Author: thestageycouple

★★★

Since it’s original stage production in 1981, Cats has never had its own feature film adaptation until now. Off the back of his well received version of Les Misérables, director Tom Hooper has been given the reigns to another classic musical in a bid to win over audiences to a show that notoriously has a marmite effect. Cats tells the story of a group of cats all competing through song and dance at the Jellicle Ball to become the “chosen one” to move onto a new life (the Heaviside Layer) and be reborn. When the first trailer appeared 5 months ago, lots of people were pretty disturbed by what they saw, us included. It’s worth nothing here that this is our first encounter with the musical in any capacity at all! So without further adieu, let us tell you what we thought of it.

★★★★★

Dare we say it, Louisa May Alcott’s classic 1868/69 novel has once again had another on-screen adaptation. From countless TV series and this being the fourth big-screen attempt at portraying Alcott’s work, we aren’t short of (pun intended) Little Women films. We expected the story to now be a tired thing that’s been seen multiple times and another re-make unnecessary – how wrong we were. Greta Gerwig has carefully tweaked the story and is telling it in a way that hasn’t been seen before by using parallel narratives from the two parts between each character’s childhood and adulthood. With a stellar cast of fantastic women, this feminist story is a joy to watch and packs in the emotion too. Check out our five reasons to see Little Women below!

★★½

Raise your lightsabers, the Skywalker saga has come to an end. Across the 9 episodes from the last 5 decades we have had some highs and lows, with the latest trilogy receiving really mixed reviews from fans (we loved The Force Awakens and weren’t too sure on The Last Jedi). We caught the final chapter to the saga on the opening night filled with anticipation and excitement, but felt pretty torn as we left the cinema. While the film was good fun and had exciting parts, we felt it didn’t land with us emotionally and had us pondering on some storyline decisions where things were reversed, hence our average review. Regardless, we’ve pulled together five reasons so see The Rise Of Skywalker below!

★★★★

Continuing from the success of 2017’s Netflix series The Haunting Of Hill House, writer, director and horror film aficionado Mike Flanagan is at the helm of Stephen King’s follow up novel to The Shining, now with Danny Torrance at the centre of the narrative. Packed with masterclass acting, a unique story and plenty of references to Stanley Kubrick’s original adaptation (which Stephen King famously hates), this sequel is one that has been worth the wait. Check out our five reasons to see Doctor Sleep below!