A Perfect History, 2023

A Perfect Story (Spanish: Un cuento perfecto) is a Spanish romantic comedy television miniseries based on the novel by Elísabet Benavent. It stars Anna Castillo and Álvaro Mel. It was released on Netflix on 28 July 2023.

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The plot follows the relationship between an heiress to a hotel & resort empire Margot and multi-tasker David. 

Rating: 10 Stars

Love and Monsters, 2020

Love and Monsters is a 2020 American monster adventure film directed by Michael Matthews, with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen serving as producers. It stars Dylan O'Brien, Jessica Henwick, Dan Ewing, Michael Rooker, and Ariana Greenblatt.

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The destruction of an asteroid headed for Earth releases fallout, causing cold-blooded animals to mutate into large monsters and kill off most of humanity. During the evacuation of Fairfield, Joel Dawson is separated from his girlfriend Aimee but promises to find her, shortly before his parents are killed by monsters.

Seven years later, Joel lives in one of many bunkers underground called "colonies", where all other survivors have paired up romantically while fighting monsters and seeking supplies. Joel instead is relegated to the kitchen, as he freezes up in dangerous situations. After a giant ant breaches his colony, killing one of the survivors, Joel decides to set off on a quest to reunite with Aimee, so that he doesn't end up alone.

Passing through the suburbs, Joel is attacked by a giant toad-monster but is saved by a stray dog named "Boy", who follows Joel on his journey, warning him against poisonous berries and other dangers. Joel falls into a nest of worm-monsters called "Sand-Gobblers", when two survivors, Clyde Dutton and Minnow, rescue him. They are heading north to the mountains, where fewer monsters live due to the colder weather and higher elevation. They teach Joel some basic survival skills, and that not all monsters are hostile, demonstrating how "You can always tell in their eyes". They invite Joel to join them, but he insists he must find Aimee. As they part ways, Clyde gives Joel a grenade.

Continuing west, Boy becomes trapped by a giant centipede-monster. Joel freezes, but eventually saves Boy with his crossbow. Sheltering in an abandoned motel, they meet a robot named Mav1s. Before her battery dies, Mav1s powers his radio long enough for him to briefly contact Aimee. She tells him that other survivors have reached her colony, promising to lead them to safety. The next day Joel and Boy are attacked by a queen Sand-Gobbler. They hide, but Boy barks, giving away their position. Joel kills the queen with the grenade, and yells at Boy for putting them in danger, causing Boy to run away. After swimming across a pond, Joel is covered in poisonous leeches and hallucinates, but is rescued before he collapses.

Joel wakes to finally see Aimee. She leads a beach colony of elderly survivors who depend on her. He is introduced to the survivors, as well as Brooks "Cap" Wilkinson, a ship captain, and his crew, who had all recently arrived on a large yacht. As everyone celebrates their imminent departure, Aimee confesses to Joel that she is glad to see him, but that she has become a different person and is still mourning someone she was in love with. Joel decides to return to his colony, contacting them on the radio and learning that it has become unsafe there, and that they too must leave. Cap sends Joel some berries to eat, which he recognizes as poisonous. Realizing Cap is not to be trusted, he rushes to warn Aimee but is knocked unconscious.

Joel, Aimee, and the rest of her colony awaken tied up on the beach. Cap reveals that his group is going to raid the colony, and that their yacht is towed by a crab-monster controlled with an electrified chain. Cap sets the crab to feed on the colonists, but Joel and Aimee escape and are able to fight for their lives, and Boy returns to help. After a lengthy battle, Joel has the opportunity to shoot the crab, but he realizes it is not hostile by looking into its eyes. Joel instead shoots the electrified chain, freeing the crab, who leaves Joel and the others unharmed and instead sinks the yacht, devouring Cap and his crew.

Joel recommends to Aimee that she and her colony head north. They share a goodbye kiss, and Aimee promises she will find him. Joel treks all the way back to his colony, and they too decide to head to the mountains. On the radio, Joel inspires other colonies to take to the surface. As the colonies head north, Clyde and Minnow, already in the mountains, wonder if Joel will survive the next journey.

Rating: 10 Stars

Last Night in Soho, 2021

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Last Night in Soho is a 2021 British psychological horror film directed by Edgar Wright and co-written by Wright and Krysty Wilson-Cairns. It stars Thomasin McKenzie as a naive teenager who moves to London to study fashion design; there she is haunted by visions of Sandie (played by Anya Taylor-Joy), a glamorous young woman who had lived during the Swinging Sixties. 

The cast also features Matt Smith, Rita Tushingham, Michael Ajao, Terence Stamp and Diana Rigg. It marks the final film appearances of Rigg and Margaret Nolan, who both died in 2020, and is dedicated to their memories.   PLOT  Eloise "Ellie" Turner, a sweet and naive teenager with troubled mental health, loves the music and fashion of the Swinging Sixties and dreams of becoming a fashion designer. Her mother, also a fashion designer, killed herself in her childhood, so Ellie was raised by her maternal grandmother. 

She occasionally sees her mother's ghost in mirrors, something her grandmother is aware of. Ellie moves from her rural home near Redruth, Cornwall to London to study at the London College of Fashion, where she has trouble fitting in with her peers, especially her bullying roommate Jocasta. Only John, another student, is kind to her. 

Unhappy in the dormitory, she moves into a bedsit owned by the elderly Ms. Collins.  That night, Ellie has a vivid dream where she is transported back to the 1960s. At the Café de Paris, she observes a confident young blonde woman, Sandie, inquire about becoming a singer at the club. Sandie begins a relationship with the charming Mod manager, Jack. 

The next morning, Ellie designs a dress inspired by Sandie and discovers a love bite on her neck.  Ellie has another dream in which Sandie auditions at a Soho nightclub, arranged by Jack, before returning to the same bedsit that Ellie has rented. Inspired by these visions, Ellie dyes her hair blonde, changes her fashion style to match Sandie's, and gets a job at a pub. She is observed by a silver-haired man who recognises her similarities to Sandie. 

In further dreams, Ellie discovers Sandie is not living the life she had hoped for, now being pimped by Jack to his male business associates.  Panicked, Ellie goes to inform Ms. Collins that she is leaving London. Ms. Collins tells her she knows she went to the police because the "nice police lady" came to check up on her. She then reveals that she is Sandie. Ellie's vision of Sandie's death was actually a vision of Sandie killing Jack when he threatened her with a knife. 

Sandie then lured the men she was pimped to back to her room and killed them, hiding their bodies in the house's floorboards and walls. Ms. Collins has drugged Ellie's tea with the intention of killing her to ensure her silence.  In the ensuing scuffle, Ellie knocks over an ashtray and starts a fire. John comes to Ellie's aid, but Ms. Collins stabs him and continues after Ellie, who hallucinates Ms. Collins as the younger Sandie, and that they are ascending a glass staircase. Ellie kicks Ms. Collins, sending her down the stairs. She flees to her room, where the spirits of Sandie's victims plead with her to avenge them, but she refuses. Ms. Collins enters Ellie's room, where she also sees the spirits and is struck by "Jack". 

With the police outside, she attempts suicide but Ellie stops her, understanding why she did what she did. Sandie tells Ellie to save John and herself, remaining in the building as it burns.  Ellie enjoys success as her designs are showcased at her end-of-year fashion show and is congratulated by her grandmother and John. Ellie sees her mother and a vision of Sandie in a mirror. Her mother smiles at her and Sandie blows her a kiss.  

Rating: 10 Stars  

Persuasion, 2022

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Persuasion is a 2022 American historical romantic film based on Jane Austen's 1817 novel of the same name. It was directed by Carrie Cracknell from a screenplay by Ron Bass and Alice Victoria Winslow. The film stars Dakota Johnson, Cosmo Jarvis, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Mia McKenna-Bruce, Richard E. Grant, and Henry Golding.

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The story begins seven years after the broken engagement of Anne Elliot to Frederick Wentworth, then a young and undistinguished naval officer. Wentworth was considered clever, confident and ambitious, but his low social status and lack of wealth made Anne's friends and family view him as an unsuitable partner. Furthermore, Lady Russell, a distant relative whom Anne considers to be a second mother to her after her own died, also saw the relationship as imprudent for one so young and persuaded Anne to break off the engagement.

Sir Walter Elliot, his debts mounting, decides to lease Kellynch Hall, the family estate, to Admiral Croft despite Sir Walter’s objection to having a naval man in his house. Sir Walter and Anne’s sister Elizabeth, along with the widowed Ms Penelope Clay, go to Bath while Anne is instructed to care for her sister Mary who had taken ill. Admiral Croft and his wife arrive, where it is learned that Admiral Croft’s wife is Wentworth’s brother and he is also expected to be in the area. While visiting Mary, the Admiral, his wife and Captain Wentworth are expected for dinner; Mary miraculously recovers from her illness for the dinner and Anne volunteers to miss the dinner to sit with Mary’s injured son. Unknowing of their previous attachment, Mary’s sister in law Louisa encourages Anne to pursue Captain Wentworth but ends up pursuing him herself.

 

The group, including Mary’s family, Anne, Louisa and Wentworth travel to Lyme to enjoy a holiday by the sea and meet some of Captain Wentworth’s naval friends, including Captains Berwick and Harville. Louisa’s infatuation with Wentworth is obvious, and Anne tries to hide her feelings. She and Wentworth agree to be friends, and the group encounters a mysterious gentleman who seems to be interested in Anne. They discover his identity after he has departed to Bath; the gentleman is William Elliot, cousin to the family who stands to inherit everything.

Louisa, in a misguided attempt at flirtation, has Captain Wentworth catch her as she jumps down the last stairs of a staircase. She tries to repeat the gesture, despite Wentworth’s objections, and is seriously injured. Captain Berwick fetches a doctor and Mary resolves to stay with her while Anne goes to Bath.

In Bath, Anne is reacquainted with William Elliot, who appears to pursue her, while also stating that his intention in Bath is to ensure Anne’s father does not marry Ms Penelope Clay thereby creating the potential for an heir which could displace him. Anne learns that Louisa is engaged to a sailor and believes this to be Wentworth given their previous attachment. Wentworth arrives to Bath and is piqued by William Elliot’s apparent pursuit of Anne, especially as William leads Wentworth to believe he and Anne are engaged. William Elliot does in fact make her a marriage proposal, although Anne has not given an anseer. Anne’s sister Mary and family also soon arrive to Bath. Captain Wentworth has been made an offer of a ship and is deciding whether to take it, and overhears Anne and Harville discussing the relative faithfulness of men and women in love. Deeply moved by what Anne says about women not giving up their feelings of love even when all hope is lost, Wentworth writes her a note declaring his feelings for her and departs. Anne runs after him, along the way seeing William Elliot in an embrace with Mrs Penelope Clay. Anne and Captain Wentworth embrace. The wedding of William Elliot and Penelope Clay is shown.

Rating: 7 Stars