Tag: AlishaWeir

Abigail

Published on by DanielaLeave a comment

From the team that brought us Ready or Not comes a new take on the vampire genre. When a group of misfits are brought together to kidnap the ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure in order to collect a very handsome cash prize, they think it’ll be a piece of cake. But as they spend more time in an isolated mansion, they start to realize that the little girl is not as innocent as she originally seemed.

I know that I am very late to the party, but in my defense I had prior arrangements the weekend that this hit theatres. Now that it’s available on Demand, I couldn’t wait to finally check it out. Lo and behold it was exactly as I was hoping it would be!

Locked room stories are always a good call; without the distractions of jumping from place to place, it is so much more intimate. The audience gets the chance to really know the different players that are involved.

Another reason why this film worked so well was because of its talented cast. Leading the tribe of kidnappers is Melissa Barrera as Joey who proves that she is still one of the best Scream Queens around. Her mysterious past and unexpected connection to Abigail was interesting to watch unfold. Kathryn Newton, who has also proven herself as quite the Scream Queen lately, was brilliant as hacker Sammy while Angus Cloud truly brought the goofy Dean to life, may he rest in peace. Kevin Durand made me laugh as Peter while Dan Stevens was absolutely perfect as the douchey know it all Frank. I didn’t know whether to love him or hate him sometimes because he was just so convincing. All that being said, it was Alisha Weir who stole the show as our titular character Abigail. Going from playing Matilda in the musical version of the stage show to this? The girl has range!

The best part of all is that Abigail never took itself too seriously. Parodying past movies of the genre was such a smart move. It was laugh out loud funny with every joke landing and filled with lots of blood and gore. I was worried that part would be overkill, but I actually loved it. This was just the type of horror film that I can vibe with and I would very much be onboard with some more in this universe. Let’s make it happen!

Rating: ♥️♥️♥️♥️

Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical

Published on by DanielaLeave a comment

Based on the stage musical of the same name, Matilda (Alisha Weir) is an updated version of the classic 90s version. The story of an incredibly smart girl with a wild imagination, she’s misunderstood by her parents (Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough) and sticks to her books. It isn’t until she starts attending Crunchem Hall that she meets Miss Honey (Lashana Lynch) who can see her full potential.

I’d been debating checking this out for some time now. Having actually seen the musical in London, I more or less knew what to expect going into it. I remember feeling letdown and wondered how I would fare with the movie version of it. While there were some strong points, it mostly fell flat for me.

The first bright spot in the film was it’s casting. Weir made the role of Matilda her own. I found myself rooting for her throughout and actually really enjoying her performance. I liked the fact that Lynch was for Miss Honey. The only aspect that I wish had been fleshed out some more was her relationship with Matilda. I kept comparing theses scenes to the ones that the two characters shared before. At the end of the day, however, it was Emma Thompson as Ms. Trunchbull who shined the brightest. Had she not been in the film, I probably wouldn’t have bothered watching it.

In true musical fashion, the songs and choreography scenes were well done. Matilda’s opening song of Naughty was one of my favorites, as was the Revolting Children group number at the end. The rest, unfortunately, were not very memorable. On top of that, the set locations, particularly in the scenes where Matilda would tell her stories, were aesthetically pleasing to look at.

I think my problem with the film, aside from the fact that I was already hesitant because of my prior experience with it, was the fact that I simply love the original too much. I understand that this version is closer to the source material being more on the darker side, but I grew up with the other and couldn’t see past it.

Rating: ♥♥.5