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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated One to Watch in Books

Nov 12, 2020  
One to Watch
One to Watch
Kate Stayman-London | 2020 | Humor & Comedy, Romance
8
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
With more than half a million Instagram followers and a popular blog, Bea Schumacher has a great life. But she doesn't have love--she's still pining after her best friend, who broke her heart. Bea also loves the reality romance juggernaut, Main Squeeze, where men vie for the affections of a beautiful women. When Bea's critique of Main Squeeze goes viral--why doesn't the show feature any diversity of size in its cast--the show comes to her. They want Bea to be the next star. Bea agrees, but she's adamant: she won't fall in love. This is just for her career. But once on set, Bea realizes this might not be as easy as she thinks.

"Life isn’t often a fairy tale, even on a show that aims to create one.”

I've never seen "The Bachelor" (Main Squeeze's equivalent) before in my life, but I found this book fascinating. (Probably more enjoyable than the actual show, ha.) It's frothy and entertaining but also tackles serious topics like body issues and racism. Once on the show, Bea meets a host of men: some truly awful, some quite lovely. It's quite the ride to watch her have her choice of eligible and handsome men.

I found Bea a little frustrating in her absolute unwillingness to open up, leading her to wallow in self-pity and a complete inability to even consider love. But, she had her reasons. The body positivity in the book was excellent and frequent. Bea is fearful of opening up and revealing herself and her body after being hurt. But she's also a successful and strong businesswoman (and now a celebrity!). The book draws you in to the episodes of Main Squeeze--it's honestly quite addictive. It sprinkles in excepts from Twitter, chats, publications, and more to tell the story--a very effective format. And there's true humor, romance, and heartbreak involved as well.

Overall, this was probably 3.75 stars for me--bumping up due to its strong coverage of serious and important topics. Oh and for Bea's stepdad! I loved him so much. Worth a read, for sure.
  
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LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) in Movies

Sep 20, 2020 (Updated Nov 29, 2020)  
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
2008 | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
8
7.7 (16 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Every so often I think something along the lines of: "There's no way this literal-as-possible, mostly one-note, kind of cringe, and honestly really derivative Oscar bait should work". And that's true, I do have my reservations about this - mainly, the choice to make the titular character this, like Bagger Vance-esque sage wanderer who only speaks in 'wise narrator' tropes (starts every other sentence with "we", seemingly omniscient even though there's no reason for him to be, etc.) and emotes on only one or two levels restricts a lot of the emotional palpability here imo. But Fincher and Pitt sell the absolute *hell* out of it - this looks and sounds all kinds of incredible, and thankfully never goes overboard with the period elements (they're used just right, a rarity with these types of films). Pitt is flat-out exceptional, and so is Blanchett - and oddly enough the makeup effects look less convincing when Pitt's supposed to be a 50-something year old man as opposed to an elderly child lmao, but they still look superb. I can't even act like I'm being objective to a point anymore, the cry porn just inexplicably works hardcore for me here - had a lump in my throat practically the entire runtime (which, by the way, flows together each vignette flawlessly and doesn't sag for a second). For the (minor) gripes listed above I think it works best when you look at it as a classical epic fairy tail as opposed to the human drama it could have perhaps succeeded even more in; and if there's any nuance at all I would say it's the way this works as a treatise towards appreciating 'the good times' while you're actually still in them ("I wanna remember us just as we are now") and the way it shows how we slowly become more and more desensitized towards death, even as we come closer to our own. As full of magnetic imagery and waterworks moments as this is I honestly can't act like I didn't adore it, but I fully understand why so many people are averse to it.