alternika-40657 Reviews

A Quiet Passion (2016)

😴

[5/10 · 3 October 2021]

💤 I respect the desire to stick to historicity but I did find it far too dull. Without narrative a biopic may as well be a reenactment. The passion of the title took 50 mins to arrive. The performances are lovely; costumes and setting also lovely. Cinematography quite flat and amateurish. I adore Cynthia Nixon but felt her usual spark and sass are missing: here she is a silly twit.

Finding Joy (2018– )

Happy and quirky

[7/10 · 4 August 2021]

Sweet, bubbly and dark. I enjoy these light off kilter British comedies with unusual original characters and strange setups.

The Morning Show: The Interview (2019) Season 1, Episode 10

One of the best episodes of the golden age of television

[9/10 · 1 August 2021]

This episode is a gut punch and has stayed with me ever since the first time I watched it. This episode is the reason why I've rewatched this series several times.

7500 (2019)

Underrated gem

[8/10 · 22 April 2021]

How did this earn below a 7 on IMDb? This is a slow burning, intense and realistic film with a few stellar performances, particularly by JGL.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)

Excellent performances, but drags on

[6/10 · 28 December 2020]

Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman steal every scene they're in with two stellar performances. However the lengthy dialogue scenes amongst the band mates dragged and I found myself fighting the temptation to fast forward to the next Ma Rainey scene. It's worthy of award attention but not something I'd want to sit through again.

The Most Hated Woman in America (2017)

Missed opportunity #2

[6/10 · 22 December 2020]

Casting is excellent, acting great. Wigs = wtf. Melissa Leo deserves a nomination; she's fantastic. The story is fantastic. But for some reason the plot doesn't work, the pacing doesn't work, the editing doesn't work. It's like the producers and writers did their jobs; but the director was either hamfisted or incompetent. What a missed opportunity. I could see this as an I Tonya companion; what a bizarre quirky tale to tell, lost to poor organisation and vision.

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)

Missed potential

[5/10 · 3 July 2020]

It's not a good sign when the first thing you want to do when you start watching this fIlm is Google the age difference between Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams. I was surprised to see it was only just over a decade: his performance is so underwhelming and her's so en pointe that he makes it seem like twice that. If Ferrell could have avoided the ego trip and cast someone else; and the dumb faux Icelandic stereotypes avoided, this might have avoided a straight-to-Netflix demise. I'm sad. Really sad.

Top End Wedding (2019)

Genre true romantic comedy with cultural relevance

[7/10 · 3 July 2020]

The story may be cliche but the cultural setting is, thanks to the indifference of dominant white culture in Australia, new. It's also lovingly authentic; Tiwi culture is lovingly embraced and explored. Plus I love that the Tiwi Sistagirls had a role in this film!