Emilia Clarke | 365 Movies By Day

I saw Me Before You back in 1991. It was called Dying Young, and Julia Roberts was the star. It stunk. I am completely joking, but I promised myself I would use this as the first line of this review regardless. The truth is I didn’t see Dying Young until 2005. That part is actually true, but the real truth is that these movies aren’t even in the same league. Dying Young wasn’t as poor as I thought it would be, but I really don’t remember much about it. On the other hand, Me Before You was an extremely profound movie that I will remember from years on out. And I also believe it is a movie that showcased the range of Emilia Clarke (HBO’s Game of Thrones) and firmly planted her as a leading actress for the next 10-15 years. The film also introduced Sam Claflin to the rest of the world that has not seen The Hunger Games franchise, where he played the role of Finnick. Before I get firmly into the nuts and bolts of this review, I want to state that I was blown away by every aspect of this tear-jerker. While it was clearly designed to tug at our heartstrings, it felt completely authentic. It was carried by an absolutely superb performance by Clarke and backed up heavily by Claflin, who did just enough to play second fiddle. I remember seeing Brooklyn last year. Brooklyn was a movie that I adored, but I couldn’t understand it when I could hear the sniffling and see the watery eyes of all those sitting near me. In Me Before You, I understood it completely. There are a few quick and funny tidbits related to this movie that I thought I’d share:

I thought this was another movie based on a Nicholas Sparks book.
I kept getting this movie confused with Love & Friendship, the Jane Austin novel adapted for the big screen that came out around the same time as Me Before You. But, as I look at these two movies now, the only comparison was that I was convinced I wouldn’t see either movie at the time of their release.
I was talking to a co-worker about Me Before You, and she basically spoiled the moving, telling me that she didn’t want to ruin it for me, but continuing to do so.

Continue reading Me Before You (2016) →

I wanted to like Terminator Genisys. I did. I know it got slammed by the critics (26% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), but I am a fan of the franchise. I even watched Terminator Salvation (a movie that Christian Bale should never have wasted his time with) a few days prior in anticipation of this movie. I knew all about the movie’s problems. I knew that fans of the franchise would be, at the very least disappointed. I knew that many of the die-hards were upset with this movie. I had heard that it was confusing and difficult to follow. I knew that the trailer gave away the movie’s major twist. Yet I was willing to forget all of these things and held out hope that this movie could be more. I mean, this was The Terminator franchise. It couldn’t be worse than Predators, Live Free or Die Hard, or Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, could it? Those three movies were packed full of junk (especially Indiana Jones) and should have never have been made. I am happy to report that Terminator Genisys was better than the three movies I just mentioned combined, but it was disappointing. It was action-packed. It is very, very reminiscent of Terminator 2: Judgment Day (a film that, in 1991, was so far ahead of its time in terms of CGI that it was ridiculous). It told a story that would have been good had it completely disowned the previous movies in the franchise (especially the original and Terminator 2: Judgment Day). Instead, Terminator Genisys made it appear as if the first four movies in the franchise never happened. Really? That’s the story? What would have happened if what happened didn’t happen? This is a Terminator film. Most of us don’t want to turn on our minds too much for a summer action flick like this.
Continue reading Terminator Genisys (2015) →

Movies I Watch That Inspire Me to Critique!