50/50

Year: 2011
Director: Jonathan Levine
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard and Anjelica Huston

If you go into 50/50 thinking it's just going to be a really funny comedy with slight cancer undertones, I must warn you; you will be disappointed. That doesn't mean, however, the movie is bad. On the contrary, I think the fact that 50/50 was more on the drama (and dark comedy) side really made a more powerful statement than just a typical laugh out loud movie would have.

50/50 is really a heavy subject movie. You do have the cancer topic which is heavy in itself but on top of that you have various subjects that can come with cancer including, inevitably, death as well as relationship strains. It's unfortunate but this movie is very relatable to many people and it is this familiarness that makes for such a striking movie. It's also worth mentioning that 50/50 is loosely based off of the real life story of Will Reiser who was a co-writer on the movie and a good friend of Seth Rogen.

Acting wise it was spot on. I was originally worried about Seth Rogen's part. I love Rogen but in more comedies and was unsure how well he'd do in a more serious movie. So while he did play the comedic relief, which was to be expected, I do think he did a good job transitioning when he needed to. As for Gordon-Levitt...well he was spot on as usual and his dynamics throughout the movie were hauntingly real.

Overall 50/50 is a great move. It may not be the pick me up movie you want after a long and stressful week but it is well worth the watch.

Score: B+

The First Days Of Spring

Year: 2009
Director: Charlie Fink
Starring: Alex Barker, Alexandra Barker and Richard Franklin

Following up on a similar thematic pattern with my Girl Walk // All Day post with another movie set to song; The First Days of Spring. This time the music is a bit more...fitting I feel for a movie setting although not nearly as the lighthearted mood that Girl Walk // All Day was.


The First Days of Spring is also the name of the album of the same title by Noah and the Whale. Without getting too much into indie music, Noah and the Whale are an indie folk band from England. This movie is just what I described above, a movie set to their second album both entitled The First Days of Spring. As expected this is a fairly short movie at only 45 minutes. It also features very little actual dialogue in favor of open ended personal explanations and perhaps lyrical context.

This tree means something...I just know it.

I have watched this film a few times and I always try and make out what is really going on, as it is actually quite a confusing movie. It follows, what I think, is the same man but at three different points in his life. Teenage years, twenties and then in old age. I take a lot out of this movie and find it to be about true love but also lost love and regrets but also the importance of life itself and whatever life happens to throw your way. It's not necessarily a sad movie but parts of it are very sad but then it is countered with some very jubilant scenes. Some weird parts are thrown in and it is a very...artsy movie I suppose. Scene wise as it cuts between the three different times as well as features old vintage style movie shots and other stylistic shots.


Overall, The First Days of Spring is an interesting visual adaptation and partner to a great band's album and I urge all to watch it as you will take something from it.


Score: B

Bottle Rocket

Year: 1996
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, James Caan

If you read my review on Submarine you would notice I referred to my love of Wes Anderson quite a lot, so with the announcement of a new Wes Anderson film, Moonrise Kingdom, I decided to re-watch his films and do some reviews. And what better way to start than with his first film, Bottle Rocket.

This is the movie that started it all. Every distinguishable feature that Anderson employs started in Bottle Rocket and continues onto the rest of his film career. Now some do criticize Anderson for this apparent one dimension (as well as his typically dry sense of humor). I disagree with these claims as it's really just his style and it's a style that while not everyone "gets it", it works and is unique to him.

I will admit though that Bottle Rocket is perhaps one of my lowest rated Anderson Films although it may be tied with The Darjeeling Limited. It does have the typical quirky feel to it which I do love, but I think it's really the cast that gets to me. Own Wilson does good in his part as over enthusiastic and naive wannabe thief. I guess what I'm trying to get at is there was no real visible connection between the rest of the cast. Their respective storylines were great but just no connection to really care about the story as a whole. Luckily, I found the dry humor (my humor in general is pretty dry so guess that's why I appreciate it so much) to be excellent and does have a few scenes I would put at the top of any list.

Bottle Rocket may not be the home run that other Anderson films accomplished but it is a worthy watch if you love Anderson films and just the quirky "indie" (And I use that term sparingly) style that is prominent.

Score: B-

Girl Walk // All Day

Year: 2011
Director: Jacob Krupnick
Starring: Anne Marsen, Dai Omiya, and John Doyle

Watch Here: Watch the Film

Decided to do something different for todays review. Girl Walk // All Day is essentially a movie length dance music video to Girl Talk's album All Day featuring heavy elements in urban exploration and follows three dancers as they turn New York City's sidewalks and architecture into an evolving stage of joy from music. It was originally broken down into 12 parts and was posted every Tuesday and Friday for the last month. Today was the final part and that is what made me decide to review it in full.

Now I know it is not your typical film if it can even be considered a film in itself. So keep that in mind although I am going to kind of analyze it as such. If you look at it as just a dance music video it is flawless and very, very well done. You have all aspects of it and since it features three dancer perspectives makes for a variety of dance styles. When I first started watching this series I was amazed; All Day is my favorite Girl Talk album and I love huge projects of this caliber. It also got my attention as it seemed there was a loose and mysterious story line to link the three dancers. However this was the biggest but only disappointment I had while watching this movie series.

What I mean by this is the story line was so disjointed. It started out with the story line assumption and then would insert something totally random (like the flower people)... but then continue with this vague story line I had associated with. Then at the end it just ended abruptly without tying together anything other than Anne Marsen's arc.

Overall it's a great and very unique idea. But I guess I was looking for more and tried to get more out of it than just strict entertainment.

Score: B

Hesher

Year: 2010
Director: Spencer Susser
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rainn Wilson, Natalie Portman and Devin Brochu

If you like dark comedies than Hesher is quite the film for you, although I will warn you it's a bit weird. Actually, I kind of take that back as I've seen much, much weirder films. I guess just different is the word I'm looking for here.

What I mean by this is just the happenings within the movie. First off you have Brochu's character, T.J. who is your typical depressed kid after his mother's death who is getting bullied. He then meets Gordon-Levitt's character, Hesher...a desolate metal head who then just sort of moves in with him, his father and grandmother. The quietness that this all happens with and the acceptance of Hesher just moving in and then the other crazy antics he pulls is astounding. It actually brings me to question the "realness" of the characters and story writing. Something that I've been questioning a lot recently for some reason.

Gordon-Levitt has never looked better

The movie does make up for this pseudo (or real) fakeness but an albeit good story chemistry between Brochu, Gordon-Levitt and finally Portman. The story is then tied in quite well with the heavy subject of death in multiple ways which brings this dark comedy into more drama territory that actually gets a good point across surprisingly.

Score: B-

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

Year: 2006
Director: Scott Glosserman
Starring: Nathan Baesel, Robert Englund, Angela Goethals and Kate Lang Johnson

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon takes the typical and cliché horror film slasher flick and flips it upside down. It has all the right ingredients that your normal run of the mill "scary" movie has but then adds it's own special ingredient.

If you haven't heard of this movie I do urge you to go out and rent it or Netflix it, especially if you are a fan of the genre as it will take you by surprise. Without giving too much away I will give a brief summary to peak some interest. First off it is filmed in mockumentary style which is a style that has grown in popularity recently with the rise of the Paranormal Activity franchise although probably popularized by The Blair Witch Project in 1999. I do quite like this filmography style for this genre as it gives a more realistic setting. Anyways, so the story is this group of grad school film students (I assume) are doing a documentary on this man named Leslie Vernon who is publicly planning to scare a group of unknowing teenagers. However, it turns out he is really planning on killing them all.

This movie actively embraces any horror film clichés and stereotypes that exist and formulates them until they are actually the lifeblood of this movie. I mean right off the back the great slasher films like Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees of their respective series exist in real life in this universe. Also, the character of Leslie Vernon literally explains in detail (and quite humorously) every known cliché and why they do what they do. Really gives an interesting and unique look a la "Behind the Mask" that I now find myself analyzing every other horror film I watch now.

So if you consider yourself a fan of the genre you would be doing yourself a disservice by not watching this film as it essentially is everything you know and love rolled into one.

Score: B

One Day

Year: 2011
Director: Lone Scherfig
Starring: Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess

One Day is not your typical romance movie in my opinion. It introduces themes that everyone thinks or wishes or have experienced. This theme is lost and longing love. Many movies nowadays I feel try and hit this idea on the head but many miss the target and end up creating fake and in general just bad movies. However, I really found something in One Day.


It may be my fondness for pseudo British filmography or perhaps any mild sense of similarity to the subject matter. I do think the stylistic approaches employed in the movie help but first if you don't know the plot of One Day let me first give a brief overview. Anne Hathaway's character Emma Morly and Jim Sturgess' character Dexter Mayhew almost get together one night after they both graduate from University. Since that day they have become friends and the rest of the movie follows both of their lives and their relationships with each other and with their own families and such. Now what I mean by I liked the stylistic approaches, basically is the whole idea of seeing them in quick snap shot snippets since that one day up until current time in 2011.

This sped up time dynamic really gives an opportunity for the actors involved to showcase their skills and develop a character as you really  have to change, albeit subtly, one's character from year to year (and of course any looks). It also means that the story is instantly much grander than any other film which may only cover an event over a few days. This covers daily events over twenty plus years! And this gives the film opportunity, and I believe it takes the advantage, of really creating a spectacular story.


Now I know that this movie did not get the best of ratings from my colleagues who nitpicked over small things such as Hathaway's fake accent but if you look past some of the trivial things and focus on the actual story at hand I find it to be a quite good representation of a modern romance film.  


Score: B+

Submarine

Year: 2010
Director: Richard Ayoade
Starring: Noah Taylor, Paddy Considine, Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige and Sally Hawkins.

Submarine is your typical British independent coming of age movie that I would have loved to have watched and seen when well...when I was coming of age and still in High School. As of now I am in my third year of University and while I did heavily enjoy Submarine I do feel as its affect on me was significantly downgraded due to the unfortunate timing of my viewing.

The film follows a 15 year old boy named Oliver Tate, a pretentious "genius" among the likes of the audience watching this film, who then falls in love with a girl of his age named Jordana. The movie follows their relationship inside and outside their schooling and Oliver's own relationship with his parents who have recently fallen on some hard times in their own relationship. These are presented in unique "chapters" if you will much like a book with a prologue, three sections and with a closing epilogue.

Oliver and Margot Jordana

Oliver's character can be quite frustrating as in typical independent or "smart" coming of age stories, he is a young child who thinks too much and thinks he is much better than anything. I'm sure the writers across the board think this is a great approach but in recent times I'm starting to fall from this idea in modern films. It fails to be as quirky with me as it should and instead ventures into a realm of unrealisticness. It also irked me that throughout the whole movie all I could think about was the blaring similarities to all of Wes Anderson's films. Now don't get me wrong, Wes Anderson is one of my favorite directors and writers and I know my prior statement actually discredits some of his work, but still. Stylistically the usage of bold, solid colors was overly used which coincidentally happens to be one of Anderson's motifs. The title alone and also the marine biologist father bares much similarity to The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Oliver Tate reminds me of Max Fischer from Rushmore, and Jordana of Margot from The Royal Tenenbaums. Again this isn't bad as I do like Anderson's style just not as fresh to me as I would have liked.

Overall, however, the film was quite good. It touches on young love that so many other movies touch on but in it's own special way and throws some good comedy in their as well. If I was younger I would appreciate this movie much more than I do now although if I was younger I would not get past the style and appreciate that. So it's really a lose lose for me on this one.

Score: B+