Review Archives - Page 2 of 6

It was with great excitement that I placed my pre-order for the sequel to Maria Lewis’ debut novel, Who’s Afraid?

When ‘Who’s Afraid?’ came out, I was lucky enough to get to interview Maria Lewis alongside my review. To summarise, I came away from the first book with a total girl-crush on the fierce main character, Tommi Grayson. Tommi, a blue-haired Scot with Maori heritage, goes seeking answers about her biological father’s side of the family and unwittingly bites off far more than she can chew. She has to come to terms with her own emerging werewolf status, helped out by her supernatural custodian, a 400+ year old hottie called Lorcan. Not to mention all the family dramas she faces and what it costs her.

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It was 1996 when The Craft came out, right around the time 15 year old me was exploring Wicca and spending a small fortune on black eyeliner. Being the cool cat that I was, I saw this at the movies with my Nan, who lasted about 15 minutes before telling me she’d wait outside. I sat alone in the theatre, enthralled at these badass schoolgirls who had REAL POWERS. I plan on re-watching this with my teenager (who, coincidentally, spends a small fortune on black eyeliner these days) for a Halloween movie afternoon.

This is a divisive movie when it comes to feminism. I’ve read lots of differing points of view about whether or not this makes the cut as a feminist film. For this series, I’m gonna go with yes, it is, but I’ll add that overarching disclaimer that it’s far from perfect.

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The Girl on the Train.

I really enjoyed this book so the idea of the film made me nervous. Everyone knows the book is always better, right? But I decided to take a punt and watch it anyway.

Emily Blunt stars as Rachel Watson, an unemployed alcoholic with a penchant for drunk-dialing her ex husband, Tom. Their marriage ended when Rachel found out about Tom’s affair with their real estate agent, Anna, whom he subsequently married. Rachel believes her drinking was a primary reason for their divorce- a problem that emerged when she was unable to conceive. Her drinking induced blackouts in which, Tom told her, she behaved appallingly. Rachel’s guilt and self-loathing is evident as she obsesses over her failed marriage. She can’t seem to let go.

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Yes, I’m kicking this series off with a movie from 2004 because I’m kinda old, okay?!

It’s not perfect by any means but one that I found was a really good conversation starter with my own teenagers, because it’s supposed to be about girls close to their own age. (We won’t go in to how old the actors actually were at the time!)

The issues of groups and cliques in high school, the potential bullying, the image-consciousness and the popularity contests are just some of the issues that our girls are facing. It might be an over-the-top representation but it’s still a good way to raise these issues and compare to see what they are going through. If you haven’t seen it (you have only had 12 years) then maybe you should!

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‘Who’s Afraid Too?’ by Maria Lewis

The Craft: Femmo Film Friday- The Halloween Edition

The Girl on the Train: Femmo Film Friday

The Girl on the Train.

Mean Girls: Feminist Film Friday