Some mini reviews of movies I’ve watched recently

Happy Friday, everyone! Today I thought I’d do something a little different and post some movie reviews. I don’t think I’ve ever posted a movie review on this blog, other than when I compare a movie to the book. But I’ve been watching a lot of movies lately and wanted to talk about them!

I should also say upfront that I’m really easy to please when it comes to movies, so my ratings for all of these are fairly high. Also wow, I cannot write a movie review to save my life. I apologise in advance for how bad these are.

Non-fiction

---

Miss Representation
Rating: 5 stars
Would I re-watch: yes

This is one of those movies that I would make everyone watch if I could. It’s a documentary on Netflix about female representation in media, and how that affects everything from our daily lives to the news to politics. I actually learned about it through my boss, who I think funded part of it? Idk I just remember her talking about it ages ago and how she was super proud about how well it was doing, and then we had a copy in my office, so I watched it one day. And honestly, please watch it. It will make you mad, but also hopeful for the future.

---

Betting on Zero
Rating: 4 stars
Would I re-watch: if I was watching it with someone else, yes; just by myself, probably not

This movie is about Herbalife, a super successful pyramid scheme disguised as an MLM, and the investor shorting against it. I fell down a bit of an MLM rabbit hole on Youtube the other day (watch this, this, and this video if you want to go down the same hole I did) and someone recommended this documentary, so I watched it and wow. It was really interesting. I don’t know a ton about the stock market or shorting, but I know the gist, and I know what pyramid schemes and MLMs are.

This documentary also made me really mad lmao. It was really interesting, and also really heartbreaking. It made me realize that there are a bunch of sociopaths in business. I think there are a ton of really successful business people who only care about being successful themselves and genuinely don’t care about other human beings, which is why shit like Herbalife happens. But I highly recommend this documentary if you want to learn more about MLMs.

Fiction

---

The Florida Project
Rating: 4.5 stars
Would I re-watch: if I was watching it with someone else, yes; just by myself, probably not

I really, really enjoyed this movie. It follows a young girl, Moonee, the only child of a single mom living in a motel near Disney. I thought it was really well done. The characters are all super interesting. The moms are trying really hard to be good moms but are struggling. I really liked the female friendships, too. The landlord (played by Willem Dafoe, who did an incredible job) was super interesting and I loved his character. The script is also really good and super realistic, and the cinematography and everything was really top-notch.

Also, there aren’t a ton of movies that focus predominantly on women that don’t have some sort of romantic subplot. So the fact that this movie was focused primarily on young girls and young women was really great. It wasn’t empowering or feminist or anything, but I still give it props for that. I highly, highly recommend watching this movie.

---

Rocket Man
Rating: 5 stars
Would I re-watch: yes

Rocket Man, which is about Elton John, was everything Bohemian Rhapsody was trying to be and more. No shade to Bohemian Rhapsody, I loved it and have watched it four times. But Rocket Man was just better. Taron Egerton was amazing as Elton John. The music was great, the cinematography was great, the fantastical elements actually worked. I loved learning more about Elton John’s life. If his parents were really as shitty in real life as they were portrayed in the movie, then it’s no wonder Elton John turned out the way he did.

The one issue I have with it is I’m not the biggest fan of the flashback format. Like, the movie starts with Elton John entering rehab, the flashes back to his childhood, then back to the rehab session where he’s talking about it. It’s just not my favourite format, though it was done well. But, I thought the movie overall was brilliant and loved it.

Overall, I highly recommend all of these movies. They were all fantastic in their own, different ways. Have you watched any of these? What were your thoughts? Let me know!

Ally xx