Tag: Beanie Feldstein

Directors, Female Filmmaker, Female Filmmakers, Feminism, Film Industry, Women in Film

Editorial: There Are More Female Directors Than Gerwig and Coppola (And We Need to Learn Their Names)

There was a recent post on Twitter asking for the film community to name a female filmmaker but not name famous directors Sofia Coppola or Greta Gerwig. Sure, people were able to name other directors. However, I was struck by the fact that there are truly so many women working behind the camera, but only a few are widely known by audiences. Continue reading Editorial: There Are More Female Directors Than Gerwig and Coppola (And We Need to Learn Their Names)

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Film Festivals, Film Reviews, Reviews

GFF Exclusive Review: How to Build a Girl

Closing the 2020 Glasgow Film Festival is Coky Giedroyc’s adaptation of Caitlin Moran’s “How to Build a Girl” (2019). With a festival that has produced so many great new films by female filmmakers and has advocated diversity in cinema since its inception, it’s appropriate to have the closing film concern the journey of a maturing young woman – the building of a girl if you will. The end result film that is flawed, but nonetheless mature and fun.

Beanie Feldstein is one of the most delightful people walking the earth right now, and her role in this film continues to prove this. Putting on a surprisingly good Warwickshire accent, she is Johanna Morigan, a sixth former who aspires to great things, looking to her wall of heroes – including Jo March, Maria von Trapp and Karl Marx – for guidance. A skilled writer, she submits a review for the “Annie” soundtrack at a weekly music magazine to buy back the family TV. Though initially baffled by this, the magazine eventually hires Johanna where Johanna dons the pen name Dolly Wilde to take her sudden new career to new, and life learning, heights. Continue reading GFF Exclusive Review: How to Build a Girl

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Women in Film, World Cinema

JC’s Top 20 Movies Of 2019

As we approach the end of 2019, the ITOL team are compiling their end of year lists of their favourite films. Here’s James Cain’s list and his personal top 20 films of 2019!

Another year, another fresh bout of shame. I didn’t see “Hustlers”! I didn’t fit “Always Be My Maybe” onto my list of favourite movies! Anyway, here are my Top 20 Films of 2019. Continue reading JC’s Top 20 Movies Of 2019

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Female Characters, Female Filmmaker, Film Reviews, Reviews, Women in Film

ITOL 2019 Round-up: Booksmart

Staring Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever, Olivia Wilde’s comedic coming-of-age film “Booksmart” follows two overachievers who attempt to cram years of high school fun into one night. Yet, their friendship will be tested when they are confronted with the changes and obstacles that come with graduation and growing up.

One of the main messages of this film revolves around the importance of experience and breaking out of your comfort zone. Best buds, Molly and Amy both seem to have wasted the fun times of high school by relentlessly studying so they decide to turn the night before graduation into the ultimate high school experience. Continue reading ITOL 2019 Round-up: Booksmart

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Film Reviews, Reviews, Top 50 of the Decade, Women in Film

ITOL Top 50 Films of the Decade, Entry No. 1: Lady Bird

The titular character of Greta Gerwig’s coming-of-age classic, “Lady Bird” (2017) is equal parts pretentious and endearing.  Lady Bird – as stated above, a name given to herself by herself – navigates her senior year of high school and the many relationships encompassed within it. The premise of the film is simple. A coming-of-age story. But what is extraordinary is how it taps into the humanness of growing up. “Lady Bird” for me is what “Boyhood” (2014) did for my brother. It held up a mirror to my most vulnerable truths, and actually made me feel okay about that.

Lady Bird, portrayed so earnestly by Saoirse Ronan, is dramatic. “Come here often?” she asks her crush in the grocery store as if they are gender-bending roles in an old Western. She calls herself from the wrong side of the tracks when there are literal railroad tracks to get to her house. Continue reading ITOL Top 50 Films of the Decade, Entry No. 1: Lady Bird

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Female Filmmaker, Female Filmmakers, Reviews, Top 50 of the Decade

ITOL Top Films of the Decade, Entry No. 3: Booksmart

n Olivia Wilde’s 2019 directorial debut “Booksmart”, two bright high school seniors learn that they mess up. Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) are Ivy League school-bound and learn on their last day of school that the partiers and burnouts, also got into those same schools. That is because, as one character said, they are “incredible at handjobs but got a 1560 on the SATs.” They did both. Molly, more distraught than Amy, resolves that their last night of high school should have the two most studious girls go to a house party.

The plot sounds simple. The early presented troupes seem familiar. But “Booksmart” is more than just your typical high school movie. It is a wild ride about self-discovery, learning that the cover doesn’t always match what’s inside, and love. Continue reading ITOL Top Films of the Decade, Entry No. 3: Booksmart

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Directors, Film Industry, Women in Film

School’s Out Forever? Exploring Why Booksmart Flopped At The Box Office

Olivia Wilde‘s “Booksmart” currently has an approval rating of 97% over at Rotten Tomatoes, the film received many raving reviews, and Film Twitter became obsessed with the film. However, despite all the love and praise, it seemed that nothing coul save “Booksmart” from becoming a Box Office Bomb. The film made just $8.7 million over the weekend despite a wide release on 2,500 screens. “Booksmart”‘s … Continue reading School’s Out Forever? Exploring Why Booksmart Flopped At The Box Office

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