To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018)

Check out the book review HERE.

Its not a secret that I’m not a huge fan of adaptations because a lot of times they lack the beauty what the words portray. However, I loved To All The Boys I’ve Love Before and you can see the review in the link above that I went and bought the second book full price (something I don’t do often so its a big deal). When Netflix showed off their trailer for it, I was pretty much sold. A part of me wondered how it would turn out but then, it had some a great premise that I thought there was no way that they could destroy it, especially when they even cast an Asian-American as their lead just like the book. Consider me happy just with that sole point.

However, let’s be objective, as much as I can and check it out!

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018)

Director: Susan Johnson

Cast: Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, Janel Parrish, Anna Cathcart, Madeleine Arthur, Emilija Baranac, Israel Broussard, John Corbett

A teenage girl’s secret love letters are exposed and wreak havoc on her love life. – IMDB

Its not surprise that I was a little skeptical as much as I wanted to be objective and not assume too much going in. To be honest, I was a little worried. Why? Well, the teen movies they’ve had on Netflix has been worryingly bad. F the Prom, #RealityHigh are just two very bad examples of how much I hated watching those two movies a lot. But then, To All the Boys I’ve Ever Loved is based on a really solid novel. Its a simple premise with charming characters. Its pretty hard to mess up. And you know what? Netflix delivered all the way!

I loved the tone of the trailer and when we saw the actual outcome of the entire movie, it worked so well together. It took a moment or two to embrace some of the characters are the beginning and get into it but it really captured the essence of the novel itself, especially when I was feeling every bit the feelings I had when I was reading the book. So great job on that, Netflix! Its nice to see a well done adaptation, even with a detail or two changed around. I’m not really bothered a lot by changes in details as long as they work in the realm of films because some things works well in books and they don’t translate as well into movies. However, there is one thing that was changed around which made me wonder what the point was because it affected probably one other scene and didn’t make much of a difference whether it was shown or not. I’m avoiding spoilers here so if you read the book, you may know what I’m talking about.

 

For one and probably the most important, the Song sisters play a big role in the film in whichever presence they have. Lana Condor does a great job at being our main lead here as she takes on this clueless teen who has these fantasy notions of romance in her imaginary world and scared to actually fall in love. There’s a good deal of humor and clumsiness as you would seem in the teenage world from her unconfident driving to her desire to take over the role of her older sister and the fictional romantic world that gives her these more “behind the times” sort of love concepts. At the same time, this makes her letters being sent out every bit as amusing as the two main guys are the main contenders on her mind. The first being her sister’s recently ex-boyfriend Josh (Israel Broussard) and the most popular boy in her grade, Peter (Noah Centineo) who she ends up making a deal with to not let Josh think that she likes him anymore. I have to say that Noah Centineo casted as Peter was a little out of the left field for me. I didn’t quite picture him like that but his character did grow on me. Especially in his scenes with Lara Jean and watching how their characters developed and then their relationship also grew as their chemistry and connection was more apparent. It works because they are quite the clueless first love teenage characters who make bad decisions and have their own reasons for justifying it. Its this cluelessness especially in Lara Jean (who reminded me of one of my friends at that age) that makes it so charming and fun to watch.

Aside from the fun romance bits, which does take up a decent amount of screentime, it also emphasizes on the family aspect. The three sisters are quite the presence. While Janel Parrish’s older sister Margot role is quickly disappeared into the background as more of a mental presence with everyone, her scenes are very much the big sister role who takes care of her family very well but also trying to find herself as she spreads her wings and leaves the comfortable protection of her home. At the same time, the physical charming and smart-aleck younger sister Kitty played by  Anna Cathcart is incredibly comedic as she pokes fun at her lame older sister who lacks the basic social skills and driving skills (and other things) but when the end of the day, they all do things for each other. That sisterly bond is shown so well also. John Corbett plays the father of these girls who is a widower trying to make things work amidst his busy job. His role wasn’t huge but at the same time, these girls along with their dad is living up to mom’s memories and her words as they try embrace those memories in each of their own way to be more courageous about their life decisions. Its a touching subplot in what feels like a teen romance but has a little more than just that which is what makes it also a great watch that has some heart string tugging moments outside of those romantic parts.

Overall, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before is a fun and charming teen coming of age romance drama/comedy all mixed up in a lovely package. Its a great adaptation of the novel albeit its slight changes because it captures the characters, their heartbreak, their fears and insecurities and gives them enough back story to make their relationships, whether friendship, family or romance, enough space to grow but paced properly to make it always have something meaningful. There are some over the top moments but to be honest, the book had some of those moments as well. The charm and charisma of the film comes not only in the fun source material but also how this young cast gave it life especially when we look at Anna Cathcart, Lana Condor and Noa Centineo. If you like teen romance drama/comedy type films, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is an awesome choice.

TV Binge: Pretty Little Liars [Season 6, 2016]

Pretty Little Liars is one of those shows that really have created something special. Be it the bond of their cast that translate to their social media or simply the story itself being able to run this long while keeping A in the dark and constantly making us follow the girls as they track down and figure out who she is. Season 6 is the big moment. A huge moment where our answer is here. Everyone knew about it jumping into this one. Season 6 is more known as 6A and 6B because 6A is the midseason finale where we get our reveal. 6B continues but is set five years later. I’m going to say right away that while I will try to shy away from spoilers, it is inevitable if you are not at least done with Season 5 (or possibly 6) and it may be confusing. Also, my focus will be more on 6B because I took a break between 6A and 6B and I have more opinions about how they chose to continue 5 years later.

Let’s check it out!

Creator: I. Marlene King

Cast: Lucy Hale, Ashley Benson, Troian Bellisario, Shay Mitchell, Sasha Pieterse, Ian Harding, Janel Parrish, Tyler Blackburn, Keegan Allen, Laura Leighton

Four friends band together against an anonymous foe who threatens to reveal their darkest secrets, while unraveling the mystery of the murder of their best friend. – IMDB

Season 6 of Pretty Little Liars in itself is a discussion piece. It carries to important plots in A and B. The first question being whether the reveal of A made sense in the midseason finale and the second being how they picked up things in B from a five years later standpoint where we haven’t seen and get the bits and pieces that the producers of the show can play around with and reveal. Simply put, I can’t say overall that I’m a huge fan of Season 6 in comparison, however, there are a bunch of solid moments that still build up on the tension and really plays that well which is an incredible compliment in itself especially after six seasons of stringing the audience along and messing with everyone’s mind on who A is and what and why, etc. Alison is back and she’s not dead but just running. The girls are back together and rebuilding their friendship. There are secrets and lies and intertwined are those fantastic boyfriends that pop up and help out.

Season 6A was the journey of sweat and tears as the girls (all five along with Alison) are pulling closer to figuring out who A is. The big reveal that we’ve been waiting for. The plan is an elaborate one and the journey there, not counting the 5 seasons before also a pretty impressively tense one. Although it has been a while since I had watched the midseason finale, I still remember the disappointment. I felt like it was lackluster and far-fetched and just not what I had expected. Every step closer felt like it was trying to build something so unimaginable that perhaps my 30 year old mind was getting too mature to comprehend. I love Pretty Little Liars and I’m never ashamed to admit it because this show has done many great things and created a teen show with not only great friendships and memorable ships but also built up an effective mystery and suspense. That ending just didn’t work for me. I guess if you toss your brain out, it kind of works together in an odd way. I just can’t seem to be convinced. Perhaps its because of that reason, I lost a little faith in continuing 6B until last week. Somehow, setting the show five years later felt like it was also forced. Remember what happened with Glee? Well, the fear of the loss of friction and capability to keep this mystery it had after the big reveal, felt hard to go on, even if I was a fan of the resolution.

I think whats important to grasped here for the producers at least is that while they have moved the show forward 5 years in the setting and all the characters are five years older and have experienced their A-free lives, we haven’t. If we were catching this on TV, it may be a few weeks break and if it was like myself, catching it on Netflix, even shorter (even if I took a break). Our love for their teen characters and their relationships haven’t changed. However, the creators have done exactly that. The girls are distant and don’t communicate as much. Their relationships have all shattered. Every single one of the ships we knew are gone and in their place, we quickly realize that some may go back in a more mature way and others might not. And yet, some things never change, like lying to get A out of the psych ward because Alison wants to reunite with her family. *That’s a spoiler I can’t avoid and can only assume if you’re reading here that you have finished Season 6A, at least.* What is Pretty Little Liars without a few lies, right? While I’m not against change and its truly inevitable and believable that after five years, especially with everything they’ve been trapped in in Rosewood, that they would have hiccups in their relationships, it felt a little drastic that these five years brought on so much change. However, aside from those choices which I have my issues with and will elaborate on next, Season 6B still manages to keep up the suspense as B or Uber A (whatever you choose) wreaks havoc and even raises the stakes more, not to mention the way they ended Season 6 was a total WTF moment that made me want to just buy Season 7 so I could continue,

When it dawned that all those ships have sailed separate ways in Season 6B, I was okay with it. Maybe a little heartbroken and curious, but still, its a fresh start. But then, it seems that these guys that the girls have been with through tragedy is also something they can’t quite let go. A lot of them actually haven’t really let go and we can see right through them, even if they have tried or are moving on with someone else. Relationships are complicated and hard to define sometimes but somehow, their relationships never seem to mature and its for this reason that while I’m the biggest supporter of Caleb and Hanna (aka Tyler Blackburn and Ashley Benson respectively) and their relationship in the first few seasons, I started really feeling like their relationship was broken up for the sake of breaking up. They separated in thoughts and their world. Funny part is that A didn’t break them apart and it only took a different world and career goals while somehow [spoiler alert] he connected with Spencer. It isn’t hard to imagine him and Spencer as we had slight hints and while its not a bad thing and they work together, there is obviously still unfinished business and it feels like it is there to simply create drama and not quite as natural. With that said, this 6B has really made me cheer for the Ezra and Aria (aka Ian Harding and Lucy Hale) angle because it seems they have matured in their own ways and now they are legit and legal and truly good for each other.

Overall, Season 6 did have a lot of great moments but also a good few forced ones that I didn’t enjoy the decisions for. Its easy to still like the characters and their arcs, regardless of what happens and that still remains the strength of Pretty Little Liars. I just hope that with Season 7 being its final season that it’ll turn things over and truly give redemption to some of these characters. After 7 years of hell, I think its important to see them find some sort of resolve and happiness. Of course, life isn’t that clean cut but with Uber A in the horizon jumping into Season 7 and one of the girls’ life already in danger, everyone needs to step up to the plate and own up to what they’ve done. Who knows what will happen but the stage is set and regardless of how flawed Season 6 was, I’m still pretty excited to see what Season 7 brings.