romantic comedy

Film Review – Shotgun Wedding (2022)

films, reviews

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

I was honestly planning on watching something decent this week. Maybe even something especially for awards season. It was all meant to be so good and easy. Then I woke up feeling like death and I couldn’t bring myself to watch a film longer than 90 minutes long. Thankfully, there’d been a film I’d been eyeing up for a while that I knew wouldn’t be too long or too taxing. A film that appeared on the side of every bus that drove past my work for the first part of 2023. I never expected it to be any good but I certainly thought it would be fun. Or, at the very least, a distraction from the sorry state I was in. Watching Jennifer Lopez running around and shooting people wearing a wedding dress? It sounded exactly what I was looking for.

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Film Review – I Believe in Santa (2022)

films, reviews

Rating: 0.5 out of 5.

I absolutely promise that I had planned to watch something sensible this week. At least, as sensible as a Christmas film is ever likely to get. Then I discovered that Netflix had released a film called I Believe in Santa about a grown man who still believes in Father Christmas. How could I not watch that? It sounded so stupid. Even more ridiculous than any of their previous festive offerings. Could this possibly be a new low for the streaming service or would it end up being the best thing they’d ever done? I suspected it would be the former but I had to find out for myself.

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Film Review – Your Christmas or Mine? (2022)

films, reviews

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Am I going mad or are there two different films with this exact premise this year? Either that or the main actors in this film are so utterly generic that every time I see the trailer I forget that I’ve already seen it. It’s not as if I ever expected this to be one of the greatest Christmas films ever. After all, the trailer makes it pretty obvious what’s going to happen. In fact, the premise alone makes it pretty obvious what’s going to happen. Both halves of a young couple end up at their partner’s house for Christmas. Hilarity ensues. Even if I was pretty convinced that hilarity would be the last thing on the menu. The least I could hope for would be an easy watch that didn’t require much attention.

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Film Review – Falling For Christmas (2022)

films, reviews

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

It’s December, which means things are about to get a lot more Christmassy around here. Obviously, most of the streaming services have already been pushing their festive content since the 1st of November but I like to put it off for as long as possible. There’s only so much that I can take. In the past, I’ve attempted to watch one Christmas film every day in advent. I really don’t think I could do that to myself this year. There’s so much happening. Instead, I’ll just review one every week of the month. Seems manageable. And what better place to start than Netflix. The platform has long been giving Hallmark a run for its money with their paint by numbers approach to holiday films. One year, I dare them to do something unique. Until then, we’ve got the same old story but with new faces.

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Film Review – Marry Me (2022)

films, reviews

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Hollywood is a strange place when it comes to beauty standards. This isn’t news but every so often a film will come along that pushes me to the brink. Like when I Feel Pretty tried to convince us that Amy Schumer was fat. Or how they keep casting the phenomenally beautiful Kate Winslet in the dowdy role. Not jut Kate Winslet. Hollywood is so obsessed with only casting beautiful people that they often have to stretch reality for the sake of the story. Take Marry Me. One of the major plot points of the film is that Jennifer Lopez marrying the age-appropriate and handsome Owen Wilson is considered a sign of madness.

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Book Review – Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding

books, reviews

Rating: 2 out of 5.

I loved the film adaptation of Bridget Jones’s Diary when I was a teenager. I don’t know why but I asked for a copy of it for Christmas one year. It’s not as if I’d seen it at the cinema or watched it anywhere else. I guess I just figured it was the kind of thing girls my age watched. In the end, I watched tht VHS over and over again. Yet, I never had any desire to pick up the book. I’ve just never read romantic comedies that often. I’m happy to watch but them never read them. As I’d bought the anniversary edition of this book last year, I decided I finally had to read it. As last month was the month of romance, it seemed like a good time.

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Tuesday Review – Palm Springs (2020)

films, reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

After Groundhog Day, I always wondered why people tried to keep making comedy time loop films. Once you’ve found something so perfect what do you expect to add? It’s always the same thing anyway. We see people experience grisly deaths, drink, take wild risks, and fill the time as best they can. It’s not like there’s been an awful lot of originality. That doesn’t seem to stop anyone trying to do something new. Last year, Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti starred in the latest attempt and, in another great example of unoriginality, it centres around a wedding. I knew that the reviews for this had been good but, I have to admit, I wasn’t exactly overjoyed by that concept. Still, Samberg is a great performer. He may not have written this but I had to believe that he wouldn’t sign on to do any old shit.

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Book Review – All My Friends are Superheroes by Andrew Kaufman

books, reviews

Rating: 5 out of 5.

One of the positive side effects of taking part in my friend’s virtual book club is that I find out about loads of great books. Of course, most of the time we don’t end up reading the ones that I’m really interested in, so I have take it upon myself to read them. This book was my pick or February’s Valentine theme and it was one that I knew I had to buy for myself. It just sounded like such a different take on a love story. Although, I did have some fears about it. I don’t think I’ve ever read a novel about super heroes that I’ve enjoyed. The superhero genre is such a visual one that I think it’s really hard to translate that in words. Could you imagine trying to write a novelisation of some of the most popular graphic novels? It’d be so difficult. As this book didn’t sound quite as bothered about the superhero element, I figured that it might be a bit safer.

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TBT Review – Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

films, reviews, TBT

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Back in 2018, you couldn’t go anywhere without people talking about this film. Okay, when I say anywhere” I actually mean social media but the fact remains. Not seeing this film when it came out did set me apart from popular opinion. So why didn’t I watch it? To be honest, I just had no interest. I’m not a fan of the whole romantic-comedy thing and this sounded like every other film about two star-crossed lovers. Of course, this one had the added benefit of giving some much needed Asian representation on film. Even though didn’t actually go as smoothly as it should have. Even when we take one step forwards there is always going to be someone who complains about something. As it’s coming up to Valentine’s Day, I decided that I really should watch something of this type and it’s been staring at me every time I search through Prime. It finally felt like the time to do it.

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Book Review – Come Again by Robert Webb

books, reviews

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Do you ever bother with signed editions? I’m not talking about being lucky enough to meet an author in person and getting them to sign it. I’m talking about those books that are already signed and, most likely, cost a little bit more than the usual hardback. I try not to care and will normally only bother with signed books by authors I really love. Of course, there may be an occasion when the signed edition is cheaper on Waterstones than the unsigned. In that case, I’ll definitely go for it but, really, I don’t see the point. If it’s not personalised, it’s just a bit meaningless, right? It’s not as I expect them to become investment pieces that I’ll hand down to my children. Nor am I showing them off to everyone I know. The signature is just a thing that exists and makes very little difference to my life. Why am I banging on about this? I pre-ordered the hardback signed copy of Come Again but it has sat on my shelf since April 2020. I do this all the time and I don’t know why I never learn. I am so desperate to get certain signed editions but then let them languish on my shelf. I definitely have a problem.

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