I had been interested in seeing About Time since it came out almost exactly a year ago, but I never got to see it. I remembered the trailers from then, so when I saw the movie on t.v. recently I decided it was finally meant to be that I would see this movie.
One of the main character, Rachel McAdams, has been in a lot of good romantic movies like The Vow and The Notebook (not to mention Mean Girls). Being that she was the only American actor in the film, I did not know the other actors by name-or even face-most of the time. It turns out that Domhnall Gleeson, who plays opposite McAdams, was in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and 2 as Bill Weasley. The fact that he is going to be in Star Wars: Episode VII (According to IMDb) would have sold this movie to me so more, but Rachel McAdams and the story of the film was enough to pull me in before I found that out.
Tim and Mary meeting for the first time, which they will
do two more times,
About Timefollows Tim (Gleeson) through his life, basically starting from when his dad (Bill Nighy) tells him that the men in their family have a special gift: the ability to travel back in time through their own lives. Where the movie could have taken a weird sic-fi turn (or turned into another version of McAdam's film Time Traveler's Wife), it instead gave the awkward character of Tim several second chances. It initially does not help him as much as he hoped, but Tim eventually gets the hang of his gift and meets Mary (McAdams) in the process. Time traveling is both a blessing and a curse when it comes to a perfect life, but Tim eventually finds out that some things do not need to be re-done to be perfect. While Tim and Mary build a life together, we also see Tim having to decide whether to time travel again in order to prevent things, like his sister (Lydia Wilson) getting into a bad car crash. The story becomes more than about love between a man and a woman as Tim also looses his dad and cannot go back in time to visit him, but Tim learns to live each day as great as he can, so that he does not even have to think about redoing it.
Tim and his father about to time travel together
for the last time.
There were a couples scenes in the film that did a good job of utilizing a hand held camera or different lighting to match the mood, but what really stood out was the editing of the film. The whole time traveling thing could have been made to be completely cheesy, and having to stand in a dark closet and clench your fist almost made it, but the way the filmmakers kind of rewind the scenes that Tim was traveling through helped make the experiences easier to follow and almost more realistic.
Tim's experience with time travel, although sadly unrealistic, ended up being relatable in the end as he explains that we should take advantage of all of our time with people and make the most of everyday. The movie managed to be funny, romantic, sad, well cast, and just well-made. The only faults remain in what I also mentioned to be good. The time traveling aspect got to be a bit confusing is the logistics of what Tim could and could not do, to me anyway, so for that I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
I watch a lot trailers for movies that I never actually end up seeing. I binge watched a lot of trailers recently, and a lot of the films looked great, but I could not find many in theaters or even planned for wide release, until one night I was browsing Netflix and one of the first titles I saw was A Long Way Down. I instantly recognized the title from a trailer I saw earlier and decided to watch it.
My little brother, Wiley, asks me almost every other day if I have started watching Breaking Bad yet (I haven't), so when I saw Aaron Paul in this movie, I figured this was a close as I was going to get to that show without totally engrossing myself into that obsession. Pierce Brosnan also stuck out to me, (although honestly I've only seen him in Mamma Mia and part of one of the bond movies) but surprisingly only just as much as Imogen Poots, who I saw in Zac Efron's most recent bad movie, That Awkward Moment. She stuck out to me in the trailer because these two movies are so different. Toni Colette has most recently been in The Way Way Back, which is a movie I enjoyed a lot. All of the actors attracted me to the film.
Aaron Paul, Pierce Brosnen, Imogen Poots, and Toni Colette all meet on a rooftop on New Years Eve as JJ, Martin, Jess, and Maureen, respectively. They are all on the roof with one goal: to commit suicide. Martin is a TV personality turned hated pervert who misses having loving attention, Maureen feels hopeless in her repetitive life, Jess initially wants to get away from her boyfriend, and JJ has brain cancer (there's more to their reasons, but I don't want to spoil them). Fortunately, none of them end up jumping. By the end of the night, they all sign a pact to live until Valentine's day--the next most popular day for suicide. Due to Martin's celebrity status, and Jess's father's political job, this is brought to the media's attention. Besides one disaster of a talk show appearance, the four go back to their normal lives. We slowly learn more about these four people as they do so. The group eventually takes a trip together to get away from their lives. It is easy to forget that we are on somewhat of a deadline with February 14th as they drink, laugh, and even throw a few punches in the tropics. They return home to their normal lives only be brought together again on a faithful day, that ultimately changes their lives.
As the story developed, I started to feel connected to the four main characters (it took a while for Martin, but even him too). The four strangers also begin to strongly care for each other as well. Prior to this, when they make the pact, they sit along a wall facing a window. The sun is just coming up as their long night comes to an end. As Jess convinces them to make the pact, the lighting very slowly getting brighter in time with a sun rise. The camera sticks to only capturing the group on the one wall, until we finally get to see the sun when JJ points it out. This stuck out to me in a way of representing a new chance for all of them, even if they may be promising to kill themselves in almost six weeks. It was a positive use of lighting that also captured the mood of the scene, which managed to stay light-much like most of the film. It was very much appreciated that the film did not get weighed down by the heavy subject, but was rather just a dark comedy.
I liked the movie, but I feel like it could have been taken to a whole other level if we were given a deeper look into JJ, Martin, Jess, and Maureen's pasts. In addition to that, if we spent more time developing their present stories, I feel like the movie could have taken on a deeper meaning. That is why I give this film 2 stars out of 5.
With the stresses of college applications, I was looking for a movie that would entertain me enough to keep my mind completely off of my impending work for a couple hours. I had heard about 10 Things I Hate About You several times in the past couple of years, especially when the TV show based off of it aired for a short time on ABC Family, so when it popped up in OnDemand, I decided to give it a shot.
The movie follows new-student Cameron in his attempt to date Bianca Stratford. One of the many problems with this is that Bianca cannot date-that is until her protective dad says that she can go on dates whenever her sister Kat does. Bad boy Patrick Verona then comes in as the guy who gets paid to go out with Kat, because she is known around school as a "Heinous bitch" that no one would ever think about dating, but she has no idea about his deal as they truly begin to fall for each other. Both Cameron and Patrick will do almost anything to be with their girls, who learn to have each other's backs through all of the boy chaos.
I knew there would be many familiar faces as I started the movie, but Joseph Gordon-Levitt was the only face I could actually put a name to. Now having done some research, I know that Julia Stiles played Kat with the late Heath Ledger at her side as Patrick. A couple more recognizable faces make their appearances, like the main elf from Santa Clause (David Krumholtz) and the principle from Max Keeble's Big Move (Larry Miller). Although I couldn't remember their names, having seen Stiles in The Price and Me, Ledger in The Dark Knight, and Gordon-Levitt in Brick (and 500 Days of Summer), I was expecting a good story and film.
The movie did not fail me, but it did not wow me either. Besides the unavoidable 90s clothing, a stand out element of the film was the use of continuity editing and the 180 degree rule. I know that continuity editing is supposed to be unnoticeable, but once I noticed it once, I decided to try to take a mental note when it happened again. 10 Things I Hate About You did a nice job at keeping a nice flow in the scenes. The film failed to bring much else to the table as far as unique technique or style-as far as I could notice anyway. I find this to be true with a lot of teen films, but gosh I still enjoy 'em anyway.
As Pat and Kat got to know each other, I found a key scene for both their relationship and the movie was after one of their dates. First the camera moves along in front of them as they walk from a car over and up to a porch where they sit down. While doing so they are asking each other about secrets, but the real magic is the smooth moving camera that stops moving when they sit down on some steps. We get a few shots from different angles and close-ups, but it maintains the 180 rule from the porch looking out at the pair on the steps. If this rule was not utilized, it would have being too much commotion in edition to what turns into a heavy conversation about Patrick's motivations.
Like I said, this movie did not blow me away (and it apparently did not do much for the critics). I am glad I checked it off my list and it had some nice messages, like about how people can surprise you, and to be nice to people whether you find them attractive or not. It was not your typical boy meets girl movie and for that I give this movie 3/5 stars, or only 2 stars worth hating about it.
Films of a given year reveal a lot about what is going on in the world at the time and in what direction film is heading. Each year, people gather to celebrate these films for their beauty and recognize the filmmakers' hard work. Since 1929, the Academy Awards have represented the best of the best as all of Hollywood make way for the night of film celebration. On the beautiful coast of France, the Cannes film festival has occurred annually since 1946, but it has since then not lost its touch for choosing more controversial, but artistic, films that capture the audience. The Sundance Film Festival, a baby compared to the latter (established 1978), is arguably the American version of Cannes for the unique independent films that cover the ballots. Each annual award show or film festival reveals the films that encompass that year and help us to take a look at film's current approach to styles and techniques that have been around for decades, and also what innovations people have come up with.
The Cannes Film Festival's Palme D'or, or Best Film, went to Blue is the Warmest Color, a french film directed by Adellatif Kechiche with the original title of La Vie d'Adele - Chapitre 1 & 2. The story is a coming-of-age film that follows 15-year-old Adele as she discovers what passion and feelings lie behind true love. Adele, after entering and ending a relationship with a boy, experiences what some might call love at first sight with 'the girl with the blue hair'. The color blue plays a strong roll in the film, but that is really the smallest of Adele's problems as she falls more in love with this girl, whose name is revealed to be Emma. Back in the states, The Sundance Film Festival has many different categories which could all be considered best film, but U.S. Grand Jury Prize for a dramatic film is often a title to shoot for. The winner for 2013, Fruitvale Station, shows the true story of Oscar Grant III on the last day of his life, on the last day of 2008, as he tries his best to stay out of trouble, but is ultimately unable to escape both his past and the prejudices that surround him.
The Oscars, star studded and all, holds in its highest regard the Best Picture winner. With Ben Affleck playing lead both on and off screen, the award went to Argo. The film takes in inside look at the historical Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979-80. With the job of a big time Hollywood filmmaker as his cover, CIA Agent Tony Mendez (Affleck) risks his own life to save six U.S. Embassy workers who escaped when Aggressive Iranians stormed the Embassy in rage of the United State's granted asylum to the Shah. It is Tony's job to make their story believable because if the Iranian were to find out that they were lying, or even that the six workers escaped, they might not return home.
The year of 2013 in film was more than a year of revealing reality in story-lines. Blue is the Warmest Color, Fruitvale Station, and Argo all used raw editing/camera movements and color to better highlight the more intense and sensitive subjects of the films. One of the first things that I noticed while watching Blue is the Warmest color in the seemingly raw pacing, editing, and lighting of the film. There is no background music where I would assume there should be. We see Adele eating dinner with her family for a good minute with nothing but the sound of eating and silverware hitting the plates. It takes on Adele's reality as it really could be in her real life. The filmmaker must have wanted us to relate to Adele as much as possible, being that the topic of a young lesbian and the politics around that could really go both ways as far as being relatable or not-or he wanted to make sure we were paying attention like some do with discontinuity-like shots. Going along more with the camera work, there were a lot of close ups throughout the 3 hour film. I assumed this was to make us further invested in the emotions of the characters. There is nothing to distract us from the tears on someone's face or the glow in their eyes.
"Blue is certainly the film's warmest color" (Wolff), as the Huffington Post's Spencer Wolff put it. More so than in Emma's hair color, the color blue is seen throughout the film. As Adele becomes attached and dependent on Emma, the blue could be seen as a comfort to her.
All of these elements brought the story to life and not only made the story Palme D'or worthy, but were used in other films to give the same amazing, award-winning affect. Like Blue is the Warmest Color, Fruitvale Station, directed by Ryan Coogler, takes advantage of enhancing the storyline through camera work and color. Being that the plot of the film is based off of a true story, there is already some restrictions to follow in order to do the story justice. The angles cannot be too experimental because at the end of the day the movie is about Oscar. According to Kodak, "the entire movie was filmed handheld to lend authenticity, much in the way that [a use of] organic film grain [did]" (Fruitvale Station: A Tragic Tale Retold Thoughtfully). This camerawork definitely payed off in the portrayal of the story and making it feel real-almost documentary like.
Throughout Fruitvale Station, we jump between time and locations. The filmmakers highlighted this with the use of color. When we visit Oscar in jail a year before his death, the duller lighting matches the mood as Oscar's mom visits him. We revisit this again after Oscar's accident, when colors turn grayer to match the mood. These changes reflect where Oscar is in his life and the filmmakers must have really wanted to pay
homage to Oscar because their techniques seemed like the best way to show the improvement in his life and the love that ultimately surrounded him. Filmmakers have a tough job when they have to retell a true story, but doing so well-enough for an award shows real talent.
Argo, due to it's setting in the late 70s and early 80s, tried its best at making it feel like we were really watching a movie made in that era. This, again, is seen through the use of editing, camera work, and lighting. The makers of the movie used a lot of different cameras and techniques for filming the movie, according to Arri.com. According to Rodrigo Prieto, the director of photography for Argo,"I like to find a different visual approach from movie to movie. With ARGO, I was able to find three styles within one movie!" (Exposing Argo). I noticed this as the lighting changed between the movie's 3 main settings: Near D.C., Hollywood, and Tehran (Iran). It created a different tone and atmosphere for the different locations, especially as the story helped support this. Prieto planned this as he said,"it was very important for all of these locations to possess a subtly different look to help orient the audience through the fast paced narrative" (Exposing Argo). What I am assuming were handheld cameras were probably used to really capture what a camera at some of the actual events would have captured. As Iranians stormed the Embassy or as the Iranians found out about the 'film crew', a slightly shakier camera helped make it feel like it was a documentary crew trying to catch the action.
In some of the final scenes of Argo, the technique of cross-cutting is used to add suspense. As the 'film crew' is about to board a flight home, we get to see multiple cross cuts to people obtaining or missing information on their situation that could ultimately end badly, but only we know that the whole story. I found this interesting as it swayed a bit from the reality of the rest of the film, but it must be why it was called a thriller.
Blue is the Warmest Color, Fruitvale Station, and Argo did a great job at enhancing their stories, real or not, through the magic of film. All three movies contain subject matter that could be considered controversial, but they managed to make it all an art and likable enough to become some of the best films of 2013. Argo total lifetime grosses now add up to $232,325,503 worldwide, Fruitvale Station has gotten $17,385,830 worldwide, and Blue has gotten $7,379,806 worldwide (probably due to the NC-17 rating), according to BoxOfficeMojo.com, but that obviously does not compare to the pride these films have for going down in history with their prestigious titles.
While out and about to grab a newspaper in the main part of city, William notices a girl who he later comes to know as Peggy. He insists on buying her a cup of coffee. Although Peggy is struggling to get by, she initially did not want "Billy" to buy her anything. Little did she know that he was a very wealthy heir to a company, so he did not have to worry about money for something as small as coffee. She also had no idea that his parents expected him to eventually fall in love and marry a family friend, Ruby. William's charm and persuasion leads to him buying her the coffee for several days in a row.
One of those days, Ruby happens to see them. She knows that her and William are not in fact in a relationship, but she had always imagined them to end up together. In order to make that happen, she takes the time to find out where Peggy lives. Ruby then tries to pay off Peggy, who needs the money, to stay away from William. Peggy does not take the bribe because she likes William for who he is. Ruby keeps trying to get rid of Peggy. Ruby's persisting plans leads Peggy to fear for her well-being and she decides that she needs to leave town. Billy insists on coming with her, and they leave town together. Although he only plays a small role as Billy's friend through most of the film, Carlton jumps at the opportunity to comfort Ruby, the love of his life, in her sad state.
The story of the film allows for an underlying message to shine through: Money is not everything, especially when it comes to love. The timing of 1935 fits perfectly as it was before the market, as well as everyone's lives, started to pick back up again after the great depression. People could relate to something that does not involve people who depend on of money for everything, because that was not realistic at the time. The big production does not take away from the true beauty of falling in love in a time of trouble. The romantic drama that is sprinkled with some comedy keeps within the bounds of the Hayes code by maintaining an innocent love between William and Peggy and clarifying that William and Ruby are not actually in a relationship. Although the film's poster is in color, the movie will be black & white in order to be a timeless, classic film and this allows for other things to be available with the budget and be highlighted, like makeup & costumes. Jack Dawn and Adrian, both of whom were famous for there work in the 30s, will be in charge of those to things.
All of these things tie into the chosen studio, MGM, and the actors that were tied with it. MGM was known for big productions, due to how financially sound it was, and many big names came out of the studio. Famous couple Clark Gable and Jean Harlow will be reunited again as William and Peggy. Jeanette Macdonald and Maurice Chevalier will also add appeal to the film as Ruby and Carlton. Above all of them will be director Victor Flemming, who will go on to direct MGM's Gone with the Wind. All of these people will play a big part in portraying the whole story of the film. If I were to take on making the movie by myself, I would have taken the time to develop the plot more. With a better and more unique plot, we could have taken all other aspects onto a deeper level so that they all make perfect sense and work well together in order to make a box-office hit that the critics could like as well.
A couple weeks ago after one of the first few days of film studies, having heard about great movies in class and realizing I had not seen much, I spend a good half an hour looking up movies to add to my Netflix List. I searched things like "best movies to see on Netflix" and "movies to see before they are off Netflix". I acquired a long list and have been checking off a few every weekend since. Last weekend, in the mood for a romantic comedy, I sat down to watch Woody Allen's Manhattan.
I had heard a full spectrum of things about Allen's work and life prior to watching Manhattan. The allegations against him personally would have steered me away from any of his films if I had not heard such great things about them. Rotten Tomatoes put many of his films on a list of best romantic comedies (with Manhattan at #7). It helped that the casting of this particular film included two of my favorites, Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton. Julie & Julia and Because I Said So are some of my favorites. The guy from Princess Bride, Wallace Shawn, as Jeremiah was a surprising extra treat. Having not seen any of them in films from this early in their careers, their presence drew me into the film.
The film opens to a voice over of Woody Allen, as his character Isaac Davis, as he begins to write a book. The screen shows various scenes of New York City. The voice over sets us up for the comedy of the rest film, while the combination of the scenery and background music leaves the city romanticized, grand, and full of possibilities. The movies goes on to reveal Isaac's complicated relationship with a 17-year-old high school student, Tracy, (which does not really help the whole Allen allegation thing) and his married friend, Yale's, affair. These two relationships grow more twisted together, as Isaac quits his job to focus more on his job and he gets to know the woman whom Yale has thought of leaving his wife for, Mary. To top it off his ex-wife, Jill, has written a book detailing what was wrong with their relationship and how it resulted in her becoming a lesbian. Isaac does not always take other people's feelings into consideration when he says things, but he still manages to come off as funny instead of mean a good amount of the time.
We get to know more about the characters in the minutes leading up to and including the classic under the bridge scene. It's late at night, but Isaac and Mary keep a light air to a conversation that some might consider deep and personal. It was from this point on that I was rooting for the two to fall in love, until of course Mary and Yale had to ruin everything-again. Whether or not that is the case for everyone, this scene is important in helping us understand a lot of what has happened and what will happen.
This film had camera work that for the first I found myself paying attention to. The bridge scene is now my desktop background as I find it beautiful. Although not exactly part of the shots, the choice of putting the film in black & white gave it a new aura that kept everything calm, for me anyway, romantic and more creative. The use of longer shots and silhouettes again made it feel like more than a romantic comedy (more creative) and gave life to film.
This romantic comedy turned acute drama had an interesting storyline that makes me curious as to how it compares to Woody Allen's other films. The acting was on point in my book and Isaac's lines held a comedic quality that I did not realize I was missing from other films until watching this one. I am glad this movie made its way onto my Netflix List. Seeing that the ending was not how I would have pictured it, I give Manhattan a solid 4 out of 5 stars.
Even with nothing to do
on a Saturday night, spending $3.99 to watch a film On Demand felt pretty steep
considering I could not even get myself to finish the book that it was based on. The
Spectacular Now, directed by James Ponsoldt, still hooked me into watching
it for the sole fact that I was curious as to how the story, that I had started
reading, ended. It also helped that the two main actors, Shailene Woodley and
Miles Teller, would soon be starring in the anticipated box office hit Divergent and I wanted to see their acting skills.
While
the average Rotten Tomatoes audience member would give The Spectacular Now a 77%, which
I would consider reasonable, most credible critics on the
"Tomatometer" give the film a 93%. Similar popularity stands among
critics on Metacritic, who give the film an 82/100 on average.
Film critic Stephanie
Merry, for The Washington Post, took a liking to the film and reviewed it as such. After introducing the
director and the genre of the film, Merry takes the time to give a lengthy
summary of the story that is The Spectacular Now. Intertwined into
the summary are positive nods to the story line and the actor's work. Woodley's portrayal
of her awkward character Aimee was not just well done to Merry, but
"both sweetly familiar and refreshing in its naturalism, as if the film
has unlocked an emotional time capsule". The same appreciation goes for
Teller and his work as Sutter, a more "charismatic and quick-witted"
character. Of course the writers and book adapters of the film, Scott
Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, received praise as well for how they kept
"the focus only on events that strain or bolster this rookie
relationship". This focus on the stars and directors takes away a chance
to really discuss the issues in the story, leaving the readers with nothing else to think about but the typical theme elements of a coming-of-age film, like "raw
excitement" and a "revisiting [of] reality". All of this
praise keeps a light and positive tone, much opposite to a review from someone
who did not like the film.
Taking a much different
approach to the reviewing of The Spectacular Now, Kyle Smith for The New York Postkeeps it short and simple when describing his distaste for the film. The
critic opens with a joke of sorts saying, "'The Spectacular Now' begins
like 'Say Anything' but soon turns into 'Drink Anything'"-alluding to how
the main character Sutter drinks a lot and even gets innocent Aimee to drink with
him. He continues with a humorous but detailed summary of the film and how the
actors did in their roles. Smith manages to keep his review to a short three
paragraphs, ending like how it started-bashing the main character's
"alcoholism" and how that is the real lesson in the film.
As
someone who has seen the film, I can relate to Merry's point in how Shailene
Woodley portrayed Aimee, because "it’s awkward, but not in the way we’ve
come to expect from movies". It is much too often that people take
the character of an awkward quiet girl and turn her into the nosey brainiac the
no one wants to be around. Woodley did Aimee justice and it is nice to see that
other people agree. Merry also pointed out the movie's "quiet moments and
easy pace", which I took notice to and liked as well.With Smith's approach, although he did take
it a bit too far, his attention on the fact that Sutter was "the last person in the movie theater to figure out that he needs to quit boozing" shows an
important part of the story and Sutter's life. Most coming-of-age stories do not have that aspect
and it seems like he always had a drink in his hand.
Thinking back to before I saw the film, it would be easy to have gravitated toward the bad review. Unrelated to the fact that the book already left a bad taste in my mouth, Smith's negative review is short and to the point (just not so sweet). His use of humor and relaxed vocabulary makes it feel like less of an official review and more like one of my friends was telling me about the movie.
If I were to take on a job as a movie critic, I would be sure to include a quick summary of The Spectacular Now that highlighted how the actors had the challenging task of showing their character's growth as time went on and how the film dealt with not just young love, but the partner's lives separately as they dealt with growing up. Unlike either of the reviews previously mentioned, I would mention both the good and the bad of the film. Neither Merry nor Smith mentioned anything that could possibly oppose either of their opinions. Seeing that the film kept my attention until the end, while the book did not, I would justify some bad parts of the film-most of which involve slow scenes or random plot twists-with that they were just working with what they were given. The Spectacular Now is a solid 3.5 in my book and I would fully justify that rating, the good and the bad, in a review.
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