☆ Finding Emily Review ☆

 

★★★⯪☆ (can't seem to do a half-star lol)

It was a busy Saturday afternoon when I watched this film. The theater was packed, I waited in an arduously long line just to get a large empty cup for my root beer that poured out of a machine, with a picture of Rhett and Link plastered digitally on the front. When I booked the seats online I noticed the theater room was unusually small, especially for a film that came out literally yesterday. 

It made me a bit sad to walk into the theater and finding only about 4 other people in the room. This film seriously, seriously flew under the radar. It made me wonder what everybody else had come to watch. I can be thankful for a peaceful experience, which allowed me to immerse myself in the world of this love story. 

Rom-coms, nowadays, feel so few and far in between. A staple for the theater, peeking out amongst big blockbusters and horror films, the Rom-com captured hearts for hopeless romantics and couples alike. I am one such sucker. I cower my head in shame in second-hand embarrassment played before me on the screen, get giddy at silly tropes, will-they, won't they, oh no, she's getting the wrong idea, Romeo hurry and fix this quick. This movie definitely checked off all the boxes. A cheesy story so dripping in little antics for the couple of the film to partake in. 

I ached so long for something like this. Charming but earnest in its ideal of love. Quick one-liners and jokes that gave me a light chuckle, and not much more. Cause you don't really need more. 

The characters were so sweet and it felt almost too innocent for something geared towards college kids. There was the occasional dirty joke here and there, and definitely lots of drinking. It definitely abode to its' PG-13 rating.

Now, this film isn't perfect. Conflicts tended to blow over pretty quickly without major consequences, and the amount of needle drops that lasted half a scene were more than I could count on fingers. The music choices were very funny and a little all over the place. From 80's hits to indie gems to Carly Rae Jepson, surprisingly. You could tell they wanted to appeal to the gen Z audience, and I don't fault them too hard for that. The presence of social media wasn't too egregious but understandable. I'm a big fan of period pieces, so I could definitely see this film set in the 90's to 2000's and still feel relatable to the modern young person. 

There was definitely a concern for sexual harassment, a realistic point that you could take from the idea of this film; A boy meets a girl at a party, falls in love, tries to get her number but she accidentally (or purposely?) omits a digit. He goes on this entire journey to find her, visiting the university everyday to spot her face in the crowd. Using the school's email system to email other "Emilys" to find the right one. That could come off as creepy, and several characters in the film do insist on it being that way, but it weirdly just gets played for laughs. There's this "Radical Feminist" character in the film that has a real issue with the situation, but it sort of gets thrown under the rug, and she's almost treated like a villain for thinking that way? 

In fact, most of the side characters of the film felt like just that. Side characters. Not really offering anything bountiful to the plot, little decorations of humanity that pave way for the main couple of the film. The chemistry between Emily and Owen was the most redeeming part, showcasing their developing friendship through little random incidents. Every scene with just the two of them was most memorable. I mean, would you eat coleslaw and chips together for someone you didn't like a least a little? 

For sake of grand gesture I do feel like their get-together was a little rushed, but I was rooting so hard for the two of them that I was still left satisfied by the end. I kind of wish there was more perspective on how Owen felt towards her. It didn't feel like there was a singular "main character" which I liked, so I would love to delve in deeper into Owen's brain. 

All in all, solid film. I think I'd definitely see it again. Angourie Rice already has a pretty decent amount of filmography to her name, but Spike Fearn only has a few roles under his belt. There's a star quality to his performance, and I feel like I'll be seeing his name around a lot more. 

Also, he's cute. In like a 90's Britpop musician kind of a way. 

☆ Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie Review ☆

★★★★★

I've been hearing really good things circling around this film for awhile, so on Saturday night my boyfriend and I settled on the couch and turned the movie on as we engorged on homemade coconut shrimp I painstakingly made. It was pretty good. The movie was even better. 

This duo I'd never heard of before, which as a self-proclaimed hipster I was very disappointed in myself for not discovering them sooner. I mean, I was probably too young at the peak of their popularity. They were a 2007 web-series turned 2017 TV show turned feature length film this year. A Canadian time travel film that encompasses layered jokes, callbacks, betrayal, and most of all, a decades long semi-homoerotic male friendship. Right up my alley. I can't remember the last time I laughed as often as I did during a film. It did so many of my favorite kinds of jokes. Subversive jokes, audio cutting off at the perfect time to move on to the next scene without warning. The kind of chaotic humor that Gen Z gravitates towards like moth to a flame. 

It came at a perfect time, bridging the gap of millennial optimism and Gen Z cynicism towards the future in the form of a comprehensible time travel film heavily, heavily inspired by Back To The Future. It's an Odyessean journey complete with camera crew and the general public as background characters, decorating the film with their own subtle jokes in the form of natural human behavior. I mean, how else would you react to two guys toting around a wheelbarrow full of cable wire attached to the CN Tower?

With the mix of real people and actors working together it was hard to differentiate what was real or not. Even the effects of CGI and the splicing of their young and current selves next to each other I was amazed at how realistic it looked. They must have had this planned for like 20 years, or did a really good job at looking like they did.

It was so refreshing to watch because you could tell everyone who worked on this film had a really good time. 

My boyfriend coincidentally has a work trip to Toronto next week, and yes, I'm seething with jealousy. Praying a trip to the Rivali is on his sightseeing list. 

Hyperspecific Spotify Playlists

I got really into creating very specific spotify playlists. I think I just needed somewhere to store my nostalgia. They each evoke a vibe that I was privvy to at some point or another. Some of them embarrassing, but nonetheless me. 

Hipster Burger Joint Tunes

If you can imagine wearing skinny jeans, a wide-brim hat, and a slouchy neck-scarf while you wait in line at a local Portland burger joint then congratulations! You're halfway there. It's that fiery Millennial optimism that permeates your brain with envy as you struggle to make rent this month. They're writing Buzzfeed articles in their loft apartment and dumpster diving for 80's vintage clothing and not even cause they desperately need it but because it's cool. We make fun of them now but honestly I don't blame them for being so happy. They had it good. 

Semi-niche Millennial Mix

This one was mostly for me. I'm heavily into the 2010s indie music scene at the moment but I was so sick of playlists playing the same Grouplove and Two Door Cinema Club songs over and over. I think this shit is pretty niche, but who knows. This is pretty hipster but on a more alternative scale. Like, they wore polka dot dresses and glasses. Some indie sleaze some indie... saints?

Senior Year 2018

This one was lowkey painful to make. It's a sign that I'm getting old as fuck that I have to make a nostalgia playlist about being in high school from 2014-2018. I swear it just happened. Everybody was wearing mom jeans and vans and Thrasher t-shirts with 90's windbreakers on top. Pictures of purple sunsets and mustard yellow Kanken backpacks and painted sunflowers on Ti-84s. Stranger Things just came out and every Halloween somebody was dressed as Eleven in her dirty pink dress. I was an annoying teen who listened to music on cassette players and my iPod Nano that my dad found on the ground outside of a parking lot. I haven't changed a bit. 

2010s Tumblr Geek Mix

This one is hard to explain but I remember these songs so vividly from this time. It's like almost Yeemo but a little earlier than that. I have this memory of wearing this Chibi Loki t-shirt that I bought from Hot Topic forever ago. I was a Superwholockenger. Supernatural + Doctor Who + Sherlock + The Avengers. A term my middle school friend came up with that I still remember to this day. I got rid of that Loki shirt ages ago, and recently I had the sudden urge to find it again. I paid 5$ from Poshmark and now it's back in my possession. There's something to be said about that. Full circle kind of moment. 

In gym class my friends and I would stand on the grass (because you weren't allowed to sit) and sing verses of Paint's After Ever After to each other. I'd spend days on Tumblr, reading fanfiction and making heavily curated 8tracks playlists. On the last day of seventh grade my math teacher assigned us a final grade assignment: make a Prezi on anything school-appropriate. I picked Supernatural. I presented it in front of my class with utmost enthusiasm and you could tell. I wish I still had the presentation. I searched desperately for it but I think it got discarded with time. The teacher gave me an A+. 

Resting Bitchface Music

This is the kind of music I'm playing when I'm driving angrily home after a shitty day at work. The noise centers me. I imagine sitting on the subway with my headphones blasting this while I maintain the most mundane expression possible because I would not like to be bothered right now. 

2010s Anime Fangirl

While being a Superwholockenger I was also a massive weeb, back when liking anime was ground rules for public shame. In freshman year of high school I didn't care that much. I wore knee-high cat stockings and played Kingdom Hearts on my 3DS in gym. As I got older I tried to hide that more and more. I would watch art speedpaints with copic markers on Youtube and watched the boys in class form a circle while they played Super Smash Bros. I would try to boot up Sony Vegas Pro and make my first AMV to no avail.

Chicago Chronicles

Reposting a couple of entries onto this blog because I like them. Probably won't transfer all of them, 4 years of embarrassing posts shouldn't have to be shown twice. But some I still like. These are two separate posts about my two trips to Chicago.

Pt. 1 February 16th, 2026

Sadly I haven't updated this blog much. Giving myself time to indulge in other creative liberties. Working tirelessly on kdenlive making anonymous tiktok edits just for my own enjoyment. Learning to operate a film camera for the first time. It's a Canon Sureshot Zoom XL and it's huge and clonky and comes with a little remote. Writing in my journal everyday. Reading comics. Being okay with letting time pass. I turned 26 yesterday. I'm looking in the mirror and I'm thinking, "do I look 26?" I don't feel 26. I mean, I'm definitely out of shape. I can't get away with eating pounds of junk food in one sitting because my stomach will start to hurt. After an afternoon of walking I get debilitating leg cramps. I still like the same things. Seriously. I like the same things that I did like 10 years ago. I have to lather myself in Retinol every night. I don't like to think about it. I'm still clueless. Everyone is asking me what I'm doing and I don't know. People are saying I'm running out of time and other people are saying I'm still young. Which is it? I just got over a cold. 

I went to Chicago and I'm missing it already. The look of the city as I sit in the upper floor of the Metra. I peer into people's apartments, their windows open, like they want you to see. I see their TV flashes and bedroom setup and toys on the floor. What kind of life do they lead? I woke up in the middle of the night in my hotel room and it was snowing. It snowed the whole time. I was cold but I didn't think much of it. Just, go, go, go. You'll be inside soon. I didn't see one Cybertruck. A lot of Prius's, which was funny. I had the best hot chocolate I've ever had in a small cafe that I randomly searched on Google. It had a dollop of whip cream that looked like butter. I shared a caramel apple french toast with my boyfriend, our table suffocatingly close to other people while they talked about their own things. We looked at apartments on Zillow and realized how viable it could be to live here. We visited a museum that was three floors high and every floor was packed to the brim. Taxidermy animals and fake plants and animatronic bugs. We got so tired we didn't even finish touring the whole thing. We ran out of time. We're already planning to go back. Probably in the summer, or when the leaves start to turn. Maybe tour apartments for real. 

Pt. 2 June 25th, 2026

Got back from another Chicago trip. This time we embarked on a week-long adventure, full of plans that mostly fell through or did happen but had to be in the most insane way possible. I swear, there is something about me that I attract trouble, like the universe is testing on how well I can handle certain situations. I am never able to take a trip and everything runs smoothly. I guess that life doesn't work that way. I hate that! I'm considering therapy but without insurance it's 40$ per session. Guess that leaves me writing my feelings down as my healthiest outlet and many nights screaming into my pillow. This makes it sound like I hated the trip. Not at all. 

We wanted to take this trip as a way to scope out the neighborhood or area we wanted to live in. It led us to discovering cute little markets and independent coffee shops. We stopped by the pier on a warm summer evening and watched the water from concrete steps after engorging on Jimmy Buffet's margaritas and chicken tenders. I had a giant Nova Lox bagel platter served to me by a sweet woman with a heavy Wisconsin accent. We traveled by Metra an hour to Milwaukee and visited their public market, where I had the best Reuben sandwich I've ever had, beef melting off like egg yolks and the guy who worked at the bar told us he was from Florida too. He asked us, "Are you guys locals or travelers?" And the idea of someone thinking of me as a local to the area was all too enticing a thought.  We got lost a whole hour and only had time to watch the lake before we had to hop back on the train. 

I was craving coffee and I searched up the nearest coffee shop without thinking too much of it, and as I noticed the odd imagery outside, I realized I made a grave mistake. Probably should have figured from the AIgenerated artwork and the plastered coloring images of various cartoon characters smoking weed that I was in a place that a nerd like me did not belong it. The baristas weren't nice, but also not mean, probably wondering what the fuck I was doing there. I got their white mocha latte (not infused, but not I'm wondering if I should gotten it that way) and despite my former qualms it was the best damn iced coffee I had in the city. 

The hotel we stayed at had it's own kitchen, which is what I wanted. A great way to play house in a city that I desperately want to belong to. We'd take trips to the Trader Joes a couple blocks away, buying quick meals like pasta and cheese danishes and now I get why so many people go there, walking around with their giant Trader Joe's branded tote bags like medals of honor. They run that shit like the navy and now I want one of those tote bags too. Our hotel was right next to the Starbucks Roastery, a place that many travel blogs recommended over and over to the point that it was annoying. I was vehemently against the idea of going but I mean, it was right next to us. We woke up extremely early to skip the crowds, ended up sharing the place with a 20 person team of teenagers, all in comfy jerseys for a sport that I didn't know. I had the ube iced latte and a pretty butterfly matcha cake. It was good, the view was better. 

Things in the city are happening. Always, everywhere. I'm exhausted when I get home and I loved it. I was here, I was alive. I'm back home now and it's so..... boring. 

☆ Spiderman: Brand New Day Review ☆

★★★★☆

Watched the film at my local AMC at around 7:30pm. Crowd definitely wasn't sparse but was surprisingly (mostly) well-behaved, leaving me to be able to enjoy the film in it's entirety. A rarity I indulged in.

I have a lot of nostalgic feelings towards the MCU. I've been there since the first Iron Man (2008) film- one that I was way too young to be watching- to being 12 years old in a completely full screening of The Avengers (2012), the room so congested yet many people still snuck in and sat on the stairs to enjoy the movie with me. Say what you will about the MCU but it has solidified its' place in pop culture. I grew up along with it, so it always has a special place in my heart. 

The quality of their projects have definitely faltered in these recent years. Quick cash-grabs with uninteresting plots and characters. A lot of their filmography now have this egregiously flat look to them. However, I think this film is a step in the right direction. Quite grounded for a movie about a kid with superpowers. Quite sad, too. 

Peter Parker has literally lost everything he has, and for years he's struggled with that fact. I was a big fan of the montage in the beginning; the routine, the flowers for Aunt May, beating the next bad guy of the week, ending the day eating shitty pizza in an asbestos-filled attic as he watches the people he love thrive without him. It's the first time I've felt that I could actually relate to a Marvel character. You go through his emotional journey and it doesn't feel silly. You want the best for him so badly. 

I also adored how well the city felt integrated into the movie. The shots of public transit, grabbing burritos from the bodega, the citizens greeting Spidey with warmth whenever he crosses their path. I could see the realism of the world adapting around this superhuman being. The credits showcasing shots of everyday life. It felt like a love letter to New York. 

Of course, the movie is not without its faults. The cheesy comedy and punchy one-liners is something you can expect from this movie. It ran a little bit too long. In typical Marvel fashion, it piles on CGI but I think in a way that felt inventive. The Spiderman vs. The Hand fight is probably my favorite action scene in the movie, and as someone who doesn't like action that often, I'm saying that as the highest compliment. 

And... the movie actually looked good??? The scenes were lit well. I could even go as far as to say it was color graded a lot better. Warmer I feel. I was quite surprised. It didn't feel heavily green-screened, or if it was I'm still impressed. This kind of reminded me of early MCU films in that regard. 

All in all, I liked it a lot. Which is sentiment that I haven't had in a really long time.