#renee reviews

[palmettoshenanigans]

Someone suggested Aaron deserves a chance in a rage room but now I'm just wondering... what would every Fox be like if offered an hour in a rage room? Like I know those things usually give you options so like,,, what would they do?

[loycspotting]

21. Ewan McGregor Movie Review: Down with Love (2003)

Genre: Comedy/Romance

Rating: PG-13

Director: Peyton Reed

Starring: Renée Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, Sarah Paulson, and David Hyde Pierce

Synopsis: Aspiring author, Barbara Novak, trades her small-town life for the Big Apple in order to promote her new book, "Down with Love." The book stirs up controversy with its message to help women achieve equality by saying no to love and yes to sex. When Catcher Block, resident playboy and New York's #1 journalist, is personally affected by this shift of the sexes, he plots to expose Barbara Novak as a fraud by getting her to fall in love with him.

Ewan Review: Ewan plays the character Catcher Block. Catcher is famous for being THE socialite of New York City. Women want him, men want to be him, and he's highly respected in his field as a journalist. Yes, life is perfect for him...until Barbara Novak shows up out of the blue and turns society on its head! His pride and reliance on the status quo can't bear to see this happen. So, he does what any logical man would do: wage a battle of the sexes! Ewan surprisingly speaks in his Scottish accent for this role! He also speaks in a southern accent which isn't any good, but I'm going to give him a pass this time because of the context. He has two shirtless scenes and LOTS of kissing scenes. I'm talking straight up making out, y'all. There are sex jokes galore and he gets to make his fair share of them. He doesn't have any sex scenes but he does have an implied erection scene. Lastly, he has a stellar song and dance number. His acting performance is incredible. I also just want to add that he is outlandishly handsome in this movie. I don't know how to explain it, especially because he's handsome in practically all his roles. He's a naturally handsome guy, but the way his attractiveness was amplified ten-fold in this movie did not go unnoticed by me. Please tell me if you understand what I'm talking about.

Screentime Percentage: Ewan is on screen for a grand total of 47/102 minutes making his SP 46%.

To Ewan or not to Ewan: Is the movie worth watching for Ewan in general? 1000% YES! Is it worth watching in general? Yes!

Where to Watch: "Down with Love" is available for rent on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, and Google Play Movies and TV. You can watch it for free on soap2day.

Closing Thoughts: This movie is an homage to the sex comedies of the 1960s and is played out like one. It takes place in 1962 and the way it transports the audience back to that time is nothing short of fantastic! The costumes, editing, set design, manner of speech, soundtrack, everything down to the last detail was dripping in nostalgia and it was a blast! I feel the need to stress though that this a SEX comedy. It's about sex. It's all the characters talk about, it's the driving force of the movie, and dirty jokes/sexual innuendos are the foundation of it. Just think it over before popping it in for family movie night.

[thatqueerfangirl02]

My honest opinion of Mean Girls (2024)

Even though nobody asked for it.

If you are familiar with the Broadway Musical, and you are expecting this to be a movie version of the Broadway Musical, you will be disappointed. However, it is a wonder modern remake featuring songs from the Broadway Musical.

Renee Rapp is perfect and I love her. She can do no wrong.

Aaron Samuels could have been better, but I was initially glad they didn’t just go for a “White Boy of the the Month” type. (I was informed after the fact that he is in fact a “White Boy of the Month” I just haven’t seen TSITP.)

Song wise Apex Predator, Sexy, Revenge Party, World Burn, and Rather Be Me we’re fantastic, overall beautiful execution. However they did cut some of my favourite songs, and put in new ones instead.

The songs they did keep were changed a bit to have a more “2020s “ vibe, instead of the “Y2K/2010s” Broadway vibe that they originally had.

Loved the little cameos.

Full of queer representation (gender & sexuality) as well as BIPOC representation. I even noticed some of the background/extras had visible disabilities which is amazing.

There are a couple iconic/notable lines from the OG versions that were changed for - I’m assuming - political correctness, but they were done in a way that didn’t change the intentions.

Queer icons Janice (forget her last name too lazy to google it) is played by Actual F*cking Disney Princess Icon MOANA herself!!! And I personally think that is a slay and a power move.

TL;DR Overall great movie, 7.5/10 would recommend and will watch again 👍🏼

[fideidefenswhore]

She continued, 'After all, there was another cause which would convince your queen and Catherine to pursue a good amity. There was an old acquaintance between your queen's mother and the queen regent, when the former was one of the maids-of-honour of Queen Claude, sister of Renee of France, my own mother-in-law and dear friend to Catherine de Medici herself. They were friendly towards another. There is no reason for Elizabeth and Catherine not to continue that friendship.' The mention of Anne Boleyn stunned the English ambassador; it had never crossed his mind that the reputation of Elizabeth's mother in France could be used as a diplomatic tool to reinforce Anglo-French relations.

Blood, Fire and Gold: The Story of Elizabeth I & Catherine de Medici, Estelle Paranque

[filmjunky-99]

s t a r t r e k d e e p s p a c e n i n e created by rick berman, michael piller [crossfire, 4ep12]

'The station's criminal element has been busy this week.' - kira

'Nothing out of the ordinary. Three petty thefts, two incidents of disorderly conduct, one assault.' - odo

[jurassicworldtieindrpepper]

The Umpteenth Fun Home Reread

FUCCCKKKKKK literally the only book ever god I could not be more obsessed. Alison Bechdel, in a non stalker way...keep fucking writing forever, fucking love you man. Butches! Now, will it be excruciating to listen to my lesbophobic classmates talk about how much they connect with and related to Alison in our class discussion in a few days? Do not remind me. PSA: if you stan Renee Rapp, Chappell Roan, really consume the work of any lesbian artist but mistreat lesbians in your community God is going to strike you down in time! To the point: read this one to your mom. I think your mom in particular would really like it.

[softness-and-shattering]

About the Mean Girls musical movie

I know Ive had conversations before about the cultural context stuff, that it seems like the message was not as effective as the first movie when the stuff its talking about, how girls are wrong whatever they do and everything is up for criticism and filming, and you have to pretend to be sweet and kind fairy princesses instead of being allowed to be human. And Id have to go back and find those posts to see what I do and dont agree with now. Because I just saw the movie. And honestly, I liked it. A lot of the visuals were really fun and interesting, which I think is impressive in a movie that mostly takes place inside of a high school. Regina more than once looks like she's in a music video, and that works because shes so hyped, its like she lives in a reality where not only do people break into song, but she's always in a music video. She really sells the character, self-assured and in charge and perfectly manipulative, and even when she's being vulnerable you're like, but is this another deception? She's more villainous in this version, and by the end maybe more human as well. (also the costuming is phenomenal, that Halloween angel dress?? The entire Halloween Someone Get Hurts sequence might be my favourite. )

Also Renee Rapp, who plays Regina, is just incredibly hot. She also played Regina on Broadway so it makes sense she has the character down. Thats not film critique thats my personal admiration. Its almost a little silly with the "oh no Regina is gaining weight she cant fit her clothes" because she looks amazing. [Edit: She's also obviously - I was gonna say she seems older than the other "teens" but actually she's 24, so Im having a moment of feeling old. And she's actually the same age as Auli'i Cravalho who is a lot younger in my mind because holy shit Moana came out EIGHT years ago?? Angourie Rice/Cady is 23, Jaquel Spivy/Damian is 26, Avantika/Karen is 19, thats more the age I thought they were but not the cast seems to be mostly 23-26. Its so weird when times moves the same for people while your image of them in your head stays the same. So Rapp isn't older she's just a bit bigger (neutral/positive). And she's been playing the role for a long time. And Im allowed to find her hot because she's a goddamn adult and so am I. This paragraph is not critique it is me blogging on my blog. Now Im annoyed at myself for Caveats of Fear but Im gonna stop dwelling on that now.]

On that note, though I originally liked the musical quite a lot, the significant fatphobia in it soured it for me. And Im happy to say in the musical movie, they changed or omitted those lines. I was waiting to cringe and they just sang something else. So that was great. I think the only fat character was Damian (why does that suddenly look like a vampire name?) - Jaquel Spivy - and he seemed comfy and cool, no self deprecating fat jokes or anything. Generally the lines/jokes that were uncomfortable or a bit bigoted have been changed. Though there isnt any disability rep, and theres a random character the burn book claims puts alcohol in her inhaler, like a 3 second joke.

And the big thing is that a lot of the meanness is shown in montages of vertical video and comments - no-brand tiktok obviously - and I think thats pretty realistic, and also in the original theme of not being mean to peoples faces but talking all kinds of shit behind their backs. And I think the montage format is effective in mimicking that endless scroll eyes glazing over stuck in the doom scroll/stuck in the spectacle. The music was good. I really liked how they overlaid the Spring Fling/thematic music with the math competition. If anything, Cady is not as good of a character, her Plastic switch is basically overnight, the scene with Aaron at the party is still kinda of awkward, she doesnt get as much room to breathe, while almost everyone else comes off really well. Heck even the candy cane/glen coco guy did well, I was actually suprised at how differently and yet excellently the actors acted their lines, compared both to the previous movie and the musical. Auli'i is fantastic, scary Janis is *scary*. And I simultaneously want to be her best friend. (It certainly helps that her art is augmented with embroidery and she's carrying embroidery hoops in multiple scenes. Fiber arts my loves.)

When I first saw a trailer my thoughts were "ugh we dont need another movie of this," but I think Ive changed my mind. Its similar enough and different enough that for me its a good adaptation. Also - I almost forgot to say - Janis gets a girlfriend for Spring Fling. Its not a plot point, we're just montaging getting ready and Janis goes to pick her up (in the lavender suit), and Damian is taking photos with two other sapphic couples. And he gets a crush/admirer who again, is just there to be there and doesnt interfere with the main story. I might change my mind again once its had time to settle in my thoughts, but initial impression is that its a fun movie I would watch again. Maybe we want the social commentary to be more incisive than it is, and in the end it is entertainment that needs to not be too boring to hold peoples shortening attention spans. (also neutral). Maybe thats wishing for it to be a movie that its not trying to be, and thats always a recipe for disappointment and also not great or fair analysis. What a fantastic line to end on*.

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

Goodreads | Storygraph | Literal

🦇 This Used to Be Us Book Review 🦇

❓ #QOTD What's something you've learned about love that you would want your younger self to hear? ❓ 🦇 Once fiercely in love, Dani and Alex can barely stand the sound of each other’s voice. In the wake of a fresh divorce, they decide to share a nesting apartment, swapping days there or with their two boys at home. The distance gives them the chance to reflect on the last two decades of their marriage—why they fell in love and why everything fell apart. Dani's collection of albums, covered in notes about their past, reminds them just how much love once bound them together. Are those reminders enough to lead them back toward love?

💜 I first encountered Renee Carlino's writing in 2013, when Sweet Thing was released, and have waited for something new since 2019, after The Last Post. To see her name on Netgalley for this book sparked a rush of excitement, like getting a call from an old friend after a few years of silence. Renee Carlino has always excelled at developing strong, emotionally bound relationships. The relationship between Dani and Alex is filled with history (some of which we get small glimpses of, via Dani's album collection and notes from their past). Dani is an emotionally driven character, and those emotions scream off the page; bitter resentment, heartache over a lost love, and everything in between. I had to put the book down a few times at the beginning, simply out of frustration.

💙 While you SEE those emotions, you don't feel it. Every sentence of this story was Tell, not Show, making paragraphs blocky, sentences slatted. Despite the heavy mess of emotions in this book, you don't emotionally connect with either character. Instead, their animosity toward each other makes it difficult to even LIKE either of them. Given the way the story is set up, with Dani's notes on the albums, there's an amazing opportunity for flashbacks--to Show, rather than Tell us, how love can conquer all. We only get a few of those glimpses, and it's not enough. Instead, the present seems to drag them further apart, before rushing them back together without raw, emotional development. The story could have ended with one of the boys, writing their own note on one of the albums. While I love the full-circle concept of the last chapter, it doesn't feel as powerful or emotional as it could have been. What was one of my most anticipated books of the year is now one of the most disappointing.

✨ The Vibes ✨ 🌸 Contemporary Fiction 🌸 Marriage/Divorce 🌸 Second Chance Romance 🌸 Miscommunication 🌸 TW: Miscarriage

🦇 Major thanks to the author and publisher for providing an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 🥰 This does not affect my opinion regarding the book. #ThisUsedtoBeUs

💬 Quotes ❝ In the beginning, Alex and I were like two opposite magnets in a drawer. My north to his south. We grew closer and closer together … until we fused. It was then that we became the same, too alike … too close. We were so close, so similar, we started to repel one another. We lost our identities & surrendered to being a couple. To being a mom & dad with no singular identities, no separateness, no autonomy. Now I’m seeing him again from the other side of the drawer and there are so many things I want to tell him. ❞ ❝ “You are my Times New Roman. The original, bold & classic.”❞

[rickchung]

Seeking Mavis Beacon (dir. Jazmin Jones) x DOXA 2024. (via The Independent)

Two women investigate the disappearance of the iconic real-life model behind the popular 1980s educational software while raising pertinent issues concerning our relationship to technology. Jones and her friend, Carribean-American video artist Olivia McKayla Ross, create their own portrait of their image of "Mavis Beacon" while blending the facts they uncover with their own fictional interpretations. Their exercise feels like an experimental detour interrogating our cultural fascinations (like true crime or conspiratorial fare) as they figure out who Renee L’Esperance, a Haitian immigrant model, perfume saleswoman, and the face behind Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, really is and why she vanished from public life entirely.

Screening as part of the 2024 DOXA Documentary Film Festival at The Cinematheque on May 12.

[football-in-tuxedos]

Posted my thoughts on Mean Girls, how you remake a film that's left an indelible mark on culture and also Gus Van Sant? For some reason? Anyway, it's up on Medium, enjoy

[flbitella]

[angel-and-the-serpent]

Mean girls movie

Okay. I LOVED THIS MOVIE WITH ALL MY HEART, but I've gotta say, as a lover of the *broadway musical* this was definitely a change. spoilers under the cut

Okay. so first thing. they cut out *14 SONGS* 14. all of these I felt, wouldve helped with the plot. and yes, that mighve made it all songs, but take out one or two, not half of the entire soundtrack. Second thing. Cady. Oh my god. this... I've heard so much about this, and no disrespect to anyone and everyone who worked on the film, but in my opinion, they changed cady's songs a bit too much. if you listen to the original *stupid with love* It's really fun, all about a girl being like, new to love and really excited about it, and in the new film, they tone it down *so much.* and it just takes away cady's whole, oh I'm finally in love, I've found the out, naive outgoing type of persona

thirdly, the dfifereence in sound. the bway musical was VERY rock oriented, and that's what drew me to it, as someone who loves 80s/90s rock. however, these songs seemed to take almost every aspect of that out, almost as if they were trying to modernize it. I'm a;; for that, but with some of these songs, I feel they could have been just as good without it.

Overall, this movie was awesome, i loved it so much, and although its definitely not my top movie of all time, its definitely topped some others I've seen.

this is all an opinion and i don't want to offend anyone at all, as this is my own base of opinion from someone who has watched the original movie and the musical may times.

[feliciette]

posted a new mean girls video analysis/review this week

[reneeofthestars]

Year in Review, 2023 ✨

Summary of art, art vs artist

I'm really pleased with the progress I've made on my art this year. I'm definitely getting more comfortable with it, and experimenting with my style a bit more.

Here's to 2024! ✨️

[gumptioustactition]

Mean Girls(2024) is a film which is loudly ashamed of itself. It is self referential and cheeky - it cuts itself off to remind you that you're watching a movie MUSICAL, isn't that silly? Aren't movie musicals SILLY? Why are these teens SINGING? Isn't that RANDOM? The backing tracks have been gutted and sound empty, while the actors at some times sound like they would have benefited from a second or third take, such as Cady's verse in Revenge Party, or look completely dubbed, like Regina in Someone Gets Hurt. The choreography in many songs is lacking and nonsensical. I'd Rather Be Me is filmed like a made-for-YouTube music video, not like a scene in a movie. Stupid with love sounds like it was sung by someone who had never heard the song before but was given the lyrics and a generic royalty free backing to sing over, and finishes with choreography which was made to be easily cropped to a vertical format and posted on tiktok. It is generic and boring and BAD. Cady sings the line "I am filled with calcu-lust" like she's serenading a slug she found on the sidewalk. After being shot in the behind with a horse tranquilizer.

The vertical angle worked...somewhat, for Sexy. It was a clever choice to frame the song as something Karen was shooting for her Snapchat, but it again suffers from a gutted backing, poor choreo, and cluttered visuals when the screen is filled with poorly framed, shot, choreographed, and edited clips of other actors performing for their smartphones, which later devolved into, again, something that is visually more like a music video than a scene from a movie. Avantika is a talented vocalist, she did not need to be autotuned!!! Let her sing!!

Damien's solo song Stop was cut, which is the reason I am going with for him being given Cady's wild-themed lines in Apex Predator. You are reading that correctly - the song in which Cady compares highschool to the animal food chain she knows in Kenya was instead given to Damien, who has no reason to be singing lines like "they scatter like mice from a jungle cat". His fling with The Beast from Stop is hinted at earlier, just before Meet The Plastics, but is otherwise dropped.

This is an issue presented throughout the film. In its haste to point and laugh at itself at every juncture while shoving in orignal songs in a desperate attempt at winning Best Original Song, character moments are dropped. Karen does not get to report the weather. Janis is not manipulative. We do not know who Cady Herron is, aside from that she is obsessed with Aaron, and yet her obsession is sedated, so she is not even allowed that. What Ifs replaces It Roars, a song which is better and does more to introduce Cady's character, which is to say, Whats Ifs does anything at all. The hints of jungle bounce from Cautionary Tale, It Roars, Stupid With Love, Apex Predator, and More Is Better have been erased, leaving behind clean pop idol Cady Herron who we know nothing about. If you are going to take out all hints of her childhood, you should at least replace them with something! Her leitmotif is meant to indicate when we are seeing/hearing Cady Herron for who she is, getting a glimpse at her true self before she covers it back up in concealer and glitter. Mean Girls(2024) leaves Cady as glitter all the way down.

(Note: In several areas of the movie, lyrics are changed for reasons I can't discern. A verse of Stupid With Love, which references Cady's first crush on a Kenyan boy, is completely cut, and in Sexy the line "Sexy Elanor Roosevelt or Sexy Rosa Parks" Is changed to "Sexy Elanor Roosevelt or Sexy Joan of Ark". In both cases, the change was jarring. A more understandable change, but one I still dislike, is that from calling Janis a Space Dyke to calling her a Pyro Les.)

Scenes where the chaos of the school hallways are portrayed using animal-like choreography are cute and clever(Meet The Plastics), and the representations of the soul-sucking nature of social media is represented well by filling the screen with vertical facecams and overlaying voiceovers. What's Wrong With Me was exactly what I expected, and that isn't an insult! It is the only moment in the film in which the snarky "LOL what is happening??" angle works for it, as Gretchen Weiners vents her troubles to Cady, who has no idea how to handle it. Revenge Party was a pale imitation of its musical counterpart, but the replacement of the soundtrack with a marching band version paired with whispered vocals was lovely in the context of the scene.

Megan Thee Stallion killed it.

2/10. This movie was 112 minutes long, and a complete waste of nearly two hours. It is the worst of both worlds. If you want to listen to the musical, watch the musical. If you want to watch the movie, watch the 2004 version.

[lakecountylibrary]

Thriller Rec: Sleeping Giants by Rene Denfeld

Audiobook narrated by Alex Hyde-White (8 hours, 15 minutes)

Trigger Warning: child abuse, child trauma, animal cruelty

This book was a lot! It was hard to read, yet hard to put down. This novel follows three story lines: those of Dennis, Amanda, and Molly.

Dennis Owens was born almost thirty years ago to an alcoholic mother not capable of caring for him. He was bounced around foster homes, and finally ended up at a home for disturbed boys by the time he was six years old.

The novel follows Dennis' tragic time at the boys' home. The parts about Dennis are the hardest to read in the book. The boys' home uses questionable therapy methods to “correct” the boys.

The story jumps back and forth between Dennis' tragic childhood to present day. Amanda Dufresne is the polar bear keeper at a small Oregon zoo. She has a special bond with the bear in her care, Molly, but has trouble relating to other humans.

Molly doesn't relate well to other polar bears, and came to the zoo as an orphan cub found near a remote research station in Alaska. As the stories unfold it becomes clear how they all tie together.

The book is a tear-jerker, with an ending that brings peace, but doesn't tie everything up in a bow.

The audiobook narration was good; Alex Hyde-White speaks with a clear voice, and there is distinction between the characters.

Those who have read Dave Pelzer's works of nonfiction may want to give Sleeping Giants a try.

See more of Brenna's recs

Check out Sleeping Giants (available on Libby and in print)