Reviews: Miss Peregrine's, The VVITCH, Crimson Peak and more...

Here are some of the things that I've read and watched in the last couple of months. Do you know any of those? Share your thoughts in the comments!


1. Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children / Ranson Riggs

 

          Source                &                 Source

I was very excited to get my hands on this book because it looked very macabre and dark, and features a bunch of old eerie photographs inside! I have to say that the idea of putting a story through forgotten pictures of the past is very charming, and I think the process of writing this was exciting for the author.

Sadly, I got disappointed. Why? Because I kind of wanted it to be more depressing and less "childish". It is in the end a children's/ young adult book, and I kind of felt it. I guess the Tumblr holy grail provided by the pictures in this book got my hopes up in reading something truly painful and depressing, but this book is just another fairy tail. I wouldn't buy the trilogy, and I would probably sell the book soon. The pictures are worth it and I would love to see the film (Eva Green!!!). 

I mean, it has a lot of beautiful ideas and thoughts, but I've expected a bit more.

2.  Zootopia

Source

You guys - I watched this movie a few days ago and I completely fell in love with it! The thing is, talking animals in movies was a huge part of my childhood so whenever comes yet another one, it's pretty hard to disappoint me.

What I like a lot about this kind of movies is the "universe" the producers have created: Zootopia is this city where all animals live and behave like human beings (my 5 years old self is screaming!). A huge animal metropolis, made very NYC-wise, of course. The animation rocks!

Another really cool thing was the themes the movie dealt with: we have a young female bunny who wants to be a cop, a job only suitable for big animals - feminism; we have the small animals who fear and don't trust big animals, mostly predators, despite everyone in the city acting "civil" - racism, prejudice.

This movie is one clever allegory, and I know the trailer caught a lot of attention with the slots scene, but I personally think the trailer sucks! There are so many cool moments in the film, and the best part are shrews!

3. The Taxidermist's Daughter / Kate Mosse

Source

Raise your hand if you like And Also The Trees! Good, because this book is for you!

I am not familiar with English romanticism, but this book is exactly that: English countryside, bad weather, moody main character, untrustworthy residents and of course:
a mysterious d e a t h...

I enjoyed this book immensely, because I wanted to read something gloomy and romantic, and I got it, and I was satisfied! (unlike with Miss Peregrine's)

I swear I could hear And Also The Trees playing in the background, because everything I knew to be associated with them I could feel through the pages. Needless to say, I would die for it to become a film! And I want to read more stuff by Kate Mosse now.

All in all this is a beautiful gothic (but not cheesy!) tale and I highly recommend it, especially if the weather allows it (I read this when it was 25C degress outside and it really didn't fit the mood XD ).

4. Crimson Peak 

Source

Moving along the gothic category, I watched this also recently and found this film to be very "normal" for a gothic film. The director made Pan's Labyrinth which is one of my favorite movies ever, but this one was a bit weak. I don't like the actress playing the main character, and the plot was a bit questionable. This is a ghost-story film, but not only. It has horror elements that are quite good.

Personally, these sort of films don't scare me as much as they just upset me - I watched it as a romantic drama film and I liked it I guess. It's visually stunning but I would say that's all there is to it. Still worth a shot though if you still wear your Victorian skirt and lace corset to parties from time to time.

Warning/ Spoiler alert: it has the most lifeless sex scene I have ever seen.

5. The VVITCH

          Source                &                           Source

Alright, this is probably the best witch movie I have ever seen. First things first, it was marketed as a horror film. and it is SO not! 

Again, I tend to watch potentially scary movies as a huge metaphor, so my review will be very subjective, but I watched it as a historical and a religious film, as a family-story, and above all: as a coming of age film.

It kept me thinking about many things not concerning witchcraft after I watched it, and that's why I like this move - because it has so much to offer.

On another note, the language in the film is a bit difficult to understand because they speak in old English there, but it's quite exciting, because the director collected the dialogues from original diary entries of people dealing with witchcraft in that time.

Not to mention it's visually beautiful. The atmosphere is very eerie and let me tell you - there are only 2 adult actors in the movie, the rest are kids, who completely blew my mind with their acting!!

I recommend this a bunch for everyone, I see you Tumblr people!

Maria