MysteryGuest77 Reviews

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023)

They don't make 'em like this anymore

[8/10 · 20 May 2023]

I took my 15 year old daughter to see this today and what a sweetly innocent treat it is. A movie about a girl who's not quite sure of herself yet, who doesn't have all the answers, that doesn't say wise things beyond her years, who doesn't know better than her parents. A true representation of what it means to be a pre-pubescent.

A movie with no mobile phones! Or swearing, or angry hateful words, that isn't preachy, and just wants to revel in the joy and innocence of being that age.

Great performances from all involved and a great 70's soundtrack obviously.

We could do with a lot more of these sorts of films. My daughter loved it too.

Derry Girls: The Reunion (2022) Season 3, Episode 5

A spin off beckons

[10/10 · 16 May 2022]

I absolutely loved this episode. Admittedly, this has been a weaker season so far, still good though. But this one was excellent. Taking the focus off the girls and making it about the parents teenage lives instead was actually brilliant. The editing of the dance sequence was so well done and the younger versions really did look like the adults. If Channel 4 have any sense, they'll immediately cast those youngsters in a spin-off TV show. I don't understand why British shows have such short seasons. This one deserves to keep going for a bit longer.

Killing Eve: Hello, Losers (2022) Season 4, Episode 8

Frustrating

[5/10 · 20 April 2022]

This show bugs me. And the logic of the very last scene makes no sense. It even makes no sense in the context of the previous episode. So we start with Eve having completed her task and feeling lost. She goes to see the psychiatrist where it's revealed that Eve's meaning of life has been lost. She's stepped so far past the line that she can't go back. Illustrated by the scene where she see's the metaphorical ghosts of her ex-husband and friends in the karaoke scene. The psychiatrist tells her to seek out the people who know her soul. So naturally she gravitates back towards Villanelle. The source of the destruction and tragedy and excitement and adventure in her life. The scene in the camper van demonstrates how twisted this is by having Eve and Villanelle remember Bill. Bill, Eve's best friend and murdered by Villanelle on a Berlin nightclub dance floor. Villanelle is almost Eve's last chance at happiness, at redemption, at somehow making sense of everything that she's lost. But Villanelle is a psychopath. Her feelings towards Eve are the most redeeming part of her, the only thing that makes her human at all. This coupling is doomed for disaster. This can't end like Clarice and Hannibal going off together in Thomas Harris's novel. I was sort of hoping that it might end a little like Thelma & Louise or like Butch & Sundance. But no. Morals take the high ground and Villanelle has to die. But where does this leave Eve? And this is where the last scene gets it so wrong. The showrunners talk about Eve bursting out of the water like a rebirth... What a load of cobblers. Eve emerges from that water having lost everything. She is essentially Brad Pitt at the end of Seven. There is no rebirth for her, no future, no hope... and then the huge words "The End" fill the screen like this is so dramatic and poetic. Well it isn't. It sucks. This is not how we wanted either character to go out because this season really really disappointed but then this episode finally gave us what we wanted. They were together and kissing and laughing. But we knew it couldn't last. I think we accepted that. But the way they did it just blows. I guess I should've seen this disappointment coming as soon as they thought it was a good idea to dress Jodie Comer up as Jesus.

Rocks (2019)

Irritating

[6/10 · 11 April 2021]

I understand that I am not the target audience for this film but I do wonder who is. It reminded me of Ken Loach's style of naturalistic film-making. It's well made and well acted. It certainly represents people on screen who we don't see very much of and in that respect I think it's important. But I wish there had been a more satisfying conclusion. We spend so much time following the plight of Rocks and Emmanuel but in the end they're separated and that's kind of it. It just sort of ends but it feels like the story hasn't ended. It's deeply frustrating. You don't really know the character's futures. Does Rocks ever reconnect with her brother? Do the social workers ever find a foster home that will take them both? Or does Rocks just let him go? And what happened to the mother? Does she ever come back?

I think it's important and essential in some ways to make a movie like this but to not really resolve any of the problems is just irritating.

Killing Eve: Smell Ya Later (2019) Season 2, Episode 5

They just screwed it up

[3/10 · 22 April 2020]

That just went completely wrong. I'm coming to this show late. So I'm bingeing it on lockdown at the moment. I had a real problem with the tone of the first season, they seemed to get it just about right up until episode 4 and then it went off the rails and now the same thing in this season! Okay, as I understand it, the big attraction of this show is the two leads eventually sharing some screen time and it being electric. Like Dr. Lecter and Agent Starling or Luther and the Ruth Wilson character. So this episode finally brings them together and screws it right up. Everything on the periphery of this show is not interesting. The Mark Zuckerberg type who hired the Ghost. The Fiona Shaw character. The Konstantin guy. The other agents. All fairly one dimensional. I don't care but I want to see the sparks fly when Eve and Villanelle meet again. Villanelle knocks on the door and just breezes in. Okay. Eve takes some random pills, trusting that Villanelle will save her. Nice. Then Villanelle winds her up. Funny. Okay. With you so far. But then Eve says she needs help and Villanelle says you'll do anything I want. It looks like they might kiss... But then it cuts to outside and they get in a car together. What? Did they just have sex? And as the car goes by Fiona Shaw and Konstantin are watching them. Okay, whatever. But then suddenly they're in the Forest of Dean and it's daylight? What?? So they've just been in a car on a 3 or 4 hour journey and we don't get to see any of it? What did they talk about??? This is the entire point of the show. Their relationship. And then Villanelle interrogates the Ghost??? Eve doesn't go in and watch?? Why not? And then Villanelle extracts the information we assume using no obvious violence. And the Ghost just says "Monster". What just happened? And then Villanelle just leaves and is in Oxford talking to Nico. What??? It's so badly staged. That meeting should be absolutely fuelled with tension and it really really isn't. What the hell? The writer and director completely dropped the ball here. This should have been magic. Witty, tense, clever, sexy. Instead it was a mess.

Literally, Right Before Aaron (2017)

I liked it

[6/10 · 25 January 2018]

As far as indie lo-budget rom coms go it's pretty good. Justin Long is supremely watchable. Loads of great awkward moments. There's enough chemistry between the leads to make their past relationship seem plausible. It's not the best movie ever made but I was entertained.