Author: Kelsey Young

“You already know what books can do – something we can share – no matter how different our lives may be.” – Dawsey Adams

Summary:

This Netflix original is adapted from Cathryn McDowell’s novel with the exact title. A correspondence starts amongst author, Juliet Ashton and members of a forbidden book club called the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. The book club members share their experiences and stories of their time on the Nazi-occupied Guernsey during the war. After an idea for a book sparks Juliet’s attention, she goes to visit the island where she makes lifelong friends and proceeds to take steps that change her life along the way. The book was told in a letter format where it is obvious that Juliet comes to love each of the islanders; Dawsey, Amelia, Eben, Kit, Elizabeth, and Isola. Ultimately, it is an enchanting story of love, friendship, and the sadness of friends lost.

Review:

If you are unsure of whether you want to watch this movie due to the “mouth full” of a title, don’t let it detour you. Ultimately, the movie is incredibly predictable regarding dialogue and with how the plot flows. But the predictable plot is captivating and charming. It follows a very formulaic outline where some characters experience trauma (in this case via the Nazis inhabiting the island during WWII), a higher status person, and a love triangle of sorts. There were a few times throughout the movie where I completely lost interest in it due to how predictable it was.

Naturally, Lily James put forth a stunning performance as author Juliet Ashton. She was captivated by a book club on Guernsey Island as well as the members of said book club. Her interest in knowing more about them seemed one-sided for a handful of reasons. But to be fair, if I were to be part of an obscure book club that was forbidden and someone who was clearly from a different upbringing and a more comfortable life wanted to write about us – I would view it poorly as well. When Juliet went to the book club there was an awkward and disjointed reaction between two of the book club members. The awkwardness seemed drawn out and unneeded, but completely warranted at the same time.

Problems:

Problem one I had with the movie was the lack of shattered aftermath that was missing from the movie adaptation. The war and its shattered aftermath are central to the plot of the film. Newell, the director, seemed to leave most of the real-ness and ugliness of both the war and its aftermath offscreen. A second problem I had with the movie was that one of the key players, Elizabeth, was mysteriously off the island and no one could say when she would return. Additionally, the residents of the island are unexpectedly unwilling to share their story and are not eager to be written about either. Not that that is a problem, just feel like Juliet Ashton should have seen that coming. The third and final problem I had with the movie was that the history of what happened on Guernsey during the Nazi occupation was more complex and complicated than anticipated was more of a surprise to Juliet Ashton than it was the viewers. In my opinion, it should have been a surprise to both if it is done right.

Overall, it isn’t a bad movie and if you are into love stories and older-like films than you should check it out. Just because I had mixed feelings on it doesn’t mean you will.

What did you think of the movie? Comment on this review and let me know your thoughts!

“I don’t know what my future holds, but the world is wide, and I want to make some memories.” – Young Donna (played by Lily James).

Summary:

Sophie has finished renovating the hotel and is preparing a grand reopening in honor of her mother, Donna Sheridan’s memory. It is made known within the first half an hour of the film that Donna had been dead for a year. With the help of her step-father, Sam she was able to renovate the hotel on the fictious Greek island known as Kalokairi. Sophie, awaiting the arrival of her mother’s best friends, Rosie and Tanya, and fighting with Sky (whom I am assuming at this point is her husband) over where they should be in their lives.

Review:

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again splashed into theaters July 20. If you are like me and wondered how exactly things panned out with Donna and her daughter, Sophie, three potential fathers then this movie has some things in store for you. It does a great job of bringing the past to life through the work of the younger versions for the characters from the original Mamma Mia movie. Lily James – who plays young Donna – sets off to travel after her college graduation from Oxford in 1979, where her best friends Tanya and Rosie also graduated. Ultimately, the movie is a drama that is built on mourning that is more than expressed throughout the film. It is depicted in intricate flashbacks that serves function of showcasing Donna’s life leading up to the birth of Sophie.

The film did a great job with the transitions between past and present scenes. The transitions were seamless and set up excellent parallels that show the striking similarities between Donna and Sophie. There were obviously some things that happened that were obvious such as Sophie being pregnant or that Sky would probably go to Kalokairi to be with her.

Like the first film, Tanya (played by Jessica Keenan Wynn) and Rosie (played by Alexa Davies) were comedic relief – both the past and present variants of themselves. One scene that I quite enjoyed of these two were when they came all the way to Kalokiari after Sam “let Donna down”. Not only did it provide some humor to the situation, it showed the strong friendship the three of them had. I also enjoyed that Rosie had a thing for Bill even when they were younger. It makes it feel like things are coming full circle for all of the characters to an extent. Additionally, seeing how much they cared for Sophie leading up to the grand reopening continued to show the love they had for her mother and that it trickled down to her as well. A specific example of this was that they were trying to be strong for Sophie and not dwell on how they felt about everything (which can be both good and bad – but in this case we will say it is good because dammit they deserve it).

I thought the actors that were cast as the younger versions of Harry, Bill, and Sam were spot on (even if it wasn’t quite how I pictured them) and that the portrayals of them really made the characters more likable. Two of the three of young versions of the lovers were how I pictured them.

Hugh Skinner, who played young Harry, was spot on in my opinion. He played an awkward young Harry which is exactly how I pictured him being. Everything from the cringeworthy attempt to hold Young Donna’s hand to the painful to watch café scene where he is asking her to be his first was perfect. He was awkward and trying to figure out if he was indeed the “spontaneous” person who thought he was. I’m not entirely sure if I was digging the portrayal of Young Harry as being awkward because it is how I imagined him being or if because I consider myself to be an awkward individual, but either way it was great.

Young Bill, played by Josh Dylan, was not how I expected him to be personality wise. Nonetheless I dig it. Young Bill was essentially a player who was looking at Young Donna as his next score. He was charming and seemed to genuinely vibe with Donna, which was cool to see. I would have liked to see more of him and his relative that owned the villa that was mentioned in the first movie, but obviously not everything can be included. It might have been briefly mentioned that he had a relative on the island. The portrayal of Young Bill did live up to the reputation of Older Bill being a lone wolf – as seen with the player attitude of not settling down and going from girl-to-girl. While Young Bill being a seducer was not what I expected him to be, it was fitting and made for a good change of pace. It would have been boring otherwise if all three of the younger versions had been looking for something more permanent.

Young Sam, played by Jeremy Irvine, was relatively spot on to how I pictured him. Although I knew he was going to leave the island to go back to his fiancée from the first movie, it still was saddening to see Young Donna experience that heartbreak. The two had an instant connection and it was disappointing to see that fall apart. He clearly had real feelings for Donna, otherwise he wouldn’t have come back to the island (or marry her twenty-some-years later). I found it to be relatable that he essentially ran away from his life back home to enjoy not having everything planned out for him for a bit before committing to that life. I’m not saying that people should run away from things, but at the same time if you are focused on one thing without taking time to consider other options then it can lead to regret later.

Alright – I have been waiting for this moment. Cher, who played Ruby Sheridan, being in the film was entirely unnecessary. She didn’t really contribute anything to the overall plot and I struggle to understand why it seemed even remotely necessary to include her in the film. I understand wanting to have a character change or grow in some way. But seriously, it was stated that Sophie’s grandmother never showed up to anything and that she was basically self-absorbed. I think the film would have been better off without including Sophie’s grandmother. In my opinion, it would have shown that family doesn’t always have to be blood with Tanya and Rosie being prime examples of that and would have continued the theme from the first film.

Overall, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again is a wonderful movie and I highly suggest seeing it in theaters. It has a load of catchy and upbeat songs. It also has all the familiar characters from the first movie and goes in depth into younger version’s of their lives. Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again (to see it in theaters).

(To Lee, referring to their children)
Evelyn: Who are we if we can’t protect them? We have to protect them. Promise me
Lee: I promise.

Movie Summary:

If you are looking for a new take on horror movies, then A Quiet Place is the movie for you. The movie is film is written and directed by John Krasinski (The Office, The Hollars) and stars Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe. Throughout the movie, the family was trying to hide from blind creatures that hunt by using their hypersensitive hearing. In other words – silence means survival and has never sounded so terrifying.

The movie opens on the Abbot family, who communicates mostly through sign language, tip toeing bare foot through an abandoned store. The mother was looking for a medication for their first son, while their deaf daughter was walking around with their youngest son. The youngest son found a toy rocket that made a lot of noise when a button was pressed. Being roughly 5 or 6 years old, he was not able to fully understand why he couldn’t have the toy. Their father signed to the youngest boy that he cannot take the rocket with them because it is too loud. He then sets it back down. When their father turned his back to get ready to leave the store, the sister handed the youngest boy the rocket and put her finger to her lips to indicated to keep quiet. While they are walking back to their campsite, the youngest boy presses a button on the rocket – which emitted a loud noise. The father immediately turned around to run and grab the boy. Before he could get to him, he was tackled and killed by one of the creatures.

The movie fast forwards some time into the future, at this point in the film, the mother is preparing to give birth. The father is trying to figure out how to defeat the creatures that are hunting them and attempting to get someone to respond to his SOS. A brief time later the mother gives birth while her other two kids are out in the middle of the night. The creatures are hunting around where they are hiding, and it is incredibly tense. To avoid the possibility spoiling the end of the movie, I will stop summarizing the film there.

What I liked about the movie:

There are so many things that I liked about this movie. I really liked the camerawork and how much it captured the scenery. Another thing that was wonderful about this movie was the fact that John Krasinski made sure that the actress that was really deaf played his deaf daughter. It made it seem more genuine, and I heard a rumor that Millicent Simmonds taught the other actors sign language. I wasn’t sure how I was going to like that the plot of the movie focused on only four characters, but I surprisingly really enjoyed it. The final thing that I liked about the movie was the fact that Millicent’s character acted out like a typical child would despite the situation her family was in.

Overall, I highly suggest that you see the movie in theaters. It is definitely a movie that needs to be experienced in a theater with other people.