Change Your Image
bendwbl
Reviews
For Love & Honey (2024)
The wrong sister was in the romance
Complaint about writing, not acting. The leading lady (character, not performer) was unpleasant, entitled, willfully ignorant, and cavalier about cultural artifacts. She did everything short of tearing apart a 400-year-old census that belonged to the library, just because a guy didn't want a bee sting.
Her little sister was smarter, more thoughtful, and much nicer to be around. The older one treated her little sister like a pest. She treated the foreigner like a pest. She treated her neighbors like pests.
The romance was between the guy and the wrong sister.
Again, my complaint was about the writing, not the acting.
Good Grief (2023)
Harkens back to Eric Rohmer
If you're seeking action and adventure, this is not for you. If you're seeking high drama and theatrics, this is not for you.
This is a quiet, contemplative film about feeling, thinking and responding when your life has collapsed under you. Twice.
For me, it was reminiscent of an old set of French films by Erich Rohmer: a thoughtful work about people sorting through their lives and relationships (new and old; friend and lover; living and dead) in beautiful places. All with a soft musical background.
Sometimes you want a movie that gives you adrenaline or catharsis. Sometimes you need a movie with closure or tragedy or a happy ending. Those are all good. This is for when you need to sit with your feelings and think.
Squid Game: The Challenge (2023)
Hilarious!
A group of (mostly) nice people who enjoyed the original series are chosen to play a non lethal version. Since nobody is really going to die, they're able to have some fun with it. To simulate death, they have ink-filled caps sewn into their clothes, and they slump over, sometimes half in stitches.
Of course, as in any isolated game like this, the rest of the world evaporates, making activities and social interactions subject to heightened emotions and more drama than adults should create. This turns into a series of odd self-unaware behavior and hypocrisy as small groups become increasingly angry at the existence of other small groups. "Look at that clique! Unlike ours!"
Some eliminations are heartbreaking. Others are...extremely satisfying.
A Very Merry Mix-Up (2013)
Warm
This movie is ridiculous, contrived...and lovely. The wrong family is warm and welcoming.
The real fiancé is not a bad man: He loves her in his own, real way, but it's not her way. The dastardly deed he commits is something he truly believes is good for her, if only she would see. Fortunately, she figures it out before she inevitably turns into his creepy mother. He's still down-to-earth just enough (maybe) to be saved from turning into his creepy father.
The new guy is better for her. He loves her in his own, real way, too, and it coincides with her way. They will turn into his parents, and the world will be better for it.
I enjoy spending time with these people.
Emily in Paris (2020)
She's...how old???
While watching the first season, I assumed Emily was a 22-year-old who was in the process of making her dumb mistakes before growing up. Why else would she think that a bunch of duck face selfies were an interesting Instagram account? Why else would she fail to ask when to show up for her first day? Why else would she assume that a couple of sessions on Rosetta Stone would make her fluent in French? Why else would she fail to come clean with Camille about the kiss as soon as she found out her two new friends were dating each other?
She's so unserious about learning French that she flunks the beginners' class and has to repeat it. She continually lies by omission to her friend while worrying about being found out.
In the middle of Season 2, she celebrates her birthday. Her 29th birthday. My opinion of her plummeted. Her behavior is barely tolerable from a 24-year-old. Barely. SHE'S 28?????
Camille was right. This is a sociopath.
The Wonder Years (2021)
I like these people
Nice group of characters to spend time with. No furious or clueless parents. No bratty kids. No screaming. The show is warm. Everyone in the family likes each other. Their friends are lovely people.
This is the kind of series I need.
Meet Me at Christmas (2020)
Was I supposed to hate Joan?
Huh. I usually like these more. Some parts were refreshing, like the fact that it focused on people over the age of 45, with the kids being the secondary couple. The flashbacks to their initial day together were fun and sweet. Also, it wouldn't be a Hallmark movie without some of the old tropes, in this case, each side hearing half of the story and jumping to conclusions.
My biggest problem was Joan. I normally like Catherine Bell, but I have trouble figuring out what her acting choices were, because she mostly came off as having a very bad day through the whole story. I spent much of the time feeling sorry for Beau, who was too smitten to see how utterly miserable she was to be around. The audience should not be yelling for someone in the main couple to "RUN!" unless he or she is still with the unsuitable-current-one-who-is-about-to-get-dumped.
Not my favorite.