Makayla

*“in the bleak midwinter…”* i’ve got mixed feelings about this movie. i liked it, but i felt similar to how i felt watching seasons 4-6 of *Peaky Blinders*. that being that i felt like i was watching it out of a feeling of needing to finish what i’d started, rather than out of total enjoyment. i think the first couple seasons were my favourite, and it went downhill from there. i’m glad they chose to do a movie rather than trying to make this story into a whole other season; i think it would’ve been much weaker had they tried to extend it past it’s abilities. but, in a sense, i felt like i wasn’t watching a movie due to this. the storyline made sense to me, as a casual viewer who doesn’t really remember where we left off at the end of the show. i liked Barry as Duke, but obviously the main attraction is — and personally always has been — Cillian’s performance as Tommy. i quite enjoyed this characterization of him, and i feel like it was a reasonable conclusion to his story. i don’t have much else to say about it other than that. i was left kind of unimpressed, but the final scene between Tommy and Duke made me feel like it was worth it. it was a solid scene with really impressive performances out of both of them. probably was my favourite out of the entire movie, if i’m being honest. *on another note, *i really wish these Netflix movies would get more widespread theatrical releases. i felt this way with *Frankenstein (2025)* and i feel this way about this one. would i have been more impressed? perhaps. but it sucked even more that it wasn’t shown at any theatres less than 5 hours away from me, especially considering i literally saw previews for it at the theatre. everything that Conan O’Brien joked about at the Oscars in relation to Netflix is exactly how i feel on this topic. streaming platforms are great in the sense that they make cinema more readily available (albeit behind a mandatory paywall) but they’re most certainly contributing to the death of theatres, and i hate that. *and on another less serious note*, i desperately need the Charlie Chip Jellycat. he reminds me of a Peaky Blinder and yeah, i just love him. i need it to be released worldwide so badly.

*“last time i seen my brother.* *last time i seen the sun.* *and, just for a few hours, we was free.”* this won Best Picture in my heart. i was legitimately shocked that it didn’t; not suprised, considering the general lack of recognition for horror and horror-adjacent films by The Oscars, but i really did think it would win it. but cudos for the rest of their wins — they were all so well deserved. i finally managed to convince my parents to watch this after weeks of intermittently badgering them, and you know what they did? fell asleep right before all the vampire action goes down, and woke up during the end scene at Sammie’s club. like hello, yall missed the entire second half of the movie! i expected it though haha. this movie’s always got me in my feels by the end. i haven’t fully cried to it, but i tear up everytime. i think i’ll always regret not seeing this in theatres because i can only imagine how amazing it would’ve been to see it in IMAX. also Remmick’s rendition of “Rocky Road to Dublin” always gets me grooving. it’s so good that i was watching *Young Sherlock* on Prime last night and they played the song in the first episode and i was thinking about this version. an absolutely fire performance.

*“the play's the thing, with which i'll catch the conscience of the king.”* i'll start this review by admitting one simple truth: i have not read *Hamlet* before, or seen any other film/play adaptation of it, aside from *Hamnet* which i don't really count despite it being quite good. this is my initial impression on the story, but i did go into it knowing that people had mixed opinions on it. this is one of those films that i feel mostly neutral about. i admire the vision and liked some scenes (specifically the Blockbuster scene) but otherwise it didn't impress me a great amount. obviously i'll enjoy anything featuring Ethan Hawke and Julia Stiles, but i just felt kinda meh about it. it also doesn't help that i watched it on a night shift and got tired towards the end; i was still listening to it, but the climax didn't really hit as well as it could've. i said this on my review for *Romeo + Juliet*, but i really think that they'd do wonders if they did a modernized movie adaptation of *Macbeth*. i think that must be what they were trying to get at here, but it just didn't hit the same despite the great cast. but i think that we can afford to try again, right? i was a *massive* fan of Hamlet's hat in this, though. like that's totally my vibe. and i loved the hairstyles they did for Ophelia; it makes me want to be more experimental with my hair, but mine is so much thinner than Julia's so it wouldn't be the same. i'll have to read the play sometime. i figure i'd like it at least a moderate amount, considering i enjoyed most of the other Shakespeare stuff i've read. i don't know why i haven't, honestly. but yeah, that's all i have to say about this. i wish i liked it more because it had a lot of potential, but it wasn't bad by any means.

*“i do believe in fairies. i do, i do.”* this was always my go-to movie to watch when i was sick as a kid, so it was an obvious choice to watch today as i’m currently sick. my nostalgia for this film is the main thing carrying my four-star rating as i feel like it doesn’t exactly hold up as great as other childhood classics of mine. but i still do really enjoy it, and i don’t think it’s totally bad for its time. i never realized that Wendy’s father and Captain Hook are played by the same actor. i don’t know why that didn’t occur to me, considering i must’ve watched this upwards of 20 times in my life. you know how people say that they loved Peter growing up? i think i wanted to *be* Peter. he was like peak gender envy for my young *unknowingly queer* self. oh, and i loved pirate stuff growing up and still felt myself get hyped watching that final fight scene between the kids and the pirates. i love the choreography that goes into scenes like that. i will say that i associate Tinkerbell with being a bitch because of this movie. they released a new scrub top at Walmart with Tinkerbell on it and my immediate thought was “i’d get that but she’s was such a bitch to Wendy so nah”. this version of Tinkerbell is the only version i’m familiar with so that’s why haha. i’m sure she’s fine in other media. that’s all i can manage to write about this right now. if it doesn’t make sense it’s my sick brain haha