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Maggie's Plan (2015)
Ambivalence hurts this comedy.
Maggie's Plan (screened at the 59th San Francisco International Film Festival), along with many indie films like it, uses a more ambivalent tone in regards to a character's reaction to dramatic shifts in their lives. It's a popular approach towards acting these days, but it can sometimes make a film seem like it is mocking a situation that should otherwise be dealt with in a genuine and serious way- even if it is a comedy.
Greta Gerwig plays Maggie, a teacher at a local university. She is single and seeking to have a baby on her own very soon. She begins spending time with John (Ethan Hawke), another teacher, who is married to Georgette (Julianne Moore). Maggie agrees to give John notes on his book that he is writing, and soon the two fall in love. They consummate their relationship the very night Maggie has inseminated herself with sperm from a guy she knew from High School. Three years later John and Maggie are married and have a beautiful three-year-old daughter. However, Maggie is done with John and realizes she doesn't love him anymore, so she hatches a plan to get him to back together with his former wife.
As the film is called Maggie's Plan, it may have been better to only follow her around the whole time. She is a character with a quirky nature in a cast full of overtly strange characters. If the story remained firmly told from her perspective, rather than from others in the film, she may have stood out more, and her motivation might not have been lost. Instead, everyone is just as quirky and just as detached as her, making it hard to become attached to any of them, as none of them feel like they are taking their lives seriously.
Gerwig (Frances Ha) is a good character actress, and she manages to represent what this kind of millennial character is supposed to be according to the world: passionate but passive about their interests. With no genuine moments or emotions. She's like a more idiosyncratic blonde Zooey Deschanel; usually this shtick works for her, but this story is so fraught with what should be pure human emotions that it lessens the impact of the situation.
Julianne Moore's Georgette is an intimidating character. Moore sports a very confusing European accent, the only reason seeming to be that it adds even more quirkiness to the movie. She has an almost militaristic strategy towards raising her and John's children and how she approaches her relationship with John. In one scene, she says Maggie ruined her life by taking her husband, but she is completely passive about it when it comes to her actions. She's the most well adjusted wronged woman in the world. This is an example of how the characters will talk about emotion and love but perform no action to back it up. Ethan Hawke's John is such a clueless man that it's kind of sad. He works and works on this book that he is writing so much so that he doesn't even notice the games the women around him are playing with his life.
There are some truly fun and funny moments in the film, which comes naturally with such a tone. Maggie's interactions with the children are amusing, and she has a few good one- liners in there about the state of relationships. Director Rebecca Miller (The Private Lives of Pippa Lee) may just love this type of film making, which is fine; she is in the same camp as Jim Jarmusch and Yorgos Lanthimos. The ambivalent formula does work for many people, but it seems counter intuitive to make light of love and marriage while also insisting how important it is.
The Conjuring 2 (2016)
Chilling and thrilling! A worthy sequel!
James Wan seems to be the only consistent horror director working today, cranking out hit after hit, with his explosive start helming the first Saw film. His follow up to The Conjuring, The Conjuring 2 is a worthy sequel, and while the first installment of the haunted adventures of the Warrens' shines brighter than this follow up, The Conjuring 2 still thrills and chills with the help of well placed jump scares, a tone of absolute dread, and beautiful camera work.
It's been seven years since Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) and her husband, Ed (Patrick Wilson), helped The Perron family with their haunted Rhode Island house. When Lorraine has a premonition of a terrifying demonic force threatening to kill Ed, she decides they cannot investigate anymore to keep him safe. Across the pond in Enfield, England, the Hodgson family is being terrorized by the angry spirit of an old man named Bill (Bob Adrian). The eleven-year-old Janet (Madison Wolfe) seems to be the focus of all the hubbub and the primary victim of Bill's rage. When the police come by one night, after a particularly scary attack, and witness supernatural activity themselves, the Hodgon's soon find themselves in the middle of a media firestorm about their haunted home. The church sends Ed and Lorraine to England to confirm the authenticity of the case despite Lorraine's hesitance and worries about Ed's safety.
Wilson and Farmiga are still as charming as ever playing the real-life Warrens, who spent decades investigating the supernatural. They are a perfect pair of love, faith, and empathy. Their capacity for goodwill is rooted in their unwavering Christian faith- something that is not popular or looked upon as a legitimate motivation for character actions these days. The pair are written so likable that their faith cannot simply be laughed away. They use it as their foundation in all that they do, in their unwavering sense of charity in helping this family in need, and also as a fierce weapon against evil. Even the most hardened atheist will find it difficult to deny how bad ass Lorraine is as she holds up her Bible or the potent power of Ed's crucifix around his neck when they wield them in defense against the nasty spirit tormenting the Hodgsons. Madison Wolfe, who plays Janet, the poor girl being hit with the most abuse, is a wonderful actress. You feel her exhaustion and her utter loss of hope as the movie continues on. Wolfe exhibits the talent of someone much older than herself. You empathize with her highs and her lows- something usually difficult for such a young actor to achieve.
The camera work is almost another character in The Conjuring 2. Simple zooms, upside down shots, and pans induce the fear in the audience, who witness some horrors that the characters do not. In one sequence the youngest Hodgson boy, Billy (Benjamin Haigh), has a blanket tent set up at the end of a dark hallway. When one of his toys rolls by itself out from the darkness, he jumps into bed in fear while the camera focuses on the tent, giving the audience a good forty-five seconds of fear of what is inside the dark tent and waiting for whatever it may be to jump out. With this tactic, Wan includes the audience in the narrative, giving each person their own personal journey with this haunting.
While it is indeed a well made and effective film in it's own right, The Conjuring 2 is more scattered plot-wise than the tightly scripted The Conjuring. It spreads itself a little too thin as it tries to include slight subplots of some of the real life people who were present during the Enfield Hauntings, including Maurice Grosse (Simon McBurney), who was an investigator and the most constant and dedicated supporter for the Hodgson's during their plight. He is an important figure in the actual real-life story, but this movie is about the Warrens and the Hodgens, and any departure from them feels like an overkill of information.
James Wan is not only a great director of horror but also in general. Hopefully he is just getting started with The Conjuring series. Based on the quality thus far of the first two films, you can potentially expect to be treated and frightened by a whole franchise based on the hundreds of the Warrens real-life haunted adventures.
Youth (2015)
Abstract and dreamlike
Italian director Paolo Sorrentino has crafted an art house film full of metaphor and overwhelming symbolism. Thank goodness that the two leads give Youth the gravitas it needs to make it's moral impressions.
Fred (Michael Caine) is a famous retired composer who is on vacation at a fancy resort in the Swiss Alps with his best friend Mick (Harvey Keitel). Mick is a film director who is there with a team of young screenwriters while writing his next masterpiece. When Fred is asked to come out of retirement to conduct his music for the Queen of England on her son's birthday, he and Mick begin to contemplate their age, legacies, and the passage of life around them.
The film is written and directed by Sorrentino (The Great Beauty) and his touch is an eccentric one, as he weaves his way through the resort and spotlights small moments by the other guests and the staff, giving a sort of outlandish Upstairs/Downstairs feeling to the movie. The guests are all rich and famous in some way (a decadently dressed couple who never speaks, a retired and extremely overweight athlete, Miss Universe, a levitating monk, etc). The staff is made up of very young and bored looking people catering to their wealthy guests in grey polos. Sorrentino is not a very traditional storyteller, and the way he jumps from one subject to another can make you forget certain plot points; by the time you get back to the main characters you might have to scramble to remember what happened with them last.
When Mick does something out of the blue and extremely out of character, Fred and everyone at the resort is thrown for an emotional loop. Fred's daughter, Lena (Rachel Weisz), asks him what they would talk about as friends- did he see this coming at all? Fred says they only talked about the good things, never the bad things. Begging the question, do you really know someone if you only see the lighter side of them? Is it in the darkness of our friends and loved ones that we truly get to know them?
Keitel and Caine have wonderful chemistry as two friends who have grown in fame and fortune together. They talk about being old, about how they were when they were young, and how the youth don't know how great they have it. The film is filled with reflection of once upon a time greatness. Mick believes he still has great movies to make while Fred is done with music and wishes to live his last days out in peace. One man refusing to accept his prime may have passed and another who is happy to let it go. Their light and humorous talks ground an otherwise detached and bizarrely structured film. Abstract and dreamlike, Youth is a study in age, wealth, fame, and best friendship.
Mistress America (2015)
Baumbach and Gerwig are very talented in their niche; stories of those stuck between youth and adulthood.
Francis Ha's Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig team up again in the off kilter, uber contemporary film Mistress America.
Tracy (Lola Kirke) is eighteen and just started school at a small university in New York. She is struggling to stand out in her writing program and with making friends, so she decides to reach out to her 30 year old step sister to be, Brooke (Gerwig). Soon, Tracy becomes enraptured by Brooke's crazy, creative, and seemingly carefree lifestyle. Brooke wants to open a restaurant but when her boyfriend and business partner dumps her, Tracy agrees to help Brooke confront her ex-best friend Mamie-Claire (Heather Lind) for the money she owes her.
The way the actors are blocked and the way they speak their lines in Mistress America feels like you are watching a play instead of a film, which creates a surreal experience. The people on the screen don't seem very real but the dialogue is fun and snappy and at times so relatable you might feel exposed, as if your inner thoughts are being spoken out loud. In the last scene Brooke has a short but beautiful monologue where she describes how her creative drive is limited because no matter how excited she gets about an idea, she still finds herself sitting in front of a computer watching TV or web surfing, something most 18-30 years olds can relate deeply to.
Mistress America also takes an interesting look on how we "worship" others. Tracy is infatuated with Brooke. In one scene, Brooke casually asks Tracy to buy some pasta for dinner and Tracy ends up over stressing in the grocery store, unsure of what Brooke would want and buys multiple kinds of pasta just in case. Though she is held in high regard by our main character, Brooke is not presented to us as perfect. She is manipulative, selfish, petulant and flighty. Brooke represents what Tracy could become, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. She is just one possible outcome for any young creative in a big city, trying to find an outlet for their energy that pays them a living wage. The struggle is real.
Mistress America is full of such beautiful sound bites, you might want your own copy of the script to read over and over and quote to impress at parties. Baumbach and Gerwig are very talented in their niche; writing contemporary tales of those stuck between youth and adulthood.
Another Period (2013)
Peeling away all the wackiness, Another Period is actually very sad.
Creators Natasha Leggero and Riki Lindhome have hidden real life issues in their overtly wacky and brash parody of Downton Abbey.
Another Period follows the misadventures of the extremely wealthy Bellacourt family in 1902. They are stupid, selfish, misguided, ignorant, and all around horrible people. When a beautiful new servant girl, Celine (Christina Hendricks), is hired, she is immediately renamed "Chair" by one of the Bellacourt sisters. Chair is there with an agenda though; she is having an affair with Commodore Bellacourt (David Koechner), and she is planning to conceive his child and take over his estate.
Lindhome and Leggero both play the idiot Bellacourt sisters, Beatrice and Lillian. Lillian (Leggero) is vapid and only acts with selfish desire. Beatrice (Lindhome) is sweet but a complete and total dullard. The girls are married to Victor (Brian Huskey) and Albert (David Wain), who are having their own love affair together. Beatrice and her brother Frederick (Jason Ritter) are in love and sleeping together in a unabashed display of incest.
The characters display perfectly abhorrent behavior for any era. The Bellacourts treat their servants like they are trash, yelling and throwing things at them when something is not just right. Lillian and Beatrice ask their husbands to fake their own deaths so they can be granted divorces. Their mother, played to perfection by the amazing Paget Brewster, is an opium addict who barely has a handle on reality. Michael Ian Black dons an indistinguishable accent as Peepers, the head butler. He is fully devoted to the job and the Bellacourt family despite the fact that he is treated like something caught on the bottom of their heeled button up boots.
If you peer through the outrageous behavior and hilarity, you'll see some pretty dark issues representative of the time emerge. One maid, having just come back from a mental hospital, where she was treated for "hysteria", is ridiculed and treated like she is contagious. Another footman is raped, or, as they put it in the show, "ravished" by a female guest of the Bellacourts, and he is ignored and made to look a fool when he tries to tell anyone. In another scene, Chair is to break the news to the children that their fathers have died, but when she tells them they begin to mourn for the death of Peepers, for he is the only male figure they have ever known.
Peeling away all the wackiness, Another Period is actually very sad and is trying to say something about not only how people were treated back then but how we treat each other today. It would seem that the only way Lindhome and Leggero could be taken seriously on their views is by hiding it in a comedy. Good for them and for us then that they are so adept in making us laugh.
Unexpected (2015)
Unexpected is the rocky start to a beautiful friendship.
Unexpected is a simple but powerful movie about the nature of female friendships, the dynamic of teacher and student relationships and how the same experience can be starkly different for women at two ends of the economic spectrum.
Sam (Cobie Smulders) is a high school science teacher at an inner city school in Chicago that is in it's final semester before closing. As a result, Sam is looking to switch gears in her career but is thrown off course when she finds out she is pregnant. Soon after, one of her students, Jasmine (Gail Bean), also becomes pregnant, and the two develop an unlikely bond as they deal with this new stage of life together.
Sam decides that it is her personal mission to help Jasmine get into a good college, despite her pregnancy. It's an easy chemistry between the two, but underneath you can feel the tension as Jasmine realizes she may not want to sacrifice time with her child to go to a four year school. Sam loses herself in trying to help and push Jasmine to be her best, and is so focused on that, that she is not getting her own life and mind ready for her personal foray into motherhood. This soon starts affecting her marriage, her relationship with her mother (Elizabeth McGovern), and her professional life.
Smulders is perfect as Sam. Being pregnant herself during the shooting of the film, all of her insecurities about being a mother and bringing a life into this world while also striving to keep one's personal professional identity is portrayed wonderfully. Newcomer Gail Bean steals the show as the whip smart teen, Jasmine. Bean plays Jasmine with a beautiful strength and wisdom beyond her years, but she is also just a kid who is vulnerable and unsure of her next steps. Bean is a talent to watch, and here is hoping Hollywood will pay the proper attention.
Unexpected is the rocky start to a beautiful friendship. Through their different situations and through their friendship, these two women find themselves wanting very different but equally good things for their babies. A delicate balance of understanding must be made for two such different people to be able to support each other in the ways they need.
Boulevard (2014)
A quiet and simple film that showcasing the dramatic talents of Williams
The late Robin Williams was known throughout his colorful career for playing loud and bombastic characters: Mrs. Doubtfire, Armand Goldman of Birdcage, Mork of Mork and Mindy to name a few. Ironically, Williams' last role on screen before he left us was of a quiet and mild-mannered man in the film Boulevard.
Nolan Mack is a very simple man. He works at a bank and has been married to his wife, Joy, for many years. They have an easy-loving chemistry together, but they sleep in separate rooms. One night when driving home from visiting his father, who is dying in a nursing home, Nolan makes a U-turn onto a street lined with prostitutes. After Nolan almost hits a male prostitute with his car, he offers to give him a ride. From there he begins a journey towards realizing that he needs to be true to himself and live the life he wants.
Williams does some amazingly layered work here as Nolan. Early in the film he says that he has a fear of "hurting people"; this may be the reason he denied his true nature for so long. Williams does a wonderful job in showing you a man desperate to be his true self but blocked by the comfortable life he has built around him. His relationship with Leo, the prostitute, is almost wholly one of emotional affection- they never have sex. Nolan simply wants to care for Leo, as he does his wife and his father. It is only when Nolan realizes that he must live for himself and not only for others that he truly opens up and starts finally being who he really is.
Boulevard, like Nolan, is a quiet and simple film that showcases the wonderful dramatic talents of Robin Williams. It may go down as "Robin's Last Film," but it also sends a message that you are never too old and that it's never too late to live the life you want. To find your happiness.
Thank you Robin, you are and will be forever missed.
- See more at: http://www.mediumraretv.org/review/boulevard/#sthash.4YJebJGw.dpuf
Von Mädchen und Pferden (2014)
The horses seem to show more urgency and emotion than the girls.
Director Monika Treut has painted an idyllic picture of ranch life in the German countryside with her film Of Girls and Horses. Though beautiful, the film is very quiet, and while there is something to be said about tranquility in gorgeous scenery, it proves difficult for an audience to connect to the characters and learn to care for them.
Alex (Ceci Chuh) is a sixteen-year-old high school dropout who is sent by her adoptive mother to a horse ranch to work off the angst. While there, she is mentored by resident horse whisperer, Nina (Vanida Karun). Alex is getting into the swing of things when another young girl, Kathy (Alissa Wilms), comes to the ranch with her own horse on holiday. Kathy and Alex strike up an immediate friendship, which turns into something a little bit more.
Of Girls and Horses deals with two couples. In addition to Alex and Kathy, there is also Nina and her girlfriend, Christine (Ellen Grell), who have a long-distance relationship that's hard on both of them (Christine lives in Hamburg while Nina lives with the horses in the country). They reunite in the film with much passion and love, but when morning breaks, Nina is gone with just one phone call from the ranch about a horse with a minor injury. You may get the idea that Nina has more of a commitment to the equine then her human lover. Nina and Christine may be a future reflection of Kathy and Alex, who become smitten with each other. Kathy promises Alex a job at her father's ranch so they can be together, but whether or not she can deliver on that promise is as sure as Nina staying the full weekend in Hamburg with Christine.
Like most European film, the action in Of Girls and Horses is slow- paced and the characters react to their lives with a kind of nonchalance. When Nina realizes Alex has stolen her prescription pills to buy weed, she goes out and looks upon the grassy fields for a bit of reflection and then calmly tells Alex she is disappointed by her actions. Then the two sit in silence while Alex rests her head on Nina's shoulder. In another scene, Alex and Kathy wake up after a night of drinking and realize the horses have gotten out of their pen. What follows is a slow methodical search with the two girls acting like they are searching for a lost pencil and not four living creatures they were tasked to look after. In an American film, these sequences would have involved fast cuts, frantic music, and overt emotional reactions. In this German film, all action is dealt with with little to no fuss.
You'd have to be in a certain mood to truly enjoy Of Girls and Horses; it's methodical and at times almost boring. In the last beautifully rendered shot, Alex and Kathy ride off together on the beach. The horses seem to show more urgency and emotion than their human counterparts.
- See more at: http://www.mediumraretv.org/review/of-girls-and- horses/#sthash.po8EFHk3.dpuf
Little Boy (2015)
Could be cheesy but is surprisingly poignant.
Complimentary tissues should be distributed prior to viewing this film about a boy bringing his father home from war using the power of hope and faith. What could have easily been a preachy film, Little Boy is poignant and inspiring.
Pepper Busbee (Jakob Salvati) is a very small boy; at eight years old he is dwarfed by by all the other kids his age. Pepper's best friend is his father James (Michael Rapaport). The two are a close pair, and Pepper depends on his father for all of his emotional well-being. It's wartime, and James has been called to duty to the dismay of Pepper, his older brother London (David Henrie), and their mother Emma (Emily Watson). After Pepper "moves" a bottle at a magician's show with his mind, he comes to believe that he also possesses the power to bring his father home. He turns to a local priest, Father Oliver (Tom Wilkinson), who gives Pepper a list of charitable acts; Father Oliver then tells him that if he completes everything on the list then he can make anything happen. As part of the list, Father Oliver instructs Pepper to befriend a Mr. Hashimoto (Cary -Hiroyuki Tagawa), who was just released from a Japanese internment camp and is being discriminated against in the town. Pepper does so begrudgingly, but he soon finds that he has more in common with Mr. Hashimoto than he thinks.
Director Alejandro Monteverde perfectly captures the idyllic life of a small coastal Californian town during the 1940s. Everything and everyone looks straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting to almost a whimsical effect. Montaverde also composes some stunning shots of his lead actor, who is a strikingly beautiful child. Salvati does a wonderful job bringing Pepper to life, a performance reminiscent of Jackie Cooper in the classic King Vidor film The Champ. He is very talented, bringing sorrow to Pepper but also a lightness and quick sense of humor. Pepper represents the best things about being a child- he is hopeful, gullible, and his love for his father knows no bounds.
Some of the story techniques in Little Boy are old hat and cheesy; the voice over from "old Pepper" was completely unnecessary, and some of the flashes to James at war were also a little overkill. A dream that Pepper has about the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima was also a very stylized sequence we don't need to see, as it just reinforces facts the audience already knows.
There's a fine line between cheesy and heartwarming and Little Boy is wavering on both sides. Luckily for the film and the audience, it leans heavier on the heartwarming side.
- See more at: http://www.mediumraretv.org/review/little- boy/#sthash.50rSd6Ry.dpuf
Danny Collins (2015)
In which Al Pacino is adorable
Danny Collins comes from the director who brought you Crazy, Stupid, Love and this movie is another charmer in the same vein. As a truly delightful dramedy that thinks it's much edgier than it is, Danny Collins boasts a fabulous cast with great chemistry which becomes a low stakes tale of living your life the best way you can at any age.
Danny Collins (Al Pacino) is a very famous singer who, now in his elder years, has been reduced to singing the same repetitive hits on a tour where the average attendees are 50-60 year old women. When his manager Frank (Christopher Plummer) presents him with a birthday gift of a lost letter written to him from John Lennon almost forty years ago, Danny decides to change his life to the way he thinks it should have been had he gotten that letter originally. This sends him from LA to New Jersey to connect with the grown son he has never met.
Pacino is delightful and fun as the eccentric Collins. Danny is a normal man who let fame and money warp him into the typical aging rock star. In a story like this, you would expect someone like Danny to hit rock bottom, lose everything and then have to build himself back up to a better person and artist. This does not happen as Danny never in fact changes at all- he is just as bombastic, oblivious and creatively shallow as ever by the end of the film. But in a monologue given by the almighty Frank Grubman (Plummer) to Danny's estranged son, Danny is full of flaws but he has the best of hearts. Pacino gives a wonderful performance in a role that you can only describe as adorable and wanting him to be your awesome famous uncle.
Annette Bening plays Mary, the flustered hotel manager in New Jersey where Danny takes up temporary residence. Pacino and her have an easy and fun chemistry that lights up the screen when they are together. Mary starts out as someone Danny pursues and flirts with to her apprehensive delight, but she soon becomes his moral compass and you realize along with him that he may not be ready, or ever be ready to deserve her. Bobby Cannavale (Win Win) and Jennifer Garner (Dallas Buyers Club) give understated and beautiful performances as Danny's son and his pregnant wife. Both of these actors know how to play the straight to Pacino's Collins while also deep-rooting a sense of humanity in the film. The couple also has an adorable seven year old daughter who has the most sober looking case of ADHD ever seen.
Danny Collins wants you to think it is an edgy movie, but it's not. It plays like a family movie and the moral is certainly aimed to that dynamic. If not for the extreme overuse of the f-bomb and the gratuitous female full frontal in the beginning.
- See more at: http://www.mediumraretv.org/review/danny- collins/#sthash.SZcf5VNf.dpuf
The Wedding Ringer (2015)
A misogynist joke is just that
Wedding comedies are a niche genre. They are written for women because every woman loves watching other women try and fail to pull off the perfect wedding. The Wedding Ringer is set out to be the "wedding comedy for men". It misses it's mark though by recycling overused comedy tropes and neglecting its female characters.
Doug (Josh Gad) is an unassuming nerd who, to his surprise, has landed a blonde bombshell fiancé in the form of Gretchen (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting). Doug needs a best man and seven groomsman to match Gretchen's wedding party. However, he has no friends or family, and in his desperation to give Gretchen her perfect wedding since she is the "perfect girl", he hires Jimmy (Kevin Hart). Jimmy is a professional wedding ringer who will pretend to be your best friend, your best man, and will have some of his friends tag along to be your groomsman.
Kevin Hart is a superstar. He lights up every scene with his charm and lightning fast wit, as Jimmy the best man you don't actually have. He really brings the funny to the film. Not the gross-out boy humor that everyone else is doing, but the smart, witty, and often heartwarming humor that shows why he is one of the most sought after comedic actors of today. Josh Gad is a very easy guy to root for with his nerdy glasses and disheveled curly hair. He's just like every other sap trying to win over the Gretchens of the world. However, there is nothing extraordinary about Doug. He is so run of the mill that when you start to see Jimmy developing a real friendship with him it seems a little strange. Why is Doug different than the dozens of other men Jimmy has been fake best friends with? There is no answer.
The Wedding Ringer seems to be trying to cash in on the kind of humor and antics of previous films like 2011's juggernaut, Bridesmaids. What made that movie work was the fact that it was women behaving differently than we had seen them behave before. Men being gross and rude is normal; it's not new or exciting. Also, a misogynist joke is exactly that. All the "be a man" and "don't be such a girl" is lazy comedy writing. We've seen this movie before- every single other buddy comedy ever made. Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting's Gretchen is the one-note hot girl, her sister Alison (Olivia Thirlby) is the one-note chill hot girl, and Jimmy's secretary, Doris (Jennifer Lewis), is the one-note advice-giving older woman. Altogether, these women would make up one real human woman. The real world is populated by both men and women, but in The Wedding Ringer only the men are fully realized multi dimensional characters.
Hart and Gad have easy and fun chemistry, and it is fun to watch them friend-fall for one another. There are some heartwarming and funny moments for these two buds, but that doesn't make up for all that The Wedding Ringer is lacking to make it a really great comedy.
Viaggio sola (2013)
A travel movie that could use less travel
A Five Star Life's original Italian title is Viaggio Sola, which loosely translates to "Traveling Alone". That may have been the better English title for A Five Star Life, not only because the heroine travels for 80% of the film but because it would better serve the emotion the film is trying to convey, as some of that emotion seemed to be lost in translation.
Irene (Marguerita Buy) is a beautiful woman in her 40s who is a five star hotel secret guest. So she has the best job in the world as she checks into the fanciest hotels all over Europe and meticulously grades everything she sees and experiences. It's a glamorous yet solitary life, and Irene lives it never bothered by the lack of personal relationships one would usually have at her age. Those closest to her include her ex- fiancé Andrea and her sister Silvia, a busy mother of two young girls. When Andrea (Stefano Accorsi) learns he is going to be a father from a one night stand, Irene starts to reevaluate her lonely luxurious life. Irene's sister Silvia is a busy musician, wife and mother of two. She is presented to us as the antithesis of Irene, almost what women are supposed to become if they choose the "normal" path of husband and kids. The scenes between Silvia and Irene are the most interesting in the film. Their conversations display a jealousy from both sides yet each hold a candle of superiority over the other, showing that no path is the true path to happiness.
Director Maria Sole Tognazzi paints a beautiful and stark painting of Irene's life on the go. Much like George Clooney in Up in The Air, Irene lives out of her suitcase in the most beautiful rooms in the most stunning places in the world. Back home in Italy you are shown the complete opposite- Irene's empty apartment is a physical representation of her personal life. The camera work in the many places Irene visits is spectacular. From a belly dancer in Morocco to a gorgeous mountain range in Sweden, Tognazzi has an eye for atmosphere and it serves her well in this film. The camera also loves Marguerita Buy. She has the presence of a younger actress with her elegant but casual wardrobe and her perfectly tousled curly blonde hair. Yet she wears her age in such a classic and natural way- you would not want her any other way.
The idea in A Five Star Life is that Irene is lonely and she is doubting her life choice to be single and childless. There is no great urgency from her, especially when she's having a leisurely cocktail in Paris, Stockholm, or Berlin. These places take her away from what is really bothering her. She is most lonely and desperate when she's surrounded by her loved ones. They represent what she has left behind and what she can not get back. More scenes with them would have served the narrative better and given the audience more of an emotional tie to her plight. A Five Star Life is a light and delightful travel movie, but for the emotional moral to really hit home it could have used a little less travel.
- See more at: http://www.mediumraretv.org/review/a-five-star- life/#sthash.GgFE4gsD.dpuf
How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
A beautiful film that matured along with it's characters
How to Train Your Dragon was a surprise hit, even to Dreamworks- the studio that released it. The masterfully animated and scored story of a boy and his dragon captured hearts and minds everywhere and naturally lead to a franchise. Much like it's predecessor film, How to Train Your Dragon 2 is packed full of tons of heart and humor but it does something unexpected, like it's characters- it grows up.
It's five years after the events of the first film. The little Viking town of Burk is now a bustling and active haven for dragons. When Hiccup (Baruchel) and his dragon, Toothless, discover an ice cave that is home to thousands of dragons and Hiccup's long lost mother. After meeting fellow dragon rider Valka (Blanchett), they must fight to defend the safety of dragon and human alike from the evil Drago (Djimon Hounsou), an evil dragon master who plans to build an army of dragons to control humans.
The whole gang is back and more hilarious than ever, but they are older now and have new fights and complaints. Snotlout (Jonah Hill) and Fishlegs (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) now vie for the affections of Ruffnut (Kristin Wiig). Astrid (America Ferrera) is now a full fledged Viking warrior woman and looks awesome flying her dragon around with just as much skill and bravery as Hiccup does. Hiccup is no long the scrawny, nerdy, and self-doubting lad he was before. He's a self assured twenty year old man who has found his place atop the back of his trusty dragon best friend, Toothless. Baruchel's voice is just as nasally as ever but when the movie turns serious he can pack an impressive emotional punch. Astrid and Hiccup are the cutest Viking couple and having now been together for years, they save the audience from any awkward first steps of love. It's refreshing to enjoy a young couple with a healthy relationship, making it possible for them to just be there for each other when they need it.
John Williams delivers another exuberant score and the music he composes is somewhat outside of his traditional canon. Williams usually arranges in a more classical realm, but like Toothless and Hiccup, he goes above the clouds and beyond with his Gaelic inspired and overwhelmingly beautiful pieces for the How to Train Your Dragon films.
There are many beautiful and poignant moments that make up HTTYD 2. One is an early conversation with Astrid and Hiccup- the scene is very well written and helps the audience naturally relax into their relationship. Another is a scene where Stoic (Butler), Hiccup's father, is reunited with his long thought dead wife. All of these little moments are so well written and exquisitely executed you might forget you are watching a movie made for children, and that is why these movies ascend from other Dreamworks pieces. Hiccup is faced with many adult emotions and it's fascinating to watch him explore them, but on the flip side it's also fun to see cute dragons show off some slapstick comedy. Just because a movie is marketed for children does not mean it can only be enjoyed by children. The How to Train Your Dragon movies are examples of lovingly crafted films made for everyone.
- See more at: http://www.mediumraretv.org/review/how-to-train-your- dragon-2/#sthash.7h5iwGbv.dpuf
Night Moves (2013)
Nonchalant slow burn thriller
Featured at the 57th San Francisco International Film Festival, Night Moves is a film directed by the queen of slow burn narrative Kelly Reichardt. Reichardt uses space and tone instead of plot and character to tell this story of eco terrorism. Organic farmers Josh (Jesse Eisenberg) and Dena (Dakota Fanning) buy a boat and travel deep in the woods to meet Josh's friend Harmon (Sarsgaard). The three begin to set into motion a plan to blow up a hydroelectric dam at a nearby lake. After they succeed they learn their act caused the death of a camper. The guilt begins to cause Dena to rethink their actions. Josh must find a way to keep her quiet before she talks and they all end up in jail. Reichardt (Meek's Cutoff, Wendy And Lucy) is known for her lightly plotted pieces. She works within a realm of filmmaking in which the story is told not through actions but through suspense. In Night Moves, the majority of the film is the planning of the explosion. However, this kind of storytelling seems to stunt emotions of characters. These three are supposed to be passionate enough activists to even come up with this plan but they all walk around sleepy/dead-eyed and talk in monotone voices. Why are they doing this if they really don't seem to care? This doesn't match what they are planning to do and makes it confusing for an audience. Eisenberg (The Double) is the most passionate of the three, but he really is more angry than anything. His brood is exceptional in this film as he makes Josh into a man who seems he will never be content with anything- even when their plan seems to go off without a hitch. Sarsgaard (Blue Jasmine) fits nicely into the role of Harmon, an ex- marine who lives in a trailer out in the middle of nowhere. With his long hair and slight smile he is just handsome enough to charm his way through anything and just sleazy enough not to be trusted. Fanning (The Secret Life Of Bees) plays Dena with a confounding amount of nonchalance. One might wonder why her character is even involved with this plan. All she seems to be is a sad little rich girl who spends Daddy's money on hundreds of pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer. Even when Dena's guilt has become "too much for her to bear"- she doesn't really seem too worried about it externally. Fanning has been choosing more mature roles lately but it is unclear if she herself has matured in her craft- it will be interesting to see what she does next. Night Moves is indeed a beautiful film that has stunning shots of what majestic Oregon lakes and forests have to offer. The emotion from the performances does not match the situation at hand making it a dry, uneven and drawn out film. The build up is slow and intense but overall you may find yourself feeling more passionate about what is happening than about the characters.
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
The best one so far!
Since their arrival on the comic book scene in 1963, The X-Men have been always been Marvel's most famous ragtag crew. From comics to cartoons and movies, these characters and their world have continued to not only exist, but grow and expand. The newest film from director Bryan Singer, X-men: Days Of Future Past, takes the world created in the first X-Men films and skillfully blends them together in a time-bending, fun and action packed adventure.
In 2023, mutants are being brutally hunted and killed by ruthless robot beings called Sentinels. Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and his on- again, off-again best friend Magneto (Ian McKellen) enlist the angry but lovable brute Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to travel back in time. His mission is to try and reverse a deed done in 1973 by the shape shifter Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) whose actions lead to the creation of the Sentinels. Once Wolverine is back in time he must bring together the estranged younger Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and Xavier (James McAvoy) so they find Mystique and stop this future from happening.
Singer, who directed both X-Men and X2: X-Men United, delivers the best X-Men film so far. The task to bring all these story lines together from every movie in the X-Men arsenal seems impossible and improbable. Singers success is impressive as one would expect nothing but an incoherent mess full of missed plot cues and poorly written character choices. He even gives importance and the right amount of attention to the characters who aren't considered part of the main line-up. Mutants such as Blink, Warpath, Bishop, Sunspot and Havok are all given short, yet important moments to shine that work well within the story.
Jackman, Fassbender and McAvoy form a fun and angsty team in 1973. The three actors use their amazing talents to fill their roles to the brim, bringing honesty, sadness, and humor to each of their characters. Lawrence (Winter's Bone, American Hustle) once again shines as Mystique,who has matured since X-Men: First Class. She gives Mystique aimlessness while showing her pure passion for her self appointed mission to protect mutants from evil humans like Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), who have no sympathy for mutants and only see them as a threat to humankind.
A stand out in the film is Even Peters as a young Quicksilver. Quicksilver has the power to move very fast and one of the most entertaining and memorable sequences in the film is when you are shown what he can truly do. This sequence will be remembered not only for this movie, but in years to come. The use of special effects might ensure Quicksilver of The X-Men will be more beloved than the soon-to-be-met Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
X-Men: Days of Future Past is not only the perfect summer blockbuster, it is also the perfect superhero film. Mixing the familiarity for the characters with the time bending storyline you are given a fun ride with a social message of acceptance of people everywhere, which is what X-Men is always and should always be about: equality for all. It's an important message that needs to be heard and it always helps to use sexy mutants and lovable classic anti-heroes to tell it.