based on real life

Film Review – The One And Only Ivan (2020)

films, reviews

Rating: 3 out of 5.

When I read Katherine Applegate’s book The One and Only Ivan last week, I didn’t know it has been adapted into a film. So, it seemed like the perfect choice for my film review this week. It’s an annoyingly common theme within the bookish community that the book always has to be better. That no film adaptation can ever be as good as the written word. I’ve already written a post about how wrong this idea is, so I don’t judge a film until I’ve seen it. Meaning I had to see if this lived up to the book.

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Book Review – The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

books, reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I haven’t had much time for reading this weekend, so my first review of this week is going to be a small one. This was another audiobook that I borrowed from the library. It sounded really cute and I love an anthropomorphic animal tale. Even if it is based on an awful true story. I guess it reminds me of the books I read as a child. There were so many books about animals having crazy adventures. This seemed like a good chance to recapture my childhood as I went about a dull day at work.

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Film Review – Operation Mincemeat (2021)

films, reviews

Rating: 3 out of 5.

There’s such an overwhelming sense of patriotism hitting the UK these days. And not the good kind. The very unhelpful kind. It feels like every time something happens, people on the right are bringing up the blitz spirit. When we were in the midst of the pandemic, Tory MPs and their supporters proudly announced that people didn’t hide away in WW2. What they failed to mention is that that’s exactly what they did during air raids. There’s nothing like the overconfidence of a rich guy talking about a war that ended before they were born.

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Film Review – Nomadland (2020)

films, reviews

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I’m still pretty far behind on recent Oscar winning films. I barely watched anything during the various lockdowns as I much preferred something lighter and sillier during that period. Thankfully they’re all becoming widely available now, which makes catching up really easy. The other day I remembered that this was on Disney+ and decided it finally was time to watch it. Yes, I’m extremely late to the party but let’s not worry about that too much. What matters is that I’m watching it at all.

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Film Review – Spencer (2021)

films, reviews

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Did you hear about the drama at the Oscars? Yes, I know. Kristen Stewart dared to wear shorts! I swear the only stories not about the thing were about her shorts. To be fair, they were short shorts but I still fail to see why it was such big news. Oscars fashion is always kind of questionable and compared to many people Stewart looked normal. I think she looked phenomenal. What I didn’t know is whether her nomination was worth it. Was she as good as everyone says or did she just happen to be playing a beloved figure?

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Film Review – The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)

films, reviews

Rating: 3 out of 5.

So, last night’s Oscars ceremony was pretty memorable, right? It’s a shame that Chris Rock’s bad and offensive joke is the thing that people will remember more than anything. I know most people are focusing on Will Smith’s reaction, and it’s not something I’m dismissing. However, the conversation should really be about why that joke was even made in the first place. You might think I’m a little oversensitive as a fellow alopecia sufferer but that doesn’t make Rock’s joke any less misogynistic, disrespectful and totally unnecessary. Why bring her into it? Why make a joke about an illness that she can’t do anything about? Fuck, Chris Rock.

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Film Review – The Courier (2020)

films, reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Thanks to my birthday this weekend, I didn’t have a lot of time to watch a film for my review. So, I ended up doing what I always used to do. Going to whichever streaming service I saw first and finding the shortest film that didn’t sound awful. I figured this based on a true story film would be just the thing. Intense enough to keep me interested but not too long to be too complicated. The fact that this also contained Benedict Cumberbatch’s face was just an added bonus.

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Tuesday Review – Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (2021)

films, reviews

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

I like to think that I’m a musical theatre geek but, the truth is, I don’t actually watch a lot of musical theatre. I’m not just talking about during the Pandemic but in general. I know the classics but there are so many modern examples that I know very little about. Aside from Hamilton, I’ve not kept up with contemporary musicals. Add that to the fact that I’d not watched the BBC3 documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16 and you can see that I wasn’t really rushing to watch the film adaptation of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. But, I also think it should be celebrated for putting drag culture further into the public domain and, you know, Richard E Grant is everything. So, I settled down this weekend to watch it.

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Book Review – The Mystery of Love by Andrew Meehan

books, reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I’d started reading The Mystery of Love in February for LGBTQ+ history month. Although, I didn’t really get very far. I just wasn’t in the mood for it and I had plenty of other books to finish first. So, I decided that Pride month was the perfect time to finish it. I ended up listening to the audiobook on my lunchbreaks so it took a few days to actually get to the end but I managed it just in time for the end of June. I actually think getting the audiobook made a big difference to how easy this was to read. Whether it was the narrator, the book or both, The Mystery of Love was the perfect thing to listen to.

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Book Review – The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes

books, reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

After finishing Mr Wilder & Me, I was hoping to start reading Jonathan Coe’s Brexit novel Middle England. However, I knew that if I did that, I would never finish it in time for today’s review. Instead, I went to my Audible library to find a quick read that I’d been putting off. I guess the melding of fact and fiction in Mr Wilder & Me made a bit of an impact on me because I went with this Julian Barnes book. I don’t know as much as I should about classical music and I don’t know as much as I’d like about Russian history. I did know enough about the Stalin’s Russia to have been excited about this one. Could I have done with knowing more about Shostakovich before I went in? Possibly but, then again, wouldn’t I find out everything I needed to know?

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