Under the Tuscan Sun: Maybe the Happy Ending Was Never the Man

Screen & Sound · The Lori Diaries

I went on Netflix looking for a film. Preferably something pretty, comforting, and unlikely to make me question my entire approach to life. Tuscany seemed like a safe choice.

Taylor’s Most Dazzling Era Yet

Screen & Sound · The Lori Diaries

Some people listen to a new Taylor Swift album and move on with their day. I listen, replay, overthink a line, change my mind about a song, and somehow end up with enough thoughts to fill an entire blog post. So, naturally, here we are.

Cinderella and the Part They Leave Out of Happily Ever After

Screen & Sound · The Lori Diaries

Disney's Cinderella turned ten just a few days ago, which gave me the perfect excuse to revisit the blue dress, the grand staircase, the romantic music, and a prince who looks like Richard Madden. A decade later, I'm still completely willing to believe in a little fairy-tale magic. But watching it again made me wonder about one part of the story I hadn't thought much about before: what happens after the glass slipper fits?

With Love, Meghan Netflix Review: Worth Watching?

Screen & Sound · The Lori Diaries

I went into With Love, Meghan expecting a cosy little escape: a beautiful kitchen, something delicious in the oven, and perhaps a hosting trick I could steal without first purchasing an entire California estate. I came away with a more complicated feeling. The kitchen was beautiful. I just wasn't sure I wanted to stay in it for eight episodes.

Running Point Made Me Rethink What a Good Boss Looks Like

Screen & Sound · The Lori Diaries

I started Running Point for Kate Hudson and stayed for a woman trying to run a basketball team while her family tests the limits of her patience. Somewhere between the boardroom arguments and the locker-room drama, I also found myself reconsidering something I used to believe about women at work.

The Idea of You: Why Is Her Happiness Everyone Else’s Business?

Screen & Sound · The Lori Diaries

I was exhausted, stretched out on the sofa, and scrolling through my phone in search of something good to watch when Instagram put The Idea of You in front of me. Anne Hathaway, a handsome pop star, a romance that looked a little too good to be true. It seemed like exactly the sort of film I needed that evening. I pressed play expecting a lovely escape. Instead, somewhere between the flirting and the heartbreak, one line made me sit up and think: “People hate happy women.” It's a harsh thing to say. It's also the line that stayed with me long after the film ended.

Four Minutes Late, One Seat Away from Love

Screen & Sound · The Lori Diaries

Have you ever noticed someone at an airport and, for about thirty seconds, imagined that you might be about to meet the love of your life? All you need is for the universe to assign you neighbouring seats. Preferably before one of you boards a flight to an entirely different country.

The Devil Wears Prada at 27: I Understand Miranda, But I Wouldn’t Work for Her

Screen & Sound · The Lori Diaries

When I first watched The Devil Wears Prada, I was firmly on Andy Sachs's side. She was young, ambitious, trying to make something of herself in New York, and working for a woman who seemed determined to make every day unnecessarily difficult. Miranda Priestly was the villain. Simple. Sixteen years after the film came out, I'm watching it again at 27, with some experience of working life behind me, and I'm surprised by how differently I see her. I understand Miranda now. That doesn't mean I'd ever want her to be my boss.

Emily in Paris Season 2: Love, Lies and a Little French

Season-two still via W Magazine

Screen & Sound · The Lori Diaries

I've just finished the second season of Emily in Paris, and I have a confession: I still enjoy this ridiculous, beautiful, occasionally infuriating little show. I know Paris isn't one endless parade of perfect outfits and attractive people waiting to complicate my love life. I also know Emily Cooper makes decisions that would have me begging a friend to put her phone down and think for a moment. But this season gives me something I wanted more of the first time around. Beneath all the pretty streets and extravagant clothes, Emily is beginning to understand that living somewhere is different from being enchanted by it.

Spencer: When a Fairytale Starts to Feel Like a Trap

Screen & Sound · The Lori Diaries

I went into Spencer expecting a film about Princess Diana. I came out feeling as though I'd spent two hours trying to find a way out of a beautiful house. The dresses are exquisite, the Christmas tables are perfect, and every room looks like somewhere I would love to visit. Yet almost nothing about this version of royal life feels inviting. At first, I kept waiting for the story to properly begin. By the end, I realised that the waiting, the dread, and the desperate need for a little space were the story.

It’s Not Sex and the City Without Samantha

A little warning before we begin

This post contains major spoilers for the first two episodes of And Just Like That..., the continuation of Sex and the City. If you haven't watched them yet, come back when you have.

Screen & Sound · The Lori Diaries

I knew the new chapter of Sex and the City would feel different without Samantha Jones. What I didn't expect was just how much I would miss her.

Gossip Girl Is Back. So Where’s the Spark?

Screen & Sound · The Lori Diaries

I wanted to love the new Gossip Girl. I really did. I was ready for the Met steps, the outrageously expensive wardrobes, the secrets, the betrayals, and at least one person making a spectacularly bad decision in a spectacularly beautiful apartment. Six episodes later, I have a question I never expected to ask about a show called Gossip Girl: how can there be this much drama and so little of it feel delicious?

The Shows That Kept Me Company in 2020

Screen & Sound · The Lori Diaries

If there's one thing I've become particularly good at this year, it's deciding to watch just one episode and then discovering that it's suddenly much later than I intended. In 2020, television has been a little bit of everything for me: a trip to Paris, a visit to Buckingham Palace, a return to familiar New York apartments, and occasionally a rather tense evening with people who make spectacularly bad decisions. These are the ten shows I kept thinking about, recommending, or coming back to this year.

A Swift Master-PEACE: Finding Comfort in the Long Pond Sessions

Screen & Sound · The Lori Diaries

I've been trying to find the right word for folklore: the long pond studio sessions, and I keep coming back to the same slightly ridiculous one: master-PEACE. Yes, I know how that sounds. But after the year we've had, there's something about watching Taylor Swift sit in a quiet studio and sing the songs that got me through the summer that feels a little like being allowed to exhale.

The Holiday, and the Art of Being Your Own Leading Lady

Screen & Sound · The Lori Diaries

I first watched The Holiday when I was twelve, just before my first trip to England. Back then, I was interested in the English cottage, the house-swapping idea, and, naturally, Jude Law. I'm nineteen now, and I still love all three. But there's one thing I notice much more when I watch it these days: how easy it is to spend so much time waiting for somebody else's story to change that you forget you have one of your own.