Netflix Party Review: Work it (2020) [Zee]

Work It (2020)

A twist on step up, a film that was influenced by the very popular film series of Step up, work it followers an 18-year-old Quinn (Sabrina Carpenter) who want to follow her father footsteps and attend Duke University. However, she too many box, in their eyes she ticked so many of them that she is like the rest of Dukes university applications that she is nothing new and now she has to dance her way out of the box to get in. Starring Disney Girls meet world Sabrina Carpenter and Jordan Fisher who plays Seacat in Disney Teen beach movies. This is my review of Emzie pick of the week Work it.

I tried to keep an open mind about this film because of the great cast, but it just shows that you could have a film the is full of a-listers but doesn't make it a great film. it just not original. Now I know that all films are similar but they are different at the same time. With Work It, I just fill like it to it too much like the step u movie, the only difference is the main character wants to go off to university and instead of hip-hop it contemporary.

Now it has it pros like it is funny in parts but this is one of those films that you can easily put it in the background and do some work on you laptop and still know what is going on in the film. overall i would give this film a 3stars out of 5. It one hundred per cent, not a film i would rush to watch again, but if I am bored  and it is on, than i won't mind.

Till next week

Zee Tay

Netflix Party Review: Ladies In Black [Emz]

 

So this film was Zee's pick for last Saturday's Netflix party.

I apologize for the late upload, it was my birthday last week so I decided to milk it and celebrate throughout the week. I mean you only turn 30 once right?

Anyway onto the review.  I had never heard of this film before but was certainly curious when Zee picked it. It is based around the 1993 novel The Women in Black.

Here is the synopsis:

In the summer of 1959, Lisa, a shy schoolgirl, takes a job in Sydney's prestigious department store Goode's. There, her life is changed forever when she meets the "ladies in black."

I  found this film to have many sweet moments but many other moments that really showed the year that film was set.

So this film was set in Australia, with a mainly Australian cast. 

The found the naivety of the main character quite charming. as shes sees things a different way to the other staff members. 

I didn't enjoy the racism towards the immigrants that had made a life for themselves in Australia, but one you have to think back to the year the film is set and also a mixture of ignorance and unwillingness to embrace change.

Lisa's parents fall under the umbrella of unwillingness to embrace change as we learn that her name is actually Leslie but she hates her name. Her dad takes the entire film to embrace that his daughter is very intelligent and wants to go to University as he never went himself and feels he is fine. Her mother seemingly doesn't want her daughter to grow up and has trouble letting her find her style in fashion.

I find Lisa's friendship with Magda to be really lovely and how she embraces the fact that she is an immigrant from Slovenia and actually knows where Slovenia is and the capital city, which impresses Magda.

I find the character of Fay (Rachael Taylor - Jessica Jones) to be a little naive as well, I find that she takes on other people's opinions as her own without making up her own mind.

Patty has her own issues beyond the store with her husband, confusion and mixed emotions ensue between them as the story progresses.

Overall I found this to be a lovely story for the period it was set and it opens your eyes to how things must have been in the late '50s.

I would recommend this film and I give it a 9/10.

Next up will be Zee's review with my pick for this weekend.

Till next time

Emz x

Tv Review: Chicago Med Season 1 Episode 1 "Derailed" [Emz]

 

I have just started rewatching this series from the beginning through Amazon Prime. It is the second spin-off from NBC's Chicago Fire, after Chicago P.D.

The first episode is called Derailed. Here is the synopsis:

The grand opening of Chicago Med's emergency department is interrupted by victims of an "L" train crash, pushing the staff to their limits. Dr. Will Halstead and the new trauma fellow Dr. Connor Rhodes butt heads when the latter pulls rank when it comes to treating patients. Pregnant pediatrician Dr. Natalie Manning reveals that her husband was killed during his tour of duty in Afghanistan. Medical student Sarah Reese's first days on rotation take an emotional toll on her. Halstead and Manning are forced to perform an emergency surgery on a patient who is a surrogate to a couple.

 

The premiere episode sees the debut of Dr. Connor Rhodes (Arrow's Colin Donnell).

I enjoyed the episode. It certainly wasn't a slow opening by any means, whilst the staff at the hospital are opening a new emergency wing, the new Dr. is involved in an accident on the Chicago "L" Train. 

There is already brewing animosity between  Dr. Halstead and Dr. Rhodes with in the first 5 minutes of them sharing the screen together. 

We also meet other staff members including Dr. Natalie Manning (Torey DeVitto), Dr. Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss) who is the brother of Jay Halstead from Chicago P.D, Nurse April Sexton (Yaya DaCosta) and Sarah Reese (Rachel DiPillo) who is a medical student, first day on rotation.

We also meet a young patient called Jamie, who has been a regular visitor to the hospital since he was 8 years old he has Cystic Fibrosis. We see the progression of his story and his relationship with many of the staff at the hospital throughout the episode.

I enjoy the fact that you can jump straight into these characters and it feels like the shows been running longer than it has.  You immediately become attached to the patients and the main characters.

The link with the other Chicago series is shown through guest appearances from Fire and P.D.

I like the fact that I have at least 4 seasons to work through on Amazon, the boxsets can cost so much more than a yearly payment to Amazon Prime.

I am working my way through the episodes so I will hopefully post once a week about this show.

Emz

Netflix Party Review: Victor Frankenstein [Emz]

 

This was Zee's pick for one of our recent Netflix Party Film nights. 

The film was released in 2015. It was a Horror film with a Scifi twist (more emphasis on the Sci-fi). It stars Daniel Radcliffe as Igor and James McAvoy as Victor Frankenstein.

I thought this film was an interesting twist on the Frankenstein tale. I idea that Victor is actually trying to replace his elder brother and that he probably blames himself for his death after going out to play in the snow as children and getting stuck in the blizzard.

The most talkative point for me was Daniel Radcliffe's hair.. it was rather girly looking.. I guess it can't be helped as perhaps it is trying to be in keeping with the era or the character.

The special effects throughout that whole film were incredible, if this film had been released 10 years earlier, the scale wouldn't have been able to look so impressive. The added effect with the flies did make my stomach turn just a little.

The big reveal of the original Igor being dead wasn't a huge surprise towards the end as he hadn't turned up at all. I was surprised to see the condition of him. The bit I found strange was that Daniel Radcliffe's Igor didn't ask many questions at all as to his whereabouts when he was given his name, I guess his character is a little naive. 

The storyline was good, but for me, it wouldn't be a film I would watch over and over again. 

Overall I'd probably give the film a 7/10, for the scale of the film and the quality of acting.

Til Next Time

Emz x

New and Returning TV Shows 2020

 So, I thought I'd start out posting about the upcoming TV shows I'm looking forward to that are still to be released this year.

1. WandaVision

So first up we have the first Disney+ MCU TV Show of Phase 4. WandaVision stars Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany as Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch) and Vision. 

As most of you would know if you have been watching the Marvel films, Vision's last film was Avengers: Infinity War. I'm not too sure how this show will unfold but i get the impression that Wanda is behind it all. obviously, the show ties into the movie Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.

Here is the Synopsis we have been given:

Set after the events of Avengers: Endgame (2019), Wanda Maximoff and Vision begin to suspect things are not as they seem as the two live their ideal suburban life.

We should also expect Thre Falcon and the Winter Soldier this year also. Next year should bring Loki and Hawkeye.

The show is set to premiere in December 2020.

2. Wynonna Earp - Season 4

Well, this is something Earpers have been waiting for this for quite some time now. Season 3 ended in 2018  and it was announced that the show had been renewed for Seasons 4 and 5.

IDW Entertainment held back production on Season 4 due to financial difficulties. The Earpers did not back down, the hashtag #FightForWynonna went viral all over the world and even reached Times Square in New York City.

The fight was worth it and production finally began late last year (2019). The show was halted after filming half the number of episodes due to the current global pandemic - Covid-19 in March 2020. Filming was resumed under very strict regulations in July 2020, because of this only 6 episodes will air this year unless otherwise announced,

The current season can only be aired in the USA and Canada right now but they are working hard to get the next season to the rest of the world. 

For those who do not know what the show is about here is a brief plot:

On her 27th birthday, Wynonna Earp, the great-great-granddaughter of legendary lawman Wyatt Earp, inherits the special power to return revenants, the reincarnated outlaws that Wyatt had killed, back to Hell. Using her ancestor's magic gun, "Peacemaker," Wynonna works to break her family's curse by sending demons back where they belong. She also fights other supernatural beings that inhabit the Ghost River Triangle, a cursed territory near the Canadian Rockies that includes Purgatory, her hometown. After being recruited by the Black Badge Division (BBD), a secret government agency led by Special Agent Xavier Dolls, she is joined by an ageless Doc Holliday and Wynonna's sister, Waverly Earp. Nicole Haught, a Purgatory Sheriff's Deputy and Waverly's girlfriend, assists the team in her local police role.

I myself have some catching up to do as I haven't completed Season 3 yet. Hopefully, I'll be caught up by the time Season 4 reaches the UK.

Wynonna Earp is currently airing on SyFy and Space in the USA can Canada.

3. The Umbrella Academy - Season 2

It is official, this show is addictive. I binge-watched Season 1 and I am slowly making my way through season 2.

Season 1 left off with the apocalypse and Five transporting them back in time to stop it. 

So where does season 2 pick up...

Here is the plot:

"Five warned his family (so, so many times) that using his powers to escape from Vanya’s 2019 apocalypse was risky. Well, he was right - the time jump scatters the siblings in time in and around Dallas, Texas. Over a three year period. Starting in 1960."

"Some, having been stuck in the past for years, have built lives and moved on, certain they’re the only ones who survived. Five is the last to land, smack dab in the middle of a nuclear doomsday, which - spoiler alert! - turns out is a result of the group’s disruption of the timeline (déjà vu, anyone?)."

"Now the Umbrella Academy must find a way to reunite, figure out what caused doomsday, put a stop to it, and return to the present timeline to stop that other apocalypse. All while being hunted by a trio of ruthless Swedish assassins. But seriously, no pressure or anything."

This season is bound to have as many twists and turns as the first.

Season 2 was released onto Netflix on the 31st July.

These are my top 3 picks for now. what shows are you looking forward to? Feel free to let me know.

Till next time

Emz x

Netflix Party Review: How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days [Zee]

 

Chick Flick is common slang young for romance genre's that are normally aimed at young teenagers- early twenties female, such films include twilight, dirty dancing, Notting hill and films like Titanic. They are all, great example of chick-flicks. 

In today's blog, I am writing about the 2003 film How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, starring Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson, Thomas Lennon and Annie Parisse. It about a young woman who tries to make her way in the journalistic world writing a “how too” column for a beauty magazine where she took on a bet with a boss that she can lose a guy ten days too write a column about how to lose them in which hopefully the women reading it find out that if they want to keep a guy to not do this. But what happens if the guy who she trying to lose is trying to make her stay. 

Here my top five on how to. 

1. This film is a different way of telling a cheesy chick-flick movie, as a girl who mainly try to stay far away from the too cliché rom-com/chick-flick movie. This trying to lose a guy feel + the guy trying to win the guy instead the girl trying to win the man. Is a very funny, interesting spin to the genre. 

2. Now this is the film I ever watch with Matthew McConaughey and I am impressed with his acting in this film or they did a lot of takes, because of the stuff the character Andie (Kate Hudson) It would be very hard to keep a straight face. So, I truly am applauding his acting talent. 

3. One error with the storyline I mainly picked out on though. On day Sevan of Ten, they went to a fake couple therapist. The Therapist suggest a week away to visit Ben’s parents. The fake therapist knows Andi’s plan as she in on it. And by suggesting a week away meaning by the time they arrive back it will be at least twelve days but when they came back, they were on day nine, so that didn’t make sense.  

4. The soundtrack of this movie fits with the overall film of the film, and as a noughties child, it brought back lot of happy memories of schools parties, birthdays parties and sitting in my room listening to the radio. (yes young people in the early 2000’s we still had radios) How to is more than a chick-flick it a journey back to the past to a time when you was younger, back when you are a child or even in your twenties yourself. 

5. Cinematography, it won’t past as a blockbuster in today’s standard but for the era the cinematography is of a good standard. The closeness, lighting everything was tied in very nice and made you feel related to the character even when Andie called Ben’s Spike, Princess Sofia. 

Overall, coming from a girl like myself who not a fan of chick-flick how to lose a guy in 10 days gets 5 stars from me. It is funny, and you kind of forget a time that you are watching a chick-flick.  so totally recommend watching this to somebody who not a chick-flix fan. 

Zee tay 

Coming Soon

 Welcome to Showtime with Emz & Zee.

We will be posting our reviews on TV shows and Movies we have been watching during this lockdown period.

We will be starting with the movies we have been watching together via Netflix Party.

We have an old blog called Emz & Zee's Media Mania, but we stopped updating as life got in the way.

Look out because the reviews are coming soon.