Freaks, Weddings, and Royalty

Since last week I posted a heavy, emotional post, I thought I’d switch gears to the entertainment topic today. I have more heavy posts drafted, but let’s go lighter today. Here are a few reviews of things we’ve watched while stuck at home. These are a mix of genres, and I’ve shown the years they aired.

2018

The trailer to this movie, Freaks, interested me, because I like the idea of regular people finding out they have a super power. The story starts out with a father, Henry, and his seven-year old daughter, Chloe, hiding in a squalid home. Chloe has never been outside of the house for her entire seven years of life. Henry keeps telling his daughter that there are bad men outside that want to kill her, but we don’t know who or why. The clues they give about the mystery are bizarre, almost like a drug induced experience. At times, his treatment of the little girl appears abusive, but you can see he’s trying to protect her when she gets curious about the outside world. It takes too long to clear up the mystery. After a lot of dragged out scenes, we fast-forwarded through about 15 minutes of the show. Finally the film starts making sense as to why they’re hiding, and the plot picks up pace with excitement. The plot turns out to be more of a violent dark fantasy than a sci-fi story about super heroes. If you like dark fantasy, you might like it. The acting is fantastic, but I’m disappointed in yet another movie that depicts the whole of humanity as evil. Once past the halfway mark, it gets thrilling, and the acting is good, but the overall plot is too slow and dark for me. I give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.

2020

The entire plot of this romantic comedy takes place at a wedding. Hayley is getting married in Italy, and throughout the day, several funny mishaps occur. Hayley’s brother, Jack is in love with Dina, his sister’s friend. Dina is exotically gorgeous, but her personality is bland. Jack blew a chance to be with her years earlier, which they don’t really show much, so there is very little chemistry. At the wedding, he is excited to get a second chance with her. Hayley and Jack have the more engaging personalities, plus their two hilarious friends, Bryan and Rebecca. Hayley is much like a Julia Roberts or a Sandra Bullock in any of their movies. Jack reminds me of Hugh Grant. It’s fun and entertaining. The story tries to make a point about true love, but it really doesn’t feel like there is any meaning to the story at all. I recommend it to be entertained and forget about what’s happening in the world for a while, but it’s nothing deep. Just cute. I give it 3.5 of 5 stars.

2013-2017

This TV series was on the now defunct network CW, and I’d always been curious about it. After it ended, I decided to watch it on Netflix, and I was hooked from the first scene. The creators/writers fictionalize the life of Mary Queen of Scots and add a touch of the supernatural. They do use real events, but they are drowned out in the fiction. Every single episode has intrigue and suspense. The chemistry between Queen Mary and Prince Frances oozes through the screen. The woman who plays Mary’s mother-in-law and rival (Megan Follows), Queen Catherine De’Medici is phenomenal as the antagonist. You have to overlook the clothing and music not being of that era, because after all, it is fictionalized. How fun it would be to play dress-up in some of the gorgeous clothing worn by the women in the show. I’m giving it 4.5 of 5 stars, only because I didn’t like what they did with the story halfway through the second season. They also sort of ended it abruptly and didn’t really show all the things that happened in the second half of her life. But, they did bring it to a conclusion. Overall, this was extremely captivating.