Enola Holmes

 Enola Holmes (2020)

IMDB: 6.7

Cast: Millie Bobby Brown (as Enola Holmes), Henry Cavill (as Sherlock Holmes), Sam Claffin (as Mycroft Holmes), Louis Partridge (as Tewkesbury), Helena Bonham Carter (as Eudoria Holmes), Fiona Shaw (as Miss Harrison)

    'Enola' is 'alone' spelt backwards. It also is the name of Sherlock and Mycroft's little sister. The movie is about Enola's mother disappearing and her running away from home on a quest to find her mother which results in her bothers trying to find her. She wears disguises every step of the way in order to hide from her clever brothers and she meets Tewkesbury along the way. The movie takes a turn when Enola realises there are people trying to kill Tewkesbury, and decides to solve the mystery of this situation while also saving him.

    Personal Thoughts: I will start off by commenting on the negatives and then I'll come back to the positives. First of all, I liked the movie, it has a different tone than all the other Sherlock Holmes movies as Sherlock Holmes isn't the main character here. It had feminist undertones, which is nice. Although I have come across better ways of delivering this kind of message in movies like Little Women. For some reason, it felt like Enola was portrayed as an exception among girls, which in today's society corresponds to being 'not like other girls'. If you don't know what it is, it's basically a trend started on social media to demonstrate how someone lacks stereotypical feminine qualities to imply they're somehow "better" than the rest of the girls. She is essentially stripped off from most qualities women in those times had. All those qualities are portrayed as despicable and restricting acts throughout the movie. The only times we see Enola interacting with girls is when she goes to the 'lady school' where they teach girls to be lady-like and she immediately hates it. Now, I think it is okay to hate these sorts of things, it is quite a boring concept to have a school for teaching how to laugh and drink tea after all, but I just didn't like that that was the only interaction she had with girls. I liked that there were other female characters that supported the idea of portraying women as strong but I feel like women who don't do jiu-jitsu and constantly go undercover as boys also need recognition in movies. Another problem I had was with Millie Bobby Brown being Eleven in Stranger Things. I kept associating Enola with Eleven and essentially thought that her acting and the characters were a bit too similar as they were both the main characters who were powerful girls living in men's world and we were being reminded of that the whole time. I think her acting just doesn't really do it for me. That being said, she's only sixteen and is very successful and I really enjoyed watching her as Eleven, at least she had a tiny bit of positive interaction with another female character in that show towards the end.

    Sherlock was way hotter than any other Sherlock I've seen on TV, which I will get criticism for, however, I didn't like this Sherlock's personality. He just didn't have that awkward genius Sherlock-ness. I'm used to Sherlock referring to himself as a sociopath, not a caring family member. It was just too big of a difference for me to get used to if I'm being honest. He just disappeared into the background for me but that might just be the effect of him barely having any dialogue with anyone. In addition to that, Mycroft was a pretty annoying, two-dimensional character. Most characters were pretty two-dimensional when I think back to it. This isn't a Marvel movie, not everyone has to be portrayed as villains or heroes.

    Now, I know I've just spent two paragraphs complaining about the negatives of the movie but I actually really liked it. I wouldn't say this movie is problematic, I can only say that there were small things that annoyed me as with every movie and if you bare with me, I'll get to the positives which make up for the negatives. The cinematography was nice, the whole idea of making a movie about Enola was nice and there were multiple actresses that I liked in it. Another thing I really liked was seeing Tewkesbury. I don't know who the kid who's playing Tewkesbury is but he's the most adorable, genuinely nice and emotional actor I've seen in a while and that says a lot. Whenever he looked at Enola I just melted a little. His little teardrop at the end, his genuine love for the girl, all of it made the movie for me. There's just something about seeing nice guys being in love that makes my day better. Every emotion he had was valid and encouraged (We have to protect Tewkesbury at all cost).

    In conclusion, I loved the relationship between Tewkesbury and Enola and you could even just watch it for that. The plot, the cinematography and everything was quite nice. I realised I haven't mentioned Helena Bonham Carter's performance, which was good of course, but I have the same problem I have with Millie Bobby Brown. I always imagine her a bit like her character in Harry Potter which makes things a little creepy if I'm being honest. I loved Fiona Shaw's performance, I have always loved her performances, especially in Killing Eve. To briefly touch upon the negative things I said about Enola's character, you don't have to isolate the character from other females to make her better than them, you don't have to constantly mention she doesn't know how to do embroidery for her to be original. To me, knowing how to do embroidery is as original as knowing how to fight when it's cleverly written. I wish these character traits were treated more casually that I could relate more to Enola.

P.S: Don't mind all the negative things I'm saying, I liked this movie, I really did, I just usually rant a lot about these things :D

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Locke and Key

Locke and Key (2020)

Cast: Jackson Robert Scott (Bode Locke), Connor Jessup (Tyler Locke), Emilia Jones (Kinsey Locke), Darby Stanchield (Nina Locke)

    The series is an adaptation of a cartoon about the Locke siblings and their mother moving into the Locke house which was the house that belonged to their father's family before their father was murdered. While they're staying there, they are trying to build a new life while also discovering things about the house, their father's past and trying to get past their trauma. Without spoilers, I can only say that it is worth a watch especially if you're into fantasy as a genre.

    Personal thoughts: First off, this is my first review of a Netflix series and I haven't quite finished watching it so I'll just comment on the bit that I watched. I thought it is interesting and raises questions as to where it's going and what it's about. It portrays the struggles of the teen characters and uses the two other characters, their mom and their little brother Bode, to deepen the plot by finding the function of the keys and finding out more about their father's past which will probably become more relevant in the future episodes considering the name of the show. I liked how the settings looked which plays a big part in why I like it and recommend it. I looked up the settings and found out that they're all towns in Canada. The town is actually in Lunenburg which is a small town in Nova Scotia. Another thing I liked was the functions of the keys. It's pretty interesting how each of them has its function whether it's good or bad. I also liked that there was imagery that supported the siblings' trauma, like the scene where Kinsey is supposed to play the girl that drowns in blood and the guilt that Tyler feels when he's about to have sex. These kinds of scenes did help to convey the message of their traumatic past.

    What kind of felt a little clishé was the 'new people in town' trope. It's the easiest way to drop a new character in the story and widely used by writers. Even the kids themselves seem confused as to why they were supposed to be moving out but thankfully the writers supported the idea of them starting a new life specifically there with the mother searching for her husband's past life. I think I just like the idea of the main characters knowing more about their surroundings and not ending up a bit empty towards what's happening around them. Another thing I'm not very into is their possible romantic interests. I just thought the dialogues were a bit basic (especially between Tyler and the girl that says she turns into a pumpkin when it's late) I think their interaction could be made more interesting. Tyler just having the confidence to go up to a girl and not saying much was not very interesting or realistic in my opinion. What someone in Tyler's situation would most probably do would be noticing a girl they like from afar but not talking to her unless he has a reason to or anything to say considering he's emotional and not feeling talkative or confident at all.

    I also thought the fact that everyone in town mentioned their father's murder so casually to them was kind of weird and a bit too much maybe. As an example, the ice cream guy mentions it twice when he first meets Kinsey. Given that it's the first time he met Kinsey and knowing that it creates a weird environment, you'd expect him to not mention it when he's trying to befriend her but that wasn't the case. At least the pumpkin girl didn't mention their father's murder which is something to be thankful for.

    Lastly, I guess the pace is a bit slow so you have to stick to it for at least two episodes but I still recommend it to anyone who's into fantasy, teen drama, mystery etc. and doesn't mind a couple of little clishés since the parts about keys make up for a lot of the small things I mentioned. Overall, this show gives you a lot to like with it's interesting and original plotline, mystery and production.

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Zootopia

Zootopia: 2016

IMDB: 8.1

Voice cast: Shakira (as Gazelle), Ginnifer Goodwin (as Juddy Hopps)

It's a comedy animation movie. The story is about a bunny wanting to be a cop in the future but the society she lives in stereotypes her and expect her to be a farmer like all the other bunnies. The place called Zootopia is known to be the city of freedom where everyone can be anything so she becomes a cop unlike what everyone else thought. When she starts working in Zootopia, still nobody believes in her so they give her easy jobs. While she's on duty, trying to solve a missing animal case to prove herself to everyone, she meets Nick, a fox, and threatens him to cooperate with her to solve the case. While they're investigating, they start to become good friends unlike what society expects.

Personal Thoughts: It was one of the best animations I've watched lately. I used to like Bolt and Little Red Riding Hood a lot but now I like Zootopia too. It was really sweet and funny. I watched it with my friends so we laughed every few seconds. (the sloth scene was the best). Nick's the coolest fox ever. It was genuinely really cute and funny. Also, the ending is totally shocking, I think it's definitely a movie you should watch if you're looking for a cute, funny animation.


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