive/exciting to explore. They really captured the sense of adventure & discovery here & although most of the film is just a re-skin of Indiana jones and the last crusade it never felt stale or any less thrilling bringing back the same feelings I had while watching those films way back when I first saw them in my youth. Cast wise everyone one does a smashing job at over acting which only adds to the tone & humour with Michael Pena owning every scene he's in with his energy alone. Miles better than the last Tomb Raider & Indy films & filled with such randomness, strangeness, 4th wall breaking & fun Dora is a film recent Disney movies could learn a thing or to from, its genuinely hilarious, has great production values, a decent sense of threat, positive messages about leaving your comfort zone & a smart self awareness making it a really enjoyable watch. Oh & that Danny Trejo cameo 😂
  
Primal (2019)
Primal (2019)
2019 | Action, Adventure
When will I learn? Do not watch big star films you've never heard of before I see them on DVD.

A big game hunter ends up transporting his catch on a ship with a team of military personnel that are transporting an assassin back to the US under the radar. All it takes is one wrong step for the ship to be filled with danger as everyone is being stalked by killers, both animal and human.

I nearly lobbed this DVD out my window after the first scene with the CGI kitty cat, it was truly abysmal. Thankfully at some point I stopped noticing fairly quickly.

Kevin Durand plays our assassin-in-transit and he's always a pretty good bet for a bad guy. Even in this he has a great presence. Next we have Famke Janssen, I couldn't honestly tell you how long it's been since I saw her in something. This wasn't a great character though, and apart from one or two scenes I had forgotten she was even in this film when I scrolled through the cast list. It's not entirely to do with the acting, which did feel a little lacklustre, the character didn't have a lot of punch and wasn't what you know she's capable of.

There's no denying that this is below my usual Cage favourites. It's pretty low on the Cage Rage ranking, but it's still a Nicolas Cage film and as with shark films that means there's an automatic pass. It would have to do something horrendous for me to outright hate it.

There's logic of some description in Primal but it's still a distinctly average film. I can forgive the bad CGI, but a poor script and average production quality across the board mean I'm regretting paying actual money for it. The idea for the story feels like someone used a story generator to get different plot points, even so, there was potential in it but I was rather sad it wasn't a better experience.

Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/08/primal-movie-review.html