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iariaThe Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
It was lovely. I really enjoyed it.
+ Sonny and Sunaine were wonderful. I loved their romance. They were adorable together (I love her rolling her eyes at him) and they were great as individuals. I loved Sonny’s enthusiasm. I loved Sunaine’s kindness.
+ I liked Jay a lot as well and how the movie played his reactions to Sonny/Sunaine. He clearly loved his sister and respected her and her choices and his coldness towards and about Sonny was all because he wasn’t sold that Sonny cared for Sunaine enough. I wanted to see more about him.
+ Graham’s story was really touching and the scene where he reunited with his former lover made me teary-eyed. It was definitely the most moving moment and storyline of the movie. I loved how that was shot, same with his death scene.
+ Muriel started as the least likable member of the cast by far but her character growth was great and I loved her by the end. I liked what we got with her unexpected connection with Anokhi but I really wish we’d gotten more. It’s clear they could grow into an actual friendship and that’s something I’d like to see. I loved that she saved the day at the end.
+ I was expecting Jean to learn to love India, for her to let go of her disappointment and anger with Douglas and their situation, so it surprised me when that didn’t happen. I did like her and Douglas discussion at the end. She was miserable in India so I’m glad that she chose to leave and she was miserable with Douglas and he was miserable with her so I liked that she accepted that and forced him to as well. In contrast to Jean I loved how enthusiastic and optimistic Douglas was and how he embraced their new lives and surroundings.
+ Evelyn was lovely. I loved her story – I liked her getting a job for the first time and her happiness with it, her friendship with Graham, her encouraging Sonny to follow his heart and her eventual romance with Douglas.
+ Norman and Madge were the two who I was least interested in but I still liked them. Their friendship was great. I was a little surprised they didn’t actually end up together but I really liked that. I liked Carol and Madge’s friendship and that Madge pretty much set them up.
I’m looking forward to the sequel.
Never Cry Werewolf
Werewolf B-movie. Not very good. Buuuuut... there were actually a couple things I did like.
In the negative column:
+ The first half was a bit of a slog to get through. The acting was not good. Badly written, as per usual, but more so. So much stuff made no sense. Loren’s obsession with her neighbour and suspicions about him happened way too quickly. The fact that she’s a teenager and he’s in like his thirty’s and yet he has no issues being obvious about his interest and no one remarks on it was kind of jarring. The Loren/Steven ending was completely unnecessary.
In the positive column:
+ Loren herself ended up being pretty great. The movie let her be smart, determined and competent. She is super proactive. She suspects her neighbour so she does research on werewolves. She sneaks into his house. When she sees him coming back with another victim she takes the time to write a warning on the wall to try and save her (and succeeds in that) even though she barely manages to get away. She tells people her suspicions. She goes to find weapons to fight him.
I loved that she was the one who killed his demon wolf pet with quick thinking. She tries to get a big game hunter on her side and when he’s revealed to be a fraud she immediately turns around and starts creating weapons and a plan herself. She created silver arrows out of silverware! That’s awesome. I also liked that it was Loren who killed Jared while defeating him was a team effort. There were definitely things I didn’t like about her but overall it was good.
+ I also liked that Loren was very much the hero of the peace and it was her story. I was really expecting Kevin Sorbo’s character to have more of a role. I loved that they turned it around – when he shows up to help her fight Jared she’s the one who’s all ‘lol no’ and he has to convince her that he can and wants to help. She even straight out disdainfully tells him that he has a lot to learn about hunting werewolves (ignoring the fact she’s literally just learning about it too). I have never seen that before – people discover something (supernatural, serial killer) and it’s the girl, even over the older man, who is in charge/the competent one – and it was delightful. He does has his own area of knowledge but she’s the one in charge.
+ Weirdly, I actually liked Kevin Sorbo. He’s an asshole in real life but I enjoyed him here. The bit between Redd and partial-werewolf Steven was funny.
+ The confrontation scene between Loren and Jared in her house was a little hot and I loved that she refused to be intimidated and it ended with her kicking him in the balls and escaping. That leads to the other thing I really liked about this movie: it turned the usual urban fantasy/supernatural YA fiction tropes on their head. Attractive (for certain values of ‘attractive’, I'm not really seeing it) guy moves in next door, he's mysterious and dangerous, oh and a werewolf, she’s a doppelganger (NB can’t get away from that can she, lol) of his dead wife and he is obsessed with her... it has all the makings of one of those types of stories.
It was lovely. I really enjoyed it.
+ Sonny and Sunaine were wonderful. I loved their romance. They were adorable together (I love her rolling her eyes at him) and they were great as individuals. I loved Sonny’s enthusiasm. I loved Sunaine’s kindness.
+ I liked Jay a lot as well and how the movie played his reactions to Sonny/Sunaine. He clearly loved his sister and respected her and her choices and his coldness towards and about Sonny was all because he wasn’t sold that Sonny cared for Sunaine enough. I wanted to see more about him.
+ Graham’s story was really touching and the scene where he reunited with his former lover made me teary-eyed. It was definitely the most moving moment and storyline of the movie. I loved how that was shot, same with his death scene.
+ Muriel started as the least likable member of the cast by far but her character growth was great and I loved her by the end. I liked what we got with her unexpected connection with Anokhi but I really wish we’d gotten more. It’s clear they could grow into an actual friendship and that’s something I’d like to see. I loved that she saved the day at the end.
+ I was expecting Jean to learn to love India, for her to let go of her disappointment and anger with Douglas and their situation, so it surprised me when that didn’t happen. I did like her and Douglas discussion at the end. She was miserable in India so I’m glad that she chose to leave and she was miserable with Douglas and he was miserable with her so I liked that she accepted that and forced him to as well. In contrast to Jean I loved how enthusiastic and optimistic Douglas was and how he embraced their new lives and surroundings.
+ Evelyn was lovely. I loved her story – I liked her getting a job for the first time and her happiness with it, her friendship with Graham, her encouraging Sonny to follow his heart and her eventual romance with Douglas.
+ Norman and Madge were the two who I was least interested in but I still liked them. Their friendship was great. I was a little surprised they didn’t actually end up together but I really liked that. I liked Carol and Madge’s friendship and that Madge pretty much set them up.
I’m looking forward to the sequel.
Never Cry Werewolf
Werewolf B-movie. Not very good. Buuuuut... there were actually a couple things I did like.
In the negative column:
+ The first half was a bit of a slog to get through. The acting was not good. Badly written, as per usual, but more so. So much stuff made no sense. Loren’s obsession with her neighbour and suspicions about him happened way too quickly. The fact that she’s a teenager and he’s in like his thirty’s and yet he has no issues being obvious about his interest and no one remarks on it was kind of jarring. The Loren/Steven ending was completely unnecessary.
In the positive column:
+ Loren herself ended up being pretty great. The movie let her be smart, determined and competent. She is super proactive. She suspects her neighbour so she does research on werewolves. She sneaks into his house. When she sees him coming back with another victim she takes the time to write a warning on the wall to try and save her (and succeeds in that) even though she barely manages to get away. She tells people her suspicions. She goes to find weapons to fight him.
I loved that she was the one who killed his demon wolf pet with quick thinking. She tries to get a big game hunter on her side and when he’s revealed to be a fraud she immediately turns around and starts creating weapons and a plan herself. She created silver arrows out of silverware! That’s awesome. I also liked that it was Loren who killed Jared while defeating him was a team effort. There were definitely things I didn’t like about her but overall it was good.
+ I also liked that Loren was very much the hero of the peace and it was her story. I was really expecting Kevin Sorbo’s character to have more of a role. I loved that they turned it around – when he shows up to help her fight Jared she’s the one who’s all ‘lol no’ and he has to convince her that he can and wants to help. She even straight out disdainfully tells him that he has a lot to learn about hunting werewolves (ignoring the fact she’s literally just learning about it too). I have never seen that before – people discover something (supernatural, serial killer) and it’s the girl, even over the older man, who is in charge/the competent one – and it was delightful. He does has his own area of knowledge but she’s the one in charge.
+ Weirdly, I actually liked Kevin Sorbo. He’s an asshole in real life but I enjoyed him here. The bit between Redd and partial-werewolf Steven was funny.
+ The confrontation scene between Loren and Jared in her house was a little hot and I loved that she refused to be intimidated and it ended with her kicking him in the balls and escaping. That leads to the other thing I really liked about this movie: it turned the usual urban fantasy/supernatural YA fiction tropes on their head. Attractive (for certain values of ‘attractive’, I'm not really seeing it) guy moves in next door, he's mysterious and dangerous, oh and a werewolf, she’s a doppelganger (NB can’t get away from that can she, lol) of his dead wife and he is obsessed with her... it has all the makings of one of those types of stories.
