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Sunday Rundown – That’s What She Read

books, films, rundown
Sunday Rundown

What have you been reading this week?

It’s been another slow week, which is mostly due to the weather. I’m not built for this kind of heat and it’s really put me off reading. I have read a bit more than I did last week but it’s nothing to shout about. I’m very much aware that I’m getting to the end of July and I still have a few letters to cross off my reading challenge. I’ll get there. It will just require all of my attention. A real shame considering that I’ve got a lot to do today. Weekends need to be longer.

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Tuesday Review – Black Widow (2021)

reviews

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

It’s been a long road getting to this Black Widow film. The character first appeared in the MCU way back in 2010 and has been sidelined ever since. Then the news finally hit that she was getting her chance in the spotlight. Of course, it wasn’t smooth sailing and Covid put the release date back by over a year. It’s fair to say that Natasha deserved a better deal but at least she’s finally the star of the show. Yes, it’s 4 years after Wonder Woman debuted and we’ve met Captain Marvel already. The fact is, Black Widow is here and we’ve got a lot to celebrate. For one thing, Scarlett Johansson is playing a character with an appropriate ethnic background. But this has always looked like a genuinely good film. The cast looked awesome ad there was plenty of potential to get to know the character from a different point of view.

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Tuesday Review – Cruella (2021)

films, reviews

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

I’m yet to be convinced by Disney’s plan to remake all of its animated film as live-action. At best, they can be described as fine. At worst, they’re pointless. The best by far is The Jungle Book because it was only slightly concerned with the original film. I guess Maleficent worked pretty well but I wonder how much that had to do with Angelina Jolie rather than the actual film. So, I wasn’t exactly hyped when it was announced that Cruella DeVil, first seen in 1961’s One Hundred and One Dalmatians, was getting an origin story. Or that she was going to be played by Emma Stone. Don’t get me wrong, I love Emma Stone but she’s no Glenn Close. The 1996 remake did many things wrong but casting Close as the villain was a genius stroke. I didn’t see how Stone would be able to compete and that was before I heard her dodgy accent.

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Sunday Rundown – That’s What She Read

books, rundown
Sunday Rundown

What have you been reading this week?

It’s been a fairly uneventful week. My reading started off pretty strong but quickly petered out towards the end of the week. I have quite a bit to get through today if I want to get my Monday review finished in time. Still, I’m pretty happy about the books that I’ve managed to read in June so far. I normally intend to read Pride books and then never get round to them. This year, I’ve actually stuck to my TBR. Is this a sign that things are changing? Doubtful but it’s a good step.

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Tuesday Review – Luca (2021)

films, reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

My last Tuesday blog ended with me saying that I needed to stop watching random animated movies and start watching real films again. Of course, when I said real films what I meant was grown-up films. It’s not that I think animated films aren’t real. So, I guess it could be considered something of a failure that I’m back this week with another animated feature but I think this one’s okay. After all, the latest Pixar release is a far cry from the random stuff that keeps popping up on Netflix these days. I’ve always been a big Pixar fan, so I knew that I had to check this one out as soon as possible.

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Sunday Rundown – That’s What She Read

books, films, rundown
Sunday Rundown

What have you been reading this week?

I booked an extra days holiday on Tuesday, so I’ve only worked a 3 day week this week. It’s been such a nice change of pace. It also helps that I’ve got a week off from the 14th June. That means I have 5 working days to get through before I’m ready to relax. It’s been ages since I had a proper holiday, so I need this. I’ll finally get some proper reading done. Of course, I won’t actually do that but it’s a nice idea.

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TBT Review – The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)

films, reviews, TBT

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Just like my last TBT film review, this film has found a new lease of life in recent years. There’s something about the internet generation and supposedly underdog films. I never watched this when it was released because I was pretty beyond my Disney phase in 2001. I mean, yes, I still loved the classics of my childhood but would I actively go and see the new releases? Hell no! I was a super mature 13-year-old at that point. I wouldn’t be seen dead at a Disney film. Well, maybe I’d ironically go and watch Monsters Inc with my friend for someone’s birthday and pretend that I didn’t secretly love it. But The Emperor’s New Groove was released during that era of Disney when I wasn’t watching any animated films from the studio. So, why not finally watch it?

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Sunday Rundown – That’s What She Read

books, films, rundown
Sunday Rundown

What have you been reading this week?

I went to take some photos yesterday and couldn’t find one of my latest reads. It’s not the first time that it’s happened but I’m normally able to find it after a bit of rearranging. I could not find this book anywhere. So, I decided to start organising my books. Starting with collecting ones that I could get rid of. I admit that I’m a bit of hoarder when it comes to books. Even if I don’t like a book or am unlikely to reread it, I’ll hang onto it for all my life. I have books from university that I still own for no reason. I’ve always lived in a house full of books and it just feel natural to keep them. But I was ruthless and managed to get the first box full of stuff I didn’t need. Here’s hoping I can keep this momentum going and get my madness down to a less chaotic level. Oh, and I did find the book eventually. It was inside a little pouch that I’d recently bought along with my Kindle. Past Laura really isn’t really my favourite person right now.

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TBT Review – Moana (2016)

film, reviews, TBT

Rating: 4 out of 5.

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been listening to the soundtrack of this film non-stop. I don’t know why I started listening to it. Especially considering that I’d never seen the film until this week. It was recommended to me on YouTube, which potentially shows you how much Disney I’ve been listening to lately. I guess it makes me feel better about how awful the world it right now. After months of ignoring it, I couldn’t resist the lure of the Rock singing a Lin-Manuel Miranda song anymore. Turns out, the soundtrack is absolutely amazing. It was only fair that I actually watch the whole film. At least I knew that if the story was bad that I’d have the songs to fall back on.

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Tuesday Review – Artemis Fowl (2020)

films, reviews

Rating: 1 out of 5.

When I review the first book in the Artemis Fowl series, I mentioned that wanted to read it before watching the film. It’s always tricky when it comes to book adaptations that you care about. Especially when you care about it for nostalgic reasons. You obviously want to it be as good as possible, but you also know that there will have to be changes. You can’t get everything into a film version without the runtime being uncomfortably long. Which is why I don’t normally reread books just before I watch a film. Otherwise, you’re too close to it to be objective. But with Artemis Fowl, it had been too long since I’d read the series for me to be happy to watch it. I needed to refamiliarise myself a little more first. But would it be my undoing? I was already going in with low expectations thanks to the criticism the film garnered. Would my recent reread cause even more problems? I had to find out.

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