She Spoiled It
  • Home
  • About
  • All reviews

"Weekly" roundup 2 Feb 2020

2/2/2020

 
Picture
The latest news, reiews, releases and general chat
Included this week
  • Pandora International Film Critics awards
  • Podcasting
  • Glasgow Film Festival
  • New to Streaming (UK)
  • What I've Been Watching
  • Night classes
In the couple of weeks since the last "weekly" I've been knuckling down with my homework for night classes and trying to work on my reviews. I was asked to take part in the Pandora International Film Critics Awards voting and the Filmotomy podcast. I also got press accreditation for Glasgow Film Festival - quite a lot going on!

Pandora International Film Critics Awards

I was asked to participate in these new online awards run by the Filmotomy website. There's not actually a ceremony or anything but it is a collection of film critics around the world submitting their nominations then voting on the top ones. It was great to be involved and get to champion some smaller or more international films even if they didn't get through to the final rounds. 

Podcasting

Picture
I was really honoured when Filmotomy also asked me to  participate in their 97th podcast, on the theme of actress Amy Adams and director Denis Villeneuve. I have seen most of Villeneuve's films from the last decade and a fair amount of Amy Adams' but not for some time. I was with people who had very intelligent and knowledgable things to say so I was nervous about sounding dumb.

So I tried to make my voice heard on the things where I had something to say and kept quiet when they discussed films I hadn't seen. Hopefully I got away with it!

Glasow Film Festival

Picture
Not really narrowed it down
Having realised that I'll be back from Berlin Film Festival the day after Glasgow starts I applied for a press pass - and got it! Yaaayy.

I am so very excited about the whole thing, it's unbelievable that I started all this 5 months ago and people are actually letting me do it!

Glasgow doesn't have a separate schedule for press screenings but instead they allocate a certain number of free tickets. You have to apply for them so you need to do your homework up front and plan your schedule. It's taken hours to read the whole brochure and apply 47 tabs. Then work out which ones I can actually see. All I need to do now is prioritise where they clash.

New to Streaming (UK)

One of the big films arriving to Netflix recently is Uncut Gems. Some people love the intense screaming match but I really didn't like it. 
​
The main news in streaming land is that Netflix are adding a huge amount of Studio Ghibli films in batches over the coming months. The first batch is now available and you're in for a treat! The only notable absence is Grave of the Fireflies which is on Amazon right now. Hooboy that's a tough watch.
Picture
The Last Tree  - Amazon
This is a fantastic British film about family roots, differing cultures and growing up in poverty as best you can. It's gritty and longing and the use of colour is very pointed. Watch out for what the red and blue represents.
Picture
Cleo from 5 to 7 - Mubi
One of Agnes Varda's greatest films. We follow a woman around the streets of Paris as she awaits the results of some medical tests. 
Picture
Laputa: Castle In The Sky - Netflix
​One of my favourite all time films as I grew up watching this on VHS - carefully taped off the telly cutting out the adverts. The mining town is based on villages in Wales, there's Fox-Squirrels, giant robots, a girl who has a secret destiny and the clash of greed and nature. Love every minute of it. 
Picture
Judy - Amazon
Renee Zellweger has more than a few acting nominations for this. I prefer a more nuanced and real performance but then again I don't know what Judy Garland was like in real life. Either way, it's a good film and has oscar prospects. 
Picture
Booksmart - Amazon Prime
Olivia Wilde's comedy is very funny, very silly and a wild ride. It was the spark that caused a few airlines to review their film censoring policies as they had edited out all lesbian interactions. Aside from the fact this is homophobic, given that one of the two leads is a lesbian it was quite key to the plot.
​Anyway it's great and you can watch it.
​
Picture
​Lady Bird - Netflix
If you were a teenage girl in the late 1990s / early 2000s this is the film for you. It's about getting ready to leave home, become who you are, navigate relationships with terrible people, and with your parents. It was voted the In Their Own League number 1 film of the decade. 

What I've Been Watching

Picture
I've been able to get to the cinema a few times and have seen some great films and some clangers. 

The Personal History Of David Copperfield was a fantastic feast for the eyes. It mixed theatrical storytelling with amazing costumes and exceptional casting  to create something very special. I haven't read David Copperfield because who reads Dickens for fun (don't come at me) so this was a great surprise. I can't fault a single one of the performances either. 

Bombshell was more of a miss for me. It was a very important story and managed to get across some of the reasons why workplace harrassment wouldn't be reported. But there were a lot of characters I didn't recognise, not being an American Fox news watcher. And the intersecting stories didn't help the central point. 

I caught up with 2018's Ash Is Purest White and The Chambermaid which were both fairly mediocre for me even though they both have great reputations. 

Queen & Slim and The Rhythm Section were both poor but I made up for it with a rewatch of 2012's thriller of a documentary, The Imposter, my review of that will be released in a couple of days. 

Night Classes

Picture
Filmmaking class is loads of fun and I'm loving it! I've got my documentary planned out and am working on things like filming locations and storyboarding. I'm learning vital things in every lesson and I'm so very glad I signed up! I can't wait to show you the final product. It's going to be a 5 minute film for class but if I have enough footage I might make a longer version.

The Film Theory and Criticism is a lot more acaemic and I'm having to google words as we go along. Eek. But it's all really solid grounding which will no doubt help my understanding of film immeasurably. I'm going to opt out of the essay though just because won't be able to get an actual qualification without doing a LOTmore credit courses in the coming years. One is hard enough.



Comments are closed.

    Author

    Hi, I'm Caz. I live in Edinburgh and I watch a lot of films. My reviews focus mainly on women in film - female directors or how women are represented on screen.
    Follow me on Twitter at @SheSpoiledIt

    I am a regular contributor for In Their Own League​ and most of my reviews can be found there. This site is more of a portfolio to store my work.

    In Their Own League has an amazing team who produce loads of reviews, articles, interviews, filmmaker spotlights and other fabulous content.

    ​Please support them!

    Archives

    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019

    Categories

    All
    Berlinale 2020
    Blog Post
    EIFF 20
    EIFF 2021
    Female Director
    Femspectives 2021
    GFF 2020
    GFF 2021
    Interviews
    Lff-2020
    Raindance 2020
    Review
    SXSW 2021
    Taiwan Film Festival
    Take One Action Film Festival
    TIFF 21

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • About
  • All reviews