Personal Shopper

I wanted to give Personal Shopper a chance because Olivier Assayas won the Cannes Film Festival’s award for Best Director and Kristen Stewart won the International Online Cinema Awards (INOCA)’s for best actress.

The story follows Maureen, played by Kristen Stewart. She is a personal shopper for a celebrity and a medium. After her twin brother dies of a heart attack in Paris, she goes there to connect with his spirit and, in an effort, to deal with her grief. That mourning triggers an internal struggle to decipher what is real and what is not, especially when she starts receiving random text messages from an unknown person.

I liked the idea of the plot but the way it was carried out lost me pretty quickly. I couldn’t feel a connection to any of the characters and wasn’t really impressed with any of the acting. Additionally, there were parts of the plot that were unrealistic and not very clear, this leaving you to your own interpretation. It was a physiological thriller that wasn’t very thrilling. The cinematography was cheap and the delivery of the story was boring.

Overall I would say that this was a waste of time and would not recommend watching this movie.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Star Wars: The Last Jedi picks up where Star Wars: The Force Awakens left off. The second of the sequel-trilogy had a couple of things that I really enjoyed, the visual effects and acting. The cast was quite diverse and the addition of some new familiar faces was also a plus. These attributes however, were not enough to detour my disillusionment for this movie.

The majority of my disappointment came from the fact that the film lacked any sort of story creativity. It’s just a repeat of the same story lines from 40 years ago. I’m so tired of the nostalgia, I just wish they would move on from the old characters and trying to re-create the Han Solos, the Lukes and the Vaders out of these new actors. The lack of originality not only came in the plot but also visually. I noticed that the imperial vehicles, especially the AT-M6 looks just like the AT-AT Walkers introduced in The Empire Strikes Back. Even some of the creatures, though not exact replicas, made me think they may have been inspired by Ewoks.

Along with the lack of creativity in the plot and the imperial vehicles, they were also trying to push too many story lines. I was not able to fully connect with any one character because of so many moving parts. There were also pieces of the story that made zero sense. Other than a couple of unforeseen twists, it was all very predictable and not as satisfying as I’d hoped it would have been.

I feel like these movies can be polarizing so I know that the die-hard fans will still find some joy in this film. For those that aren’t as committed, I think it isn’t worth spending the money in the theaters nor dealing with the crowds, to check this one out.

Finding Dory

Finding Dory is the sequel to Finding Nemo. It’s the story of Dory, the fish with short-term memory loss, who goes looking for her family with the help of Nemo, Marlin, and some friends she meets along the way.

This movie is super cute with so many touches of heart. I loved the themes of never giving up, the importance of family and how even though going out on your own can be scary; the benefits outweigh the costs. There were parts that really tug at the heartstrings and make you tear up, and other parts that were quite humorous.

All in all, I would say that this was an adorable, entertaining, family friendly sequel that I would definitely recommend checking out.