Garden State

Year: 2004
Director: Zach Braff
Starring: Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard

Garden State is the most quintessential indie film ever released to the public. Not only is it filled with some amazing actors, but the directing is spot on and the writing, the writing is some of the purest I've ever seen. Yes, Garden State is one of my favorite movies and I'm reviewing it just so I can bask in its greatness.

Garden State is Zach Braff's masterpiece. He is the movie. The story revolves around struggling and unhappy actor Andrew Largeman (Braff) as he returns home, a small New Jersey town, to attend his mother's funeral. There he runs into old friends and meets a new girl named Sam (Portman).

The acting was amazing throughout. Zach Braff was so believable in this film. Until his peformance, I had never seen such realism in a character. There was nothing fake about what he was saying and doing. This film is also the one where I fell in love with Natalie Portman. I've seen basically everything she's done from Leon to Star Wars, but Garden State was the film that left me forever encompassed by her work.  She was a pit of emotion and a perfect counter to Zach Braff's emotionless character.

Watch this movie. Watch it if you love Natalie Portman, Zach Braff, Indie films, oxygen, and yourself.


Score: A

The Art of Getting By

Year: 2011
Director: Gavin Weisen
Starring: Freddie Highmore, Emma Roberts, Michael Angarano

The Art of Getting By was a speck of a movie that left me watching (and enjoying) actors that I love while vaguely relating to the plot. I've always been suckered into a film that involves  actors who I follow from project to project. In this film, those actors were Emma Roberts and Michael Angarano. While I respect Highmore's child work, his more mature performance don't really do it for me. Emma Roberts played the role of a young, city-dweller socialite very well. She encompassed the youth of today by portraying her as mature as you'd expect  an 18 year old to be. My other favorite actor was Michael Angarano who I've watched for a long time now and who I really like. His part was on the small side, but the way he played a young artist still stuck in that post-high school haze was interesting.

Overall the film was not very predictable, but that's because there was nothing to predict. I respected the storyline and the dialogue, but it was the actors delivering the lines that made it for me. It was definitely one of those movies where I found myself liking what Emma Roberts was saying just because she was saying it. The actors made this move which isn't always a bad thing.

Score: C+