Change Your Image
melanierippon
Reviews
The Changeover (2017)
Does NOT do the novel justice
I have lost count of the times I've read the novel this is based on, having actually BEEN a teen when the book came out. So when I saw there was a movie - with Melanie Lynskey & Timothy Spall no less - yeah, I got excited. Timothy Spall is excellently creepy as Carmody Braque. Sadly that's as good as it gets and accounts for 3 of the 5 stars. Not sure how much is the usual from-page-to-screen choices, or meh writing/direction, or moving it from the original 1980s to post-quake Christchurch. At least part of it is down to the location choice for the Carlisle's house - great home, just too modern to give the right feel on those particular scenes. Wound up feeling like a run-of-the-mill teen "horror"-but-not-really-scary movie and not the atmospheric story Margaret Mahy originally crafted.
Bron/Broen (2011)
So good I watched it twice
And it's the standard by which I judge all other Nordic/Scandi dramas. Largely due to Sofia Helin's fantastic portrayal of Saga Noren as someone on the autism spectrum, which is what kept me tuning in week after week, and willing to rewatch the whole thing again when the BBC repeated it during Covid lockdowns. Whilst no specific diagnosis is ever explicitly stated in the show for Saga (in any season), it is fairly obvious to anyone prepared to stop & think
. And not, as some lazy reviewers seem to think, bad acting of someone being grumpy.
I don't want to give away any spoilers, so will just say that you get to see Saga's character evolve over the 4 seasons, the backstory unfolds gradually, and whilst there are gruesome elements to the crimes, it's not gratuitous and nor is any of the other violence. It serves the plot. Yes, it's noir so you expect grisly elements, but very well paced as each crime is solved over 10 episodes so you get something nuanced & a bit slower-burning rather than neatly solved in an hour & wrapped in a bow.
Fate: The Winx Saga (2021)
Decent-ish YA fantasy drama BUT.....
First up I never saw the original Winx, so don't know & don't care how faithful it is to the source material - from all the rants on here, not very! Watching it purely because a colleague watched it & enjoyed it so thought I would give it a go. Though the original Winx is a kid's cartoon? So would not expect a YA-targeted live-action show to look/feel particularly similar anyway.... Judging the show solely on what I have actually watched so far, it's decent but not great. The actors playing the students are all too old to be completely believable, but FTWS isn't the first YA show to make that mistake & definitely won't be the last unfortunately. Also the main characters are a bit stereotypical & Bloom's a gullible brat. 6 episodes isn't enough to give this initial plot arc or the characters, the depth they needed. Plus, what's the deal with only having ONE classroom scene in all the episodes I've seen to date - every other scene in lesson-time, is the warrior training? For a show at least partly about fairies learning to control their powers & deepening their main elemental affinity - other than the main Bloom plot - it is set in a school after all - you'd think they could have got a couple other classroom scenes in. Hopefully improves in season 2.
Brides of Christ (1991)
Always relevant, ever brilliant
First saw this when it originally aired in the UK back in the 1990s, videotaped it & watched it repeatedly over the years till the tapes wore out. Never forgot it & bought it on DVD as soon as I could. Amazed it's never been available to stream (not in the UK anyway, no idea about elsewhere).
Faith, doubt, love, loss, friendship, tradition, modernity, obedience, rebellion. Women of all ages trying to find their places in the world even as it changes round them. Great locations & costumes, a hauntingly beautiful theme song, & characters who stay with you long after the titles roll - even the minor ones. Emotionally powerful without being overdone, tackling social issues without preaching at you, pardon the pun, but just letting the characters tell their stories.