Gemma G

Gemma G Alum

Favorite films

  • Strictly Ballroom
  • Do the Right Thing
  • Casablanca
  • Song of the Sea

Recent activity

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  • Top Secret!

  • A Minecraft Movie

  • Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua - Two Worlds

  • Dog Man

Pinned reviews

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  • Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

    Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

    “Ian Fleming’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

    First half: wacky and delightful.
    Intermission: long enough to empty the dishwasher and make a cocktail.
    Second half: a b-grade Bulgarian horror film in any other context.

    Though I have revisited the breakfast-machine scene many, many times, this I believe was the first full rewatch since I first dressed up at eight years old to go see a repertory screening with my neighbour, at the Classic, which later became a porn cinema. Always enjoyed telling people I saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at a porn cinema. The Classic is a comedy club now.

  • The Lost Daughter

    The Lost Daughter

    ★★★★★

    The sweeping, underlying love for mothers and the art of mothering that holds this story up, my gosh. All the reviews that quip “Yep never having kids” or “Motherhood’s not for everyone” miss so many points. This film and Elena’s story are about how the odds are stacked against women whether they want to be brilliant at home or at work or both and all the rest. We can’t have it all, at the same time. When young Leda’s older colleague comes…

Recent reviews

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  • A Minecraft Movie

    A Minecraft Movie

    Truly love the idea of the majestic Huntly power station becoming a potato chip factory, and the old Helensville corner butcher transforming into a spacies parlour run by a pink-jacketed gaming punk.

    This movie makes no sense without some seven-to-eleven year olds hanging around, so thank flint we had a cinema full of ‘em shout-explaining important plot developments or I would have been lost somewhere between Jennifer Coolidge’s “not again” as she runs someone over, and the wolf-pack of Dennises.

  • Paint Drying

    Paint Drying

    ★★★★★

    Ten years ago this month, I rocked up to SXSW in a DIY Letterboxd T-shirt, repping the world’s best website and app for film-lovers. That was my first official gig for the company and it was the perfect start of a brilliant decade with a one-of-a-kind, proudly New Zealand-made brand.

    The decade since has been a unique professional experience that doesn’t come along very often; one where there’s a delightful alignment between my talents and passions and the mission and…

Popular reviews

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  • Robot Dreams

    Robot Dreams

    ★★★★

    The bittersweet romance of waiting. The aching reality of big city solitude. The damn good jams of Earth Wind & Fire.

  • The Exorcist: Believer

    The Exorcist: Believer

    Exorcists, assemble.