Change Your Image
CarpeFelis
Reviews
The Idea of You (2024)
Should have stuck closer to the book
This movie could have had much more emotional impact had it stuck closer to the book. What we see here makes the relationship between Hayes and Solène seem fairly superficial, like they're only in it for the sex (despite the book getting far steamier). And Solène makes decisions that don't seem to make a lot of sense. It's all a lot clearer in the book, partly because it's written from her POV and partly because the movie changed a few key factors.
The major change: Hayes and Izzy are both aged up by 4 years. Book Hayes is 20, literally half Solène's age. Book Izzy is 13 and has a giant crush on Hayes, so when she finds out, she's devastated and feels hugely betrayed. Movie Izzy is over August Moon, preferred Rory anyway, and is perfectly fine with the relationship until she gets a few snotty comments at school.
The book also had a subplot about Ollie playing head games with Solène to get back at Hayes for what he saw as a betrayal. All we got here was one scene where Ollie and his friends seemed to be picking on her for little or no reason.
The harassment Solène experiences was downplayed quite a bit from what was in the book. In particular, some stalking that was very alarming: packages sent to her home address. Here all we see is some paparazzi hanging out on her sidewalk and a small fraction of the Internet vitriol.
The only part I preferred was the change in the ending.
Alice & Jack (2023)
Why did I watch this?
This is the supposedly "great love story" between the titular Alice and Jack. Love story maybe, but great it is absolutely not.
Alice is an emotional terrorist who keeps popping in and out of Jack's life on a whim. She disappears for years at a time yet always expects to pick up right where they left off, as if he's done nothing else in his life but wait around for her. She blithely destroys his recent marriage during one of these episodes and then-of course-disappears again.
For some completely inexplicable reason, he's obsessed with her and no one else will do. To make this work they really should have cast someone far prettier as Alice or at the very least not had Riseborough made up to look haggard and downright homely in every scene. Alice's behavior is so insane that she'd need to be far more attractive to explain why Jack hasn't blocked her number and thrown darts at her picture.
Some reviews describe this as a romcom, but there was nothing funny about it. I watched all six episodes and now wonder why I bothered.
Alice, Darling (2022)
Ended too abruptly
Alice is in an emotionally abusive relationship with Simon, a controlling narcissist. He criticizes her eating habits, checks her phone regularly, puts her down with the intent of making her feel like she's "bad" if she does something he doesn't like. She thinks it's love, but we see her flinch when she gets texts from him, have panic attacks, and compulsively pull her hair from the stress of dealing with him.
Alice is invited to go away with her two best friends, but has to lie to Simon that she's going on a work trip because he continually tries to isolate her from them, telling her they "don't really know her" like he does.
While away, it becomes apparent to her friends that all is not well with Alice and that Simon is the source of the problem. Her friend Tess hides Alice's wallet and phone. So when Simon shows up uninvited it's completely unexpected-by Alice, certainly not by the audience. He found out where she was by snooping through her email, and is very angry with her and claims he can't do his work because he "needs her". (My thought: dude, you're a supposedly successful artist. What kind of crappy artist are you really if you can't work without your girlfriend?)
In the end, Simon coerces Alice into going home with him, but they're stopped waiting for a group of cyclists to pass. Sophie and Tess catch up to them and Sophie breaks the rear windshield with a maul. Alice leaves the car and Simon tries to talk her into coming back, but she says no and is backed up by her friends. Then he finally starts showing his true colors, getting nasty with Sophie, but in the end he laughs derisively, throws Alice's luggage out of the car, and takes off.
The too-abrupt ending is where this movie falls short. Simon as written is not the sort of character who'd give up that easily on a woman he clearly sees as a possession. I was anticipating that he'd terrorize Alice and her friends by returning after they'd gone to sleep that night, breaking into the house to try to drag Alice away, and would end up dispatched by Chekov's maul in self-defense. That would have been a more satisfying ending.
Obsession (2023)
Fun to hate-watch
Started watching this because Richard Armitage is in it. Quickly devolved into hate-watching two utterly reprehensible individuals selfishly causing chaos and wrecking lives.
William is a star pediatric surgeon, long married, who becomes obsessed with his son Jay's girlfriend Anna. Jay tells her he wants her all to himself, and we're also told someone once committed suicide over her. So what I want to know is, what's so damn special and irresistible about Anna? I sure don't see it. She certainly doesn't make me think "wow, I wish I looked like her" (I especially hated her haircut). So she must have pheromones that pack one hell of a punch or a gold-plated vajayjay, is all I can guess. Anna comes across creepy and manipulative. She loves to play head games to make herself seem mysterious ("learn to love the questions", seriously?). Anyone with any sense would find that annoying as hell, not irresistible.
Honestly, the most fun part of this series for me was frequently yelling "What the hell is wrong with you?" at both William and Anna. The sex scenes were laughable, since Anna is always ready to go within 5 seconds and apparently immune to both STDs and pregnancy since condoms never seem to enter the picture.
Dziewczyna i kosmonauta (2023)
SF takes backseat to typical love triangle
While this series has plenty of SF, it's really just the backdrop to a typical love triangle.
Niko and Bogdan are fighter pilots circa 2022. Niko is a cocky, hard-partying womanizer with a penchant for getting into fistfights. Seems pretty immature for 28. Bogdan is definitely the more mature of the two, but comes off rather morose in comparison. The two have a love/hate "bro" relationship, sometimes best friends, always super competitive. They compete over being selected for a Russian company's space program and over Marta, who's a vapid DJ. It doesn't help that Bogdan's dad, their superior officer, seems to prefer Niko over him.
I could not figure out what was so great about Marta that two guys would be so head-over-heels for her in such a short time. All we see of her personality is that she loves partying, casual sex, and daredevil stuff like jumping off a bridge to swim in a river. Also there's some sort of childhood trauma regarding her father being in and out of jail. Marta has a pretty face, but presents herself very oddly: a '70s Farrah-wannabe hairdo dyed a ratty looking fading orange, and a wardrobe that appears to be straight out of Carnaby Street circa late '60s.
Niko is selected for the space flight, in which a new stealth technology and "sub-hibernation" are to be tested. Before he leaves, Marta chooses him over Bogdan. Something goes wrong, the ship disappears, and the story to the public is that it exploded.
In 2052, Niko's ship suddenly reappears. This naturally causes stress between Marta and Bogdan, who have been married 30 years and have a teenage daughter. Bogdan seems to be somewhat controlling, or perhaps he's just frustrated that he and Marta don't seem very close.
Here's a big plot hole. Niko's ship, as it turns out, has been in orbit in stealth mode for the last 30 years. How has it not been hit by a satellite or various space debris? How has it stayed up there without its orbit decaying? Assuming it's on autopilot, how has there been enough fuel to keep it up there for 30 years?
Niko is in a coma and hasn't aged. The Russians track down Marta and bring her in to try to help revive him, but she's sent back to Poland around the time he wakes up. Niko manages to escape the lab and somehow make his way back to Poland and find Marta (another plot hold: it's not at all clear how he manages that since he has no money and there are surveillance drones looking for him).
Marta decides Niko needs her and runs away with him. He doesn't seem to care that while he still appears 28, she's now 55, though she feels understandably insecure about that. When someone in a bar makes insulting comments about their apparent age difference, Niko runs true to form and gets into a fistfight. Afterwards, older and wiser Marta tells him he should have let it go. It's at this point she finally seems to realize she's changed too much from the girl who was once in love with him. (Like it wasn't immediately obvious?!) In the end, tired of Bogdan and too mature for Niko, she chooses herself over them.