Hello and welcome to Ten Things! It's been ages since I've last done this and honestly I don't know why I even stopped. It's one of the funnest pieces to write and I bloody love it! Another thing I haven't done in a while is share my movie thoughts here. I've been doing quick reviews on my Instagram stories (@jessmolina if you're keen) while the new website is being developed (I can't wait to show you - the movie section is going to be amazing) but I've been missing the long form version of reviews so here we are.
I decided to combine my two loves of Ten Things and movie reviews into a Ten Things Movie Edition hybrid. So without further ado, let's talk about Hustlers...
I loved that they didn’t make a big deal out of Constance Wu’s ethnicity. It wasn’t the big selling point of the film – having an Asian lead – it was mentioned she was Chinese once and that was it. But the Asian values of looking after your elders was such a massive plot of the film and was central to understanding her motivations as a character. I understood why she did the things she did and the Asian family dynamics of looking after your family and sacrificing a lot for them.
One of the most pivotal scenes of the film happened with a New Zealand song playing in the background. That was a nice surprise! And I love that it was an unexpected choice but worked so well with the scene.
Actually, the whole soundtrack was amazing! Fiona Apple? Hearing ‘It’s Britney, bitch’ on a big screen again? Sean Kingston’s Beautiful Girls? Iconic. It’s the perfect mix for going to the gym. Not that I know anything about that – I haven’t been to the gym in years.
I think overall the sentiment at the cinema after the film was that we all wanted to try our hand at stripping. Being that physically strong to do those moves on the pole all while wearing heels and a cute outfit? Sign me up, STAT!
I just realised this film didn’t really have a lot of thirst or a romantic lead and I find that so refreshing! Usually in female-led films they still do some semblance of a romantic storyline (idk why fam – Hustlers prove that that’s not essential to a film about sisterhood) but not here. That, too me, really made the film stronger.
What this film did really well was portraying these characters as women who are complete. Their motivations in life wasn’t to find a man or to land a job in magazine in New York (I bet even that line makes you think of a few movies immediately). It was to be independent and not rely on anyone and be able to support their families/the life they want.
There were a few scenes that were visually symbolic of the film’s central film. SPOILER ALERT: One of my favourite scenes was that of J.Lo sitting outside in a big fur coat against a gorgeous backdrop of the Manhattan skyline (pictured above), taking Constance Wu under her wing. Visually it had everything I loved in a film – a big city skyline, good fashun, empowered WOC banding together.
I genuinely think this is J.Lo’s best role yet. I feel she’s done the same roles lately (Maid in Manhattan, Second Act) but this one really showed her range.
Hustlers reminded me a lot of my own squad, the sisterhood, and the people who have my back. We all have very different hustles but I feel we are all working towards the same thing, fighting similar battles. I loved their friendship and that the film also showed the gritty side of female friendships. It’s not all #squadgoals and heart eyes emojis – and sometimes loving someone also means keeping them accountable and knowing when to step back.
Read the original New York magazine article here.
P.S. there’s a lot of tits in this film. All kinds! All shapes! All sizes! We love a diverse celebration of our girls and it was good to see that on screen. Hustlers is out in NZ from today and you can check out the trailer here. Thanks Undertow Media and Roadshow for having me along!
Hello and welcome to Ten Things! It's been ages since I've last done this and honestly I don't know why I even stopped. It's one of the funnest pieces to write and I bloody love it! Another thing I haven't done in a while is share my movie thoughts here. I've been doing quick reviews on my Instagram stories (@jessmolina if you're keen) while the new website is being developed (I can't wait to show you - the movie section is going to be amazing) but I've been missing the long form version of reviews so here we are.
I decided to combine my two loves of Ten Things and movie reviews into a Ten Things Movie Edition hybrid. So without further ado, let's talk about Hustlers...
I loved that they didn’t make a big deal out of Constance Wu’s ethnicity. It wasn’t the big selling point of the film – having an Asian lead – it was mentioned she was Chinese once and that was it. But the Asian values of looking after your elders was such a massive plot of the film and was central to understanding her motivations as a character. I understood why she did the things she did and the Asian family dynamics of looking after your family and sacrificing a lot for them.
One of the most pivotal scenes of the film happened with a New Zealand song playing in the background. That was a nice surprise! And I love that it was an unexpected choice but worked so well with the scene.
Actually, the whole soundtrack was amazing! Fiona Apple? Hearing ‘It’s Britney, bitch’ on a big screen again? Sean Kingston’s Beautiful Girls? Iconic. It’s the perfect mix for going to the gym. Not that I know anything about that – I haven’t been to the gym in years.
I think overall the sentiment at the cinema after the film was that we all wanted to try our hand at stripping. Being that physically strong to do those moves on the pole all while wearing heels and a cute outfit? Sign me up, STAT!
I just realised this film didn’t really have a lot of thirst or a romantic lead and I find that so refreshing! Usually in female-led films they still do some semblance of a romantic storyline (idk why fam – Hustlers prove that that’s not essential to a film about sisterhood) but not here. That, too me, really made the film stronger.
What this film did really well was portraying these characters as women who are complete. Their motivations in life wasn’t to find a man or to land a job in magazine in New York (I bet even that line makes you think of a few movies immediately). It was to be independent and not rely on anyone and be able to support their families/the life they want.
There were a few scenes that were visually symbolic of the film’s central film. SPOILER ALERT: One of my favourite scenes was that of J.Lo sitting outside in a big fur coat against a gorgeous backdrop of the Manhattan skyline (pictured above), taking Constance Wu under her wing. Visually it had everything I loved in a film – a big city skyline, good fashun, empowered WOC banding together.
I genuinely think this is J.Lo’s best role yet. I feel she’s done the same roles lately (Maid in Manhattan, Second Act) but this one really showed her range.
Hustlers reminded me a lot of my own squad, the sisterhood, and the people who have my back. We all have very different hustles but I feel we are all working towards the same thing, fighting similar battles. I loved their friendship and that the film also showed the gritty side of female friendships. It’s not all #squadgoals and heart eyes emojis – and sometimes loving someone also means keeping them accountable and knowing when to step back.
Read the original New York magazine article here.
P.S. there’s a lot of tits in this film. All kinds! All shapes! All sizes! We love a diverse celebration of our girls and it was good to see that on screen. Hustlers is out in NZ from today and you can check out the trailer here. Thanks Undertow Media and Roadshow for having me along!
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