JUST WATCHED THE AMY WINEHOUSE MOVIE

I am going to start by saying that I do NOT think that this movie is made for Amy Winehouse's fans, but rather for people who barely know anything about her life and artistry — and still, the movie falls short in doing Amy even a bit of justice.

Let's start with some of my grievances:

They portray Amy as a very annoying and unlikable person. I think most people are going to leave the theater thinking of how annoying Amy Winehouse was: they portray her as being immature, a homewrecker, not very smart, toxic, disrespectful, and violent. Was Amy like that? Maybe she did have some of those traits (perhaps at the beginning of her career?) but the movie fails miserably in really counterweighting those negative traits with any good ones, making Amy appear so unlikable to the viewer.

The singing is NOT good. Marisa Abela sounds whiny. Some of the songs sound pretty bad, especially "Stronger Than Me," it sounds terrible! The only song that I think sounded pretty decent was Valerie.

Its timeline is very confusing. There are many BIG jumps here. For example, there is only ONE scene between Amy's performance at the Grammys (2008) and hear death (2011). There are three years unaccounted for in Amy's life. They didn't even bother to include Amy's collaboration with Tony Bennett, which was one of Amy's highlights of her career. This is only one example of many confusing jumps throughout the movie. It is very surface level!

Some of the wardrobe is way off. In this movie Amy was wearing Back to Black era clothing during the Frank era. They did a good job of recreating some of her actual dresses, skirts, etc., but implemented them wrong in the movie's timeline. For example, Amy wearing her iconic 2011 Fred Perry argyle long sweater... in 2004?!?! Like, c'mon

There is a nude scene... why?! There is absolutely no reason to have a nude scene in an Amy Winehouse movie. Period.

Now onto the salvageable things about this movie:

I personally think the Glastonbury scene was the best part of this movie. The recreation was quite good and the whole scene added a lot to the movie in terms of showing Amy's feelings towards Blake.

I have very mixed feelings about the last scene because on one hand the end was super rushed. In fact, the entire movie felt rushed but the end, in particular, felt rushed. However, the last scene (hint: Ava flies in paradise) made me quite emotional. I was almost tearing up. I thought it was a beautiful way to the end the movie.

Overall thoughts:

I think this movie shouldn't have been made not because I am opposed to an Amy Winehouse biopic, but because this movie does a disservice to her life and legacy. It is a badly acted and at times it looks cheap. Amy deserved a better dramatization of her life. I hope we'll see that one day in the hands of a good director.

My rating? 3/10

Thoughts on Amy's biopic teaser trailer

Marisa Abela sounds and looks NOTHING like Amy. When she first talks in the trailer I was like "Who is this!?!? This is not Amy." Her voice sounds gimmicky and just really poorly imitated. The acting in this movie won't be good.

I gotta say that the sets and custom design surprised me a bit. I can tell that they recreated the stages of some of Amy's concerts as well as her outfits really well, which sadly might end up being the only good thing about the film.

I just think that the standards for biopics have become so high that we, as the audience, simply don't give a pass to mediocrity anymore. When we have films like Jackie, Spencer, Lincoln, Blonde (cinematography and acting wise), Oppenheimer, Maestro, etc., we know what directing and acting talent can do to create biographical masterpieces.

Will I go to the movies to see this film? Most likely. I think that regardless of whether it's a good or a bad film, it will be a very interesting experience for long time fans.

Amy Winehouse leaving her house to go to a recording studio in London on February 15, 2007

Hi anon! I haven't made gifs in a long time. I lost all of my psd's, videos, and concerts of Amy. Most of them were in HD such as Live at Porchester Hall, Live at Shepherds Bush Empire, Amy's Grammys performance, etc. Plus, this website is basically dead. I feel like nobody reblogs gifs anymore. As content creators, it is not worth the effort anymore. There is a lot that goes into making gifs and I just think that I already made a decent contribution to Amy's online archive—which was always my goal. I think I'm done making gifs. Therefore, I cannot help or provide you with a tutorial not because I don't want to but because, at this point, I don't have the tools that I used to have such as my personal psd's and actions that made my gifs unique. I am sure you can find basic tutorials on Youtube on how to make gifs using Photoshop and then you can work on creating your own color scheme among other things.

I am not done, however, editing pictures of Amy and sharing them on here. I just don't have the time anymore, but every time I come across an unseen or rare picture of Amy, I make sure to share it. I'm sorry I couldn't be of much help.

A gorgeous Amy Winehouse arriving at the Ivor Novello Awards in London, 2004

Amy Winehouse outside her London apartment as she goes to visit her lawyer's office, 2008

Amy Winehouse smoking a cigarette outside her home on April 28th, 2008

I have been listening to a lot of Amy's music recently. I go through periods where I almost never listen to her music and others where I listen to her every day, and every time I do that I rediscover something special. This time I have come to the conclusion that You Sent Me Flying and Wake Up Alone are Amy's best written songs. The lyricism on those two songs is truly special.

Rest in peace Tony Bennett (August 3rd, 1926 - July 21st, 2023).

A legendary artist! Thank you for collaborating with Amy Winehouse and for giving us the masterpiece that is 'Body and Soul'! Tony Bennett always treated Amy so kindly and exalted her legacy in the years after her death.

Thank you for sharing your talent with the world.

Amy Winehouse performing at the Brixton Academy in London on November 19th, 2004.

Amy Winehouse in the set of the “You Know I’m No Good” music video, 2006

Amy Winehouse stopping at a newspaper stand in London on October 3rd, 2007

Amy Winehouse leaving the post office on November 8th, 2007

Amy Winehouse looking through her Fred Perry collection, 2007

Amy Winehouse out in London with a blonde look and wearing a Johnny Depp shirt, January 9th, 2008. 

Amy Winehouse out and about in London, October 8th, 2010

Back to Black (2007) by Amy Winehouse, dir. Phil Griffin