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lauramdaniel
Reviews
Priscilla (2023)
More bitter than sweet
Really had a hard time with this movie which was probably Sophia Coppola's point. I wanted to like it. I was hoping it'd be like Marie Antoinette, but no amount of fun punk music could help this tragedy of a story.
It was painful in so many places, watching this 14 year old girl (14!!!) crush hard on Elvis and him using her awe of him to make her his perfect wife. Seriously freaky. And abusive. And I suspect many Elvis fans will be upset that their guy was actually an abusive A-hole. It was really heartbreaking to watch this young girl go from being filled with innocence to being completely controlled by her husband, so much so that (SPOILER), when he tells her he needs to take a break from the marriage while she's happily decorating the nursery at full pregnancy, she numbly starts to pack her suitcase to leave. It's BIZARRE.
While the actors were excellent, and the costuming and attention to detail for the period were quite good, I don't think I'd recommend this movie unless you want to live through someone else's heartbreak and abuse.
It was a bummer.
A League of Their Own (2022)
Loved it more than the original movie
I loved the original movie, so I wasn't sure what I'd be walking into with this series, but I loved it even more! The filmmaking is EXCELLENT! The closeups, the action shots, the romance. It's all so well done! And it's something I wondered as I watched the first movie: Why wasn't there any LGBTQ representation? What was that quick scene with the African American pitcher? Well this series answers all of that beautifully!
I fell in love with all of the characters: yes, even Shirl who initially seemed homophobic. But Max and Clance, Greta and Carson, Jo and Maybelle.... all of them are just wonderful!
In addition to being a historical show about "women's baseball," this series is a "coming of age" and "coming out" period piece that includes the fear that surrounded the LGBTQ community in the 1940s. It's heartbreaking and it truly informs the danger the characters are in for daring to love whom they love. Yet "the heart wants what it wants," and it's incredibly sexy! I loved that there were also tenacious older characters, women who "married" each other when it wasn't legal, and absolutely thrived in love. I thought that was beautiful and very inspiring.
Then there's the love of baseball. And it was glorious! The way the baseball segments are filmed, I was on the edge of my seat! It was thrilling!
And when the series ended, like any good baseball movie - The Natural, Field of Dreams, the original A League of Their Own - I was in tears. It was SO GOOD, and I can't wait to watch it again!