Mini Movie Reviews | Miss Stevens, Darkest Hour, 47 Meters Down

Hey everyone and welcome back to my blog! I'm Genni, and today I'll be reviewing some movies! Miss Stevens, Darkest Hour, and 47 Meters Down could not be more different from each other. One is a contemporary drama about a drama competition, the other about Winston Churchill during WW2, and the last is about two sisters trapped 47 meters down with sharks circling them. 

Without further ado, here are my mini movie reviews!

Miss Stevens
Release Date: September 16, 2016
Run Time: 1 hour, 27 minutes
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated

After watching Call Me By Your Name and loving it (review here!), I had to see more of Timothee Chalamet in a film. Luckily for me, Miss Stevens was available on Netflix. I decided to give it a go, and I'm glad that I did. Miss Stevens follows three high school teenagers and Lily Rabe, who plays the titular Miss Stevens. Stevens takes these three teenagers, Billy, Margot, and Sam, to a drama competition. The plot may not seem like much, but it sure does pack a punch. All the performances were solid, but Lily Rabe truly shines in this movie. She was what really made the movie great instead of good. While I loved seeing Chalamet on the screen again, and was pleasantly surprised seeing Lilli Reinhart, this is Rabe's film, and she owns it. I thought the portrayal of a late 20's teacher whose life isn't the dewy-eyed dream we all hoped for was raw and realistic. Plus, there's some hope dashed in there, so it' not a downer!

Though Miss Stevens is a great film, and the Lily Rabe's performance was stunning, I wasn't left thinking about it. I watched it, enjoyed it, and went on with my life. It didn't leave as much of an impact on me as I was hoping. 

With that, I give Miss Stevens an B+.  

Darkest Hour
Release Date: November 22, 2017
Run Time: 2 hours, 5 minutes
Genre: Historical Drama (WW2)
Rating: PG-13

The Darkest Hour tells the story of Winston Churchill's rise to Prime Minister during World War One and his decisions as teh battle of Dunkirk approaches. The Darkest Hour was nominated for Best Picture at this year's Oscars, as well as best actor for Gary Oldman (who won!) When I saw that my university was putting on a free showing, I jumped at the chance. The Darkest Hour has great perfromances, specifally those of Gary Oldman, who plays Winston Churchill, Kristin Scott Thomas, who plays Clementine Churchill, his wife. The set pieces and costuming were stunning as well. However, I just didn't have an emotional connection to The Darkest Hour. Maybe because it had a slowe pace than I expected, or that there was a lot of talking and really no action, or that the movie in general just felt really long, but I di dnot click with this movie. I wasn't fully immersed in the story, despite amazing performances and costume design.

I give The Darkest Hour a B-.  

47 Meters Down
Release Date: June 16, 2017
Run Time: 1 hour, 29 minutes
Genre: Thriller (Shark Movie)
Rating: PG-13

I've been wanting to see 47 Meters Down for a while now. I even thought about going and seeing it in theaters, but I'm glad I didn't. Because let me tell you, this movie made me anxious. I literally could not sit still or watch this movie without pausing, relaxing, and then watching it again. If you have any anxiety problems, I would not recommend this at all. I thought the ending was ballsy, and the performances were okay, but this was just not the movie for me. I couldn't really enjoy it, because I was just freaking out the whole entire time, and not in a good way. When I watch The Shallows (another recently released shark movie), or even Jaws, I don't get so anxious that I literally have to pause the movie four times and remind myself I was okay. So yeah...this just wasn't for me. 47 Meters Down isn't a bad movie, but just personally ill-suited.

I give 47 Meters Down a C.

Have you seen any of these movies? What did you think?

Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you soon with another post!

Happy Reading (and watching)! 

Genni @ Ready, Set, Read!