A few random, vaguely similar movie reviews

I wish I were one of those people who rush to see every new movie (or at least the ones who appeal to them) as soon as they hit the theater, or like those who check out every new show that looks promising. Binge-watching has spoiled me when it comes to TV, so aside from the few shows I follow regularly, lately I find myself preferring to just wait and binge on slightly older shows or just focus my attention on mini-series I can watch start-to-finish over a weekend.

As far as movies are concerned, I go through phases. Some weeks I don’t even have the attention span to sit through a whole movie; others I refuse to invest the time unless it’s a must-see. Over the past few months, the only “new” movie I saw was Nocturnal Animals (loved it).

Then there are times when I try to dig up a handful of movies of a certain genre and watch them back-to-back. So, given my recent disappointment in 13 Reasons Why, I figured I should get my teen drama/rom-com fix wherever I could get it, so I picked a few films off of random recommendations:

Bridget Jones’s Baby

This is going to be short and sweet.

Well, short at least.

As the awfulness that were the two SATC movies, especially the second one, have illustrated, reviving a successful franchise years later, when its protagonists have gone from semi-fresh-faced to middle aged and barely resembling their former selves, is a bit of a risky move.

What If?

Confession time: I haven’t read the Harry Potter books, nor have I seen the movies.

Wait, that’s not entirely accurate: I saw the very first one when it came out, during a trip to Amsterdam. We had just been to a coffeeshop, it started raining, and it was the only movie showing at the multiplex that we hadn’t already seen, so we decided it might be fun to try and learn some basic dutch by reading the subtitles. Needless to say, all I remember from that experience was laughing my butt off.

All this is by way of saying that I’ve never been a huge fan of Daniel Radcliffe. I was never too fond of Zoe Kazan either, for no good reason other than I haven’t really seen her in a major role. I’ve always thought that she looks like the girl directors would cast as the lead’s quirky friend, not the lead herself.

The Intern

Christmas and feel-good movies go hand-in-hand like nobody’s business, don’t they? At some point over the holidays, after a couple of late nights partying with friends, it became evident that I’m just too old for this sh*t and I decided to have a movie night.

Now, I’ve always been a De Niro fan, but he’s been starring in a lot of sub-par movies in recent years so I didn’t know what to expect from this one. Anne Hathaway, on the other hand, wasn’t one of my favorites in the beginning of her career, but she definitely started growing on me after a while and these days I can safely say I just love her in everything she does.

While browsing IMDb for movie suggestions, I stumbled upon Laggies. Although not too impressed by the plot summary, I decided to give it a shot, and I’m glad I did. It’s a sweet movie, with both funny and moving scenes, and most of all it’s a story plenty of 20somethings (or, indeed, 30somethings) can relate to. I’ve always been a Keira Knightly fan, and she didn’t disappoint in Laggies. Would definitely recommend to a friend =)

A good rom-com is hard to get by

I have an eclectic taste when it comes to romantic comedies. That’s not to say I’m a movie snob – quite the contrary, really. I enjoy a pointless movie as much as the next gal, and sometimes Oscar bait and critic favorites leave me cold. I’m easily amused and will watch pretty much anything involving a good premise, or an actor I like.

I’ve enjoyed myself immensely watching flicks that tanked at the box office, and sometimes have no interest in huge hits like Notebook or the Titanic.

Some movies I enjoy just because they make 2 hours pleasantly go by. They’re not pretentious or thought-provoking, they’re just meant as good fun, and they actually deliver. Magic Mike, Two Night Stand, No Strings Attached, Friends With Benefits, Easy A were all thoroughly enjoyable. Others are deeper, sadder, more complex, such as Silver Linings Playbook, the underappreciated The Oranges, Crazy, Stupid, Love, or even Win Win.